LeRoy Pennysaver & News

LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - FEBRUARY 14, 2021 by Lynne Belluscio Many years ago, the Historical Society published a little booklet about the Underground Railroad which includes a map, and it’s time to reprint it. So here is a quick review of this part of LeRoy’s history. First of all, the Underground Railroad was neither underground, nor was it a railroad. It was “underground” in the sense that it was a hidden route. The term railroad is taken from a story, that someone said, that “the slaves traveled so quickly, that it was as if they were on a railroad.” Yes, there were some tunnels that were underground, and there were some people who actually rode north on a railroad, but the term should not be used literally. In LeRoy, there was a “known conductor,” Daniel MacDonald, who lived somewhere in the vicinity of the cemetery on Keeney Road. He was mentioned in Arch Merril’s book on the Underground Railroad and described as being Scotsman who was six-foot tall, having black piercing eyes and boundless energy. (I have never been able to find out where Merril got that information.) McDonald was called the “Medicine Man” because he worked under the guise of a man who made and distributed medicines and that explained the reason he was out at night, traveling around the countryside. Some of his activities were described by ElijahHuftelen in two little booklets that were published in LeRoy in the early 1900s. Huftelen also submitted stories to the LeRoy Gazette. He wrote: “ A full history of the Underground Railroad will never be written, for it was a spontaneous organization of such nature that no records were kept. The few who may be left, bound by the force of habit, still keep their secrets and will probably take them to their grave.” Elijah Huftelen was just a teenager, when he went to work for Daniel MacDonald. Eliha took care of McDonald’s horse and he noticed that the horses were only used at night and MacDonald never owned any gray or white horses. One day Huftelen saw MacDonald talking with four Black men. They all got into a wagon and took off. MacDonald did not return for two days, but before he left, he confided in Elijah, that he indeed was helping these men escape. He would take them through Morganville, past Horseshoe Lake to Elba and then to the Niagara River and Canada. Another time, young Huftelen was afraid that there were spies traveling on the route and intended to turn in MacDonald to the Federal Agents. There was a group of Black people gathering to get into the wagon, and Elijah noticed that one of the boys, when he reached out his hand, that his skin on his arm was almost white – not the dark color of his face and hands. Elijah told MacDonald, and when they confronted the boy, they discovered that actually he was a young light-skinned woman who had colored her skin dark because the wanted posters described a light-skinned mulatto woman - - a high price was offered for her capture. T h eAUn d e r g r o u n d Railroad route through LeRoy, known as the Covington Route, was jeopardized in 1856, when a wagon full of escaping slaves had stopped to fix a broken wagon wheel. As they were standing on the road, a dog came running up, and fearing that it was a tracking dog, they killed it and threw it over the fence. They fixed the wheel, and had just started off again, when a couple of men came up on horseback and asked if they had seen the dog. No, they said and everyone went on their way. The men returned to discover their dead dog, and surmised that they had discovered a group of slaves trying to get to freedom in Canada. It was told that MacDonald decided to move operations west, to Bowmansville and he took young Huftelen with him. Huftelen eventually moved back home, and lived in the family’s stone house on Randall Road. Huftelen is buried in the Keeney Road cemetery. The whereabouts of Daniel MacDonald is shrouded in mystery. Many years ago, a person came to the Historical Society looking for MacDonald genealogy, and the family had moved from LeRoy to near Bowmansville. But a definite link was never established. They said that their Daniel MacDonald had died shortly after moving from LeRoy. There are many great stories about the people from LeRoy who risked their lives and their fortunes helping escaping slaves during this time. The research continues to learn more. Soon a new booklet will be available that will guide people along LeRoy’s history trail. LeRoy on the Underground Railroad This building known as "The Dock" was razed for the Post Office. Samuel Grannis wrote that this building was his "office" on the Underground Railroad. Elijah Huftelen