The Underground Railroad
disease, and the frequent surgical operations it rendered
necessary, undermined his naturally strong constitution, so that
when he was prostrated by his last illness, grave fears were
entertained of a fatal result. He continued in the possession of
his faculties to the last, and frequently expressed his entire
willingness to die.
Yesterday he was found to be sinking very rapidly. Just before
midnight, last night, he commenced to speak, and some of those
in attendance, went close to his bed-side. He was evidently in
some pain, and said: "It is all peace, peace, peace, but no rest
this side of the river." He then breathed calmly on for some
time. About half an hour later, one of those in attendance
ceased to hear his breathing, and bending over him, found that
his soul had fled.
He retained a good deal of his strength through his illness, and
was able to get up from his bed, every day, with the assistance
of one person.
He will be buried in the Friends' grave-yard, corner of Fourth
and West Streets, on Saturday next, at three o'clock, P.M., and
in accordance with a written memorandum of an agreement made by
him a year ago with them, the colored people will bear him to
his grave, they having solicited of him that honor.
He was born of Quaker parents, in Upper Darby, Delaware county,
Pa., on the 21st of August, 1789, on a farm still in the
possession of the family. His father, though a farmer, had been
a scythe and edge-tool maker, and Thomas learned of him the
trade, and his knowledge of it afterwards proved of the utmost
advantage to him.
He grew up and married at Darby, his wife being Sarah Sharpless,
and in 1820 they came to Wilmington to live, bringing with them
several children, most of whom still live here.
Some years after his arrival here, his wife died, and in course
of time, he again married, his second wife being Rachel
Mendenhall, who died in April, 1868, beloved and regretted by
all who knew her.
His business career was one of vicissitude, but generally and
ultimately successful, for he made the whole of the comfortable
competence of which he died possessed, after he was sixty years
of age. While in the beginning of his business career, as an
iron merchant in this city, a wealthy rival house attempted to
crush him, by reducing prices of iron to cost, but Mr. Garrett,
nothing dismayed, employed another person to attend his store,
put on his leather apron, took to his anvil, and in the
prosecution of his trade, as an edge-tool maker, prepared to
support himself as long as this ruinous rivalry was kept up.
Thus in the sweat of the brow of one of the heroes and
philanthropists of this age, was laid the foundation of one of
the most extensive business houses that our city now boasts. His
competitor saw that no amount of rivalry could crush a man thus
self-supporting and gave up the effort.
Of course, Thomas Garrett is best known for his labors in behalf
of the abolition of Slavery, and as a practical and effective
worker for emancipation long before the nation commenced the
work of liberation and justice.
Born a Quaker, he held with simple trust, the faith of the
society that God moves and inspires men to do the work he
requires of their hands, and throughout his life he never
wavered in his conviction, that his Father had called him to
work in the cause to which he devoted himself.
His attention was first directed to the iniquity of Slavery,
while he was a young man of twenty-four or twenty five. He
returned one day to his father's house, after a brief absence,
and found the family dismayed and indignant at the kidnapping of
a colored woman in their employ.
Thomas immediately resolved to follow the kidnappers, and so
started in pursuit. Some peculiarity about the track made by
their wagon, enabled him to trace them with ease, and he
followed them by a devious course, from Darby, to a place near
the Navy Yard, in Philadelphia, and then by inquiries, etc.,
tracked them to Kensington, where he found them, and, we
believe, secured the woman's release.
During this ride, he afterwards assured his friends, he felt the
iniquity and abomination of the whole system of Slavery borne in
upon his mind so strongly, as to fairly appal him, and he seemed
to hear a voice within him, assuring him that his work in life
must be to help and defend this persecuted race.
From this time forward, he never failed to assist any fugitive
from Slavery on the way to freedom, and, of course, after his
removal to this city, his opportunities for this were greatly
increased, and in course of time, his house became known as one
of the refuges for fugitives. The sentiment of this community
was, at that time, bitterly averse to any word or effort against
Slavery, and Mr. Garrett had but half a dozen friends who stood
by him. Nearly all others looked at him with suspicion, or
positive aversion, and his house was constantly under the
surveillance of the police, who then, sad to say, were always on
the watch for any fugitives from bondage. Thomas was not
disheartened or dismayed by the lack of popular sympathy or
approval. He believed the Lord was on his side, and cared
nothing for the adverse opinion of men.
