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Routes Cayuga County New York U.G.R.R. Hotsaots 11779 Maas Of Gen. Sullivan's March from. Easton Related Links Sennett Federated Church History Website Early History Of Friends'V�ebsite Report On The Life And Activities Of Reverend William Ho_smer (PDF File) Clicking on any link above that is followed by an "Asterisk ('-)" signifies that you will be leaving the Cayuga County N.Y. Historian's Office Web Site. The Cayuga County NY government is not responsible for the web site content and has no control over content of web sites or information not located on the County servers The Cavuca County NY Historians Office is the repository for the entire study and d materials are available there. Please E -Mail comments about this report website to the Cayuga County NY Historian's Office Links To Other Cayuga County NY Historian's Office Websites County Historian's Office Homemae 11 Books/Postcards & Gifts For Sale 11 Cavuaa Countv History Countv Government Hornepaae 11 County Historian's Newsletter II DAR Rededication Of Grave At Sherwood Directions & Maps To Our Office 11 Early History Of Friends 11 Events Scrapbook 11 Family Files Genealoav Research Reauests 111908 Letter From Emilv Howland To Miss Putnam 11 Local History Book Collection 11 Local Newspaper Collection 11 Newspaper Collections On Microfilm Now & Then Series 11 Record Of Slaves In Sciaio NY 1801-1837 11 Research Resources Sennett Federated Church. History Trial. Of William Freeman, Undercround Railroad` Abolitionism & African American Links Vital. Records Research 11 Who, What, Where, When The Report Is Subject To copyright ® 2005 Judith weliman Updated: 01/30/2006 ,.l http://Www.co.cayuga.ny.us/history/ugrr/report/index.html 8/18/2008 I. The Project The Project Results This survey uncovered more than one hundred sites relating to the Underground Railroad Abolitionism, and African American Life in Auburn and Cayuga County. These are all listed here, with photographs, locations, and descriptions. These descriptions are thoroughly documented and are immediately ready for planning documents, tour brochures, exhibit captions, - - curriculum units, websites, or a variety of other uses. Much of the research for these site descriptions was generated by Sheila Tucker, Tanya Warren, Peter Wisbey, Jane Simkin, Michael Riley, Sheila Edmunds, Bradley Mitchell, Carrie Barrett, Kate Clifford Larson, Christopher Densmore, and other researchers throughout the city, county, and nation. We have also included a historic context statement, "Friends of Freedom in Auburn and Cayuga County," to give a sense of how these sites fit into the larger story. Unless otherwise noted, Judith Wellman, Project Coordinator, took all photographs did all the writing for this report. All of this work has relied on a wide variety of sources, including census records (especially names of African Americans listed in the census); printed local histories; William Still's Underground Railroad, online through Quinnipiac University; manuscripts (especially the Gerrit Smith Papers at Syracuse University, Seward Papers at the Seward House and the University of Rochester; Talcott Papers at the University of Rochester; Liberator subscription lists at the Boston Public Library; antislavery petitions from the National Archives; Martha Wright Papers at Smith College; Quaker meeting records at Friends Historical Library, Swarthmore College; African American newspapers online through Accessible Archives; and extensive secondary materials. More work in the voluminous Howland Family Papers at Cornell and Swarthmore would be richly rewarding, but we simply did not have time to do this for this survey. To identify accurately specific buildings with their owners and/or residents, we undertook extensive research in property records, including deeds, mortgages, assessment records, city directories, maps, and wills. This proved especially important in Auburn, where changes in house numbers occurred several times over many decades. The Image -mate property database from the Cayuga County Real Property Office was invaluable, as were the property files in the Cayuga County Clerk's Office, Historian's Office, and Records Retention Office. To help continue this research process, research material from this project will be available on the -- web, with the help of Bernard Corcoran, through GenWeb and the Cayuga County Historian's Office. Hard copies of much of this material are also available in the Cayuga County Historian's Office, the Tubman Home, the Seward Home, Seymour Library, the Cayuga Museum, the Howland Stone Store, and Hazard Library. Results of the survey included reports on the Abijah Fitch house (by Tanya Warren), William Hosmer (by Joni Lincoln), and several databases compiled by Tanya Warren from research done by many people across the county: 1) "African Americans in Cayuga County Census Records, 1820-1840, " which includes the names of 109 African Americans listed in the 1820, 1830, and 1840 censuses; _ 2) "African Americans in Cayuga County