|
a.
|
Note: [kucareys.FTW] "Joseph Ballard Carey kept a station on the "Underground Railroad" during the Civil War [i n Iowa]. He was a devoted Quaker. His boys did not take after him being known as fighters. Th ose old enough served in the Civil War. Mary Jane Willis Carey, after the death of her husband Joseph Ballard Carey [in 1871] came t o Oregon about 1872 with her children. They settled in Curry Co., Oregon. They were prominen t land owners and all had familes." ("They are now scattered throughout Oregon and California" -"Plumstead) -taken from a letter dated June 24, 1943 from Marjorie Carey Dana of San Jose [Granddaughte r of Asa B. Carey], CA to Thelma Carey Matthews -"Branches" THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD The Fugitive Slave act, passed by the congress of the United States in 1850, placed under fe deral jurisdiction the apprehension and return to their owners of runaway slaves who had esca ped to free states. Any person who aided a runaway slave was subject to a fine of $1,000 an d a jail sentence of not more than six months. Even prior to 1850 many northern people, who opposed slavery, secretly helped runaway Negr o slaves to escape to Canada where, under British law, the slaves were free. These activitie s developed into established routes, with stations, stationmasters and conductors, known as t he Underground Railroad. In Iowa one of the main lines of the Underground Railroad ran by way of Tabor, Creston, Wint erset, Indianola, Palmyra, Hartford and crossed the Des Moines river at the present site of F ord where Boston I. Taylor was the station agent. After crossing the Des Moines river the lin e passed through towns in central and eastern Iowa and crossed the Mississippi river at Clint on to connect with a route in Illinois. John Brown, a violent opponent of slavery, is said t o have followed the Underground Railroad through Warren County at least two times. Benjamin Hinshaw, a Quaker who lived on a farm east of Indianola, kept a station for the ref uge of runaway slaves, and his sons Joshua and William were conductors on the railroad. The l atter, Dr. William Hinshaw, writes: "The peculiar nature of the business and the dangers conn ected with it made it exceedingly interesting and at times very exciting. The children at th e stations were necessarily allowed to witness the proceedings, but the warning pictures of t heir parents and older brothers being arrested and sent to prison, or possibly murdered, if d etected, served to prevent their revealing the secrets. "The passengers arrived at Indianola from Winterset, where they stayed the day before, a lit tle before daylight. If the weather was cold, they were taken to the most remote bedroom to s leep during the day; at night two men in sympathy with the cause conveyed them to the next st ation, usually in a covered wagon, which was not an uncommon mode of travel in those days. Du ring the warm weather the fugitives were frequently kept in a haymow or an outhouse. The corn field was a favorite place fro their slumbers when the growing corn was tall enough to concea l them. We children delighted in carrying their meals to them, engage them in conversation an d hear their tales of slave life. "About bedtime they would start on their night's journey. But before this Dr. Noble and a fe w other friends usually came in slyly to see them and bid them Godspeed. Thsi was the time th ey narrated their adventures, which sometimes was very interesting." The Quaker home of Mahlon Haworth, located in Indianola at the southeast corner of the inter section of U.S highways 65 and 69 and Iowa highway 92 was another station on the Undergroun d Railroad. The house had two separate cellars. The east cellar was entered by ordinary step s but the cellar under the west portion of the house was partitioned into three rooms which w ere entered by carefully concealed trap doors. These rooms were especially prepared to shelte r runaway slaves. Dr. M. A. Dashiell of Hartford and his father-in-law, Dr. B.S. Noble, of Indianola, seem t o have been guiding spirits and chief promoters of the Underground Railroad in Warren County . At one time Dr. Dashiell is said to have piloted nineteen runaway Negro slaves from his sta tion at Hartford to Boston I. Taylor's place on the Des Moines river. Edd R. McKee was a cond uctor on the road between Indianola and Hartford. When George Epps of Palmyra was a boy 12 ye ars of age he made an unexpected trip on the Underground Railroad. He writes, "My father live d northwest of Indianola in a log house...surrounded by a heavy growth of hazel brush, plum t rees and crab apple trees. In the month of June, 1857, the day's work was finshed; the evenin g twilight