William Wright, a distinguished abolitionist of Adams county,
Pennsylvania, was born on the 21st of December, 1788. Various
circumstances conspired to make this unassuming Quaker an earnest
Abolitionist and champion of the oppressed in every land and of every
nationality and color. His uncle, Benjamin Wright, and cousin, Samuel B.
Wright, were active members of the old Pennsylvania Abolition Society,
and at the time of the emancipation of the slaves in this state were
often engaged in lawsuits with slave-holders to compel them to release
their bondmen, according to the requirements of the law. William Wright
grew up under the influence of the teachings of these relatives. Joined
to this, his location caused him to take an extraordinary interest in
Underground Rail Road affairs. He lived near the foot of the southern
slope of the South Mountain, a spur of the Alleghenies which extends,
under various names, to Chattanooga, Tennessee. This mountain was
followed in its course by hundreds of fugitives until they got into
Pennsylvania, and were directed to William Wright's house.
In November, 1817, William Wright married Phebe Wierman, (born on the
8th of February, 1790,) daughter of a neighboring farmer, and sister of
Hannah W. Gibbons, wife of Daniel Gibbons, a notice of whom appears
elsewhere in this work. Phebe Wright was the assistant of her husband in
every good work, and their married life of forty-eight years was a long
period of united and efficient labor in the cause of humanity. She still
(1871) survives him. William and Phebe Wright began their Underground
Rail Road labors about the year 1819. Hamilton Moore, who ran away from
Baltimore county, Maryland, was the first slave aided by them. His
master came for him, but William Wright and Joel Wierman, Phebe Wright's
brother, who lived in the neighborhood, rescued him and sent him to
Canada.
In the autumn of 1828, as Phebe Wright, surrounded by her little
children, came out upon her back porch in the performance of some
household duty, she saw standing before her in the shade of the early
November morning, a colored man without hat, shoes, or coat. He asked if
Mr. Wright lived there, and upon receiving an affirmative reply, said
that he wanted work. The good woman, comprehending the situation at a
glance, told him to come into the house, get warm, and wait till her
husband came home. He was shivering with cold and fright. When William
Wright came home the fugitive told his story. He came from Hagerstown,
Maryland, having been taught the blacksmith's trade there. In this
business it was his duty to keep an account of all the work done by him,
which record he showed to his master at the end of the week. Knowing no
written character but the figure 5 he kept this account by means of a
curious system of hieroglyphics in which straight marks meant horse
shoes put on, circles, cart-wheels fixed, etc. One day in happening to
see his master's book he noticed that wherever five and one were added
the figure 6 was used. Having practiced this till he could make it he
ever after used it in his accounts. As his master was looking over these
one day, he noticed the new figure and compelled the slave to tell how
he had learned it. He flew into a rage, and said, "I'll teach you how to
be learning new figures," and picking up a horse-shoe threw it at him,
but fortunately for the audacious chattel, missed his aim.
Notwithstanding his ardent desire for liberty, the slave considered it
his duty to remain in bondage until he was twenty-one years old in order
to repay by his labor the trouble and expense which his master had had
in rearing him. On the evening of his twenty-first anniversary he turned
his face toward the North star, and started for a land of freedom.
Arriving at Reisterstown, a village on the Westminster turnpike about
twenty-five miles from Baltimore and thirty-five miles from Mr. Wright's
house, he was arrested and placed in the bar-room of the country tavern
in care of the landlady to wait until his captors, having finished some
work in which they were engaged, could take him back to his master. The
landlady, being engaged in getting supper, set him to watch the cakes
that were baking. As she was passing back and forth he ostentatiously
removed his hat, coat, and shoes, and placed them in the bar-room.
Having done this, he said to her, "I will step out a moment." This he
did, she sending a boy to watch him. When the boy came out he appeared
to be very sick and called hastily for water. The boy ran in to get it.
Now was his golden opportunity. Jumping the fence he ran to a clump of
trees which occupied low ground behind the house and concealing himself
in it for a moment, ran and continued to run, he knew not whither, until
he found himself at the toll gate near Petersburg, in Adams county.
Before this he had kept in the fields and forests, but now found himself
compelled to come out upon the road. The toll-gate keeper, seeing at
once that he was a fugitive, said to him, "I guess you don't know the
road." "I guess I can find it myself," was the reply. "Let me show you,"
said the man. "You may if you please," replied the fugitive. Taking him
out behind his dwelling, he pointed across the fields to a new brick
farm-house, and said, "Go there and inquire for Mr. Wright." The slave
thanked him and did as he was directed.
He remained with William Wright until April, 1829. During this short
time he learned to read, write, and cipher as far as the single rule of
three, as it was then called, or simple proportion. During his residence
with William Wright, nothing could exceed his kindness or gratitude to
the whole family. He learned to graft trees, and thus rendered great
assistance to William Wright in his necessary business. When working in
the kitchen during the winter he would never allow Phebe Wright to
perform any hard labor, always scrubbing the floor and lifting heavy
burdens for her. Before he went away in the spring he assumed a name
which his talents, perseverance, and genius have rendered famous in both
hemispheres, that of James W.C. Pennington. The initial W. was for his
benefactor's family, and C. for the family of his former master. From
William Wright's he went to Daniel Gibbons', thence to Delaware county,
Pennsylvania, and from there to New Haven, Conn., where, while
performing the duties of janitor at Yale College, he completed the
studies of the college course. After a few years, he went to Heidelberg,
where the degree of D.D. was conferred upon him. He never forgot William
Wright and his family, and on his return from Europe brought them each a
present. The story of his escape and wonderful abilities was spread over
England. An American acquaintance of the Wright family was astonished,
on visiting an Anti-slavery fair in London many years ago, to see among
the pictures for sale there, one entitled, "William and Phebe Wright
receiving James W.C. Pennington." The Dr. died in Florida, in 1870,
where he had gone to preach and assist in opening schools amongst the
Freemen.
