Identifier: historyofundergr00smed_0 (find matches)
Title: History of the Underground railroad in Chester and the neighboring counties of Pennsylvania
Year: 1883 (1880s)
Authors: Smedley, R. C. (Robert Clemens), 1832-1883
Subjects: Underground Railroad African Americans
Publisher: Lancaster, Pa., Office of the Journal
Contributing Library: Wellesley College Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
olitionist, and oneof the earliest and most active agents on the Under-ground Railroad. He was one of the original membersof the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, formed inPhiladelphia in 1777 with Isaac T. Hopper, AnthonyBenezet and others, of which Benjamin Franklin wasthe first President. His grandfather, Thomas Vickers, was an earnest andindefatigable laborer in the Friends Ministry, andtraveled much in his religious calling. It was around the hearthstone of home, from his ear-liest youth, that John Vickers, whose name was after-wards known throughout North and South, as one ofthe most active, cautious, conscientious, and skillfulmanagers of the Underground transit of the bond-man to liberty, learned a deep sympathy for the wrongsand oppressions of the enslaved negro. In 1803 he married Abigail Paxson and remained onthe place in partnership with his father in the manufac-ture of pottery; they having an extensive reputationfor their superior skill in making a fine variety of ware.
Text Appearing After Image:
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. 145 In 1813 he purchased a farm in Whiteland, erectedpottery buildings and carried on the business until1823, when he purchased a property in Uwchlan, nearLionville, where he continued the manufacturing of Avareuntil his death, when he was succeeded by his son,Paxson. In his domestic life he was devotedly attached to hisfamily. Their physical comfort, moral and intellectualculture, and spiritual growth were a part of his dailythoughts and care. The regular family reading of thescriptures, when all were collected around the table forthat purpose, was not the cold formality of a religiousduty, but a season of true, sincere enjoyment in whichhe felt the w^arm flow of a devoted, cheerful, religiousspirit. In business transactions, or in the social sphere, hewas wholly unselfish, ever considering what would ad-vance the practical welfare and conduce to the happinessof others. In the words of Charles G. Ames, in a eulogyupon President Garfield, He never shoved anothera

Note About Images