William Still Center-Families Divided & United - Denton, MD
Posted by: 
Don.Morfe
N 38° 49.968 W 075° 50.100
18S E 427525 N 4298553
William Still’s mother Sidney and several of his siblings lived in a cottage on the plantation where they were enslaved.
Waymark Code: WM16TXE
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 10/05/2022
Views: 0
LOCATION: Detour Road, Caroline County 4H Park, Denton, MD United States
21629
William Still Family Interpretive Center- Stop 29 (page 34) Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway Driving Tour Guide.
(
visit link)
TEXT on the Historical Marker:
William Still Center-Families Divided & United
— Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway —
William Still’s mother Sidney and several of his siblings lived in a cottage on the plantation where they were enslaved. Sidney escaped with her children to join her husband in New Jersey, but she was soon recaptured and returned to Maryland. Leaving her two boys behind but taking her two daughters, she fled again, this time successfully. As punishment, her angry owner sold her sons Peter and Levin.
Sidney gave birth to her last child, William, in freedom in New Jersey. As an adult living in Philadelphia, William played a critical role as an Underground Railroad agent, helping more than 1,000 freedom seekers in the 1850s. A chance meeting with his long lost brother Peter inspired William to document the experience of freedom seekers who contacted him. In doing so, Still noted the arrival of Harriet Tubman with her three brothers who had escaped slavery on Christmas Day 1854.
(Inscription next to the photo at the bottom right)
William Still’s careful records, kept secret until after the Civil War, now help scholars reconstruct details of how the Underground Railroad worked and who was involved. William Still photographic print-Chester County Historical Society, West Chester, PA.