Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Application: Roger Hooker and Keziah Leavitt House

UNDERGROUND RAILROAD NETWORK TO FREEDOM

National Park Service

Prepared by Lisa White and Bambi Miller

Congressional District: 1^st Massachusetts Congressional District

Date submitted: 7/11/03

The Roger Hooker and Keziah Leavitt house is today a building on the campus of the Academy at Charlemont. Members of the Leavitt family were active in the abolition movement. Father Roger Leavitt was an ardent abolitionist. Eldest brother Joshua Leavitt of New York, was editor of the abolitionist publication the Emancipator, a member of the executive committee of the American anti-slavery society, and organizer of the Abolitionist national party. Youngest Brother Hart Leavitt, also of Charlemont, was a station keeper on the Underground Railroad. Roger Hooker Leavitt served as President of the Franklin County Anti-Slavery Society in 1836, and as Vice-President of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in 1838 and 39.

The Leavitts provided a home to Basil Dorsey, who came to the site through abolitionist connections, including Joshua Leavitt, sometime around 1838. Basil stayed there with his wife Louisa, a free woman, and their children (a third child was born during their stay in Charlemont). Though Basil’s wife Louisa (and Keziah Leavitt as well) died in November 1838, records indicate Basil Dorsey continued to live with Roger Hooker Leavitt and his next wife Eliza (sister to Keziah) for 5 years until moving to Florence, Massachusetts in 1844.

Describe the site’s association and significance to the Underground Railroad.

Roger Hooker and Keziah Leavitt House

The site was the home of Roger Hooker Leavitt (1805-1885) and Keziah Hunt (Osgood) Leavitt (1807-1838). Roger Hooker and Keziah Leavitt were married in 1829, and moved to Charlemont in 1835¹. They had 3 children: John Hooker (b. October 11, 1831); William Hunt (b. Sept. 4, 1834); and Henry Jenkins (b. August 8, 1836). Roger Hooker Leavitt was active early in the anti-slavery movement serving as President of the Franklin County Anti-Slavery Society in 1836, and as Vice President of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in 1838 and 39.² He was once rotten egged for holding an anti-slavery meeting and refused to let his wife wash off the stains considering them a badge of honor.”³ One of three sons of large land owner and staunch abolitionist Roger Leavitt, Roger Hooker was an active and committed abolitionist, and held a place of prominence in the political landscape of the region and the state during the years when he helped the Dorsey family, and after. Roger Hooker Leavitt went on to serve in the Senate in 1866, and then the House of Representatives for 2 terms beginning in 1868.

Documentation supports that Roger Hooker and Keziah Leavitt provided a home to former slave and freedom-seeker Basil Dorsey and his wife Louisa and their two small children Eliza (b. November 3, 1834), and John Richard (b. May 18, 1836), who came to Charlemont sometime after August 1837. The Dorsey’s travels to Charlemont were assisted by Roger Hooker’s brother Joshua Leavitt, editor of the Emancipator and David Ruggles, a known figure of the Underground Railroad who lived in New York and Florence, Massachusetts. Following a number of stops in places including Pennsylvania, New York (with Leavitt/Ruggles), and Northampton, Massachusetts, Basil Dorsey arrived at the home of Roger Hooker Leavitt, where he continued to stay for about 5 years.

Roger Hooker Leavitt

Roger Hooker Leavitt was born in Heath, MA in the family homestead built by his grandfather, in which his father Roger also was born.⁴ Roger Leavitt and wife Chloe Maxwell (daughter of Col. Hugh Maxwell of Revolutionary fame) had six children in all: Joshua; Chloe (who died as an infant); Clarissa; Chloe Maxwell; Roger Hooker; and Hart. Roger Hooker attended public school in Heath and was classically trained at the Hopkins Academy at Hadley, and as a young man worked as a teacher and surveyor.

Roger Hooker Leavitt did much to advance the schools, charitable institutions, and manufacturing and commercial interests of Charlemont and the County. In residence in Charlemont, he served as Selectman, and local official in many capacities. He dedicated part of his time to farming and was prominent in the agricultural interests of Franklin County, serving as the first president of the Deerfield Valley Agricultural Society, and later on the State Board of Agriculture. He was also active in the local militia, signing in as Captain of the Heath rifles in May 1828, and later as Colonel. He was instrumental in obtaining funding and support for the construction of the Hoosac Tunnel and was the first to shovel dirt at a ceremony initiating the beginning of construction. He served the East Charlemont Congregational Church as Deacon for more than 50 years, firm in his belief that all permanent civilization was based on morality as taught in the bible.⁵

Roger and Chloe Maxwell Leavitt

Roger Hooker’s parents had been active in the temperance and moral reform movements. Father Roger Leavitt of Heath (1771-1840) was a prominent public figure. He served 4 terms in the Massachusetts legislature and worked to support a number of benevolent causes including effecting with Mary Lyon the beginning of Mt. Holyoke seminary for girls. A staunch abolitionist, his beliefs were strengthened by those of his sons. In 1840, Roger Leavitt accepted the nomination for Lieutenant Governor from the newly formed Abolitionist national party, which his son Joshua Leavitt helped to form. Wife Chloe Maxwell Leavitt was active in the abolitionist movement as well, collecting signatures from women on petition calling for abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. A copy of the 1837 petition came addressed directly to Mrs. Roger Leavitt of Charlemont from the Boston Female Antislavery Society.⁶ That petition was eventually submitted by Rebecca Hawks, also of Charlemont, with 146 signatures from the women of Charlemont, along with signatures from many other Franklin County residents, mostly women.⁷ In total, 1451 Franklin County signatures were submitted to Congress by the Hon. C. Cushing, Massachusetts delegate to the House of Representatives. Due to a gag rule, these petitions lay on the table unread, but show the strength of the anti-slavery sentiment in the region.

