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them from being recaptured as well. From New Jersey, they would travel to freedom in Canada. Thomas had also been captured by the slave-hunters, and he was sent back into slavery in
Maryland. Friends in Philadelphia quickly raised $ 1000, with which they bought his freedom. He returned to Philadelphia and lived there for the rest of his life as a popular caterer.
84:"Doubtless the judge was deeply impressed by the appearance in the court-room of the delicate and beautiful wife and the young children clinging to the husband and father, who, looking the picture of despair sat with the evidence in his torn and soiled garments of the terrible conflict through which he had passed.”
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higher danger while doing his job. His friends in
Northampton and Florence then gathered $ 150, and with $ 50 of Dorsey's own earnings he officially bought his freedom which settled on May 14, 1851, fifteen years after his escape. The bill of sale was registered to George Griscom, a Philadelphia lawyer, who then
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A month after it was enacted, Dorsey and 9 other fugitives publicly called out to locals to help them resist any attempts to return them to the South. He and many of his friends were strongly against paying for his natural right to freedom, but with the passage of the act, Dorsey was in significantly
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Abel M. Griffith, a young lawyer, represented Thomas
Sollers. He presented documents that proved Sollers' ownership of Dorsey, and he argued the legality of Sollers' right to recapture him. According to Purvis' account, it seemed all likely that the court would rule in favor of the prosecution. David
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Purvis brought lawyer Thomas Ross and Dorsey's wife and children, who had recently come to
Pennsylvania, to the court in Doylestown. They urged the judge, Judge Fox, to postpone the case, claiming that Dorsey had free papers currently being held by a friend in Columbia, PA. Fox agreed to postpone the
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During the trial, Sollers offered to settle the case by offering Dorsey for sale for $ 500. When Purvis agreed to pay that amount, he raised it to $ 800. When Purvis agreed again, he raised it to $ 1000. Dorsey interrupted and declared, "Do not pay it. I am prepared to take my life in court, if the
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During those two weeks, Basil Dorsey remained in a jail cell, and Robert Purvis organized his legal support. He drove to
Philadelphia and enlisted the service of renowned lawyer and philanthropist David Paul Brown, who refused to accept any payment for defending Dorsey. Purvis spread the word about
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In July 1837, Dorsey's brother-in-law betrayed him to slave-hunters hired by Thomas
Sollers, and they tracked him to Purvis' farm and had him seized by local authorities. Upon learning about Dorsey's imprisonment, Robert Purvis organized an escape to New Jersey for William and Charles, to prevent
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Dorsey had been promised freedom upon
Sollers' death, but when it came on July 17, 1834, Dorsey was instead purchased by Sabrick's son, Thomas Sollers, for $ 300 (~$ 9,156 in 2023). Thomas Sollers offered to sell him his freedom for $ 350, but when Dorsey found Richard Cole, who agreed to be his
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Basil Dorsey was born in 1808 in
Libertytown of Frederick County, Maryland. He was known at the time as Ephraim Costly, and was enslaved by Sabrick Sollers. Dorsey married an enslaved woman named Louisa, and together they had two children while in Maryland, Eliza (born November 3, 1834) and John
134:, father of Joshua Leavitt. Dorsey lived on Leavitt's property for about six years. During that time, he and Louisa had a third child, Charles Robert, on August 29, 1838. Louisa died two months later, on November 7, and she was buried in the town's cemetery.
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bondsman for the sale, Sollers raised the price to $ 500. Cole encouraged Dorsey to escape by foot, and on May 14, 1836, he set out North with his brothers Thomas, Charles, and
William. Thomas became a famous caterer in Philadelphia who had a son
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who was an artist and major collector of Black history. William produced scrapbooks of articles and other materials that chronicled the lives of Black people in the 18th century.
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Paul Brown then rose and demanded that
Griffith produce proper evidence that slavery is legal in the state of Maryland. Griffith left the courthouse and returned with
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On November 12, 1849, Dorsey bought lot No. 12 of the Bensonville Village Lots for $ 35. He built a home on the land, which was purchased by Mary Jones in 1852. The
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When men were sold : the underground railroad in Bucks County, Pa. : an address delivered before the Bucks County Historical Society, January 18,1898
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In January 1844, Dorsey moved with his children to Florence (then called Bensonville) and began working at the Bensonville Manufacturing Company, run by
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Purvis immediately brought Dorsey to his mother's home in Philadelphia, and shortly after they traveled to New York in search of greater security.
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168:", or a driver at the cotton mill, then general "jobber." His job as a teamster meant a lot of traveling, which suddenly became dangerous after
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the trial, encouraging the local African-American population to show up to his trial and aid Dorsey if the ruling was in favor of Sollers.
130:, where he stayed with Haynes K. Starkweather for a few days. Colonel Samuel Parsons then brought him to Charlemont, MA, to the farm of
72:' farm. Thomas preferred to live in the city, while Charles and William lived with neighboring farmers, and Basil lived with Purvis.
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Basil Dorsey remarried to a woman named Cynthia, with whom he had 11 children. He died in Florence on February 15, 1872.
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was enacted in 1850, as he frequently made visits to Boston and Providence which had a higher chance of slave catchers.
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trial by two weeks. Purvis also believed the judge felt sympathy for Dorsey, as he recalled in an 1883 account:
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The history of Bucks County, Pennsylvania : from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time /
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402:"History of Nonotuck Street, 1835 – 1891: Early Multi-Culturalism in Florence, Massachusetts"
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205:"Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Application: Roger Hooker and Keziah Leavitt House"
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History of the Underground Railroad in Chester and the neighboring counties of Pennsylvania
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A Collection of papers read before the Bucks County Historical Society
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19:(c. 1808 – February 15, 1872) was a self-emancipated slave born in
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case goes against me, for I will never go back to slavery."
382:. Doylestown, Pa.: Democrat Book and Job Office Print.
466:. Sojourner Truth Memorial Committee. March 12, 2013
301:(1st ed.). Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books.
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Smedley, R. C. (Robert Clemens), 1832–1883. (2005).
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Strimer, Steve Strimer , Steve (February 12, 2012).
464:"Stop #4: Basil Dorsey's House at 4 Florence Road"
148:Northampton Association of Education and Industry
31:, where he lived for the remainder of his life.
353:Bucks County Historical Society. (1880–1940).
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422:Magill, Edward Hicks, 1825–1907. (1898).
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492:19th-century American slaves
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108:New York and Charlemont, MA
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409:archive.northamptonma.gov/
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497:Fugitive American slaves
388:10.5962/bhl.title.119401
376:Davis, W. W. H. (1876).
29:Florence, Massachusetts
502:American abolitionists
170:The Fugitive Slave Act
152:William Lloyd Garrison
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35:Early life in Maryland
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27:, and later moved to
25:Bristol, Pennsylvania
21:Libertytown, Maryland
132:Roger Hooker Leavitt
99:The Laws of Maryland
46:William Henry Dorsey
209:Basil Dorsey Upload
159:Dorsey–Jones House
250:Hampshire Gazette
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522:1872 deaths
486:Categories
187:References
178:manumitted
62:Harrisburg
58:Gettysburg
440:cite book
363:866124541
325:cite book
432:20314030
317:54843964
224:cite web
180:Dorsey.
166:teamster
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470:May 5,
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405:(PDF)
472:2020
450:link
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