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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Guy Beckley
Guy Beckley (1803–1847) was a Methodist Episcopal minister, abolitionist, Underground Railroad stationmaster, and lecturer. The Guy Beckley House is on the National Park Service Underground Railroad Network to Freedom and the Journey to Freedom tour. It stands next to Beckley Park, which was named after him.

Early life and preacher

He was born in Weathersfield, Vermont. He attended the Methodist Episcopal Church and became a preacher at the age of 19. He was a traveling preacher for nine years for the Methodist Church. Beckley began his career in 1827, when he was admitted on trial to the New England Methodist Conference and was assigned to Rev. William McCoy of Rochester, Vermont. He was ordained a deacon in 1830 and an elder in 1831. He was a minister at the Newfane church in Vermont.

Anti-slavery lecturer and recruiter

Beckley was a paid lecturer for the American Anti-Slavery Society, traveling throughout New York and New England for three years. He reported that the Society purchased the freedom of twelve enslaved people in 1837.

After moving to Ann Arbor around 1840, he continued to lecture against slavery and he recruited residents of Washtenaw County, Michigan to support the Underground Railroad. He sat on the executive committee and was the vice president of the Michigan State Anti-Slavery Society.

Underground Railroad

Although it was a federal crime (Fugitive Slave Act of 1793), subject to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine (equivalent to $31,572 in 2023) if caught, he operated an Underground Railroad waystation at 1425 Pontiac Trail beginning in 1842. His house had lower ceilings in his second-story closets that provided niches to hide enslaved people. One of the people that he aided was 16-year-old Caroline Quarlls, who was guided by conductor Lyman Goodnow in 1842. Quarlls' ultimate destination was Canada. Josiah and Minerva Bird Beckley, his brother and sister-in-law, were farmers who operated a waystation at 1709 Pontiac Trail. Berkley had 28 acres of land that adjoined his brother's property.

His New England Georgian style house is located on the National Park Service Underground Railroad Network to Freedom and the Journey to Freedom tour. Located near the house is Beckley Park that was named after him.

Publisher and editor

He published and was co-editor of The Signal of Liberty (formerly the Michigan Freeman) with Theodore Foster from 1841 to 1847. It published stories of formerly enslaved people, like Robert Coxe, who settled in Adrian, Michigan and people who went through Michigan to Canada on the Underground Railroad.

Personal life and death

Beckley was married twice. On June 8, 1830, he was married to Caroline Walker in Springfield, Vermont. She was the daughter of Philenia Spencer and John Walker. The Berkleys had six children together and Caroline died in 1839. In 1839 or 1840, he moved with his wife Phyla and eight children from Vermont to Ann Arbor, Michigan,

Beckley died at his house in Ann Arbor on December 26, 1847, at which time his oldest child was 15. His wife Phyla died three years later.

References

  1. ^ Snodgrass, Mary Ellen (2008). The Underground Railroad : an encyclopedia of people, places, and operations. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-7656-8093-8.
  2. ^ "Another Laborer Departed!". Signal of Liberty. January 1, 1848. Retrieved 2022-03-30 – via Ann Arbor District Library.
  3. ^ Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church for the Years 1773-1839. T. Mason and G. Lane. 1840. pp. 531–532, 533.
  4. ^ Church, Methodist Episcopal (1840). Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church. T. Mason and G. Lane. pp. 68–69, 107, 108.
  5. ^ "American Anti-Slavery Society - purchased and freed 12 enslaved people". Vermont Chronicle. 1837-02-23. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  6. ^ "Guy Beckley House, 1842". Ann Arbor District Library. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  7. ^ Palmer, Julie (2021-09-01). "Local African American History: The Story of Carolyn Quarlls and Rev. Guy Beckley". The Brick Magazine. Archived from the original on 2021-10-19. Retrieved 2022-03-29.
  8. ^ Thelen, Sara Lynne (2008-12-02). "Before You Were Here: the abolitionist movement in Ann Arbor". Michigan Daily. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  9. ^ "Rev. Guy Beckley House, 1425 Pontiac Trail, photo 1930s". Ann Arbor District Library. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  10. ^ "Beckley Park". City of Ann Arbor government. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  11. ^ Hubbard, Charles Horace; Dartt, Justus (1895). History of the Town of Springfield, Vermont. G.H. Walker & Company. pp. 474, 546.
  12. ^ "Guy Beckley death notice". Detroit Free Press. 1847-12-28. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
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