1. Caroline Quarlls was the first enslaved person to travel through Wisconsin using the Underground Railroad.
22 Facts About Caroline Quarlls
1. 2.
Caroline Quarlls married a freedman in Canada, becoming Caroline Quarlls Watkins.
3.
Caroline Quarlls was born in St Louis in 1826, enslaved by her paternal grandfather, Dr Robert Quarlls.
4.
Robert Pryor Caroline Quarlls, was her father and owner.
5.
Caroline Quarlls's mother had married an African American man who was born free and made a living as a successful blacksmith.
6.
Caroline Quarlls had been in contact with her stepfather who was very kind to her and talked with her about her plans to escape slavery.
7.
Caroline Quarlls was brought up doing fine sewing, embroidery, and waiting upon her mistress.
8.
When Caroline Quarlls was a teenager, her mistress became angry with her for looking at her reflection in a mirror and cut her hair off.
9.
Caroline Quarlls had saved $100 cash that she had been gifted from family and from small sewing jobs.
10.
Caroline Quarlls used these funds to purchase a ticket for a steamboat to Alton, Illinois.
11.
Caroline Quarlls was pursued by slave catchers for the $300 bounty placed on her.
12.
Caroline Quarlls hid in a container in a boat as she was brought across the Milwaukee River by prominent attorney Asahel Finch.
13.
From Milwaukee, Caroline Quarlls was brought to Pewaukee, Wisconsin by Samuel Brown; the two traveled via an old rickety wagon.
14.
Caroline Quarlls met up with Lyman Goodnow, a conductor on the Underground Railroad.
15.
The clerk of the steamboat that Caroline Quarlls took to Alton was liable to pay her master $800 if Caroline Quarlls was not found.
16.
Goodnow and Caroline Quarlls learned that the clerk was traveling through Illinois looking for her, too.
17.
At a schoolhouse at Beebe's Grove, Caroline Quarlls asked about the "liberty pole" near where she was standing.
18.
Caroline Quarlls learned that it was common in villages in the North as a commemoration of the birth of liberty in the United States.
19.
Caroline Quarlls's journey lasted five weeks throughout multiple states into Canada.
20.
Caroline Quarlls was a cook and Quarlls and her husband made a good living for their family through hard work.
21.
Caroline Quarlls had learned that she had been left property, which she would have received if she had remained in St Louis until she became of age.
22.
Caroline Quarlls Watkins died in Sandwich in March 1888 or 1892.