Harry T. Burleigh, Hamilton Waters and Reginald Burleigh

The Harry T. Burleigh Family Chronology

March 5, 1832

 A Deed for "Manumission" for the "Negro Hamilton" was issued.

 A Bill of Sale was issued to Hamilton for his mother Lovey. The deed of manumission and the bill of sale were both issued to Hamilton Waters.  Waters would become the grandfather of Harry T. Burleigh and played a very important role in his life and the life of the African American people of Northwestern Pennsylvania.¹

April 13, 1835

 James Tilgham of Somerset County, Maryland issued a "Certificate of Freedom" for Hamilton Waters. In the papers Hamilton is described as "29 years of age, 5 feet 8 inches tall and partially blind." The papers also state that Waters was, "orderly and intelligent."  James Tilgham was a small farmer with assets of no more than $1000.  There were other members of the Water's family held by slavery in the area of the Tilgham farm. Hamilton purchased his freedom and his mother's freedom for about $50.00.²

 A re-enacted Maryland law from 1825, provided for the banishment of free Blacks who could not give "security" for proper behavior. Any free Black traveling through the state had to find a job or leave the state within 15 days. Hamilton and his mother Lovey, chose to leave. The law carried a fine of $30 per day or being sold into slavery.³

May 1835

 Hamilton and his mother are believed to have set out for the Black Settlements of Canada. Many of these settlements were near the Michigan border. The Waters family settled for a time in Michigan, where Hamilton meet the woman he married before relocating in Erie County, Pennsylvania.

May 18, 1837

 Lovey Waters, Hamilton's mother died.⁴

June 20, 1837

 Hamilton Waters and Lucinda Duncanson were married in Michigan. Lucinda was well educated and had served in the household of Governor Enos Thompson Throop, New York, 1829 - 1832. After his term as Governor, Throop moved his household to Michigan.  Lucinda moved with the family. She was described as being of "good breeding and polish of the best society."⁵

1838

 Elizabeth L. Waters was born in the back of a wagon on the outskirts of Lansing, Michigan.  She would become the mother of Harry T. Burleigh.  The Waters left Michigan and settled in Erie, Pennsylvania.  In Erie, Hamilton found work in the barber shop of Robert Vosburgh (1774 - 1846), a successful African American who had settled in Erie with his family in 1818. Hamilton worked as a clothes cleaner.  The two families would remain close to one another for the next three generations.

1839

 Hamilton testifies on behalf of Robert Vosburgh and his 11-year old daughter, Susan.  Susan was charged with "assault and battery" on the children of Oliver Mevis, a white man .  While the two families were picnicking the children began to fight.  Robert was ordered to pay $100 bond to secure the peace.⁶

October 30, 1841

 Louisa Waters, the second children of the Waters was born in Erie.  Louisa would became an important figure in the life of Harry Burleigh.

 Hamilton Waters is reported to have transported a group of fugitive slaves from the City of Erie in Harborcreek Township, Erie County.⁷

June 1842

 Lucinda Waters joined the First Presbyterian Church by "confirmation of faith." The First Presbyterian Church was one of the first churches formed in Erie, and had a small number of African American members. The African American members were: Clarissa, Jane, and Emily Wright (1825); Edward and Anna Parker (1833); Elizabeth and Benjamin Jenkins 1834; and Malinda Bladen (1834).

1845

 Hamilton Waters, William Messick, John Clifford, Amos Burgess and Luman Harris, formed the Wesleyan Methodist (Colored) Church in a section of Erie known as Jerusalem. Members of the Wesleyan Methodist Church were among the "staunchest advocates of the abolition of slavery." 

 Jerusalem was located on Erie's West Side, from Sixth Street north to the Bay Front and from Sassafras Street west to about Cherry Street. The area was purchased by William Himrod, a white abolitionist, who wanted to offer "newly freed blacks and destitute whites" an opportunity to purchase a small homestead.  Jerusalem was known to have been a remote area and not easily reached from downtown Erie, making the area ideal for anti-slavery action.⁸

1846

 Robert Vosburgh died. His wife Abigail and sons, Alfred, Charles, and Fitz continued with the family business.