Many and interesting stories are told of the men and women he
helped away, some of them full of pathos, and some decidedly
amusing. He told the latter which related to his ingenious
contrivances for assisting fugitives to escape the police with
much pleasure, in his later years. We would repeat many of them,
but this is not the time or place. The necessity of avoiding the
police was the only thing, however, which ever forced him into
any secrecy in his operations, and in all other respects he was
"without concealment and without compromise" in his opposition
to Slavery. He was a man of unusual personal bravery, and of
powerful physique, and did not present an encouraging object for
the bullying intimidation by which the pro-slavery men of that
day generally overawed their opponents. He seems to have
scarcely known what fear was, and though irate slave-holders
often called on him to learn the whereabouts of their slaves, he
met them placidly, never denied having helped the fugitives on
their way, positively refused to give them any information, and
when they flourished pistols, or bowie-knives to enforce their
demands, he calmly pushed the weapons aside, and told them that
none but cowards resorted to such means to carry their ends.
He continued his labors, thus, for years, helping all who came
to him, and making no concealment of his readiness to do so. His
firmness and courage slowly won others, first to admire, and
then to assist him, and the little band of faithful workers, of
which he was chief, gradually enlarged and included in its
number, men of all ranks, and differing creeds, and, singular as
it may seem, even numbering some ardent Democrats in its ranks.
He has, in conversation with the present writer and others,
frequently acknowledged the valuable services of two Roman
Catholics, of Irish birth, still living in this city, who were
ever faithful to him, and will now be amongst those who most
earnestly mourn his decease.
His efforts, of course, brought him much persecution and
annoyance, but never culminated in anything really serious,
until about the year 1846 or '47.
He then met, at New Castle, a man, woman, and six children, from
down on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The man was free, the
woman had, been a slave, and while in Slavery had had by her
husband, two children. She was then set free, and afterwards had
four children. The whole party ran away. They traveled several
days, and finally reached Middletown, late at night, where they
were taken in, fed and cared for, by John Hunn, a wealthy
Quaker, there. They were watched, however, by some persons in
that section, who followed them, arrested them, and sent them to
New Castle to jail. The sheriff and his daughter were
Anti-slavery people, and wrote to Mr. Garrett to come over. He
went over, had an interview, found from their statement, that
four of the party were undoubtedly free, and returned to this
city. On the following day, he and U.S. Senator Wales, went over
and had the party taken before Judge Booth, on a writ of _habeas
corpus_. Judge Booth decided that there was no evidence on which
to hold them, that in the absence of evidence the _presumption
was always in favor of freedom_ and discharged them.
Mr. Garrett then said, here is this woman with a babe at her
breast, the child suffering from a white swelling on its leg, is
there any impropriety in my getting a carriage and helping them
over to Wilmington? Judge Booth responded certainly not.
Mr. Garrett then hired the carriage, but gave the driver
distinctly to understand that he only paid for the woman and the
young children; the rest might walk. They all got in, however,
and finally escaped, of course the two children born in slavery
amongst the rest.
Six weeks afterwards the slave-holders followed them, and
incited, it is said, by the Cochrans and James A. Bayard,
commenced a suit against Mr. Garrett, claiming all the fugitives
as slaves. Mr. Garrett's friends claim that the jury was packed
to secure an adverse verdict. The trial came on before Chief
Justice Taney and Judge Hall, in the May term (1848) of the U.S.
Court, sitting at New Castle, Bayard representing the
prosecutors, and Wales the defendant. There were four trials in
all, lasting three days. We have not room here for the details
of the trial, but the juries awarded even heavier damages than
the plaintiffs claimed, and the judgments swept away every
dollar of his property.
When the trials were concluded, Mr. Garrett arose, the court
being adjourned, made a speech of an hour to the large crowd in
the court-room, in the course of which he declared his intention
to redouble his exertions, so help him God. His bold assertion
was greeted with mingled cheers and hisses, and at the
conclusion of his speech one of the jurors who had convicted him
strode across the benches, grasped his hand, and begged his
forgivenness.
Mr. Garrett kept his pledge and redoubled his exertions. The
trial advertised him, and such was the demand on him for
shelter, that he was compelled to put another story on his back
buildings. His friends helped him to start again in business,
and commencing anew in his sixtieth year with nothing, he again
amassed a handsome competence, generously contributing all the
while to every work in behalf of the down-trodden blacks or his
suffering fellow-men of any color.
In time the war came, and as he remarked, the nation went into
the business by the wholesale, so he quit his retail operations,
having, after he commenced to keep a record, helped off over
twenty-one hundred slaves, and no inconsiderable number before
that time.
In time, too, he came to be honored instead of execrated for his
noble efforts. Wilmington became an abolition city, and for
once, at least, a prophet was not without honor in his own city.