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"Due to the strong anti-slavery influence in Bellefonte among a small group of Quakers, many of the fugitive slaves from the southeastern states, after reaching Centre County, settled in Bellefonte ... The County's largest population was located there." These are the words of Charles Blockson, an African-American historian. At that time, Bellefonte's population included many free Negroes with whom fugitive slaves could hide.
Bellefonte was at the intersection of waterways and stagecoach routes which along with its central location and hilly terrain provided easy access and numerous places for fugitive slaves to hide. It is well documented that Centre County was a major portion of the Jefferson Route, an east-west path on the Underground Railroad. Since being a conductor was illegal and activities had to be kept secret, there is little documentation of the stops.
William A Thomas, an early Bellefonte Quaker, and his wife, Eliza Valentine Thomas, were active Abolitionists. They purchased the freedom of John and Mary Williams and their son, Isaac. John worked in their mill until he was able to save enough money to repay them.
As "conductors" on the Underground Railroad, the Thomases were reputed to have a hidden room in the west wing of their home, "Wren's Nest" on North Thomas Street Other documented Underground Railroad "conductors" in Bellefonte were George Valentine Sr., Bond Valentine Sr., Abraham Valentine Sr., Robert Miller Sr. and Andrew Gregg Curtin. Among Bellefonte's documented "stations" are William A Thomas' "Wren's Nest", the Samuel Harris House at the corner of Penn and Howard streets, the AME Church, John Harris' former house "Willowbank" and the homes of the Valentines, Curtins and Judge Thomas Burnside. All of these homes were situated on the edge of the town.
At least within the last several decades, tradition has held that the Linn House may have been involved in the underground railroad. But, the Bellefonte Museum for Centre County tells us that, at best, this is "unsubstantiated oral history."
A surviving story, documented by William H. Mills Sr., an AME minister, in 1909 recalled Curtin, in 1856, trying to rescue Henry Thomas, a runaway slave employed by Bellefonte's Pennsylvania House Hotel. Slave hunters posed as business men. Arriving at the hotel, they requested assistance finding the route to Virginia and Maryland. They hired Henry to drive them south. Not wanting to arouse their suspicions, Thomas agreed. Once they got out of town, the men subdued and bound Thomas and headed South.
Coincidentally, Curtin passed them on the road. Learning what had transpired when he got to Bellefonte, he organized a posse and set out after them. Unfortunately, Cutin's posse didn't find Thomas. He was however, later rescued by sympathizers near Chimney Rocks, Huntingdon County."
Thanks to Laurie Ford, of the Bellefonte Museum for Centre County for information included within this section.
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