Although record of an organized and supported antislavery movement in Charlemont and surrounding communities is clear, the actions of the Leavitt family in accordance with their beliefs were bold and dangerous for the times. From the funeral sermon of Chloe Maxwell Leavitt’s in March 1851 comes the following:

A few years ago, there was a remarkable movement: a conflict of feeling and opinion against her family of sons. At home they were pressed almost out of a name and a place in the church of Jesus Christ. Abroad their active measures in favor of the oppressed and down trodden slave had awakened a host of enemies, and enraged public so against them that at one time, the three brothers, in company with a few friends of the slave were driven from Utica, NY by the violence of the people of the town as a mob. In the south $20,000.00 was offered for the head of the oldest son; these were times that tried the mothers heart. ⁸

Joshua Leavitt

Roger Hooker Leavitt’s oldest brother was Joshua Leavitt, and his was a leading voice of the abolitionist movement. He was born in Heath on September 8, 1794, lived most of his adult life in New York, and died in Brooklyn on January 16, 1873. He graduated from Yale in 1814, was admitted to the bar in 1819, but abandoned his profession for the study of theology, graduating from Yale divinity school in 1825. In 1831 he became editor of the newly established “Evangelist”, which under his management became outspoken on the subjects of temperance and slavery. In 1937 he became editor of The Emancipator and was managing editor in 1848 of the New York Independent. Joshua Leavitt assisted the organization of the New York anti-slavery society, and was a member of its executive committee as well as the National anti-slavery society in which it was merged.

Though he lived miles away, Joshua Leavitt was close with his family. Editions of the Emancipator were regularly received by Joshua’s father and brothers in Charlemont by post riders delivery.⁹ He cared for his sister Clarissa, who suffered from a liver ailment in his home in New York, assisting her in obtaining the benefit of skilled medical attention.¹⁰ Joshua also wrote his family often, and wrote to his mother in 1939, “it is a long time, quite too long, since I wrote to you. With my brothers and sisters I have so many occasions for keeping up a correspondence, and that carries the news….” As Chloe’s funeral sermon attests, Joshua’s brothers were with him for the first Convention of the Anti-Slavery Society for the state of New York in Utica, which he had worked with Elizur Wright to organize. Attendance at the Utica Convention in October 1834 attested to the strength of the family’s convictions, as the risk of violence was clear. Earlier that year, in July, a mob damaged property of abolitionists and burned African churches – an event Joshua Leavitt and his family, whose New York home was endangered by the mobs, personally endured.¹¹ Following the New York and Utica riots, which shaped the convictions of the organizer, Joshua had a long conversation with his father about the overriding importance of abolitionism and had converted his mother and father fully to the cause.¹²

Later, in 1840, Joshua was a principal organizer of the Abolition party (the name was soon changed to the Liberty party)¹³. Again empathetic with his son’s position, father Roger Leavitt joined the cause and was nominated as an elector for president and chosen candidate for the office of lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts on the Abolitionist party ticket of 1840. Formation of the Abolitionist party marked a division of the anti-slavery movement into two camps: One camp continued to follow the principles put forth by William Lloyd Garrison, founder of the New England Anti-Slavery Society (formed in 1832). The Garrisonians continued to follow principles including a refusal to enter political activity.¹⁴ The new Abolitionist part sought to work within the political system, by backing candidates and delegates that could effect systemic change in favor of the abolition of slavery.

Unexpectedly while traveling with wife Chloe Maxwell just days after his nomination, Roger Leavitt died awaiting a stage in Salubria at the head of Lake Seneca¹⁵ Following his father’s death, Joshua wrote about the responsibility of the family to carry on his father’s convictions in their own actions. In a letter to brother Roger Hooker he wrote:

“Let it be our care, my dear brothers and sisters, “to follow him in all things where he followed Christ, to treasure up the bounty of his wisdom and to emulate the excellence of his example…Thus let us endeavor to bring upon our own children as far as possible, not to dishonor the good name which their departed grandfather has left as the best inheritance of his children.”

Hart Leavitt

Youngest brother Hart Leavitt (1808-1881) was an active participant in the abolitionist movement. Donations on public record received from Hart Leavitt include 5.00 collected in a meeting in Greenfield October 1938 of the Franklin County Anti-Slavery Society and 1dollar donation during the year 1839 to the Mass Anti-Slavery Society. Siebert’s history in the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society indicate Hart Leavitt received fugitives from a Hosea Blake in Ashfield to the south, as well as from stations in Whately and Greenfield. A letter written in response to a request for information sent by the historian from Charles Parsons, Conway, MA, dated December 3, 1895 states in part:

“in reply to your favor of Nov. 26^th would say That I have no direct information in the matter myself – and as far as I can learn the route of the “road” did not pass through this town – what little information I have given below-

1. Through Goshen, Ashfield, Charlemont –

Station Keepers – George Abell – Goshen

• Hosea Blake – Ashfield

• Hart Leavitt – Charlemont¹⁶

Parson’s letter also advises Mr. Seibert to “Write to Mrs. Willard Hillman – East Charlemont,” which was done. The letter of Mrs. Nan Hillman, East Charlemont, dated Dec. 30, 1895 begins:

“My father Hart Leavitt was born in Heath, Dec.19,1808. He was the son of Roger Leavitt, a whole souled Abolitionist, & did all he could to help the slaves to freedom, but I can give no incidents that will help you.”¹⁷

