1. Thomas Garrett was an American abolitionist and assisted in the Underground Railroad movement before the American Civil War.
20 Facts About Thomas Garrett
1. 2.
Thomas Garrett helped more than 2,500 African Americans escape slavery.
3.
Thomas Garrett was arrested and convicted for helping Emeline and Samuel Hawkins escape slavery.
4.
Thomas Garrett's family lived on their homestead called Riverview Farm.
5.
In 1813, Garrett married Mary Sharpless, with whom he had five children.
6.
Thomas Garrett became a member of the Wilmington Meeting when he moved to Wilmington, Delaware in 1822.
7.
Thomas Garrett established a station at his house at 227 Shipley Street.
8.
Thomas Garrett married a second time in 1830 to Rachel Mendenhall, the daughter of Eli Mendenhall.
9.
Thomas Garrett established an iron and hardware business and made it prosper.
10.
In 1835, Thomas Garrett became a director of the new Wilmington Gas Company, which made gas "made from rosin, at $7 per 1,000 cubic feet" for lighting lamps.
11.
Thomas Garrett rescued her and determined to defend African Americans throughout his life.
12.
Later that year, Wales and Thomas Garrett represented the group at the National Convention of Abolitionists.
13.
William Lloyd Garrison, whom Thomas Garrett admired greatly, once visited him.
14.
Thomas Garrett was the inspiration for the Harriet Beecher Stowe's abolitionist character, Simeon Halliday, in her famous novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin.
15.
Thomas Garrett openly worked as a stationmaster on the Underground Railroad in Delaware, working with William Still in Philadelphia and John Hunn further down the Delmarva Peninsula.
16.
Thomas Garrett was a friend and benefactor to the noted Underground Railroad Conductor Harriet Tubman, who passed through his station many times.
17.
Thomas Garrett provided Tubman with the money and the means for her parents to escape from the South.
18.
The number of runaways Thomas Garrett assisted has sometimes been exaggerated.
19.
Thomas Garrett said he "only helped 2,700" before the Civil War put an end to slavery.
20.
Thomas Garrett died in Wilmington on January 25,1871, and he was buried at the Quaker Meeting House in Wilmington.