PLATTSBURGH — The Thomas Memorial AME Zion Church’s members included African Americans who were once enslaved such as Henry R. Barr.
The Thomas Memorial AME Zion Church, located at 715 Morrison Street in Watertown, was built in 1909 as the first African American church in Jefferson County, according to a press release.
The congregation, formed in 1878 and incorporated in 1880, worshiped in a private residence at River and Court streets until a bequest of $500 from Watertown resident Henry Gaines enabled them to build a new church.
Under the leadership of longtime member and Board president Frank Thomas, congregation members, many of whom were railroad workers, molded the concrete blocks and built the church themselves with funding assistance from local community organizations such as the YMCA.
The church was a place of refuge for the legacy of African Americans who served as abolitionists and who had connections to the Underground Railroad. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 in recognition of its significance in architecture, social history, and African American history.
“Based on information that we know about the church there could have been congregation members who were apart of the Underground Railroad or escaped bondage, especially Henry Barr,” Shameika Ingram, founder of Preservation In Color, said.
“Mr. Barr escaped from a plantation in Kentucky and found his way to Canada before settling in Watertown. He is listed as one of the trustees of the church in the National Register of Historic Places application that was submitted in 2002.”
UGRR CHAMPLAIN LINE
Cliff Haven resident Don Papson was contacted by Roland VanDeusen, a Watertown resident about the church.
“He just wanted people to know about the church,” Papson, co-founder of the North Star Underground Railroad Museum at Ausable Chasm and past president of the North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association, said.
“He was concerned because he wanted the church saved. There was a problem with taxes. The church was in danger. I haven’t been in touch with him since. So, I don’t even know if he is still alive.”
At the time, Papson, and his wife/co-founder, Vivian, visited Watertown.
“They had an Underground Railroad exhibit in the church, but the church was closed in 2017,” he said.
“So, I couldn’t get inside of it. One of the exhibits had a picture of Henry R. Barr because they named a room for him in the church. Henry R. Barr originally escaped to Montreal. So, we can claim him because Montreal is part of the Champlain Line. But, then he moved to Watertown, and that’s where he was really known. He was notorious man. He was a barber, and he was into all kinds of things. Unfortunately, he was in an assault situation and shortly after that he died. Henry R. Barr’s story is the most extensive of anybody that I know of who was part of a church.”
Barr was a successful Black Watertown businessman, who owned the Barr Block, the first and only commercial block built by a black man in Watertown. Born into slavery in Kentucky, he went to Montreal before the Civil War, and moved to Watertown after 1865. A barber and a grocery man, he was in the 1880 and 1890 census records. His wife was Nellie E. 1865-1916.
The Henry R. Barr Community Learning Center in the basement of the Thomas Memorial AME Church exhibited turn-of-the-century tools and information about past congregation members who came to Watertown on the Underground Railroad.
FREEDOM TRAIL NORTH
The main Underground Railroad route to Watertown was from Central New York, from Syracuse.
“There were other people,” Papson said.
“There was another man who lived there. I believe he was Catholic. He had escaped on the Underground Railroad, but he was not associated with that church.”
Joseph H. Rickman was born into slavery in Kentucky. He went to Canada, and then moved to Watertown in 1875.
Other names from AME Zion church records:
– Adele Bradshaw
– Frank and Eugene Thomas
– Henry Gaines
– David A. Williams
ABOLITIONISTS
Author/editor Tom Calarco researched Jefferson County history when compiling his “People of the Underground Railroad: A Biographical Dictionary” published by Greenwood in 2008.
“I was researching everywhere because my thesis is that the UGRR was not a haphazard, disorganized system, though of course it was decentralized to some degree and not everyone knew all the participants but there was a huge amount of networking through the antislavery societies and the churches,” Calarco said.
His Jefferson County files archived at the North Star Underground Railroad include:
Abolitionists
1. “North Residents Played Key Roles in UGRR,” Lorna W. Laponsee. Watertown Daily Times 26 Aug. 1968; interesting details, including the only reference to stations having numbers that I have seen; names mentioned: Rev. John Rankin, John Johnson, David Aspinwall, and the Sawdon family in Constable, Franklin County.
2. Photo of NYS historical marker in Dexter outside the Babcock Homestead; also notice of daughter of Myron Cushman of Governor’s passing from 1922 news clip
Anti-Slavery Meetings
1. “First Annual Meeting of the Jefferson County Anti-Slavery Society.” Friend of Man 22 Feb. 1837: 141
2.“Rev. John Cross.”Friend of Man 12 July 1837: 13
3. “Jefferson County Anti-Slavery Society. Friend of Man 6 Feb. 1838: 131
4. “Watertown Anti-Slavery Society,” Friend of Man 24 July 1839; formation of this society; Rev. Marcus Smith, pres; E.R. McGregor, Secy
5. “Jefferson County Convention.” Friend of Man 5 Oct. 1841; anncmt of convention, signed by leading members: Newton Mann, Silas Webb, Hugh Smith, Silas F. Spicer, William Webb, Peter Sutts, Henry Wright, William Grenell, William Merriam, Willet R. Willis, A.B. Turner, P.G. Keyes, A.B. Page, E.M. Adams, Elias Babcock, Asa Gleason, B.F. Barney, Plinn Wright
6.“For the Patriot.” Albany Patriot 26 April 1848: report of Christian Convention resolving their opposition to war, slavery and intemperance.
“The most famous person who went through Watertown is Harriet Powell,” Papson said.
“There’s a lot on her on the internet. I believed the man ‘owned’ her was from Syracuse, and he went to Mississippi, married a Southern woman, and he brought Harriet to Syracuse when he was visiting his family. A Black man at the hotel noticed that she was very well dressed. Black people knew she was Black. White people didn’t. The Black man working in the hotel said, ‘Would you like to be free?’ She said, ‘Yes, I would.’ “They rescued her, and she was taken to Gerrit Smith’s mansion and then she was taken by one of the agents up to Watertown.
“She went across the river to Kingston, where she married and lived the rest of her life as a free woman. She was the most famous case that I know of through Watertown.”