Another letter of Caroline P. Blake, daughter of George Abell of Goshen, June 4 no year which has been forwarded from Steve Strimer, a historian of the Underground Railroad in Florence, MA includes the following passage, again naming a Leavitt connection in Charlemont, assumed to be Hart:

“The fugitive slaves were cared for in our home and helped on their way. I was too young to remember all about what happened but it was always understood that a resting place was at Mr. Blakes’s and Mr. Leavit’s. This was carried on with the greatest of secrecy, because of the personal danger not only to the slave but also those who harbored them.”¹⁸

The town of Charlemont as a destination place concerning the conveyance of runaway slaves is noted again in the journal of Sylvester Judd in an entry dated June 1, 1838: “Gave 50 cents to aid in transporting runaway slaves to Charlemont.¹⁹

Siebert’s history in the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society indicate Hart Leavitt in East Charlemont, who received fugitives from a Hosea Blake in Ashfield to the south, as well as from stations in Whately and Greenfield. While our research has not indicated a specific time period when fugitives stayed at the site, a time period from 1840-1861 is indicated: Hart moved into the home just 1 mile west of brother Roger Hooker Leavitt with second wife Mary A. Sanderson Leavitt (1811-1869) in 1840, during time period of Basil Dorsey’s stay with Roger Hooker Leavitt. Siebert’s history indicates Hosea Blake passed fugitives to Hart Leavitt after receiving them from George Abell in Goshen, and references a letter (L.S. Abell, December 9, 1805) that notes Abell left Goshen in 1861.

According to Emily Leavitt Noyes family history, Hart Leavitt and first wife Mary (Miller) Leavitt had one daughter Mary Miller (born 1833). Hart and Mary (Sanderson) Leavitt together had 6 children, 3 of whom (Joseph Ware, born 1837, Roger born 1840, and Spencer Miller, born 1845) died young. Edward Hart (born 1838), Joshua (born 1842) and Charles Hooker (born 1850) all lived to adulthood and marriage. Mary died in 1869. The same year, Hart married a third time to Almira Hawkes. Hart died in 1881; Almira in 1889.

Basil Dorsey

The moral convictions of the Leavitt family and their contributions to the anti-slavery movement become real to our modern study through the story of Basil Dorsey and hims family. Basil Dorsey was defendant in one of the most notorious fugitive slave cases in History. Interviewed by Edward H. Magill late in his life, Robert Purvis, a contemporary of Joshua Leavitt, a prominent figure in the Underground Railroad and anti-slavery movement, recalled Basil Dorsey’s story from slavery to freedom as “the most interesting case of my long and eventful life.”²⁰

Basil Dorsey fled with his three brothers from Plantation Liberty, in Frederick County, Maryland, on May 14, 1836, where they had lived under the surname Costly (Basil Dorsey’s former name was Ephraim Costly) under master and assumed father Sabrick Sollers.²¹ The brothers claimed Sollers had promised their freedom upon his death, however, Sollers legitimate son Thomas Sollers refused to honor his father’s promise. The brothers escaped and found assistance from Robert Purvis of Philidelphia, one of the most celebrated conductors in the history of the Underground Railroad. Thomas, the youngest, decided to remain in Philadelphia. Robert Purvis transported brothers Charles, William and Basil to his farm in Bensalem, Bucks County, PA, where they all adopted the name Dorsey.²²

The name of Dorsey was known in the area Frederick County, Maryland where the Dorsey brothers had lived. An 856 acre piece of land called Howards Range, was once owned by a Capt. Basil Dorsey of Caleb. A Basil Dorsey Sr. owned property just east of Soller property in 1769. Additionally, the 1850 Frederick County, MD Census identified a free Negro man named Basil Dorsey (age 57) residing in the Liberty District of Frederick County with the Caroline Boose family.²³ It is assumed this Dorsey family provided the new names chosen by the brothers.

Eventually, the location of the brothers was found out, and Thomas Sollers engaged a slave hunter to reclaim his property. Thomas Dorsey was captured in Philadelphia, and taken to Baltimore. A group of abolitionists raised money for his freedom. A warrant for the arrest of the other 3 brothers was obtained from Judge Fox of Doylestown, PA. Charles and William Dorsey escaped from the county with Purvis’ brother, Joseph, to a conductor on the Underground Railroad in New Jersey. While plowing in a remote field on Purvis’ farm, Basil Dorsey was overtaken and handcuffed. Basil was jailed in Bristol; then brought to Doylestown for trial.²⁴

A prominent Philadelphia abolitionist lawyer David Paul Brown was hired by Robert Purvis to defend Basil Dorsey in the trial. Thomas Sollers offered to sell Basil Dorsey to Purvis. Basil refused to permit his friend and employer to participate in the bargaining by declaring, “If the decision goes against me, I will cut my throat in the court house, I will not go back to slavery.” On August 1, 1837 Judge Fox opened the hearing in a crowded courtroom. Paul Brown called on the claimant’s lawyer to prove that Maryland was a slave state. Sollers lawyer was unable to produce that proof, and Judge John Fox dismissed the case on the technicality. With horse and Buggy, Purvis quickly removed Basil Dorsey from outside of the courthouse amid hearty applause from a sympathetic crowd.²⁵

Several histories support that Joshua and Roger Hooker Leavitt worked together to secure freedom for Basil Dorsey and his family. The written recollections of Robert Purvis, indicate that directly following the trail in Doylestown, Purvis transported Basil to his mother’s house 26 miles away in Philadelphia, and then afterwards accompanied Basil Dorsey to New York and placed him in the hands of Joshua Leavitt who delivered him to New England.²⁶ More about the path of Basil Dorsey is provided in editions of the Northamton, Mass. paper the Hampshire Gazette. An article published February 15, 1902, reflects:

“His wife, who was a free woman, had joined him, but in consequence of his arrest he went to New York and there met Dr. David Ruggles, the founder of the water cure in Florence. Mr. Dorsey was sent to this city and he first stopped at the house of H.R. Starkweather, and after a day or two Capt. Samuel Parsons harnessed one of his horses and with one of his boys as a driver, (this was the “underground railroad”) took Mr. Dorsey to Charlemont and he resided in that town for five years.”