1847

 Jane Simpson Waters, the third daughter of the Waters died at the age of 5 years, 1 month and 24 days.

1850

 The passage of the Fugitive Slave Law began an intense debate among the residents of Erie County.

1852

 James Dutton charged Hamilton Waters with "assault and battery."  The two men fought over the property that Hamilton had purchased at 137 East Third Street, lot number 2679.⁹ The home built at 137 East Third St. is where Harry T. Burleigh and his brothers and sisters grew up.

1855

 Elizabeth Waters graduated from Avery College in Pittsburgh.  At the commencement Elizabeth delivered an address in French and English.  She returned to Erie and taught at the Wesleyan Methodist Church School, known as the "Colored School."

 Avery College was the first secondary school in the country for African Americans with an African American staff.  Avery College was a 75x55-foot brick building, surmounted by a dome, containing a clock and ell.  "The church sanctuary was finished in an exceedingly chaste and elegant manner; the walls and ceiling ornamented with fresco, skillfully executed by a German artist."

 Among the students who attended Avery with Elizabeth was Benjamin Tucker Tanner (1835 - 1923), who became a bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.  Tanner attended from 1852 to 1857.  He went on to become the editor of the Christian Recorder in 1868 and editor of the AME Church Review in 1888.

The Commencement Announcement for Avery College, Pittsburgh

 The exercises yesterday began at three o'clock and were held in the College Chapel. A very numerous and respectable auditory, composed principally of colored ladies and gentlemen, were present. We noticed also a number of Protestant clergymen of the two cities,¹⁰and a number of Ward (public school) teachers. Mr. Avery occupied a seat in the pulpit, and seemed highly gratified by the exercises, and well he might.

 Mademoiselle Elizabeth Waters, of Erie, Pennsylvania, delivered an address — "La Salutation" — in French.  Miss Waters is a very intelligent young lady in appearance, and her pronunciation of the French language was correct and indicated an excellent knowledge of the tongue.

 Miss Waters followed (Miss E. J. Woodson of Pittsburgh) in a very neat essay on "American Institutions," in the course of which the adverted in terms of sorrow to the enslaved condition of so large a portion of her race.  She thought slavery the only stain upon our country's fair name¹¹.

 1858

 Frederick Douglas spoke at Park Hall. When local residents heard that Douglas was to speak in Erie they threatened to kill both Douglas and Henry Catlin, the out-spoken editor of the abolitionist newspaper The True American.  Catlin gave aid to fugitives from slavery.

Announcement of the arrival of Douglas to Erie County.

The Erie Observer April 24, 1858

 "Fred Douglass, as we see by the Gazette, is to lecture at Park Hall in this city this evening. The Editor of the American will doubtless hold 'that' carpet bag."

Following the visit of Douglass the following was written by Henry Catlin:

April 29, 1858

The Visit of Frederick Douglas¹²

 Frederick Douglas discussed his favorite topic — the "Unity of the Human Race" — in Park Hall on Saturday evening, to a moderately sized audience, with masterly ability. We are satisfied that, but for the existing prejudice against color, he would stand acknowledged as one of the first intellects and most powerful Orators in the country. His address, on the occasion alluded to , was characterized by a force of logic and elegance of diction, we have seldom heard surpassed. We do not say that we subscribe to all the opinions he expressed, but in the exercise of a spirit of common candor, we cannot do less then yield to his talents and eloquence the tribute of our hearty admiration.

July 1, 1858

 As the issues surrounding slavery, civil rights and abolition heated up, Hamilton Waters and others formed the Benevolent United Equal Rights Society, for the mutual support and protection of the African American community involved in Underground Railroad activities.  James Grant was President, James L. Titus, Vice-President; and John Graham, Secretary.¹³

 1860

 Federal census records for the City of Erie report that Hamilton was the City Crier, with $200 in real estate and $100 in cash or personal estate. Elizabeth continued to teach at the Colored School.  In the same year Susan Vosburgh Dickson began teaching music on the family's Steinway piano. The Vosburgh mansion was located at 315 French Street, just around the corner from the Burleigh's home.

