LeRoy Pennysaver & News

LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - AUGUST 16, 2020 by Lynne Belluscio There’s a new historic marker in town, in front of the Presbyterian Church. It acknowledges theAnti-slavery and Abolition meetings, and protests, that were held in the church during the 1830s and 1840s. Slavery was abolished in New York State in 1827, yet it would take a Civil War to abolish it throughout the country. In the meantime, in the 1830s, the issue of abolition was being discussed and argued, and abolition societies were being formed throughout the northeast. Western New York, known as the “Burned Over District,” because of the religious revivals that swept through the region, was a prime target for abolitionists and anti-slavery proponents. The Presbyterian Church, which was supported by several abolitionist leaders; Seth Gates, Henry Brewster, Samuel Grannis, and Samuel Comstock, provided a large meeting room, and a convenient location. Former slaves retold stories of what it was like to live as a slave. Other speakers, such as Amos Phelps, from Boston, were on the speaking circuit for the Anti-Slavery Society. And it was remembered that Frederick Douglass had visited the church. The question was, did those events really happen? In 2017, when the LeRoy Presbyterian Church was celebrating its 200th anniversary, a historic timeline was put together. That timeline caught the eye of Jim Evinger, a retired minister living in Rochester, who was interested in the story of abolition and anti-slavery, but he questioned the validity of the date of Frederick Douglass’ visit. And that led to some more questions. He contacted the LeRoy Historical Society, to see if we had any primary source material, and whether we could collaborate accounts that were printed in the Underground Railroad driving tour. Who were these LeRoy abolitionists? Who were the Black speakers who came to LeRoy? When did Douglass actually speak in the church? Was the church actually attacked during one of these meetings by protestors? One thing led to another, and Jim turned up all kinds of primary source material – diaries, letters, newspaper accounts. Jim presented his findings to a group of people at the Presbyterian Church in October 2019. He traced an account by George Tomlinson, which described a mob’s action: “ Windows were smashed, wood and stones were thrown upon the platform and the meeting broke up in a panic.” Jim also identified the black speaker as an escaped slave, Rev. Thomas James, the founder of the first African American church in Rochester. And it was James’ account that mentioned LeRoy abolitionist, Henry Brewster: “At LeRoy, I was mobbed, my meeting was broken up and I was saved from worse treatment only by the active efforts of Mr. Henry Brewster, who secreted me in his own house.” Jim also traced down another meeting that was held in 1835, which involved Rev. A.A. Phelps of Massachusetts. Jim discovered original letters, digitalized and on-line in the Anti- Slavery Collection of the Boston Public Library. Jim found a letter written by Phelps to his wife, telling about a meeting in LeRoy in August 1835. And another letter in September that describes another violent attack on the church, yet those inside were undaunted and 100 people joined the LeRoy Anti-Slavery Society. It was noted that LeRoy had more members than the Society in Rochester. Further details of the violent meeting in LeRoy in 1835, was remembered by Seth Gates, (his first wife is buried in the Myrtle Street cemetery, and he lived in the brick house on Wolcott Street): The mob, after their attack on the church, returned to Gates’ house and stoned the windows “around the heads of my wife and children.” Gates wrote that in 1835, a prominent individual, (unidentified) had circulated an handbill “ calling on the citizens to rally and not allow the town to be disgraced by the holding of an abolition meeting!” Gates remembered that the outer door of the church was “fastened and held by a rope” while the mob poured water in through the broken windows. When Judge A.P. Hascall, a member of the church, and others tried to disperse the mob, they were stoned. In 1837, more meetings were held in LeRoy. After having been denied History Happened Here