was fading into darkness; the full moon had not yet risen, when a stalwart Negro o f about 40 years of age emerged from the brush, crossed theyard and stood at the door with h is hat in his hand. he told us that he was a runaway slave; his master's name was Watson; h e had come from Missouri; he was hungry and must have something to eat if he had to surrende r to get it. My mother prepared food for him, and I shall never forget how the poor fellow at e and how he seemed to relish the food; and as he ate he recounted the wrongs and hardships o f the slave life. When he hjad finished his meal, the full moon was rising and its mellow lig ht on that long ago summer night enabled one to travel as well by night as by day. My fathe r and I went with the fugitive across the prarie about a mile from our house to a point on th e road leading from Indianola to Des Moines...There we gave him minute directions how to trav el, describing the houses and barnes he would pass on his way to the home of Thomas Boyd wh o lived west of Palmyra...My father and I returned home and as he was a Douglas Democrat an d had been engaged in assisting slaves to escape, I had a secret to keep." Mrs. Almeda Clark, daughter of Joshua Hinshaw, tells the story of two slaves harbored fro th e day on her grandfather's farm eat of Indianola. The presence of the slaves was suspected. O fficers came and made an exhaustive search of the farm. They went all over the fields, stuc k sharp rods down through all the hay in the barn and stacks, looked in every barn and shed , searched thehouse. No trace of fugitive slaves could be found. In the front yard some boards were laid on two barrels, and on the boards seed corn was dryi ng. The officers neglected to look in the barrels. There the slaves were hidden. Sometimes, Mrs. Clark says here grandmother has told her, the slaves were moved on Sundays , dressed as Quaker women. The deep blak Quaker bonnets concealed their faces. No one bothere d the devout Quakers on their way to meeting. In 1886 A. W. Barker, owner of the ground, tore down the old "Noble House: about 100 yards s outh of the city limits on the east side of U.S highways 65-69. It was supposed to have bee n an underground railroad station. He found a two and one-half foot hiding space between wall s, according to a letter from his son, C.C. Barker of Milford, Iowa. [kucareys2.ged] "Joseph Ballard Carey kept a station on the "Underground Railroad" during the Civil War [i n Iowa]. He was a devoted Quaker. His boys did not take after him being known as fighters. Th ose old enough served in the Civil War. Mary Jane Willis Carey, after the death of her husband Joseph Ballard Carey [in 1871] came t o Oregon about 1872 with her children. They settled in Curry Co., Oregon. They were prominen t land owners and all had familes." ("They are now scattered throughout Oregon and California" -"Plumstead) -taken from a letter dated June 24, 1943 from Marjorie Carey Dana of San Jose [Granddaughte r of Asa B. Carey], CA to Thelma Carey Matthews -"Branches" THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD The Fugitive Slave act, passed by the congress of the United States in 1850, placed under fe deral jurisdiction the apprehension and return to their owners of runaway slaves who had esca ped to free states. Any person who aided a runaway slave was subject to a fine of $1,000 an d a jail sentence of not more than six months. Even prior to 1850 many northern people, who opposed slavery, secretly helped runaway Negr o slaves to escape to Canada where, under British law, the slaves were free. These activitie s developed into established routes, with stations, stationmasters and conductors, known as t he Underground Railroad. In Iowa one of the main lines of the Underground Railroad ran by way of Tabor, Creston, Wint erset, Indianola, Palmyra, Hartford and crossed the Des Moines river at the present site of F ord where Boston I. Taylor was the station agent. After crossing the Des Moines river the lin e passed through towns in central and eastern Iowa and crossed the Mississippi river at Clint on to connect with a route in Illinois. John Brown, a violent opponent of slavery, is said t o have followed the Underground Railroad through Warren County at least two times. Benjamin Hinshaw, a Quaker who lived on a farm east of Indianola, kept a station for the ref uge of runaway slaves, and his sons Joshua and William were conductors on the railroad. The l atter, Dr. William Hinshaw, writes: "The peculiar nature of the business and the dangers conn ected with it made it exceedingly interesting and at times very exciting. The children at th e stations were necessarily allowed to witness the proceedings, but