Both accounts make logical sense: David Ruggles was a peer to Joshua Leavitt in the anti-slavery movement in New York, and was on the staff of the Emancipator from 1833 till perhaps 1838 when he started his own paper, The Mirror of Liberty²⁷

An earlier article in the Hampshire Gazette, on Tuesday April 2, 1867 that provided a sketch on Basil Dorsey, made Capt. Samuel Parsons conveyance of Basil Dorsey more clear, stating Parsons “took Dorsey and carried him to Charlemont, where he was cared for by Dea. R.H. Leavitt; with whom he lived for about five years.”

It is not known precisely when Basil Dorsey and Louisa Dorsey and their children arrived at the home of Roger Hooker and Keziah Leavitt. Basil Dorsey arrived at in Charlemont sometime after the August 1837 trial and before August, 29,1838. Town records indicate Town records of Birth and Deaths indicate two of the Dorsey children, Eliza (born November 3, 1834) and John Richard (Born May 18, 1836), were born in Maryland, and that Louisa had a third child, Charles Robert (born Aug. 29, 1838) while in Charlemont.

Additional evidence of the Dorsey’s stay in Charlemont is indicated by an account of money of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in which is listed, “B. Dorsey 50c,” under contributions from Charlemont in 1839.

Town records indicate Louisa Dorsey died in Charlemont in November 7, 1838, and Keziah Osgood Leavitt on November 11 in that same year. An obituary for Mrs. Leavitt was notably large for its time and indicated a strongly religious woman “of no ordinary worth,” dedicated to raising her children “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” and “active in all the benevolent operations of the day. ²⁸ Roger Hooker Leavitt remarried Keziah’s sister Eliza Hunt of Heath on March, 11, 1839. Basil Dorsey, continued to live with Roger Hooker and Eliza Leavitt until 1844, when he moved with his children to Florence, where he lived until his death.²⁹

Joshua Leavitt’s continued concern for the welfare of Basil Dorsey was included in a letter he wrote to his brother Roger Hooker following the death (within days of one another) of Keziah Leavitt and Louisa Dorsey. The letter is dated November 22, 1838 and it responds to “the distressing intelligence of your severe bereavement”, told in a letter from sister Chloe that arrived as he was away on a trip to Providence and Boston. In addition to consoling his brother for his own loss, Joshua also wrote instruction for his brother’s continued care of Basil Dorsey in his loss, as well: “I feel for Mr. Dorsey in his bereavement and trust that you will do all that Christian benevolence requires in his care.”³⁰

Basil Dorsey remarried in 1850, and from that marriage had 11 children. Sometime after moving, with $150 contributed from friends in Florence and $50 of his own, Basil Dorsey purchased his freedom.³¹ He lived in Florence and worked as a teamster for 23 years. Known as conscientious worker and respected citizen, Basil Dorsey died in 1872.³²

Continuation of our study

While our study has revealed instances of the Leavitt family’s active involvement in the anti-slavery movement and the Underground Railroad, there are areas that have intrigued our study and for which we hope more will be revealed. Joshua Leavitt was a prolific writer. He wrote almost weekly to his family, and the family collection of Joshua Leavitt in the Library of Congress holds a significant number of his letters. However, for periods between 1829-38 and 1839-47, letters seem to be missing. The absence of letters from this time period is striking considering the level of activity that is indicated for this time period.

The Leavitt Family letters in the Library of Congress collection are intriguing. Several of the letters from Joshua Leavitt to his family request the delivery of butter, cheese and pork to his family and others, or comment on the quality of the delivery and the product. While interpretation can’t confirm anything out of the ordinary in these requests, they seem extraordinary in terms of both amount requested and the cargo. Until more can be revealed about the meaning of these requests, they can only be interpreted on face value, but we are interested in learning if there may be double meaning in their regard.

In addition to learning more about the Leavitt family, we are also interested in learning more about Basil Dorsey and his time in Florence and possible involvement in the Underground Railroad. We have already learned much from local historian Steve Strimer about the Underground Railroad in Florence. As a teamster, Basil Dorsey traveled to “Boston, Providence and other Cities”. In those travels could he have assisted freedom seekers as he himself had been assisted by the Leavitts and others? More is to be revealed. Another interesting lead we have received from Carl Yates, Director of the Pan African Historical Museum in Springfield, Massachusetts - apparently two of Basil’s brothers, Charles and William, are identified in the 1855 State Census for Springfield, Massachusetts. In the meantime, we are thankful for the associations and networks that this inquiry has introduced, and we look forward to continued study and revelation of the network to freedom as it truly existed in our region, and helped to change our nation.

