Jessie E. Pocock Letters to Wilbur Siebert, Sept. 21, 1948 and Oct. 20, 1948
Dublin Core
Title
Jessie E. Pocock Letters to Wilbur Siebert, Sept. 21, 1948 and Oct. 20, 1948
Subject
Siebert, Wilbur Henry, 1866-1961; Underground railroad; Abolitionist; Fugitive slaves--Ohio--History
Description
This letter written by Jessie E Pocock, a resident of Lodi, Ohio during the mid-1900s and granddaughter of a prominent abolitionist and Underground Railroad helper in Wayne County, wrote this letter to Wilbur Siebert, an Underground Railroad historian based in Columbus, Ohio, that included the story of a fugitive slave family that was attempting to find safety with Pocock’s grandfather. Pocock describes in detail how the abolitionist of Wooster, and the surrounding areas, were able to keep the family of eight safe from detection for over a day until they could get them into a wagon to get them to Wooster where there were larger and safer houses on the path of the Underground Railroad to get the fugitive family to freedom.
The necessity of people such as Jessie Pocock’s grandfather were undeniable during the Underground Railroad. They not only realized the dangers that fugitive slaves were in as they attempted to escape, but they were also willing to put their livelihood on the line to make sure that this family made it some place safe and did not have to worry about being captured on route to a safer and free place for fugitive slaves.
The necessity of people such as Jessie Pocock’s grandfather were undeniable during the Underground Railroad. They not only realized the dangers that fugitive slaves were in as they attempted to escape, but they were also willing to put their livelihood on the line to make sure that this family made it some place safe and did not have to worry about being captured on route to a safer and free place for fugitive slaves.
Use Ohio Social Studies Standard for Grade Eight 11 (Disputes over the nature of federalism, complicated by economic developments in the United States, resulted in sectional issues, including slavery, which led to the American Civil War) and 16 (Cultural biases, stereotypes and prejudices had social, political and economic consequences for minority groups and the population as a whole) for integration into the classroom.
Creator
Jessie E. Pocock
Source
Ohio Memory Project, Wilbur H. Siebert Collection http://www.ohiomemory.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/siebert/id/4811/rec/1 MSS116AV BOX58 F01 009
Publisher
Unknown
Date
1948-09-21
1948-10-20
Rights
In Copyright http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Relation
Wilbur H. Siebert Collection
Format
PDF Document
Language
eng
Type
Text
Identifier
Jessie_E_Pocock_001
Coverage
Wayne County, Ohio; Medina County, Ohio;
Underground Railroad
Collection
Citation
Jessie E. Pocock, “Jessie E. Pocock Letters to Wilbur Siebert, Sept. 21, 1948 and Oct. 20, 1948,” Wayne County Ohio History, accessed May 3, 2024, https://woosterdigital.org/wayneohiohistory/items/show/4.