Census Records, 1850, 1855, 1860, 1865, 1870," which includes the names of 2459 African American listed in federal and state census records in those years; Sites Relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, African American Life Sponsored by Auburn historic Resources Review Board Cayuga County Historian's Office Funded by Preserve New York (Preservation League of NYS and NYS Council on the Arts) Coordinated by Historical New York Research Associates 2004-05 I. The Project 3) "Freedom Seekers, Abolitionists, and Underground Railroad Facilitators, Cayuga Co., New York," which includes the names of 692 people most likely to have been involved in the Underground Railroad movements, as identified from a variety of sources; 4) "African Americans in Auburn, 1880," with names of 393 African Americans who lived in Auburn in 1880; and 5) "Sites Relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, and African American Life in Auburn, New York, from City Directories, 1929 Census by Gladys Bryant, and Cayuga County Image -Mate Real Property Data." Sheila Tucker, Cayuga County Historian, has also put much material relating especially to the Quakers of Cayuga County on the web. With the help of many, many people throughout the county, this project has also produced several nominations to the National Park Service's Network to Freedom, including the Hannah and Herman Phillips house in Sherwood, New York, built in 1856 by freedom seekers who came from Maryland in 1843; the Cayuga County Historian's Office, as a research site; Seymour Library as a research site; the Cayuga County Courthouse as the site of the first trials for those who helped rescue William "Jerry" Henry in October 1851; Howland Stone Store Museum, Sherwood; and the site of the Martha and David Wright house, a documented Underground Railroad site. In addition, Peter Wisbey nominated the Seward Home to the Network to Freedom as a documented Underground Railroad site. We also nominated seven sites to the National Register of Historic Places: 1) the Belt -Gaskin House, 77 Chapman Avenue, Auburn, built in 1868, home of freedom seekers from Maryland; 2) Sennett Federated Church and parsonage, Sennett, documented Underground Railroad site, 3) Howland House, Sherwood, extraordinarily well-documented Underground Railroad site; 4), North Street Friends Meetinghouse (Brick Meetinghouse), Sherwood, "a storm center of reform'; 5) Hosmer House, Auburn, home of Methodist abolitionist editor, author; and UGRR supporter William Hosmer; 6) Huntington House, Auburn, representing the importance of Auburn Theological Seminary as an abolitionist and UGRR center; 7) Bogart House, Auburn, home of Harriet and Nicholas Bogart, African Americans who worked for the Sewards for 50 years. Nicholas Bogart was "one of the most important men in the state during slavery times," according to his obituary. Four of these (Belt -Gaskin House, Sennett Church, Howland House, North Street Friends Meetinghouse) have already been accepted by the State Board. We nominated these sites under the draft Multiple Property Document written by Milton Sennett and Judith Wellman, "Historic Sites Related to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, and African Life in -Central New York, 1820-1870." A copy of this document is available on the web at the Oswego County Underground Railroad site. We also nominated the Sennett Federated Church to New York State's Underground Railroad Heritage Trail. We have also held eight public meetings for this project (seven in Auburn--Tubman Home (2), City Hall (3), Seward House, Willard Chapel) and one in Sherwood, with about twenty-five people at each meeting --and delicious refreshments, reports from volunteers, lots of handouts, and Powerpoint presentations at each one. We have two more scheduled for September and October (including one at the national Association for African American Association for History and Life in Buffalo) and one in early February at Cayuga Community College. Weare -also Sites Relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, African American Life Sponsored by Auburn historic Resources Review Board Cayuga County Historian's Office Funded by Preserve New York (Preservation League of NYS and NYS Council on the Arts) Coordinated by Historical New York Research Associates 2004-05 L The Project keeping in touch with the Maryland Council on Business and Economic Development, which is working Tubman exhibits and trails there, so that they can loop Tubman sites in Auburn into their planning. These buildings speak to us. As we learn to listen, we can begin our own conversations with people they represent—with Harriet Tubman and her brothers and nieces and nephews and friends, with William and Frances Seward and Lizette Worden, with Morgan Freeman and Nicholas and Harriet Bogart, with William O. Duvall and Slocum Howland and Emily Howland, with William Hosmer and Martha Wright and William Henry Stewart, with Charles and Mary Griffen and Hannah and Herman Phillips, and with all those hundreds of others who devoted their lives