History of the Building

The Roger Hooker and Keziah Leavitt House was built as a tavern by Consider Scott with bricks made in Charlemont around 1818. The building served as a Poor House for the Town of Charlemont for 5 years from 1824 to 1929. Roger Hooker Leavitt, from Heath, may have come to know the building through his work as a surveyor. The building became home to he and wife and Keziah Osgood Leavitt in 1835. In later years, the site was for many years an agricultural farm, owned by the Burrington family; then an antique car museum, run by Stanley Goddard; and later the Charlemont Bible Church and church school. The building was purchased in 1988 by the Academy at Charlemont, who currently own and maintain the building. At the present time, the building is not used. An 1868 photo of the building shows an addition at the back of the building, assumed not to have been original to the building that was torn down also at some unknown date. Most of the building’s original features are in tact.

Bibliography.

Siebert, Wilbur H. The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom. London: Macmillan and Co.,1898.

Siebert, Wilbur H. The Underground Railroad in Massachusetts. Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, New Series, Vol. 45, April 17, 1935 -October 10, 1935, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, MA, 1936.

Davis, Hugh, Joshua Leavitt, Evangelical Abolitionist, Louisiana State University Press, 1990.

Smedley, R.C., History of the Underground Railroad in Chester and the Neighboring Counties of Pennsylvania, Office of the Journal, Lancaster, PA 1883.

Blocksen, Charles. The Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania. Flame International Publisher, 1981.

Healy, Allan. Charlemont Massachusetts: Frontier Village and Hilltown. Paideia Publishers, Ashifield, MA, 1986.

History of the Connecticut Valley, Vol II. Prominent Men and Pioneers. J.B. Lippincott and Company, Philadelphia, 1879

“Account of Money received into the treasury of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, During the Year 1839. Eleventh Annual Report, Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, January 25, 1843. Henry N. Flynt Library, Historic Deerfield, Inc.

Collection of New York City Newspapers, Memorial Libraries, Historic Deerfield, MA Vo. 61.

Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, New Series, Vol. 45, April 17, 1935-October 16,1935, Worcester, MA, 1936.

Sixth Annual Report of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, Presented January 24, 1838. Samuel J. May anti-Slavery Pamphlet Collection.

Seventh Annual Report of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, Presented January 24, 1838. Samuel J. May anti-Slavery Pamphlet Collection.

Leavitt, Joshua Family Papers 1812-1901 MMC0893, Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Washington, DC.

Noyes, Emily Leavitt. Leavitt: Descendents of John Leavitt, the Immigrant Through his son, Josiah, and Margaret Johnson, Volume III. Tilton, N.H., 1949

Roger Hooker Leavitt notebook, history compiled by Roger Leavitt, Cedar Falls, Iowa – grandson of Roger Hooker Leavitt, Collection of Roger E.Leavitt, Marcus IA.

Charlemont Town Hall. Book of Births and Deaths Vital Records of Charlemont, Massachusetts to the year 1850.

Daily Hampshire Gazette, Number 36, Vol. LXXXI, Sketch of Basil Dorsey, April 2, 1867

Gazette and Mercury, Greenfield, Vo. 7, No. 597, November 27, 1838

The Colored American (NY), September 2, 1837. (From the National Enquirer). Slave Case in Bucks County. Buckingham, 8^th mo. 1^st, 1837 (reference from Steve Strimer)

Porter, Dorothy. “The Anti-Slavery Movement in Northampton.” Forbes Library, stamped Dec 20, 1954 (not documented with referral service)

Way, Jeff. “Anti Slavery Agitation in Franklin County.” Kenyon College, 1963, Collection of Historic Deerfield, Deerfield, MA

Appleton’s Cylopedia of American Biography, edited by James Grant Wilson and John Fiske, Six Volumes, New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1887-1889.

Black Families in Hampden County, Massachusetts, 1650-1855, Josheph Carvalho III, New England Historic Genealogical Society and Institute for Massachusetts Studies, Westfield State College, 1984.

Tracey Map and Bond Map of Part of the North Eastern Section of Frederick County, Maryland Showing original land grants and the Approximate Locations thereon of the Colonial Housing Standing, H. Hanford Hopkin, with help, 1986. Collection of Historical Society of Frederick County, MD.

1850 Frederick County, MD Census. Collection of Historical Society of Frederick County, MD.

We are also grateful for information received from local historians, committed to the study of the Underground Railroad in the region, including

Steve Strimer, Historian of the Underground Railroad in Florence, and Minister Carl Yates, Director of the Pan African Historical Museum in Springfield, and Members of the Leavitt Family for sharing their family documents and oral history of the Leavitt family.

Notes:

1 The History of the Connecticut Valley, Vol. II, Prominent Men and Pioneers, J.B. Lippencot and Co, Philadelphia, 1879

2 6^th and 7^th Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Mass. Anti-Slavery Society, Presented January 1838 and 1839

3 Roger Hooker Leavitt notebook history compiled by Roger Leavitt, Cedar Fall, Iowa – grandson of Roger Hooker Leavitt

4 Roger Hooker Leavitt notebook history compiled by Roger Leavitt, Cedar Falls, Iowa – grandson of Roger Hooker Leavitt, Collection of Roger E.Leavitt, Marcus IA.

5 Roger Hooker Leavitt notebook, history compiled by Roger Leavitt, Cedar Falls, Iowa – grandson of Roger Hooker Leavitt, Collection of Roger E.Leavitt, Marcus IA.

6 Library of Congress, Joshua Leavitt Family Papers, MMC-0893

7 Way, Jeff, Anti-Slavery Agitation in Franklin County, Kenyon College, 1963 , Collection of Historic Deerfield

8 Roger Hooker Leavitt notebook, history compiled by Roger Leavitt, Cedar Falls, Iowa – grandson of Roger Hooker Leavitt, Collection of Roger E.Leavitt, Marcus IA.

