The Kendall House: Built With the Underground Railroad in Mind

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.

*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.  

*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. ​

The Miss Kendall referred to here was a daughter of Nancy and Andrew. *See source below.

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."

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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