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How do we know that Benjamin and Susan Hockley were involved with the underground railroad? 1. Letters from John B. Edwards to Gerrit Smith refer to Hockley as a fugitive slave. 2. Newspaper article dated August 4, 1853, tells of Benjamin Hockley’s attempt to escape to Canada on a raft. 1850 Census The 1850 census for Oswego, taken in June, listed a resident
named Benjamin Edwards-Smith Correspondence In October 1850, John B. Edwards wrote to Gerrit Smith that Benjamin Hockley was “now pretty content to remain here.” Four months later, however, he had left for Canada, perhaps afraid he would be re-captured under the terms of the new Fugitive Slave Act. A year later, he still had not returned, although he had hoped to come back in the spring of 1851 to pay for the house and lot that he was buying from Gerrit Smith. (Edwards to Smith, October 12, 1850; February 1, 1851; February 13, 1852. Gerrit Smith Papers, Syracuse University). Newspaper Article Mail (Niagara, Canada), August 10, 1853, printed from the Patriot, August 4. Found by Christopher Densmore. Remarkable Incident--Escape of a Slave. The steamer Chief Justice Robinson, on her way from Lewiston
to Toronto yesterday morning, at about 10 o’clock, and about
twelve miles from Niagara, picked up a colored man floating on
a raft made of a gate. He gave his name as Ben Hockley, and stated
that he had been a slave in Tennesee, from whence he made his
escape. At Oswego, he heard that some men from the south were
in pursuit of him, upon which he made his way to Lewiston. Arrived
there, he was afraid to apply for passage on any of the steamers
for fear of being detained or given up to his pursuers, but made
a bold stroke for life and freedom by launching himself upon
the gate, hoping by this means to make his way over to the Canada
side. He found the current, however, too strong for him, and
drifted out into the lake, till picked up by the “Chief
Justice,” as above stated. He |