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John T. Asbury, great great grandson of the slave who had a bounty of $1,000 for his capture
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At 49 East Maiden Street in Washington, on the National Road -Route 40 - sits a stone house built in 1812 by Dr. John Julius LeMoyne de Villers. While its original purpose was as his physician office and family home, its further significance lies in its becoming a “station” on the Underground Railroad, overseen by his son, Dr. Francis Julius LeMoyne, president of the local abolition society. The younger LeMoyne, a great benefactor in the area, ran unsuccessfully for governor of Pennsylvania, and was nominated for Vice President of the United States in 1840, all by the abolitionist Liberty Party.
The Underground Railroad, primarily from the 1830s to the 1860s, was a loosely constructed network of routes and stopping places - safe houses - from which runaway slaves from the southern states made their way toward freedom in the north. Not all needed to make it that far to find a safe community in which to live and raise a family.
In the first file I opened at the Washington County Historical Society, located in the LeMoyne House, I was surprised to see a 15-year-old photo of my friend John T. Asbury of Washington. He was pictured standing amidst the graves of his ancestors in Cross Creek Cemetery.
Jack Asbury’s great-great-grandfather, William Asbury, was born a slave in Virginia to a mother who was a slave and a father who was her white owner. As William grew, the story goes, he became unruly and the overseer couldn’t control him. So his owner/father gave him money to take his wife and son North. They found a home in Washington County and a mission.
William Asbury, from 1837 until his death in 1846 at age 47, was “head engineer” on the Underground Railroad route that led from his home in West Middletown through Washington County. It was said that a bounty of $1,000 was offered for his head in Wheeling, W.Va.
Jack Asbury had heard stories from his Uncle Sam Asbury about their famous ancestor, but his own investigation led him to a place he never thought he’d find - the graves of William, his wife Letitia, and Robert, one of their four sons.
At Citizens Library, Jack found the book “The History of the Cross Creek Graveyard and the Cross Creek Cemetery,” first published in 1894 by James Simpson, and revised in 1942 by the late A.D. White. The book listed inscriptions on the graves. A teacher who retired as elementary principal in Avella and a noted historian of the area, White promised Jack a surprise and took him to the cemetery to see his ancestors’ graves.
“I was stunned. I could feel something that I never experienced before standing at his grave,” says Asbury. “I felt proud about what William had accomplished in helping runaway slaves.” William Asbury was one of many local African-Americans and whites who helped those fleeing the South, even those who were already free, but not altogether safe in the North.
Slavery in Pennsylvania goes back to William Penn who freed his slaves in his will. The Pennsylvania Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, passed on March 1, 1780, made the Commonwealth the first among the states to begin working toward abolition.
The act provided that all slaves at that time would remain slaves for life. However, children of slave mothers who were born after that date would remain slaves, or indentured servants, only until their 28th birthday.
The problem was, Washington County was not established until 1781. It took a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling to stop Washington County from violating the act. Slaves were held in Washington County as late as 1845.
According to Dr. W. Thomas Mainwaring, professor of history at Washington & Jefferson College, it is estimated that several hundred runaway slaves came through Washington and none is known to have been captured and returned to their owners.
The Washington County Historical Society provided much of the research material for this column. For tours of the LeMoyne House, or to do research from the WCHS collections, contact the Society at 724-225-6740. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesdays through Fridays.