1862

 William Bladen, a former slave held in Erie County by John Grubb, threatens Hamilton in his own home.  Hamilton filed charges against Bladen.  It is not mentioned in the court records the cause of the problem between the two men.¹⁴

September 17, 1862

 Elizabeth L. Waters married Henry T. Burley.  Henry Burley brought a youthful energy to Erie's abolition community.¹⁵ He took hold of the leadership and gave new direction to the Civil Rights movement in the city. Henry joined forces with Charles Vosburgh, the son of Robert and Abigail. The two men worked to develop the Colored School, Henry was superintendent of the school.

1864

 Henry T. Burley enlisted as a landsman in the Union Navy. His dates of service: September 5, 1864 to June 23, 1865.  Burley served on the Moose, a wooden sternwheeler steam gunboat built at Cincinnati, Ohio in 1863.

November 14, 1864

 Reginald Waters, Harry's older brother was born in Erie.

1865

 The Equal Rights League (Colored) was organized to work for voting rights for African Americans and women. The group met at the Wesleyan Methodist Church in the section of Erie known as Jerusalem. The officers were: John Clifford, President; Henry T. Burley, Secretary and Washington Williams, Treasurer.¹⁶

March 28, 1866

 Hamilton purchased property on the south side of Third Street between French and Holland Streets on Erie's lower East Side. The property was sold by George Kellogg for $500.¹⁷

December 2, 1866

 Henry T. Burleigh was born. The family called the baby Harry.  Following the death of Harry's father the family changed the spelling of their name to Burleigh.

August 26, 1867

 Lucinda Duncanson Waters died at the age of 65.

September 18, 1868

 Ada Sampson Burley was born.

 The Equal Rights League was formed by Henry T. Burley, Charles Vosburgh and John Clifford.  The Equal Rights League was a national organization that did not opposite the Fourteenth Amendment but worked to remove both race and gender barriers from all state elections.¹⁸

March 27, 1869

 Henry T. Burley was confirmed at St. Paul's Episcopal Church (white), at the same time Reginald, Harry and Ada were baptized. The sponsors were Hamilton Waters, Boyd Vincent and Clara Austin.  Austin was the Directress of the Lady's Parochial Society.

December 11, 1870

 Eva Grace Burley was born. 

March 9, 1871

 Henry T. Burley made local history by becoming the first African American to serve on a jury.  The case was the Commonwealth vs. John Stohl. The defendant, a white man, was found guilty and sentenced to four months in the county jail.

April 13, 1871

 Henry T. Burley was mustered into the Strong Vincent Post #67.  He was the first and only African American man mustered into the post at that time.

February 24, 1873

 "Henry T. Burley falls dead in a Chicago street, the cause of death, heart disease. At the time of his death, Henry was working for the Sleeping Car Company."

 The news of Burley's death reminded local residents of the Underground Railroad, the Abolition movement and many of the people involved in all anti-slavery actions.  The following statement was written along side Burley's obituary: "To the survivors of the original Abolitionist, who first organized the party amid taunts, persecution and division on all sides, they have lived to see their own government take the abolition society into their hands, carry it out, and give the black man not only freedom, but his elective franchise and equal rights.  They stood then alone; now the Government and nearly the whole world is with them. They have lived to see their wishes carried out, and will receive their rewards."¹⁹

1874

 Following Henry's death Elizabeth tried to work as a teacher in Public School No. 1 in Erie.  She was refused and instead was given work as a janitor. Reginald and Harry would sometimes join her in her work.  Harry recalled years later that the family would often sing together at those times, when the boys joined their mother at work.

 Not only were African Americans bared from work in Erie's Public Schools, they were also barred from attending the school.  Harry and his brother Reggie, attended the Himrod Mission School instead.  Hamilton Waters had also attended the Himrod School years earlier and was considered one of the school's most distinguished alumni²⁰.

