Black History
1816 Vellum Marriage Certificate for Two Penna. "Society of Friends" Members Signed THOMAS GARRET JR. famed American Abolitionist Leader in the Underground Railroad who helped over 2,500 African Americans Escape Slavery!
April 11, 1816-Dated, Vellum Manuscript Document, Marriage Certificate, Chester County, Pennsylvania, Signed by THOMAS GARRET JR. (Abolitionist and leader in the Underground Railroad Movement), Very Fine.
An early 19th century Manuscript Vellum Marriage Certificate is for two members of the Society of Friends in Chester County Pennsylvania, measures about 26" x 13.5". Town of Uwchlan, documenting the union between Peter Smedley and Priscilla Smith. Both sign the document multiple times as well as a list the names and birth dates of their children in the bottom section. The document also features the signatures of a number of individuals present at the ceremony. Interestingly, one signer is THOMAS GARRET JR. (1789-1871), famed American Abolitionist and leader in the Underground Railroad Movement prior to the Civil War. Garret was originally from Chester Country before he moved to Wilmington Delaware and began his abolitionist activities. He was arrested and convicted in the Hawkins case. He helped more than 2,500 African Americans escape Slavery. A very scarce Black History and Slavery related signatory.
Thomas Garrett (August 21, 1789 " January 25, 1871) was an American abolitionist and leader in the Underground Railroad movement before the American Civil War. For his fight against slavery, he was subject to threats, harassment and assaults. A $10,000 (equivalent to $325,720 in 2021) bounty was established for his capture, He was arrested and convicted in the Hawkins case. He helped more than 2,500 African Americans escape Slavery.
His life as an abolitionist began in earnest in 1813 when he was 24 years of age. A free black woman who worked for the Garretts was kidnapped by slave traders who intended to sell her into slavery in the Deep South. Garrett rescued her and determined to defend African Americans throughout his life
In the schism between Orthodox and Hicksite Quakers, Garrett split with his Orthodox family and moved to Wilmington in the neighboring slave state of Delaware to strike out on his own and pursue his struggle against slavery. In 1827 Society of the State of Delaware was reorganized as the Delaware Abolition Society, whose officers and directors included Garrett, William Chandler, president John Wales, vice-president Edward Worrell, and others. Later that year, Wales and Garrett represented the group at the National Convention of Abolitionists.[6]
William Lloyd Garrison, whom Garrett admired greatly, once visited him. However, they held different views regarding the opposition to slavery. Garrison was willing to be a martyr to the abolition of slavery and would not defend himself if attacked physically. Garrett, on the other hand, believed slavery could only be abolished through a civil war and, when attacked physically, defended himself by subduing his attackers.
Garrett openly worked as a stationmaster on the Underground Railroad in Delaware, working with William Still in Philadelphia and John Hunn further down the Delmarva Peninsula. Among those he helped was the family of Henry Highland Garnet. Because he openly defied slave hunters as well as the slave system, Garrett had no need of secret rooms in his house at 227 Shipley Street. The authorities were aware of his activities, but he was never arrested.
Garrett was also a friend and benefactor to the noted Underground Railroad Conductor Harriet Tubman, who passed through his station many times. In addition to lodging and meals, Garrett frequently provided her with money and shoes to continue her missions conducting runaways from slavery to freedom. Garrett also provided Tubman with the money and the means for her parents to escape from the South. Both were free people at the time Tubman rescued them, but Tubman's father faced arrest for secreting runaway slaves in his cabin.
The number of runaways Garrett assisted has sometimes been exaggerated. He said he "only helped 2,700" before the Civil War put an end to slavery.
In 1848, he and fellow Quaker John Hunn were sued in federal court for helping the Emeline and Samuel Hawkins family of seven slaves owned by two owners escape, although their lawyer colleague John Wales had managed to free them from imprisonment the previous year when a magistrate granted a writ of habeas corpus. The two slaveowners sued Hunn and Garrett. U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney presided at the trial in the New Castle Court House and James A. Bayard, Jr. acted as prosecutor.
Garrett and Hunn were found guilty of violating the Fugitive Slave Act by helping a family of slaves escape. As the architect of the escape, Garrett received a $4,500 fine, later reduced to $1,500.
According to Kathleen Lonsdale, referencing the American Friends Service Committee, "The fine was so heavy that it left him financially ruined, yet Thomas Garrett stood up in Court and said Judge thou has left me not a dollar, but I wish to say to thee and to all in this courtroom that if anyone knows a fugitive who wants a shelter and a friend, send him to Thomas Garrett and he will befriend him."
A lien was put on his house until the fine was paid, and although Hunn ended up losing his house in a sheriff's sale, with the aid of friends Garrett continued in his iron and hardware business and helping runaway slaves to freedom. By 1855, traffic through Garrett's station had increased, and Sydney Howard Gay noted that in 1855 to 1856 nearly 50 fugitives whom Garrett had helped arrived in New York.
During the American Civil War, the free African Americans of Wilmington guarded Garrett's house. When the 15th Amendment passed, giving black men the right to vote, Wilmington's African Americans carried Garrett through the streets in an open barouche with a sign: "Our Moses.