A Grandfather's Gift
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A Grandfather's Gift:
​From the Underground Railroad to Thoughts on Race


Map: Compiled from "The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom" by Willbur H. Siebert Wilbur H. Siebert, The Macmillan Company, 1898.[1], Public Domain.
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The Kendall House: Built With the Underground Railroad in Mind

9/16/2020

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Shortly after Nancy Jones, her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jones, and siblings arrived in Iowa, both of her parents became ill with typhoid fever and died within a day of one another. 

This tragic event left young Nancy, not yet 20 years old, in charge of her five younger siblings. A couple of her brothers attempted to continue work on the house for the Jones children, but both of these young men suffered from illnesses themselves in those first years. At 19 years of age, Nancy became responsible for feeding and housing five siblings in a new part of the country without a completed house to call home.
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*See source below.
Andrew Kendall was a recent immigrant to Iowa from Pennsylvania. Andrew and Nancy met in Washington and fell in love. Nancy was 20 and Andrew 30 when they married.  
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*See source below.
Nancy believed in her father's dedication to abolitionism. It is likely that the home's secluded location on the outskirts of Washington was chosen with the Underground Railroad in mind.

Andrew was a gifted and talented craftsman and builder and went right to work on completing the large home the Jones boys had begun. He originally wanted to build the home out of wood but lumber was not readily available. Instead, he made the 60-mile drive to a brick factory in Burlington a number of times to build the family home. ​
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The Miss Kendall referred to here was a daughter of Nancy and Andrew. *See source below.
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Although not documented, the Kendall home may have included secret hideaways for fleeing slaves. Many abolitionist homeowners did just that. Reverend Alexander Dobbin's historic home in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, contains sliding shelves that conceal a large crawlspace with room for several adults.
 
Other abolitionists were defiantly bold in their work. Quaker businessman Thomas Garrett of Wilmington, Delaware, made no attempt to hide what he did.
 
He was harassed, threatened, assaulted and heavily fined for his troubles. After a court forced him to pay $5,400 in assessed damages in a staggering financial loss, he declared, "... I will go home and put another story on my house, so that I can accommodate more of God's poor."

Andrew Kendall was too old to go to war when it broke out but vowed to help the cause of anti-slavery any way he could. He and Nancy worked to become a haven for fleeing slaves even as their own family responsibilities grew. Together, Nancy and Andrew Kendall dedicated themselves to helping fugitive slaves find freedom.

Next time -  Nancy Kendall tells the story of a Free Soil Party member's visit and how the town reacted.
​
* From the article "Helping the Fugitive Slave Thru Iowa," published in
The Burlington Hawk-Eye, Sunday Morning Edition, May 15, 1921. Byline: Alex R. Miller
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Otis Moss, Sr. and the Privilege of Voting

9/2/2020

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During one of her shows, Oprah Winfrey told one of the sweetest stories about a pastor she knows named Otis Moss, Jr. His father, Otis Moss, Sr. was a poor sharecropper. 

When Otis Moss, Sr. learned that black men had won the right to vote, he was thrilled. When voting day rolled around that year, Mr. Moss, elderly by then, got up in the morning, put on his best suit, and walked the 6 miles to the polling place. 

As he got to what he had been told was the proper voting place, they told him he had to go to another polling place. It was another 6 miles down the road. He walked that distance, only to be told again he had to vote at another location. 
​

He set out for that polling place, and when he arrived, he found the door closed. Mr. Moss was too late to vote. He walked 19 miles by the time he returned home and was grievously disappointed that he had not been able to vote. When election day came around the next year, Otis Moss Sr. had died.

PictureArtist Alfred Rudolph Waud depicted "The First Vote" of African Americans in Virginia in November 16, 1867, issue of Harper's Weekly magazine.
Whenever I think of this true story, I tear up, and it takes me a while before I can get the image of this dear, conscientious man walking the 19 miles that day to vote. To him, and so many of our wonderful citizens who waited so long for the privilege, making every effort to cast their vote was an honor many thought they would never see. 

I wonder how many of us really feel that level of honor and privilege when we vote. Many, I hope. For it is a privilege, as nobody knows better than one who has waited so long to exercise their hard-fought right, when they should, indeed, have never been denied in the first place.
​Bless them, bless them. There Mr. Moss was, dressed in his Sunday best suit, who walked 19 miles to vote. He was not alone.

Oprah Winfrey tells the story here: 


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    Nancy Jean

    Nancy Jean is a woman of several lives and careers, including school teacher, homemaker, parent, amateur musician and writer. ​Read more...

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