9 Collection of New York City Newspapers, Memorial Libraries, Historic Deerfield, MA Vo. 61.

10 Library of Congress, Joshua Leavitt Family Papers, MMC-0893

11 Library of Congress, Joshua Leavitt Family Papers, MMC-0893

12 Davis, Hugh, Joshua Leavitt, Evangelical Abolitionist, Louisiana State University Press, 1990.

13 Davis, Hugh, Joshua Leavitt, Evangelical Abolitionist, Louisiana State University Press, 1990.

14 Jeff Way “Anti Slavery Agitation in Franklin County, 1963 (p. 6) Collection of Historic Deerfield

15 Roger Hooker Leavitt notebook, history compiled by Roger Leavitt, Cedar Falls, Iowa – grandson of Roger Hooker Leavitt, Collection of Roger E.Leavitt, Marcus IA.

16 Wilbur H. Siebert Collection (MSS 116), Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio.

17 Wilbur H. Siebert Collection (MSS 116), Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio.

18 Wilbur H. Siebert Collection (MSS 116), Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio.

19 Judd, Sylvester; Notebook, Number 1, June 1833-June 1841, page 201

20 Magill, Edward H. The Underground Railroad, Friends Intellegencer 55 (1989): based on a lecture delivered to the Bucks County Historical Society and later published in a more complete version as “When Men Were Sold, Reminiscences of the Underground Railroad in Bucks County and Its Managers.

21 Bill of Sale for Basil Dorsey, Friends Intelligencer 55 (4 Mo. 16, 1898): 276-7.

22 Magill, Edward H. The Underground Railroad, Friends Intellegencer 55 (1989): based on a lecture delivered to the Bucks County Historical Society and later published in a more complete version as “When Men Were Sold, Reminiscences of the Underground Railroad in Bucks County and Its Managers.

23 Tracey Map and Bond Map of Part of the North Eastern Section of Frederick County, Maryland Showing original land grants and the Approximate Locations thereon of the Colonial Housing Standing, H. Hanford Hopkin, with help, 1986. 1850 Frederick County, MD Census. Collection of Historical Society of Frederick County, MD.

24 Magill, Edward H. The Underground Railroad, Friends Intellegencer 55 (1989): based on a lecture delivered to the Bucks County Historical Society and later published in a more complete version as “When Men Were Sold, Reminiscences of the Underground Railroad in Bucks County and Its Managers.

25 Magill, Edward H. The Underground Railroad, Friends Intellegencer 55 (1989): based on a lecture delivered to the Bucks County Historical Society and later published in a more complete version as “When Men Were Sold, Reminiscences of the Underground Railroad in Bucks County and Its Managers.

26 Smedley, R.C., History of the Underground Railroad in Chester and the Neighboring Counties of Pennsylvania, Office of the Journal, Lancaster, PA 1883.

27 Work of Steve Strimer, study of History of Underground Railroad in Florence, Mass

28 Gazette and Mercury, Greenfield, Vo. 7, No. 597, November 27, 1838

29 Hampshire Gazette, Vol. LXXXI, Number 36, April 2, 1867 sketch of Basil Dorsey

30 Library of Congress, Joshua Leavitt Family Papers, MMC-0893

31 Magill, Edward H. The Underground Railroad, Friends Intellegencer 55 (1989): based on a lecture delivered to the Bucks County Historical Society and later published in a more complete version as “When Men Were Sold, Reminiscences of the Underground Railroad in Bucks County and Its Managers.

32 Hampshire Gazette, Vol. LXXXI, Number 36, April 2, 1867 sketch of Basil Dorsey

The Case of Basil Dorsey, 1837¹

I come now to an important case which Robert Purvis was closely identified, several details of which I head at different times from John S. Brown and Henry M. Twining and others. Feeling the importance of having these details properly connected, that I might present a clear statement of the whole case, I have had two very satisfactory interviews with Robert Purvis at his home in Philadelphia during the past three weeks. He is now past eighty-five years of age, and quite feeble, his memory of recent events (not those of his earlier life) showing the effect of age. He received me most cordially, with all the grace and dignified courtesy for which he was so notably distinguished in early life, and at the close of each interview of more than [an] hour, he dismissed me with the same dignified and gracious manner, begging me to call at any time he could render me the least service upon any subject. In this account of the case that especially called me to his house, he fully confirmed all that my other friends had said, and added some important points. The case as he gave it to me is substantially as follows:

He said that he was living in Bensalem about the year 1837. He had then living with him a most excellent and faithful colored man named Basil Dorsey, who had been with him about two years.² At this time Dorsey was visited by a brother-in-law of his wife, from the state of Maryland, whence he came. This brother-in-law, for some reason, became jealous of Dorsey in his happy home, and betrayed Dorsey and his three brothers to his master, from whom he had escaped in 1836. The master (their reputed father), aided by a notorious slave-catcher, came to Philadelphia and arrested Thomas, one of the brothers, and hurried him away to slavery, from which he was soon redeemed by his friends by the payment of $1000. Some after the arrest of Thomas these men secured the aid of a constable from Bristol, and obtained warrants from Judge Fox, of Doylestown, for the arrest of the remaining three brothers. Two escaped them, and were taken by night to Robert Purvis’s brother, Joseph, to a friend’s house forty miles distant, in New Jersey, whence they were forwarded to Canada. Basil alone remained, and the slave-hunters came upon him toward evening, as he was plowing at a distant point on Robert Purvis’s farm.