to the fight against slavery, who worked for freedom and equal rights for all citizens. And so we can begin a discussion about the way we see ourselves and our relationship to each other, to the land and buildings that sustain us, and to the future. A few of the buildings we have discovered are architecturally significant as well as historically important. The Abijah Fitch house at 197 Genesee Street in Auburn and the North Street Friends Meetinghouse, often called the Brick Meetinghouse, on the Sherwood -Aurora Load in the Town of Ledyard are two examples. Most of the structures we have discovered, however, are modest, - from the Charles and Sally Shorter house in Cayuga Village (home of an African American couple born in slavery in Maryland and the West Indies who survived to live in freedom as property owners along the Seneca Turnpike) to the Slocum and Hannah Howland house in - Sherwood (center of Underground Railroad activityin central Cayuga County). These buildings are architecturally simple, but they are extremely significant historically for their connection to the Underground Railroad, abolitionism, or African American life. We found so many sites in Auburn and Cayuga County in part because these themes were extremely important here. These sites also survived in large numbers in this area because most of the county escaped major rebuilding, such as urban renewal. Except for tenant houses, which are often lost, much of the built environment continues to be economically useful. We also experienced major disappointments at what had been lost. Among these were the Martha and David Wright house at 192 Genesee Street, torn down about 1880; the first AME Zion Church on Washington Street; the Underwood House, where Mary and William Kiah-Williams found refuge and where the Cayuga County Courthouse currently stands; the houses where Jane Clark and her brother Henry Lemons lived and worked (Jane Clark's autobiography recounting her life in slavery and freedom, held at the Cayuga Museum, remains one of the most detailed stories of freedom seekers in Auburn); Abijah Fitch's last house, at 216 Genesee Street; the -- Jarrod house on North Street; the Methodist Church where Frederick Douglass spoke in Port Byron; so many churches and public sites in downtown Auburn; and any site remaining for Nathan Marble, Archibald Green, or Cassandra Hamlin in Port Byron. This survey turned out to be far, far larger than any of us realized when we first began. We expect, if we had more time, we would find several more sites, so we hope that people will consider this survey a very substantial beginning, but not an end. Sites Relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, African American Life Sponsored by Auburn Historic Resources Review Board _ Cayuga County Historian's Office Funded by Preserve New York (Preservation League of NYS and NYS Council on the Arts) Coordinated by Historical New York Research Associates 2004-05 4 Recommendations 1. The Project Buildings do not stand in isolation. Always, they need human assistance. What can be done to maintain these sites and to promote further research, interpretation, and interest in these sites? People might want to consider several options: General 1. Website. One result of this survey will be a website with information produced by this work. This can be expanded, as new information emerges. 2. Exhibit. The Cayuga Museum has indicated an interest in such an exhibit. 3. Tour brochures. These might be driving tours of city or county sites, with maps. 4. Signs. To put signs in front of every building identified in this survey would be to litter the landscape with markers, but it might be feasible to mark particularly important sites (such as the site of the original AME Zion church on Washington Street or the site of Morgan and Catherine Freeman's home, a key UGRR site in Auburn for 29 years, behind the County Building on Genesee Street) or to put one major marker with a map to identify important sites "throughout the city. _ 5. Curriculum units. These will be particularly important, as a way to introduce children — (and thus their parents) to their local stories. 6. Oral histories. Because this project focused on the underground Railroad, Abolitionism, and African American Life from 1820-1870, it touched only — peripherally on the equally important history of the African American community in Auburn from 1870 to the present. Many descendents of those who came to Auburn before 1870 still live in this community. Their stories are just as important as those we emphasized here. 7. Plays/talks/dances/movies/etc.! Historic Preservation 1. National Register of Historic Places. Sites can be nominated based on their historic importance, their association with an important person, their architectural significance, or their usefulness in generating evidence. Sites can be nominated individually or as historic districts. We have nominated seven sites as a result of this survey, all for their historic importance: the Sennett Federated Church, Belt -Gaskin House, Howland House, North