Philadelphia, Aug. 16th, 1851.
To B. McKiernon, Esq.: Sir—I have
received your letter from South Florence, Ala., under date of the 6th inst. To
say that it took me by surprise, as well as afforded me pleasure, for which I
feel to be very much indebted to you, is no more than true. In regard to your
informants of myself — Mr. Thornton, of Ala., and Mr. Samuel Lewis, of
Cincinnati — to them both I am a stranger. However, I am the brother of Peter,
referred to, and with the fact of his having a wife and three children in your
service I am also familiar. This brother, Peter, I have only had the pleasure
of knowing for the brief space of one year and thirteen days, although he is
now past forty, and I twenty-nine years of age. Time will not allow me at
present, or I should give you a detailed account of how Peter became a slave,
the forty long years which intervened between the time he was kidnapped, when a
boy, being only six years of age, and his arrival in this city, from Alabama,
one year and fourteen days ago, when he was re-united to his mother, five
brothers and three sisters.
None but a father's heart can fathom the anguish and sorrow
felt by Peter during the many vicissitudes through which he has passed. He
looked back to his boyhood and saw himself snatched from the tender embraces of
his parents and home to be made a slave for life.
During all his prime days he was in the faithful and
constant service of those who had no just claim upon him. In the meanwhile he
married a wife, who bore him eleven children, the greater part of whom were
emancipated from the troubles of life by death, and three only survived. To
them and his wife he was devoted. Indeed I have never seen attachment between
parents and children, or husband and wife, more entire than was manifested in
the case of Peter.
Through these many years of servitude, Peter was sold and
resold, from one State to another, from one owner to another, till he reached
the forty-ninth year of his age, when, in a good Providence, through the
kindness of a friend and the sweat of his brow, he regained the God-given blessings
of liberty. He eagerly sought his parents and home with all possible speed and
pains, when, to his heart's joy, he found his relatives.
Your present humble correspondent is the youngest of Peter's
brothers, and the first one of the family he saw after arriving in this part of
the country. I think you could not fail to be interested in hearing how we
became known to each other, and the proof of our being brothers, etc., all of
which I should be most glad to relate, but time will not permit me to do so. The
news of this wonderful occurrence, of Peter finding his kindred, was published
quite extensively, shortly afterwards, in various newspapers, in this quarter,
which may account for the fact of “Miller’s” knowledge of the whereabouts of
the “fugitives.” Let me say, it is my firm conviction that no one had any hand
in persuading “Miller” to go down from Cincinnati, or any other place, after
the family. As glad as I should be, and as much as I would do for the
liberation of Peter's family (now no longer young), and his three “likely”
children, in whom he prides himself — how much, if you are a father, you can
imagine; yet I would not, and could not, think of persuading any friend to
peril his life, as would be the case, in an errand of that kind.
As regards the price fixed upon by you for the family, I
must say I do not think it possible to raise half that amount, though Peter
authorized me to say he would give you twenty-five hundred for them. Probably
he is not as well aware as I am, how difficult it is to raise so large a sum of
money from the public. The applications for such objects are so frequent among
us in the North, and have always been so liberally met, that it is no wonder if
many get tired of being called upon. To be sure some of us brothers own some
property, but no great amount; certainly not enough to enable us to bear so
great a burden. Mother owns a small farm in New Jersey, on which she has lived
for nearly forty years, from which she derives her support in her old age. This
small farm contains between forty and fifty acres, and is the fruit of my
father's toil. Two of my brothers own small places also, but they have young
families, and consequently consume nearly as much as they make, with the
exception of adding some improvements to their places.
For my own part, I am employed as a clerk for a living, but
my salary is quite too limited to enable me to contribute any great amount
towards so large a sum as is demanded. Thus you see how we are situated
financially. We have plenty of friends, but little money. Now, sir, allow me to
make an appeal to your humanity, although we are aware of your power to hold as
property those poor slaves, mother, daughter and two sons, — that in no part of
the United States could they escape and be secure from your claim — nevertheless,
would your understanding, your heart, or your conscience reprove you, should
you restore to them, without price, that dear freedom, which is theirs by right
of nature, or would you not feel a satisfaction in so doing which all the
wealth of the world could not equal? At all events, could you not so reduce the
price as to place it in the power of Peter's relatives and friends to raise the
means for their purchase? At first, I doubt not, but that you will think my
appeal very unreasonable; but, sir, serious reflection will decide, whether the
money demanded by you, after all, will be of as great a benefit to you, as the
satisfaction you would find in bestowing so great a favor upon those whose
entire happiness in this life depends mainly upon your decision in the matter.
If the entire family cannot be purchased or freed, what can Vina and her
daughter be purchased for? Hoping, sir, to hear from you, at your earliest convenience,
I subscribe myself,
Your obedient
servant,
Wm. Still.
To B. Mckiernon, Esq.
SOURCE: William Still, The Underground Railroad: A
Record of Facts, Authentic Narratives, Letters &c., p. 35-6