Word came quickly to Mr. Purvis, brought by the son of a neighboring farmer, of the attempt to capture and handcuff Dorsey, and he hastened to the spot, where he learned that they had already started to Bristol with their prey. Robert immediately had his fleetest horse harnessed and made pursuit, reaching Bristol as they were locking up Dorsey in a cell where criminals were confined. He remonstrated, and addressed a crowd who assembled, telling them of the outrage and warmly enlisting their sympathy. The master informed him that they would go to Doylestown the next morning, and bring the case before Judge Fox. In the morning, taking Dorsey’s wife and two young children, Mr. Purvis drove to Doylestown, and employed as counsel Thomas Ross, one of the ablest lawyers then at this Bar. When the case came up the judge was deeply moved—for, said Purvis recently, as he told me the story, “He was a man with human feelings, if he was a judge” – and the forlorn condition of the hand-cuffed, dejected prisoner, and the tears of his young wife and their two children, moved every heart to pity; and to gain time, and make provision for the best possible defense, and for other reasons which appeared later, (but not before the court); -- the lawyer for the defense succeeded in putting the case off for two weeks, and the hand-cuffed prisoner was remanded to a cell. These two weeks were well used by Purvis and his friends. The colored people were thoroughly aroused, and preparations were made for a forcible rescue if the case went against Dorsey.

As the time for trial approached, Purvis drove to Philadelphia, and called on the best criminal lawyer at the bar in those days, David Paul Brown. He stated the case in a few words, and offered Brown a fee of $50 if he would come to Doylestown and defend Dorsey. To this Mr. Brown replied, almost indignantly, that he had never charged a dollar for defending a slave, and never would, but that he would gladly come to Doylestown and take the case as requested. At the end of two weeks the case came on here before Judge Fox, and a young and rising lawyer of this bar as the claimant’s counsel. Mr. Brown was promptly on hand for the defendant. Although it was against the principle of the Abolitionists to pay for a slave, the great sympathy felt for Dorsey, and the fear of losing the case, had caused two attempts to be made to purchase him. The master asked $500; when the sum was offered by his friends he raised the price to $800; and that being also offered, he demanded $1000. “No,” said Dorsey, when consulted, “Do not pay it. I am prepared to take my life in court, if the case goes against me, for I will never go back to slavery.” Mr. Purvis said to me last week that he could not but commend the man for his brave resolution—and the case came on. The prosecuting attorney made a clear statement of the claim, presenting the bill of sale, and the necessary evidences of the legality of the demand of the master. Robert Purvis felt, as he listened to his plea, and considered the interpretation of the law was then almost invariably favorable to the slave holder, that Dorsey’s fate was practically sealed, unless the forcible rescue, contemplated and prepared for, was resorted to, upon which hundreds of well-prepared colored men were resolved, but which they wished to use only as a last resort.

At this moment David Paul Brown arose, and his erect and stalwart form, and dignified and earnest manner, at once arrested the attention of the crowded court. He began by admitting the force of the arguments which the claimant’s counsel had adduced, saying, “Unfortunately, by the law of this boasted land of freedom, the right of one man to claim another as his chattel slave in many of our states is unquestioned: and even in the States called free the slave owner from another State is permitted by the laws to seek his flying fugitive wherever he can be found; thus practically making these Northern States a free hunting ground for the master seeking his fleeing bondmen.” At this point he paused, and the anxiety of the friends of the fugitive on hearing this admission may be imagined. When Mr. Brown suddenly drew himself up to his full height, raised his forefinger, pointing most earnestly to the opposing counsel, and continued, in his most impressive and deliberate manner: “Thus far I admit the force of the argument of the claimant’s counsel, but there is one fatal flaw in the indictment and upon that I take my stand. This is a land of law; this is a court of law; and nothing can be decided in this court but under the strict sanction of law. Am I not right? The judge, apparently moved by the manner of Mr. Brown, bowed assent. Mr. Brown proceeded: “The opposing counsel has made a clear case for his client, except in one important point: he has not shown by proper evidence that, under the laws of Maryland, a man may be held as a slave, and now showing this his case goes by default.” “But,: exclaimed the young prosecuting attorney, “Maryland is a slave State. Everybody knows that Maryland is a slave State.” “Everybody is nobody,” thundered Mr. Brown; “common report does not pass before a court of justice. You must prove it by the proper documents. The right to hold a fellowman a slave is too important a right to rest on any but the most direct and substantial evidence.” Here the young attorney stepped out and quickly brought a copy of the laws of Maryland, which Mr. Brown, after a glance at the title page, returned, saying that it was not a properly certified copy. The young attorney then begged for a brief delay that the proof demanded could be secured. But Mr. Brown was unrelenting, and demanded the dismissal of the case for want of proper proof on this point. The Judge, who had been deeply moved by the plea of Mr. Brown and his earnest manner, grew more and more uneasy in his seat, and the whole feeling of the court and of the assembly was now evidently on the side of mercy. At this juncture the Judge arose and said suddenly: “The case is dismissed!” Instantly Robert Purvis was at the elbow of Dorsey, leading him toward the door. A crowd of sympathizers rushed out with them and were just in time to see Purvis and Dorsey in a light carriage, behind a fleet horse, disappear down Academy Lane. So far as it appears that was Basil Dorsey’s last visit to Doylestown. They drove rapidly to Philadelphia where Robert Purvis left Dorsey at his mother’s, telling her to ask no questions and keep him well concealed. Soon after he took him on to New York, where he was taken care of by good friends of the slave, and later was joined by his wife and children in New England.

