Thomas Garrett
Thomas Garrett was born on August 21, 1789 in Darby, Pennsylvania. Growing up, the Garrett family was a very religious Quaker family and had always helped escaped slaves travel north. They hid slaves in their house, but this was not where Thomas Garrett decided to become a very involved abolitionist. This occurred when one of the Garrett families African American servants was kidnapped and almost forced into slavery.
Thomas Garrett married his wife, Margaret Sharpless, in 1813 and together they had five children, Margaret died after the fifth child’s birth in 1828. Garrett remarried in 1830 to Rachel Mendenhall, the daughter of a fellow Quaker abolitionist. Rachel and Thomas remained married for thirty eight years and had one son together (whispersofangels.com). During this time, Thomas Garrett ran a successful hardware business which lead him to William Still.
At this point in time, Garrett and Still were two of the most successful “Station Masters” of the Underground Railroad. Together they helped set up countless new places for escaped slaves to hide. It is known that, alone, Garrett helped over 2700 slaves into the north. His alliance with John Hunn is what many would see as the end of a career, but to him it came as part of the job.
In 1884, Thomas Garrett and John Hunn were caught helping the escaped Hawkins family, a slave family from Maryland. Garrett and Hunn were convicted and charged with fines that left both men practically bankrupt (whispersofangels.com). This did not stop Thomas Garrett from wanting to continue helping escaped slaves at whatever it may cost him. Even after the Civil War, Garrett was driven to help the minorities of America receive benefits they would not receive otherwise.
When African Americans were given the right to vote in 1870, Garrett was carried through the streets on the shoulders of his African American supporters calling him “our Moses.” The very next year, January 25, 1871, the highly accomplished Thomas Garrett passed away; the African American residents of his community held a procession of his coffin up Quaker Hill. Without the help of Thomas Garrett many slaves would have remained slaves for the rest of their lives, Garrett was an enormous supporter in not only the rights of African Americans, but all ethnicities. Our world would be very different without people like Thomas Garrett.
Thomas Garrett was born on August 21, 1789 in Darby, Pennsylvania. Growing up, the Garrett family was a very religious Quaker family and had always helped escaped slaves travel north. They hid slaves in their house, but this was not where Thomas Garrett decided to become a very involved abolitionist. This occurred when one of the Garrett families African American servants was kidnapped and almost forced into slavery.
Thomas Garrett married his wife, Margaret Sharpless, in 1813 and together they had five children, Margaret died after the fifth child’s birth in 1828. Garrett remarried in 1830 to Rachel Mendenhall, the daughter of a fellow Quaker abolitionist. Rachel and Thomas remained married for thirty eight years and had one son together (whispersofangels.com). During this time, Thomas Garrett ran a successful hardware business which lead him to William Still.
At this point in time, Garrett and Still were two of the most successful “Station Masters” of the Underground Railroad. Together they helped set up countless new places for escaped slaves to hide. It is known that, alone, Garrett helped over 2700 slaves into the north. His alliance with John Hunn is what many would see as the end of a career, but to him it came as part of the job.
In 1884, Thomas Garrett and John Hunn were caught helping the escaped Hawkins family, a slave family from Maryland. Garrett and Hunn were convicted and charged with fines that left both men practically bankrupt (whispersofangels.com). This did not stop Thomas Garrett from wanting to continue helping escaped slaves at whatever it may cost him. Even after the Civil War, Garrett was driven to help the minorities of America receive benefits they would not receive otherwise.
When African Americans were given the right to vote in 1870, Garrett was carried through the streets on the shoulders of his African American supporters calling him “our Moses.” The very next year, January 25, 1871, the highly accomplished Thomas Garrett passed away; the African American residents of his community held a procession of his coffin up Quaker Hill. Without the help of Thomas Garrett many slaves would have remained slaves for the rest of their lives, Garrett was an enormous supporter in not only the rights of African Americans, but all ethnicities. Our world would be very different without people like Thomas Garrett.