Street Friends Meetinghouse, Bogart House, Hosmer House, and Huntington House. Several more could be nominated, including: a. Elliot -Stewart House -31 Richardson Avenue; b. William Henry Stewart, Jr, House -64 Garrow Street; c. Charles and Mary Griffen House -58 Garrow Street -if this can be identified as the original house and not a replacement in the 19 -teens; d. Hornbeck houses -38 and 40 Jefferson Street; e. Hart House, Union Springs (if it can be positively identified); f. Cooper -Cromwell House, Aurora (unless it is already listed on the Register as part of the Aurora Village Historic District) g. William O. Duvall house and tenant house, Port Byron; It. Port Byron Hotel, both for its association with African American life and for its architectural merit; Sites Relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, African American Life Sponsored by Auburn Historic Resources Review $oard Cayuga County Historian's Office Funded by Preserve New York (Preservation League of NYS and NYS Council on the Arts) Coordinated by Historical New York Research Associates 2004-05 L The Project 5 i. Aibjah Fitch House, as a home associated with an abolitionist and Underground Railroad supporter; j. Susannah Marriott houses, town of Ledyard, associated with abolitionist and educator, especially important in women's education; k. Emily Howland house, Sherwood, associated with abolitionist and woman's rights advocate; 1. William and Hannah Howland and Isabel Howland House (Opendore), Sherwood associated with abolitionists and woman's right advocate. in. Tenant houses, Sherwood. One of these was the temporary home of the Phillips family when they came from Maryland in 1843. Extant tenant houses are increasingly rare. n. Schoolhouse No. 2, Sherwood. Probably the school attended by Herman Phillips after he came from. Maryland in 1843. o. Thomas and Sarah Jane Hart House, home of freedom seeker, Union Springs (if it can be positively identified. Possibly the William and Martha Kirk house in Sterling, the Matthias and Hannah Hutchinson houses in Northville and the Town of Ledyard, and several other houses throughout the county, with a little more work, could also be nominated.. Several areas might also be nominated as historic districts, including the village of Sherwood. See further discussion below. 2. National Park Service's Network to Freedom. This program takes documented Underground Railroad sites, programs, or facilities. Sometimes, matching grants are available. We have nominated seven sites to the Network to Freedom through this survey: Phillips House, Seward House (with Peter Wisbey), Cayuga County Historian's Office, Cayuga County Courthouse, Seymour Library, Site of Martha and David Wright House, and Howland Stone Store. Several more sites uncovered as a result of this survey might be eligible for the Network to Freedom, including the Sennett Federated Church, Slocum Howland House, Elliott -Stewart House, William Henry Stewart, Jr. House, Abijah Fitch House, William O Duvall House, North Street Meetinghouse, and others. 3. New York State's Underground Railroad Heritage Trail. This program accepts only buildings that are in not-for-profit hands and open to the public. Currently, the Tubman Home, Seward Home, and Howland Stone Store in Cayuga County are listed with this programa As a result of this survey, we nominated the Sennett Federated Church to this program. 4. Local Historic Districts. These generally have well-defined and substantive enforcement powers, relating to historic restoration. Since so many of these buildings are not nominated for their architectural qualities, and since they are generally scattered, this would probably not be the most appropriate route to follow at this time. 5. Conservation districts. These can be defined in many ways, according to wishes of local residents, offering as much ,or as little specific protection as local people desire. This might be one avenue to explore further, especially for an area such as Sherwood. 6. Seven to Save program of the Preservation League of New York State. This program highlights seven important historic sites across New York State each year. This year, the Village of Sherwood has been nominated in its entirety. Sites Relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, African American Life Sponsored by Auburn Historic Resources Review Board Cayuga County Historian's Office Funded by Preserve New York (Preservation League of NYS and NYS Council on the Arts) Coordinated by Historical New York Research Associates 2004-05 r National Register Historic Districts. I. The Project After consultation with Nancy Todd, Field Representative with the Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, the following areas have emerged as possible districts relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, and African American Life, 1820-1870. Further work may be needed to decide whether or not to move forward with possible districts or whether to treat particular buildings as individual sites. In Auburn, if no historic districts are nominated, individual nominations should definitely be considered for: 1. Elliot -Stewart House -31 Richardson Avenue T 2. William Henry Stewart, Jr., House -64 Garrow Street 3. Charles and Mary Griffen House -58 Garrow Street -if this can be identified as the original house and not a replacement in the 19 -teens.. 