George DeBaptiste was considered the president of the local underground railroad group.
22 Facts About George DeBaptiste
1.
2.
Different sources identify different parents, and they differ on whether George DeBaptiste was born free.
3.
George DeBaptiste said that George legally owned Maria and their son, but set them free on March 12,1823.
4.
On January 22,1835, George DeBaptiste obtained a free movement pass for the state of Virginia in the office of Hustings in Richmond, Virginia.
5.
George DeBaptiste began to harbor black fugitive slaves as a conductor in the Underground Railroad.
6.
George DeBaptiste became his valet during his campaign and, after Harrison was elected president, he appointed the young man as White House steward.
7.
George DeBaptiste had become very close with the president and cared for him during his illness.
8.
An obituary of George DeBaptiste said that at Harrison's death, George DeBaptiste was at his side and held the president in his arms at his last breath.
9.
George DeBaptiste's barbershop became "the nerve center" of the Madison, Indiana underground railroad.
10.
George DeBaptiste was still living in Madison in 1843, when he conducted Adam and Sarah Crosswhite and their four children to freedom.
11.
In 1846, George DeBaptiste was still working along the Ohio River, ferrying Kentucky runaways across to Ohio and Indiana, and then to Michigan and Ontario, Canada.
12.
George DeBaptiste frequently loaned his freedom papers to other men of similar height and build.
13.
At age 34, in 1846, George DeBaptiste moved to Detroit where he continued to work as a barber and sold clothes at Robert Banks' store.
14.
In 1848, George DeBaptiste took work as steward on the steamship Arrow, which traveled on the Great Lakes between Sandusky, Ohio and Detroit.
15.
In 1859 together with William Whipper, DeBaptiste purchased a lake steamship, the T Whitney.
16.
George DeBaptiste was an occasional correspondent to various anti-slavery journals, including the North Star and the Liberator.
17.
George DeBaptiste played a role in the larger national abolitionism movement.
18.
On March 12,1859, John Brown, Frederick Douglass, William Lambert, and George DeBaptiste met at William Webb's house to discuss emancipation.
19.
George DeBaptiste proposed that conspirators blow up some of the South's largest churches.
20.
George DeBaptiste won first prize for his wedding cakes in the 1873 Michigan State Fair.
21.
George DeBaptiste was a member of Second Baptist Church in Detroit.
22.
George DeBaptiste was survived by his second wife, one son, and one daughter.