the warning pictures of t heir parents and older brothers being arrested and sent to prison, or possibly murdered, if d etected, served to prevent their revealing the secrets. "The passengers arrived at Indianola from Winterset, where they stayed the day before, a lit tle before daylight. If the weather was cold, they were taken to the most remote bedroom to s leep during the day; at night two men in sympathy with the cause conveyed them to the next st ation, usually in a covered wagon, which was not an uncommon mode of travel in those days. Du ring the warm weather the fugitives were frequently kept in a haymow or an outhouse. The corn field was a favorite place fro their slumbers when the growing corn was tall enough to concea l them. We children delighted in carrying their meals to them, engage them in conversation an d hear their tales of slave life. "About bedtime they would start on their night's journey. But before this Dr. Noble and a fe w other friends usually came in slyly to see them and bid them Godspeed. Thsi was the time th ey narrated their adventures, which sometimes was very interesting." The Quaker home of Mahlon Haworth, located in Indianola at the southeast corner of the inter section of U.S highways 65 and 69 and Iowa highway 92 was another station on the Undergroun d Railroad. The house had two separate cellars. The east cellar was entered by ordinary step s but the cellar under the west portion of the house was partitioned into three rooms which w ere entered by carefully concealed trap doors. These rooms were especially prepared to shelte r runaway slaves. Dr. M. A. Dashiell of Hartford and his father-in-law, Dr. B.S. Noble, of Indianola, seem t o have been guiding spirits and chief promoters of the Underground Railroad in Warren County . At one time Dr. Dashiell is said to have piloted nineteen runaway Negro slaves from his sta tion at Hartford to Boston I. Taylor's place on the Des Moines river. Edd R. McKee was a cond uctor on the road between Indianola and Hartford. When George Epps of Palmyra was a boy 12 ye ars of age he made an unexpected trip on the Underground Railroad. He writes, "My father live d northwest of Indianola in a log house...surrounded by a heavy growth of hazel brush, plum t rees and crab apple trees. In the month of June, 1857, the day's work was finshed; the evenin g twilight was fading into darkness; the full moon had not yet risen, when a stalwart Negro o f about 40 years of age emerged from the brush, crossed theyard and stood at the door with h is hat in his hand. he told us that he was a runaway slave; his master's name was Watson; h e had come from Missouri; he was hungry and must have something to eat if he had to surrende r to get it. My mother prepared food for him, and I shall never forget how the poor fellow at e and how he seemed to relish the food; and as he ate he recounted the wrongs and hardships o f the slave life. When he hjad finished his meal, the full moon was rising and its mellow lig ht on that long ago summer night enabled one to travel as well by night as by day. My fathe r and I went with the fugitive across the prarie about a mile from our house to a point on th e road leading from Indianola to Des Moines...There we gave him minute directions how to trav el, describing the houses and barnes he would pass on his way to the home of Thomas Boyd wh o lived west of Palmyra...My father and I returned home and as he was a Douglas Democrat an d had been engaged in assisting slaves to escape, I had a secret to keep." Mrs. Almeda Clark, daughter of Joshua Hinshaw, tells the story of two slaves harbored fro th e day on her grandfather's farm eat of Indianola. The presence of the slaves was suspected. O fficers came and made an exhaustive search of the farm. They went all over the fields, stuc k sharp rods down through all the hay in the barn and stacks, looked in every barn and shed , searched thehouse. No trace of fugitive slaves could be found. In the front yard some boards were laid on two barrels, and on the boards seed corn was dryi ng. The officers neglected to look in the barrels. There the slaves were hidden. Sometimes, Mrs. Clark says here grandmother has told her, the slaves were moved on Sundays , dressed as Quaker women. The deep blak Quaker bonnets concealed their faces. No one bothere d the devout Quakers on their way to meeting. In 1886 A. W. Barker, owner of the ground, tore down the old "Noble House: about 100 yards s outh of the city limits on the east side of U.S highways 65-69. It was supposed to have bee n an underground railroad station. He found a two and one-half foot hiding space between wall s, according to a letter from his son, C.C. Barker of Milford, Iowa.
|