Allegany County Maryland--History

Underground railroad was a do-or-die trip for slaves fleeing plantations of the South

MICHAEL A. SAWYERS

CUMBERLAND — The decision to begin travel on the underground railroad was one of desperation, according to Kimberly Rolls, a Keyser, W.Va., resident who spoke about the runaway slaves at a gathering Thursday night at the Western Maryland Station Center in honor of Black History Month.

Reverend David Hillhouse Buel, 1817-1893

Garrett County History
"The Underground Railroad"
Text by John A. Grant

The "Underground Railroad" Name:

Escape routes for the Underground Railroad were not restricted to the North, but also to western territories, and to Mexico and the Caribbean.

The Hocking House

According to a walking tour brochure entitled, "Historic Frostburg", the house located at 144 East Main Street was said to have been connected to a home across the street by a tunnel. "Tradition" states that it was part of the underground railroad, one of three such stations in Frostburg, and used by escaping slaves. The house is sometimes referred to as the "Hocking" home for the family that once resided there.

RECALLS DAYS SPENT IN SLAVERY 55 YEARS AGO

John Carter Earned First Dollar at Age of 28 Years After Being Freed.

Frostburg, Md. July 30.—Celebrating the 55th anniversary of his freedom from slavery, John Carter, aged 83 years, Ormand street, one of Frostburg's oldest colored residents, stopped working yesterday for a few moments and told the story of long ago.

James Harris (b. circa 1807 - d. ?)

Accomplice to slave flight, Allegany County, Maryland, 1864

The following biography is from the Maryland State Archives:

Sheriff's Sale.

By virtue of a writ of Venditioni Exponas, issued out of Allegany county court and to me directed, against Theodosia Morrison, Adm'x, and Lewis F. Klipstine, Adm'r, of John Morrison, deceased, at the suit of the State of Maryland use of Mary Hammill and Nancy Hammill, I will sell for cash, at James Parris' tavern, in Western Port—
On Saturday the 7th day of January 1832,
Two Negro Boys,

Fifty Dollars Reward.

Ran AWAY from the subscriber living near Frost Town, Allegany county, Md. on Saturday the 4th inst. a dark Mulatto Negro man named
SAM,

$100 Reward.

James Pembroke was born a slave on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and sent by his owner, Frisby Tilghman, to Rockland, south of Hagerstown in Washington County. There Jim learned the skills of a blacksmith.

He escaped from slavery on October 28, 1827, going first to Pennsylvania, and later moving to New York and Connecticut. He became a minister and changed his name to James W. C. Pennington.