How did thomas garrett help slaves

Thomas garrett quotes

Thomas Garrett is known as one of the most active and most influential stationmasters on the Underground Railroad. Garrett served as a stationmaster for more than four decades, and it has been claimed that Garrett helped 2, enslaved people on their journey to freedom. Garrett became dedicated to the antislavery cause in , after rescuing a free African-American servant of the Garrett family who was kidnapped by slave traders.

He also married Mary Sharpless in In , he moved to Wilmington, Delaware and transferred his membership to the Wilmington Monthly Meeting. Wilmington was a growing city that offered Garrett new business opportunities. However, Wilmington was also the northernmost town in the slave state of Delaware, and the last city before the relative security of Pennsylvania.

After moving to Wilmington, Garrett went into "the iron and hardware business" and opened his home at Shipley Street as a station on the Underground Railroad McGowan Mary Sharpless died in Due to a combination of business reverses and fines, he lost nearly all of his possessions, but he managed to regain his financial standing.

Thomas garrett community of democracies

Thomas Garrett died on January 25, The father, Samuel Hawkins, was a free man, but his wife Emeline and six children were enslaved. The two oldest children belonged to Charles Glanding, and Emeline and the other four children belonged to Elizabeth Turner. The sheriff, Jacob Caulk, told the slavehunters that the commitment that they had obtained to imprison the Hawkins family was not legal, and that they had to get a new commitment.

Meanwhile, Thomas Garrett learned of the family's plight, and brought the fugitives before Judge Booth Chief Justice of the state of Delaware on a writ of habeas corpus.