4. Hornbeck houses 38 and 40 Jefferson Street Other buildings could be considered, as well. Buildings in Sherwood, New York, form a cohesive district that could well be nominated, some of them for their importance as abolitionist and Underground Railroad sites and some for their architectural significance. Possible Auburn districts: I. Auburn. Richardson (Union) Avenue. A. Current state of research. This area consists of four possible standing structures and a vacant lot. (See descriptions of individuals houses for more details.) 1. Stewart House. 29 Richardson (Union) Avenue. Home of Elijah Stewart, born in St. _ Catherine's, Ontario, son of Ben Ross (James Stewart, Harriet Tubman's brother) and Jane Ross (Catherine Stewart), both freedom seekers from Maryland, 1880 (not known how much before and after.) 2. Elliott -Stewart House. 31 Richardson (Union) Avenue. Home of Thomas Elliott and Ann Marie Stewart Elliott, both freedom seekers, from 1868-1881. Thomas Elliott was one of the famous Dover Eight, documented in William Still, and Ann Marie Stewart Elliott was one of Harriet Tubman's nieces. 3. 33 Richardson Avenue. Vacant lot. May (or may not) have once been site of home of Catherine Stewart (before 1880). 4. Waire House. 35 Richardson (Union) Avenue. Horne of John and Mary Duboise Waire. John Waire was born in Virginia about 1836 and came to Auburn in the late 1860s. He was a barber in the firm of Hornbeck and Waire. The family built this house about 1890 and their descendents still own it. Sites Relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, African American Life – Sponsored by Auburn Historic Resources Review board Cayuga County Historian's Office Funded by Preserve New York (Preservation League of NYS and NYS Council on the Arts) Coordinated by Historical New York Research Associates 2004-05 I. The Project 7 _ 5. Gaskin House. Home of Philip and Mary Gaskin. Philip Gaskin was born in Virginia, ca. 1856, and came with his parents to Ledyard about 1864, where they purchased a home in 1869. Philip Gaskin married Mary Elliott, daughter of Thomas and Anne Marie Stewart Elliott (who lived at 31 Richardson). They lived at 34 Richardson (Union) Avenue in the 1890s (and it is not know for how much longer). B 1. 2. 3. 4. Advantages of Richardson (Union) Avenue Historic District: Elliott—Stewart House has one of the great escape stories of the whole Underground Railroad, the house forms an anchor for this district. Also connected to Harriet Tubman through Ann Marie Stewart Elijah Stewart House connected to Tubman through Catherine Stewart, who also has a great escape story. Waire family (of whom John Waire was a possible freedom seeker) was one of the leaders of Auburn's African American community, and house remains in family to the present. Gaskin family (of whom Philip was also a possible freedom seeker) also connected to Tubman through Mary Elliott Gaskin, and Gaskin family members remain in Auburn to the present. C. Disadvantages of Richardson (Union) Avenue Historic District: — Elliott family left the area by 1881, and Stewart family may have left about the same time. Catherine Stewart died before 1880, and house she lived in is probably no longer standing. Waire and Gaskin houses probably built late 1880s or early 1890s, so their houses were no there at the same time as the Elliott and Stewart families lived there _. (although the Waire family lived on the same street when the Elliott and Stewart families lived there, and Mary Elliott Gaskin grew up in the Elliott house.) D. Research still needed: I . How long did Gaskin family live at 34 Richardson? (Check city directories). 2. How long did Stewart family live at 34 Richardson? (city directories) — 3. Which part of Elliott house was original, and when was second part added? (Look at physical structure of house.) 4. When was Gaskin house built? (Check assessments.) II. Auburn: Cornell (Chapman) Avenue/Garrow Street A. Current state of research. This area consists of consists of six (or possibly seven) standing contributing structures, built by people who were either identified freedom seekers or most likely freedom seekers, and two (or possibly three) non-contributing structures. For _ more details, see descriptions of individual houses. 1. Belt -Gaskin House. 77 Chapman (Cornell) Avenue, Originally built between 1869 and 1874 by Thomas and Rachel Belt, born in Maryland. Belts lived in this house through the 1920s until it was occupied by Philip and Mary Elliott Gaskin and their son, Philip Sites Relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, African American Life _ Sponsored by Auburn Historic Resources Review Board Cayuga County Historian's Office Funded by Preserve New York (Preservation League of NYS and NYS Council on the Arts) Coordinated by Historical New York Research Associates 2004-05 8 1. The Project Gaskin, Jr., his wife, Myrtle Gaskin, and their children, beginning in 1927. Nominated to National Register, 2005. 