The Underground Railroad

The Road to Freedom

The people operating Underground Railroad Stations were in violations of the "Fugitive Slave Law" and were subject to heavy fines and imprisonment. Therefore, much of the information about the Underground Railroad Stations and their operation, died with the people involved. This makes it very difficult for today's researchers to obtain information. Anyone that can contribute additional information about these individuals and the opertation of the their Underground Railroad Stations please contact me by E-Mail: rsortor@theenchantedforest.com.

Aunt Laura Haviland

Laura S. Smith, daughter of Reverend Daniel Smith and Sene Blancher was born in Kitley, Leeds Co., Ontario, Canada on 20 Dec. 1808. Laura's father was a minister and her mother and elder in the Society of Friends. Laura's family moved to Cambria, New York about 1815. She was sixteen when she met and married Charles Haviland, Jr., son of Charles Haviland, Sr. and Esther Mosher at Lockport, Niagara Co., New York on 3 Nov. 1825. Charles was born in Hoosick Twp., Rensselaer Co., New York on 5 Dec. 1800. Laura's parents moved to Lenawee Co., Michigan in 1826. Laura and Charles moved to Royalton, New York to be near Charles' parents. In 1829, Laura and Charles moved to Lenawee Co. to join Laura's parents. Their two oldest children: Harvey S. and Daniel S. were born before their migration to Lenawee Co., Michigan from New York. The remaining six children: Esther Mosher, Annah C., Joseph B, Laura Jane, Almira A. and Lavina A. were born under the primitive and isolated conditions of the frontier in Raisin, Lenawee Co., Michigan. Laura and Charles set up the first Underground Railroad station in Michigan in 1834. In 1837, Laura, age twenty, started the Raisin Institute for white and Negro children. In 1845, Laura lost five members of her family to an erysipelas epidemic. First her husband, her mother one week later her daughter Phoebe, then her father and daughter Lavina. So began fifty-three years of widowhood. She had been married twenty years. Undeterred by these personal tragedies, Laura devoted her life to alleviating the suffering of others. As children grew up Laura became more active in the underground railroad. The Civil War was several years in the future. She felt no compunction about disobeying "The Fugitive Slave Law." She helped many Negro slaves and their families. Laura helped runaway slaves, distributed supplies to refugees and aided war victims during and after the Civil War. When the Raisin Institute was unable to function for four years, Laura still worked in the field of education. Laura and her daughter Anna, taught 100 little Negro children in the basement of Zion Church in Cincinnati. She then taught Negroes in Toledo. She got the school going and then turned it over to a man named John Mitchell. He was a young Negro who worked his way through Oberlin College. She also founded the Michigan Girl's Training School in Adrian. Laura died in Grand Rapids, Kent Co., Michigan on 20 Apr. 1898. 1, 2

William M. Sortore, Sr.

William M. Sortore, Sr., the son of Elisha Sortore and Margaret Cowenhoven was born in Somerset Co., New Jersey on 8 Jul. 1800. He moved to New York with his parents in 1814, first going to Ovid, Seneca Co. and later to Seneca Falls. Elisha, heard that the Genessee Valley covered with a massive growth of timber of considerable value. He decided to move on to this new land. In 1815 they came to the them new area of Amity, Allegany Co., New York. William's father, Elisha, died two years after his arrival in the Genessee Valley. William being the eldest child, must have assumed the responsibility of caring for his mother and seven brothers and sisters. William broke away from the Baptist Church because of the church's stand on the issue of slavery. He then formed the Wesleyan Society, which evolved into the Methodist Episcopal Church. According to William Greene, Allegany County Historian, William Sortore's station was in a big barn on the family farm about two miles south of Belmont. It linked the Friendship station with the Short Tract station, operated by minister, Alanson A. Richmond. This would suggest that Almond Station connected with another route, perhaps the station operated by Thomas McGee on the McBurney property between Hornell and Canisteo. Again interestingly enough, McBurney himself came to this area with slaves. He did not keep them long, however. William Still of Philadelphia mentions "trains from Adams County (Pennsylvania) to Harrisburg to Canada via the Susquehanna Valley" but does not pinpoint the stations.

There is little written information available about Sortore's operation. He was breaking the law less known about his activities the better for him. Like Calvin Fairbanks, William felt he was obeying a moral law. The fact the 1850 Compromise made everyone guilty of breaking the Fugitive Slave Act subject to heavy fines or imprisonment, seeded to encourage the traffic. Arch Merrill describes Sortore's children going to the barn to find evidence of night journeys with tired horses and wagons showing the dirt of hard driving on country roads. Neither the children nor neighbors were told the reasons why. However, they must have guessed.

William was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. William was also an avid abolitionist leaving his church in 1860 because of their stand on slavery. He was a member of the underground railway, hiding 10 or 12 slaves in his house at once. One of these slaves was George Harris who would be the model for one the major characters in "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

William served with the group espoused by A. N. Cole whom the Allegany History describes as "holding radically anti slavery opinions." 3, 4

NOTES:

Danforth, Mildred E., A Quaker Pioneer Laura S. Haviland, Superintendent of the Underground Railroad, New York: Exposition Press, 1961
Haviland, Laura S., "A Woman's Life-Work," Chicago: C. V. Waite, 1887
Merrill, Arch, "The Underground, Freedom's Road and other Upstate Tales," Rochecter, NY: 1963
Phelan, Helene C., Allegany's Uncommon Folk, Alfred, NY: Sun Publishing Co., 1978, p. 205- 207

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