Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History & Culture Enduring Connections: Exploring Delmarva's Black History

Record Detail

Record #72 from Abstracts from William Still's Underground Railroad

Traveler's Names William Israel Smith
Age 21
Description Stout and well made young men
Alias
Origin- Town/City MIddletown
Origin- County
Origin- State Delaware
Destination Canada
Birthplace
Slaveowner's Name John P. Cather
Chapter Title Captain F. arrive with nine passengers
Page Number 320
Other Travelers Perry Shephard, Isaac Reed, George Sperryman, Valentine Spires, Daniel Green, James Johnson and wife Harriett, Henry Cooper, William Israel Smith, Anna Dorsey
Other Conductors
Additional Names
Method of Travel
Additional Resources
Items in Possession
Full Narrative CHARLES HENRY COOPER and WILLIAM ISRAEL SMITH. These passengers were representatives of the peculiar Institution of Middletown, Delaware. Charles was owned by Catharine Mendine, and William by John P. Gather. According to their confession, Charles and William it seemed had been thinking a good deal over the idea of " working for nothing," of being daily driven to support others, while they were rendered miserable thereby. So they made up their minds to try the Underground Rail Road, " hit or miss." This resolution was made and carried into effect (on the part of Charles at least), at the cost of leaving a mother, three brothers, and three sisters in Slavery, without hope of ever seeing them again. The ages of Charles and William were respectively twenty-two and twenty-one. Both stout and well-made young men, with intellects well qualified to make the wilderness of Canada bud and blossom as the rose, and thitherward they were dispatched.

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[Author (if known)], Abstracts from William Still's Underground Railroad, [Date (if known)], Enduring Connections: Exploring Delmarva’s Black History, Nabb Research Center, Salisbury University.

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