2. Stewart House. 64 Garrow Street. Built 1899 to replace a home originally built c. 1880 by William Henry Stewart, Jr., nephew of Harriet Tubman, for his bride Emma Moseby Stewart. Continuously inhabited by this family to the present. 3. Stewart House. 66 Garrow Street. Occuped in early twentieth century by Clarence "Dye" Stewart, great-nephew of Harriet Tubman, who was with Tubman when she died. 4. White House. 62 Garrow Street. Built c. 1869 by Isaac White, probable freedom seeker, b. Alabama. 5. Griffen House. 60 Garrow Street. Probably built late 1860s -early 1870s. Rebuilt or added _ on 1880s by Robert Griffen, son of freedom seekers Charles and Mary Griffen, born Maryland, who built the house next door at 58 Garrow. 6. Griffen House, 58 Garrow Street. Original lot purchased 1868 by Charles and Mary Griffen, probable freedom seekers, born Maryland. The original house may have been torn down c. 1912 and rebuilt. If so, this would be a non-contributing structure. 7. Non-contributing house, built c, 2003-04. 8. Non-contributing house, built c. 2003-04. 9. Purnell House. 54 Garrow Street. Original lot purchases 1868 by John Purnell, freedom seeker from Maryland. House built shortly thereafter., B. Advantages of Chapman (Cornell) Avenue/Carrow Street District: 1. Row of houses owned by freedom seekers (or probable freedom seekers) sold in post= Civil War years by Abijah Fitch, real estate developer, abolitionist, and Underground Railroad supporter, continuously identified since that time with African American community. 2. Three houses directly identified with Harriet Tubman. Anchor house on comer -64 Garrow--was built and owned by William Henry Stewart, son of Tubman's brother, William Stewart. 77 Chapman was lived in by Mary Elliott Gaskin, great-niece of Tubman. 66 Garrow was occupied by Clarence "Dye" Stewart, Tubman's great-nephew. C. Disadvantages of Chapman (Cornell) Avenue/Carrow Street District: Assessment records are unclear about whether 58 Garrow Street is original home of Charles and Mary Griffen. Ditto for 60 Garrow (although 1904 map helps resolvesome _ of the difficulties with this one. See description for this site.) If 58 Garrow is NOT original house (andthetwo houses just north of,it are recent -2003=04) structures, this cuts this district in two, with the Purnell house left hanging at the north end. The Belt - Gaskin, Stewart, Stewart, and White houses (with possibly the Robert Griffen house) might still make a small district at the south end. Sites Relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, African American Life Sponsored by Auburn Historic Resources Review Board Cayuga County Historian's Office Funded by Preserve New York (Preservation League of NYS and NYS Council on the Arts) Coordinated by Historical New York Research Associates 2004-05 L The Project D. Research still needed: 1. Clarence "Dye" Stewart house -66 Garrow. We have done no research in deeds or assessments on this at all, nor have we done city directory work to know when — Clarence Stewart lived in this house. 2. Griffen house. 58 Garrow. We would need to get inside this house to look at moldings, framing structure, nails, etc., to see if we could determine whether or not any part of the original house remains. III. Parker Street District A. Current state of research. This area has one house (51 Parker Street) that was important before the Civil War as the home of freedom seekers). The other houses became more important as the center of an African American neighborhood after the Civil War, anchored by the construction of the AME Zion Church in 1893. Because this neighborhood was most important beginning in the late nineteenth century, our research did not focus on it. Contemporary African American families continue to live here, however, and local oral tradition carries on memories of the history of this neighborhood back to the turn -of -the century. It should be captured on tape or video, and further archival documentation of these houses should also be done. Eight houses on Parker Street (51, 47, 45, 41-43, 37, 35, 31, and 22), plus the AVE Zion Church (a National Historic Landmark) represent African American settlement, including freedom seekers and their descendents, in Auburn from the 1880s to the present day. Six of these houses have been continuously owned and occupied by African American families from the late nineteenth century to the present. 1. Carter House -22? Parker 2. Dale -Stewart House. 37 Parker. 3. Hornbeck -Ray House. 41-43 Parker. 4. Copes -Johnson House. 45 Parker. 5. AME Zion Church parsonage. 47 Parker. 6. AME Zion Church. 7. Smith -Stewart House. 