In 1842 a party of sixteen slaves came to York, Pa., from Baltimore
county, Md. Here they were taken in charge by William Wright, Joel
Fisher, Dr. Lewis, and William Yocum. The last named was a constable,
and used to assist the Underground Rail Road managers by pretending to
hunt fugitives with the kidnappers. Knowing where the fugitives were he
was enabled to hunt them in the opposite direction from that in which
they had gone, and thus give them time to escape. This constable and a
colored man of York took this party one by one out into Samuel Willis'
corn-field, near York, and hid them under the shocks. The following
night Dr. Lewis piloted them to near his house, at Lewisburg, York
county, on the banks of the Conewago. Here they were concealed several
days, Dr. Lewis carrying provisions to them in his saddle-bags. When the
search for them had been given up in William Wright's neighborhood, he
went down to Lewisburg and in company with Dr. Lewis took the whole
sixteen across the Conewago, they fording the river and carrying the
fugitives across on their horses. It was a gloomy night in November.
Every few moments clouds floated across the moon, alternately lighting
up and shading the river, which, swelled by autumn rains, ran a flood.
William Wright and Dr. Lewis mounted men or women behind and took
children in their arms. When the last one got over, the doctor, who
professed to be an atheist, exclaimed, "Great God! is this a Christian
land, and are Christians thus forced to flee for their liberty?" William
Wright guided this party to his house that night and concealed them in a
neighboring forest until it was safe for them to proceed on their way to
Canada.
Just in the beginning of harvest of the year 1851, four men came off
from Washington county, Maryland. They were almost naked and seemed to
have come through great difficulties, their clothing being almost
entirely torn off. As soon as they came, William Wright went to the
store and got four pair of shoes. It was soon heard that their masters
and the officers had gone to Harrisburg to hunt them. Two of them,
Fenton and Tom, were concealed at William Wright's, and the other two,
Sam and one whose name has been forgotten, at Joel Wierman's. In a day
or two, as William Wright, a number of carpenters, and other workmen,
among whom were Fenton and Tom, were at work in the barn, a party of men
rode up and recognized the colored men as slaves of one of their number.
The colored men said they had left their coats at the house. William
Wright looked earnestly at them and told them to go to the house and get
their coats. They went off, and one of them was observed by one of the
family to take his coat hastily down from where it hung in one of the
outhouses, a few moments afterward. After conversing a few moments at
the barn, William Wright brought the slave-holders down to the house,
where he, his wife and daughters engaged them in a controversy on the
subject of slavery which lasted about an hour. One of them seemed very
much impressed, and labored hard to convince his host that he was a good
master and would treat his men well. Finally one of the party asked
William Wright to produce the men. He replied that he would not do that,
that they might search his premises if they wished to, but they could
not compel him to bring forth the fugitives. Seeing that they had been
duped, they became very angry and proceeded forthwith to search the
house and all the outhouses immediately around it, without, however,
finding those whom they sought. As they left the house and went toward
the barn, William Wright, waving his hand toward the former, said, "You
see they are not anywhere there." They then went to the barn and gave it
a thorough search. Between it and the house, a little away from the
path, but in plain sight, stood the carriage-house, _which they passed
by without seeming to notice_. After they had gone, poor Tom was found
in this very house, curled up under the seats of the old-fashioned
family carriage. He had never come to the house at all, but had heard
the voices of his hunters from his hiding-place, during their whole
search. About two o'clock in the morning, Fenton was found by William
Wright out in the field. He had run along the bed of a small water
course, dry at that time of year, until he came to a rye field amid
whose high grain he hid himself until he thought the danger was past.
From William Wright's the slave-catchers went to Joel Wierman's, where,
despite all that could be done, they got poor Sam, took him off to
Maryland and sold him to the traders to be taken far south.
In 1856 William Wright was a delegate from Adams county to the
Convention at Philadelphia which nominated John C. Fremont for President
of the United States. As the counties were called in alphabetical order,
he responded first among the Pennsylvania delegation. It is thought that
he helped away during his whole life, nearly one thousand slaves. During
his latter years, he was aided in the good work by his children, who
never hesitated to sacrifice their own pleasure in order to help away
fugitives.
His convictions on the subject of slavery seem to have been born with
him, to have grown with his growth, and strengthened with his strength.
He could not remember when he first became interested in the subject.
William Wright closed his long and useful life on the 25th of October,
1865. More fortunate than his co-laborer, Daniel Gibbons, he lived to
see the triumph of the cause in which he had labored all his life. His
latter years were cheered by the remembrance of his good deeds in the
cause of human freedom. Modest and retiring, he would not desire, as he
does not need, a eulogy. His labors speak for themselves, and are such
as are recorded upon the Lamb's Book of Life.