How do we know that George and Eliza Bragdon were involved with the underground railroad?

1. Wilbur Siebert, in his book The Underground Railway from Slavery to Freedom
(1898), listed George Bragdon as an underground railroad supporter in Oswego
County. He also noted “Bragdon’s Place” on his map of underground railroad
routes.

2. The following obituary noted that the Bragdon home was “one of the stations
on the underground railroad, and fugitive slaves have been harbored there and
helped on their way.”

3. Family tradition, related by George Bragdon’s daughter Melissa (probably
listed as Imogene M. Bragdon in the obituary) in the 1920s to a great-nephew, as
suggested by a note in Diary of Claude Fayette Bragdon, 44 (reprinted 1974 from
the Watertown Daily Times, October-December 1972).

Obituary for George Bragdon [newspaper clipping in Special Collections, Penfield Library, SUNY Oswego, n.p., n.d.]

BRAGDON.--In Richland, N.Y., near Port Ontario, Oct. 31st., 1879, George L.
Bragdon, aged 74 years and six months.

George L. Bragdon was born in Acton, York Co., Me., April 27, 1805. He was the
fourth in age of six brothers who moved from Maine to Richland, N.Y., with their
father and mother, in 1818. Richland then included Sandy Creek and two or three
other towns. They settled on what is now known as the Bentley farm in Sandy
Creek, and two or three years’ afterward moved to the present homestead of the
family of deceased, known as Chestnut Hill.

Deceased was married to Eliza S. Salisbury of Pulaski, the surviving widow,
Jan. 31st, 1828, in a log house, then the home of his father’s family. The same
year he took the farm from his father to pay for and own, running in debt for
the most of the amount. Subsequent purchases added to the original farm.

One of the brothers, Asa B. Bragdon of Albion, survives him and is over 82
years of age. The mother died in 1828 and the father in 1862. The latter
reached the age of over 96 years. Four children survive the deceased--George C.
Bragdon, of Rochester; Mrs. Ellen M. Vickery, of Adams; Miss Imogene M. Bragdon, and Emmet L. Bragdon, of the homestead.

Mr. Bragdon never employed a physician for himself from the year of his
marriage, 1828, when he had a run of malarial fever, up to a few weeks before
his death. His wife joined the Baptist church in Pulaski in 1828, being one of
the original members, and he joined the same church less than a year afterwards.

He was one of the first of the early abolitionists of the town, along with such
men as Edward A. Fox, Ard H. Stevens, T.C. Baker, and Abner French. His radical
views on the slavery question led him at one time to ask for a letter of
dismissal and recommendation from his church, which was given him, and he
remained thus disconnected from it for some years, but returned to it at the
beginning of the pastorate of Rev. Lawson Muzzy. He has ever been a devoted
servant of Christ, and his life showed most conclusively that his conversion was
genuine. He knew in whom he trusted. His house was a favorite stopping place
of the eearly abolition orators, especially of Asa S. Wing, who was one of his
warmest friends. It was also one of the stations of the underground railroad,
and fugitive slaves have been harbored there and helped on their way.

He was also very zealous and active in the early teetotal movement.

He conceived the idea of the Bethel Church near Selkirk, as an unsectarian
house of worship, and it was built chiefly through his efforts.

He was appointeed a delegate to the anti-slavery Convention in Utica which was
was broken up by a mob, and was once made the abolition candidate for Member of
Assembly. Firm in his convictions of right and justice, wholly self-reliant,
generous and helpful to the needy and deserving, his death is deeply regretted
both by the community and his church. The funeral services were held from his
late residence on Sunday afternoon and were largely attended, Rev. Lawson Muzzy
attending and preaching the funeral sermon. At his request, the remains of Mr.
Bragdon were deposited by the side of his father and mother on the old homestead
and near the house. The solemn services were concluded, by singing the
following expressive lines composed for the occasion by George C. Bragdon, Esq.,
of Rochester:

We give thee thanks, our blessed God,
For life and death, and joy and pain,
Thy tender care, Thy warning rod,
Loss which is everlasting gain.

Thy ways are always wise and right,
However we may fail to see
With our dim eyes the love and light
Behind enshrouding mystery.

Those earthly sorrows are so brief
Compared with Thy Eternity,
That we should always find relief
From them, abounding God, in Thee.

Oh may we trust Thee more and more,
Since Thou, and only Thou, art great,
And in the less’ning years before
Learn better how to work and wait.