Artisan to Abolitionist: Part 2, The Underground Railroad

When we last left our Heroes James and Charlotte Heslop, James retired from the wallpaper and painting business in Johnstown, PA in 1853. In a book about the History of Cambria County, PA this is how they started the section on James and Charlotte Heslop and their retirement years. "During the several years immediately preceding the Civil War he (James) took an earnest part in the general agitation of the slavery question, and arrayed himself clearly and firmly on the side of those who bitterly opposed it. Indeed he was one of the rankest Abolitionists in all the region, and held in utter contempt any measure; that tolerated traffic in human beings, white or black."

The Heslop's political leanings were first with the Whig party and when the Whig party collapsed  in 1854 they joined the anti- slavery Republican party. The Heslop's used their comfortable home as a station on the Underground railroad and they were conductors. They would hide runaway slaves in the attic of their home, an abandoned mine on their land and in a cellar dug under the horse stable. The door of the cellar was under the horse stall covered by hay and the horses.  

It was a dangerous business to hide fugitive slaves. Pennsylvania was the first free state north of the Mason Dixon line and bordered the slave state of Maryland. With the passing of the National Fugitive Slave Acts in 1793 and 1850 requiring free states to return fugitive slaves, and the later act requiring officials to assist in the recapture of fugitive slaves, it made their work even more dangerous. The Act also established a six month prison term and $1000 fine for anyone assisting the fugitive slaves. That didn't stop the Abolitionist community in Johnstown from protecting runaways by joining the Underground railroad in defiance of the laws. This came with personal risks for the individuals that were conductors of the railroad with the state being barraged with slave catchers where no home was safe from their searching parties with the law on their side. They were brazen in their pursuit and would raid private homes and property and even offer compensation for information on the location of the fugitive slave. They would also kidnap free black citizens and take them back to their states and sell them into slavery. James and Charlotte's home was frequently visited and searched by slave hunters, but not one was ever found or taken while at their station. They would aid, feed and house fugitive slaves and then send them safely to more friendly regions north where the slave hunters would not follow.

 

A US map of the many routes taken by slaves to freedom

I found this story in the book of the History of Cambia County, Pennsylvania, by Henry Wilson Storey, published in 1907. The story about my 3 times great grandparents is a testament as to how strong their abolitionist convictions were, especially Charlotte, and was told with a bit of humor on a subject that is not in the least bit humorous.

HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

After the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, which was substantially done in the famous compromise of 1850, an incident occurred in Johnstown which discloses strong conviction and decision of character, with a beautiful sentiment expressed by Mrs. James Heslop, who as well as her husband was an Abolitionist. An escaping slave had reached this town and had been 
secreted in Cushon's coal bank, under Green Hill, by John Cushon and other agents of the Underground Railroad. Soon thereafter, while Mr. and Mrs. Heslop were sitting in their room on the second floor, a knock was heard at the front door. It was about dusk, and Mr. Heslop, going to the door, became engaged in conversation with the visitor, which continued for some time. Mrs. Heslop, being acquainted with the escape, divined the matter to which the conversation 
related. Going to the top of the stairs she heard the visitor pleading with her husband to tell him where the fugitive was, and offering him twenty-five dollars for the information. Still Mr. Heslop denied any knowledge of the affair. Hearing the offer increased to seventy dollars, she descended the stairway, quietly walked to the door and closed it. In referring to it to a friend she 
mildly said: "I was afraid James might be tempted."

James and Charlotte were conductors on the Underground Railroad until James' death in 1865. He passed a few months after the start of the Civil War. He did not live to see the emancipation of slaves. 

In the next part of Artisans to Abolitionist I will tell the continuing story of Charlotte Heslop in her later years.