51 Parker Street. Home of freedom seekers and Harriet Tubman's nephew, John Isaac Stewart. Birthplace of Clarence "Dye" Stewart. A. Advantages of the Parker Street District This centers around the AME Zion Church and includes houses that relate to families -- historically identified with Auburn's African American community, who still live in the community. This was a major center of African American life from the later nineteenth century to the present. It also includes the home of John Stewart, one of Harriet Tubman's _ nephews, in 1880. B. Disadvantages of Parker Street district Sites Relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, African American Life . —., Sponsored by Auburn Historic Resources Review hoard Cayuga County Historian's Office Funded by Preserve New York.(Preservation League of NYS and NYS Council on the Arts) Coordinated by Historical New York Research Associates 2004-05 10 I. The Project Under the terms of this grant, we have been focusing more on the earlier period, before 1870, and this area became more important as a center of African American life later in the century. C. Research still needed We have focused research under the terms of this grant on other African American sites in Auburn, because they relaxed more explicitly to the earlier period. With the exception of 51 Parker Street, which relates to the story of John Stewart, we have not developed detailed descriptions of the rest of these homes. IV. Fitch Street Historic District Three homes (and one site of former home) sold to African American families by Abijah Fitch, abolitionist and Underground Railroad supporter, after the Civil War. (Cale House, 74 Fitch Avenue; Roosevelt Memorial Church,79 Fitch Avenue, site of Plymouth and — Alive Cannon's House; Diggs House -Apostolic Church, 101 Fitch Avenue; Diggs House, 105 Fitch Avenue). V. Aspen Street Historic District. Three houses (14, 18, 22 Aspen Street) represent successful home ownership of freedom seekers (including the Richard and Mary Gaskin family) who arrived in Cayuga County in the 1850s and 1860s and settled here when this street opened in the late 1880s. Because of changes in street numbers over time, these properties need to be checked with deeds. VI. Jefferson Street Historic District—North Side _ Centered around the two houses of Sebeo and John Hornbeck at 38 and 40 Jefferson Street were three or four other homes of African Americans. These have not been well-documented here, but together, they would form a small historic district, representing freedom seekers who intermarried with children of people born into slavery in New York State, whose families continued to live in Auburn into the twentieth century. For more details, see descriptions for Hornbeck houses. VII. Mechanic Street District—East side This was the earliest identifiable African American neighborhood, noted on the 1837 map of . Auburn as "Negro Settlement," "New Guinea." While there are several nineteenth century houses in this vicinity, and we did discover through city directories that African Americans inhabited some of them into the 1850s, the core of this settlement disappeared as African Americans moved into the north side in the 1840s and 185Os and then into the south side in the 1860s and later. — Further research would be useful here, but in general would probably not yield a coherent district that could be labeled "New Guinea." VII. Sherwood Village District A. Current state of research. As the home of Slocum Howland, Emily Howland, Josiah- , , _ Letchworth, William Howland, and Herman and Hannah Phillips, Sherwood was a major center of abolitionist and Underground Railroad activity. Several buildings— including Sites Relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, African. American Life Sponsored by Auburn Historic Resources Review Board Cayuga County Historian's Office Funded by Preserve New York (Preservation League of NYS and NYS Council on the Arts) Coordinated by Historical New York Research Associates 2004-05 L The Project 11 the Howland Stone Store, the Slocum (and Emily) Howland house (pre -1857), the Howland house (post -1857), the William (and Isabel) Howland house (Opendore), the Josiah Letchworth house, the Herman and Hannah Phillips house, the schoolhouse, the North Street Meetinghouse (Brick Meetinghouse) directly west of the village on the Sherwood -Aurora Road, and at least one Howland tenant house --are directly connected to this story. The Stone Store is currently on the National Register. The Phillips House is currently on the Network to Freedom. For more details, see descriptions for individual sites. B. Advantages of a Sherwood District. The entire village reflects the character of the historic period and is one of the most important hotspots for Underground Railroad in Cayuga County outside Auburn. The Howland Stone Store is already on the National Register, As a result of this project, the Phillips House has been listed on the National Park Service's Network to Freedom; both the Howland House and the North Street Meetinghouse have been listed on the National Register; and the Howland Stone Store has been nominated to the Network to Freedom. The State Historic Preservation Office has suggested that the whole village of Sherwood would be an appropriate historic district, and the