 John Elmendorf, a transplanted New Yorker, had settled in Erie and was working for Mrs. Charles Reed, the widow of the millionaire shipbuilder.  Shortly after his arrival in town, John began to court Elizabeth.

April 15, 1875

 "Mrs. Lizzie Burley married John E. Elmendorf of Kingston, New York in Erie²¹ by Rev. M. P. Mills.

April 20, 1875

 The Hampton Colored Students sang at the Park Opera House.²²

April 15, 1876

 John Hamilton Elzie Elmendorf, Harry's half brother was baptized at St. Paul's Episcopal Church.

February 6, 1877

 Hamilton Waters dies of pneumonia. 

The Obituary of Hamilton Waters (1800 - 1877)

WATERS — At his late residence at 6:30 yesterday morning, Hamilton Waters, (died) of pneumonia, aged 77 years.

 Funeral services at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Thursday at 2 p. m.  Many years of his early life were spent in slavery.  Now he has gone to the land where there is no oppression and the bondsman is free.  A few hours before he passed away he said to a friend "I have my truck packed — been packed a good while — and am waiting for the boat to round the curve."²³

 Louisa Waters, Harry's aunt returned to Erie and remained.  It was Aunt Louisa who paid for Harry's first music lessons and was his supporter and friend for the remainder of her life.

1878

 Harry and Reginald secured the lamp lighting contract.  Harry was 12 and Reginald 14 years of age.  The job of the lamplighter was to light, care for and extinguish such public lights as may be erected in the City of Erie.  The position of lamplighter paid no more than $6.00 a month. The first street lamps were installed about 1872.  Young boys were hired as lamp lighters.  Their task was not the rosy one that is pictured today. Each evening the boys made their rounds.  They carried a small ladder and a can of kerosene oil.  Clinging to the post with their legs, they would trim the wick when needed and fill the cup with oil.  If a light was out, the boys would be called to go out and re-light the lamp. Then before daylight the boys would put out the lamps.²⁴

1878

 The Burleigh Children attended the Himrod Mission School, but for a short time, Harry attended Public School No. 11 also known as Marshall School. A school for colored pupils was started in rented rooms but was abandoned due to poor attendance²⁵. 

October 6, 1878

 Bessie Duncanson Elmendorf was born.  Bessie Elmendorf would become a teacher at No. 1 Public School, the same school where years before her mother had worked as a janitor.²⁶

1880

 Harry T. Burleigh was confirmed at St. Paul's Episcopal Church Easter Sunday by the Right Rev. John Franklin Spaulding²⁷.

1882

 Reginald and Harry worked summers on Lake Erie steamers as deck stewards, Reginald continued to work the Great Lakes and would travel throughout the country.

April 19, 1883

 Ada Sampson Burleigh died of consumption at the age of 14 years.  Consumption or tuberculosis was the leading cause of death in nineteenth-century America for both blacks and whites.  A particular form of the disease struck blacks so commonly that is came to be known as "Negro Consumption" or Struma Africana. It was characterized by extreme difficulty in breathing, unexplained abdominal pain, and rapidly progressing debility and emaciation, usually resulting in death.²⁸

November 20, 1883

 John Elmendorf served as a trustee for St. James African Methodist Church in Erie.  The Burleigh and Elmendorf children, along with their mother, Elizabeth were active in the Church²⁹. 

 The "ladies of St. James Church" gave a supper and concert at the Grand Army Hall.  The entertainment was a solo by Mr. Lovett and the quartet of Elizabeth Elmendorf, Eva Burleigh and John Lawrence and Harry T. Burleigh³⁰.

August 1885

 In August, following a visit to Cleveland, Eva Burleigh was described as "quite a musician, brilliant and talented," and was planning to enter the Erie High School.

October 1885

 First vested choir of men and boys formed at St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral.  Among the group was the 18 year of Harry and his friend Charles M. Fisher. There was another African American singer in the first group with Harry and Charles who remains unidentified.  The Boys Choir sang at weddings and funerals, as well as Sunday church services. Harry sang bass and Charles sang treble. The two families, the Burleigh-Elmendorf and the Lawrence-Fisher families remained close for the rest of their lives.