Twenty-five years after, during the war that ended slavery, the door bell of Robert Purvis in Philadelphia was rung, and a young colored man, of refined appearances and bearing, was ushered into his parlor. When Mr. Purvis came in he rose and said: “Is this Robert Purvis?” When told that it was, he said: “My name is Robert Purvis Dorsey. You saved my father twenty-five years ago, and he has always told me that I must find your house first whenever I came to Philadelphia.”

When Mr. Purvis first told me this story, about three weeks ago, he was deeply affected, and seemed to dwell on some parts of it, repeating them over and over before he would let me go. He also added that a few years after the war he visited Basil Dorsey and his family, and found Mr. Dorsey a well-to-do citizen, with an interesting wife and number of children, all of whom had received or were receiving a good education. “The whole case of Basil Dorsey,” said Mr. Purvis, “I have always considered the most interesting case of my long and eventful life.”

Wishing to know something of the later life of this hunted fugitive, I made inquiry in different directions, but seemed to find no clue, when a few days ago I happened to speak of the case to Elizabeth Powell Bond, Dean of Swarthmore College. “Why, “she exclaimed, “I was present and spoke at the funeral of Basil Dorsey in 1872!” After a brief search she found among her papers the printed report of her discourse on the occasion, and in it I found printed the bill of sale of Basil Dorsey, executed in 1851, soon after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law. He was then in business at Florence, Mass., and often called to business in Boston and elsewhere, and his numerous friends feared that under the new law his liberty, even in Massachusetts, might again be imperiled. So they made up the sum of $150, rather than incur the risk of his recapture in those troubled years, and received from the master this bill of slave. I have it carefully copied and deposited among your mementoes of those dark days now happily passed, as I would deposit a slave driver’s whip, manacles, iron collars, or any other relic of the barbarous system of slavery, for, in the language of Mrs. Bond: “It is of historic value; as really a relic of barbarism as the instruments of torture by which the slave drivers maintained their authority.” ³

Among the hundreds of cases of fugitive slaves who have passed through Bucks county, according to the testimony of eye witnesses, and especially by the careful records of Richard Moore, many more might be verified through investigation, before the last of those engaged in the Underground work have passed on to higher life. But these few may suffice as type cases, illustrative of the sufferings endured and the dangers bravely dared by this oppressed and long suffering race. Let us rejoice that, in the wise ordering of Divine Providence, this dark stain upon our National escutcheon is at last removed, and that our beloved country may now proudly take her place in the vanguard of the world’s onward march.

THE BILL OF SALE FOR BASIL DORSEY.⁴

Know all many by these presents, That I, Thomas E. Sollers, of Frederick County and State of Maryland, for an in consideration of the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars lawful money of the United States, in hand paid by George Griscom, of the city of Philadelphia, in the state of Pennsylvania, attorney at law, at or before the sealing and delivery of these presents, the receipt whereof is acknowledged: Have granted, bargained, and sold, and by these presents do grant, bargain, and sell, unto the said George Griscom, his executors, administrators, and assigns, one mulatto man, named Ephraim Costly, otherwise and now called Basil Dorsey, aged about forty-three years, a slave for life. [The said Ephraim Costly, otherwise and now called Basil Dorsey, as aforesaid, having been born a slave for life of Sabrick Sollers, late of said Frederick County, in the State of Maryland, and raised by the said Sabrick Sollers, and owned by him as such slave for life until the decease of said Sabrick Sollers, after which he became the property of, as such slave for life, of the said Thomas E. Sollers, (who is a son and one of the heirs at law of said Sabrick Sollers, deceased,) and is now a fugitive from service from said State of Maryland.]

To have and to hold the said described Mulatto man named Ephraim Costly, otherwise and now called Basil Dorsey, a slave for life as aforesaid to the said George Griscom, his executors, administrators, and assigns forever, and he the said Thomas E. Sollers, for himself, his heirs, executors, and administrators, the said Mulatto man Ephraim Costly, otherwise Basil Dorsey, unto the said George Griscom, his executors, administrators, and assigns, and against him the said Thomas E. Sollers, his executors and administrators, and against all and every other person or persons whatsoever, shall and will warrant and forever defend by these presents.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this fourteenth day of May, eight hundred and fifty-one. Signed, sealed, and delivered.

Thomas E. Sollers, [seal]

In the presence of

16. Gorsuch.

State of Maryland,}

City of Baltimore.} S.S.

Be it remembered, That on this fourteenth day of May, 1851, before the subscriber, a Justice of the Peace for said, appears Thos. E. Sollers and acknowledges the above instrument of writing to be his act and deed, according to the true intent and meaning thereof, and also at the same time personally appeared George Griscom and made oath upon the Holy Evangels of Almighty God that the consideration set forth therein is true and bona fide as set forth. P. Gorsuch.

1 The text of the Magill speech dates the incident as 1838. This date is in error and here amended to 1837. The details of the Dorsey trial, as related by Purvis to Magill, largely conform to contemporary accounts by “W.H.J.” published as letters in the National Enquirer in July and August 1837.

2 For another version of the Dorsey Case, see R.C. Smeadly, History of the Underground Railroad in Chester and the Neighboring Counties of Pennsylvania (Lancaster, PA: The Journal, 1883): 356-61.

3 Elizabeth Powell Bond (1841-1926), sister of Aaron M. Powell. In 1872, she in Northampton, Massachusetts and one of the leaders of the Free Congregational Society. See Emily Cooper Johnson, Dean Bond of Swarthmore A Quaker Humanist (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, nd), and the Elizabeth Powell Bond Papers at Friends Historical Library, Swarthmore College). No copy of the “printed report of her discourse” has been located.

4 Friends Intelligencer 55 (4 Mo. 2, 1898): 245.