Howland Stone Store Museum has nominated the entire village as one of the Preservation League's Seven to Save sites for 2006. C. Disadvantages of a historic district. None. D. Research still needed. We have done extensive research on the Howland house, the Phillips house, and the Howland Stone Store. We have researched Josiah Letchworth and Emily Howland in printed materials. Sites Relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, African American Life Sponsored by Auburn Historic Resources Review board Cayuga County Historian's Office Funded by Preserve New York (Preservation League of NYS and NYS Council on the Arts) Coordinated by Historical New York Research Associates 2004-05 12 I. The Project Sites Relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, African American Life Sponsored by Auburn Historic Resources Review Board Cayuga County Historian's Office Funded by Preserve New York (Preservation League of NYS and NYS Council on the Arts) Coordinated by Historical New York Research Associates 2004-05 Il. Friends of Freedom: Context 13 Hotspots Relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, and African American Life in Auburn and Cayuga County Base Map from 1867-68 Auburn City Directory, Cayuga County GenWebsite Sites Relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, African American Life Sponsored by Auburn Historic Resources Review Board Cayuga County Historian's Office Funded by Preserve New York (Preservation League of NYS and NYS Council on the Arts) Coordinated by Historical New York Research Associates 2004-05 14 1I. Friends of Freedom: Context The Friends of Freedom in Auburn and Cayuga County Context: The Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, and African American Life in Auburn and Cayuga County Slavery ended in New York State in 1827. From that point forward, free people of color and a few European American allies—in Auburn, Cayuga County, and throughout New York State and the North --worked both for the abolition of slavery and equal rights for African Americans. They sent antislavery petitions to Congress, organized antislavery societies, supported antislavery newspapers (such as the Friend of Man, the Liberator, the 4nti-Slavery Standard, and the Northern Independent, edited by Auburn's own William Hosmer), voted for antislavery politicians, and collected money for antislavery lecturers. A small number of them actively supported the Underground Railroad. By the time Harriet Tubman arrived in Auburn, Cayuga County was already a hotbed of Underground Railroad activity. This work was not distributed evenly throughout the county, like salt sprinkled on the table, but was concentrated in particular hotspots. Chief among them was the City of Auburn, which has almost two-thirds of Cayuga County's one hundred sites relating to the Underground Railroad, abolitionism, and African American life. Measured in terms of numbers of identifiable sites, the Ledyard-Scipio area (including the villages of Sherwood, Aurora, and Levanna) was second in importance. Port Byron and Moravia were third. Several other areas—including Sennett, Cato, Northville, Weedsport, Sterling, Conquest, Cayuga Village, New Hope Mills, and Ira—also had activity relating to these themes. In Auburn itself, African Americans lived throughout the city, on the North, South, and East sides, with the earliest settlement located along the Owasco outlet at a spot identified on an 1837 map as "New Guinea," or "Negro Settlement." Sites Relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, African American Life Sponsored by Auburn Historic Resources Review Board Cayuga County Historian's Office Funded by Preserve New York (Preservation League of NYS and NYS Council on the Arts) Coordinated by Historical New York Research Associates 2004-05 II. Friends of Freedom: Context 15 Note "New Guinea" or `Negro Settlement" on the lower right hand corner of this Hagaman and Markham, Map of the Village ofAuburn (1837), between Mechanic Street and the Owasco - Outlet. Sites Relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, African American Life Sponsored by Aubum,Historic Resources Review Board Cayuga County Historian's Office Funded by Preserve New York (Preservation League of NYS and NYS Council on the Arts) Coordinated by Historical New York Research Associates 2004-05 16 lI. Friends of Freedom: Content { s x tpCCLN- .� WALNUT GR Y5R ='i-2 T _ it In; ®: .el��rs �� � ✓� a A �'i, 1�*Anra�to' ...y M s. �xFF . n i1RANQ� f R`M aaai"'V ty fr kart !fE y� - �q !f 10�� ts- 03 ! I. IS * F - ' '*I- .- l—y'- rUp1F7 ta'.. ::eta*?' 1- �°+_-• �_ 1 t ,.0�r4oRiN C Note houses in the former "Negro Settlement" area on this P.A. Cunningham, Map ofAuburn (Philadelphia: W.W. Richie, 1871). Sites Relating to the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, African American Life Sponsored by Auburn Historic Resources Review Board Cayuga County Historian's Office Funded by Preserve New York (Preservation League of NYS and NYS Council on the Arts) Coordinated by Historical New York Research Associates 2004-05