 Harry also began singing with the choir of the First Presbyterian Church and the Reformed Jewish Temple in Erie. His singing added to the family income.

May 1887

 Harry Burleigh prepared for his high school graduation. At that time his was known to have "the best penmanship" in Erie County.³¹

August 2, 1887

 Meadville, Pennsylvania held the first Emancipation celebration in Northwestern Pennsylvania.  Hundreds of people, black and white, traveled to Meadville to see and hear speeches and parades  Speeches were given by Mr. H. C. Smith, the editor of the Cleveland Gazette, by US Representative John R. Lynch and John Brown, Jr, son of the John Brown of Harper's Ferry and the Mayor of Meadville, Mr. Bemis. The music was preformed by the Northwestern Orchestra, with dancing and singing into the night.  At the end, large delegations from Franklin and Oil City, from Erie and Cleveland and Bradford and Jamestown, New York returned home well pleased.

September 1887ned home well pleased.

September 1887

 The Burleigh-Elmendorf family were on the go. Eva Burleigh spent a month in Meadville with family and friends. Reggie Burleigh left for St. Paul, Minnesota and Elizabeth Elmendorf visited friends in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

October 1, 1887

 Elizabeth Elmendorf, Harry T. Burleigh and his sister Eva, were elected members of the Orpheus Society organized in 1878, known to have been the best singing society in the city.³² The President of the Orpheus Society was Henry Catlin, the former editor of The True American, an abolitionist newspaper. Catlin gave aid to fugitives from slavery along with Hamilton Waters years before.

 Harry T. graduates from Erie High School, his course of study included English, German, and Latin. At the time of his graduate, Harry was 21 years of age.

 In the same year, Reginald Burleigh was the selling agent in Erie for the book entitled "Bond and Free."

December 2, 1888

 Harry performed at the Erie YMCA with the University Singers of New Orleans, it is not clear if he traveled with the group, but local newspapers reported that it was Burleigh's plan to do so.

 The men in Harry T. Burleigh's life were great models for him.  His step-father John Elmendorf was very much like Harry's grandfather, who stood against slavery, and his father who fought for the Civil Rights of men and women. When Elmendorf was denied employment based on his purported lack of military service, Elmendorf fought back, thereby opening the door for other African Americans to work in the City of Erie.

May 25, 1889

 The following was written in protest after John Elmendorf was denied employment by the county.

In our quiet town it is not often that a "worthy cause demands our zeal, for they usually adjust themselves justifiably. But we feel, in the to-be-mentioned case, that in justice to the person it is our duty to speak, as the usual righteous mode of dispensing favors seems about to be ignored. Mr. John C. Elmendorf, employed in the Gen. Reed Family for seventeen years as coachman, is an applicant for the janitorship of the Government buildings.  Mr. Elmendorf has been an active member of the Republican party for years past, and in the last struggle for Congressman, his zealous efforts and weighty shoulder to the wheel helped materially in electing the Republican candidate.  Now, that he asks for something, there seems to be an element against him. His opponents say he has never served the country as a soldier and claims soldiers' rights to positions. Now, for the information of those who do not know, we will state that Mr. John Elmendorf entered the United States Navy on May 3, 1863, as landsman and worked his way up to an able seaman, serving in many tight conflicts with the rebel forces. He was one of the crew of the United States man-of-war Louisiana who loaded the guns with an intent to below up Fort Fisher, in which they were successful. He was finally discharged with honor as coxswain of Captain Sam Swain's gig. Therefore, if the hesitancy in awarding Mr. Elmendorf the aforesaid situation is caused by any uncertainty as to his country's service, it can be immediately swept away and justice done him. He is temperate, industrious, and gentlemanly, not acquired, but instinctively so. We trust he'll be granted his request without further question.

ELMENDORF, JOHN E. — Date of death: April 20, 1919

 Branch of Service: Navy; Organization: USS William Badger; Rank: Coxswain

 Period of Service: August 1, 1864 to August 1, 1865

 Information given by Navy Department Controllers; Voucher no. 851-1919, page 41; line 13³³.

