Underground Railroad
The Underground railroad was
very important to the Wayne County community. Believe it or not, the Underground railroad was not a railroad, and it was not
underground! It helped move slaves from place to place. Slaves
escaped from the South and traveled to Canada where they would be
finally free because in Canada slavery was abolished.
It was a very dangerous journey to the North. Men and women who acted as conductors on the Underground Railroad were called abolitionists. People who helped took great risks. If they got caught they would have to go to jail, pay money, or even die. If the slaves got caught they would be returned to their owners and were many times beaten, pressed with hot irons, hung, or whipped. With the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, the helping of slaves to escape became very professional and secretive. Under this law, a Negro found anywhere in any northern state and accused of being a runaway, was to be brought before a special judge. The law stated that a person helping a fugitive slave to escape was to pay a fine or serve a year in prison.
| The Underground Railroad in
Wayne County included a "station" in Palmyra, at the
home of Pliny Sexton, a member of the Society of Friends, or
Quakers. Quakers believed slavery to be a crime, so there were
times when Sexton had over forty fugitive slaves hidden in his
home at one time. Another known "station" was in
Williamson at the home of Griffith Cooper, also a Quaker. Pultneyville, located on Lake Ontario,
became an active stop on the
Underground Railroad. Samuel Cuyler hid slaves brought up from
Griffith Cooper’s and from Sodus. Captain Horatio Throop ofPultneyville would then take the Negroes into Canada hidden in
the woodpiles on his ships.
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