October 10, 1891

 "Harry T. Burleigh, who expected to and had made preparations to join the Fisk Jubilee troupe, was astonished at the unwillingness of the First Presbyterian Church to let him go.  Pastor and people entreated him to remain. They raised his salary and he has acceded to their wishes and will continue to sing in the choir."³⁴

1890

 Harry Burleigh found work as a clerk for the Brown Folding Machine Company and the Colby Piano Company as a stenographer.

Endnotes

 1. Maryland State Archives. Somerset County Court. James Tilgham, Certificate of Manumission, March 5, 1832 and Certificate of Freedom, April 13, 1835.

2. United States Federal Census for Somerset County, Maryland 1840.

3. The Chronological History of the Negro in America, Peter M. Bergman, editor, Harper & Row, Publishers, New York (1969)

4. The Burleigh Family Bible. Jean Snyder, Ph.D., Burleigh researcher, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.

5. Nelson's.  Information concerning the marriage date of Waters and Duncanson is from the Burleigh Family Bible.

6. Erie County Historical Society & Museums Archives (ECHS & M Archives), Commonwealth vs. Robert and Susan Vosburgh.  Book 2, page 366, no. 9, August 8, 1839.  Erie, Pennsylvania.

7. Miller, John.  A Twentieth Century History of Erie County, Pennsylvania. Chicago (1909)

8. Sanford, Laura.  The History of Erie County, 2^nd edition, 1892.

9. ECHS & M Archives, Commonwealth vs. Hamilton Waters, Book 4, page 282 no. 15, February, 1852.  .

10.The two cities were Allegheny or the North Side of  Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh proper.

11.The Pittsburgh Gazette, July 12, 1855

12.The Erie Weekly Gazette, April 29, 1858; Sanford. History of Erie County.

13. Erie County Court House, Erie County, PA. Deed Book, vol. 10, page 310, July 1, 1858.  Benevolent United Equal Rights Society, Charter of Incorporation.

14. Book 6, page 109, no. 3 November 1862, William Bladen vs. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

15. Burleigh Family Bible

16. Erie County Public Library System, Erie, PA, The Erie Business Directory,1868.

17. Erie County Court House Deed Book, Vol. 25, page 285, March 28, 1866. 

18. Mayer, Henry.  All on Fire: William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolition of Slavery. New York (1998)

19. The Erie Weekly Gazette, February 27, 1873.   "The Abolition Party"

20. Erie County Public Library System.   The Burleigh Biography file, unidentified newspaper clipping, March 2002.    Erie County Historical Society and Museums. Transcripts of Himrod Mission School history, the Himrod Collection.  

21. Erie Morning Dispatch, April 21, 1875

22. Erie Morning Dispatch, April 19, 1875

23. The Erie Morning Dispatch February 7, 1877

24. Carney, John G.  Tales of Old Erie.  Erie, Pennsylvania 1958.

25. Moore, G. O. Brief History of the Public Schools of the City of Erie, Pennsylvania 1938.

26. The Biennial Report, Public Schools of the City of Erie, 1901-02 & 1902-03, 1903.

27. St. Paul Episcopal Cathedral Archives, Erie, Pennsylvania.

28. Todd L. Savitt.  Medicine and Slavery. University of Illinois Press, Chicago 1978.

29. St. James A. M. E. Church Record Book, Erie Pennsylvania.

30. The Cleveland Gazette November 24, 1883.

31. The Cleveland Gazette May 21, 1887.

32. The Cleveland Gazette October 1, 1887. Atkinson's Erie City Directory 1882, page 55.

33. The Cleveland Gazette, May 25, 1889. Veteran's Affairs Room, Erie County Court House, Erie, Pennsylvania.

34. The Cleveland Gazette, October 10, 1891.

Karen James
April 2002
Erie, Pennsylvania

Elizabeth Waters Burleigh Elmendorf

From the Bassett Collection, Erie County Historical Society & Museums, Erie, Pennsylvania.