Detail of map by Wilbur H. Siebert for The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom. Many thanks to OhioMemory.org for digitizing the full map. Elbert Wixom Cook drew a similar map in 1903.
These names were originally compiled by Christopher Densmore with additions by the author of this website. Where did he find them?
Lists like this are never entirely comprehensive or reliable, because some authors who claim people for the UGRR, sometimes decades after the fact, do not cite any sources from the period. When encountering claims about the Underground Railroad, always evaluate what evidence, if any, the author provides.
Of these individuals, these men were African-American:
- William Wells Brown
- John Dandridge
- Phoenix Lansing
- Samuel Murray
- William Qualls (sometimes spelled Quarles)
- Bob Smith
- George Weir, Jr.
Many more Black Buffalonians assisted freedom seekers but their names were not recorded.
Modern audiences often conflate abolitionism, Quakerism, and Underground Railroad activity, assuming that anyone who advocated for abolition was also an Underground Railroad agent. Or that anyone who was Quaker was also an Underground Railroad agent. It is possible that many who supported the abolition cause never encountered the opportunity to assist anyone feeling from slavery.
Some who did assist, like the anonymous boatmen who piloted the Black Rock Ferry back and forth to Canada, thus delivering fugitives to freedom, were doing their jobs and may never have joined organized efforts to assist freedom seekers.
| Name | Place | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Aldrich, Sidney | Clarence | Siebert, p. 414 |
| Baker, Benjamin | East Hamburgh, now Orchard Park | Graf, p. 76 Merrill, p. 106 |
| Baker, Obadiah | Potter’s Corners, in what is now Orchard Park | Merrill, p. 100 |
| Barker, Gideon | Wales | Siebert, p. 414 |
| Brown, William Wells | Buffalo | Graf, p. 80 Merrill, p. 106 |
| Butler, Morris | Buffalo | Graf, p. 78-79 Merrill, p. 105 Seibert, p. 195 |
| Chester, Lucas | Buffalo | White, v.2, p. 466 |
| Dandridge, John | Buffalo | MSBC, p.24 |
| Dodge, Cheesman | Buffalo | Graf, p. 76 |
| Dodge, Hampton | Buffalo | Merrill, p. 105 |
| E—–, Deacon | Springville | Pettit, p. 70-71 |
| Fosdick, John Spencer | Buffalo | Graf, p. 78 |
| Hathaway, [possibly Isaac?] | Collins | Pettit, p. 46 |
| Haywood, William | Siebert, p. 414 | |
| Hill, Roswell | Eden | Merrill, p. 99 |
| Hosmer, Rev. George W. | Buffalo | Powell, p. 7 |
| Jonson, George W. | Buffalo | Siebert, p. 414 |
| Lansing, Phoenix | Buffalo | Weir |
| Love, Thomas C. | Buffalo | Graf, p. 77 |
| Matteson, H.H. | Buffalo | Picquet, p. 43 |
| Maxwell, John | Buffalo | Merrill, p. 105 |
| Moore, Deacon Henry | Aurora | Siebert, p. 414 |
| Murray, Samuel | Buffalo | Graf, p. 79 Merrill, p. 106 Severance, p. 242 |
| Orr, Abner | Holland | Merrill, p. 99 |
| Orton, Rev. Samuel G. | Buffalo | Severance, p. 189 |
| Pepper, —– [attorney?] | Buffalo | Brown |
| Qualls, William | Buffalo | MSBC, p. 24 |
| R—-,T—-, Esq. | Buffalo | Weir |
| Smith, Bob | Buffalo | Powell, p. 8 |
| Varney, “Friend Andrew” | Evans? | Pettit, pp. 14, 17, 94 |
| Webster, Mary Willis | Town Line/Alden | Merrill, p. 100 |
| Weir, George, Jr. | Buffalo | Weir |
| Wilkes, John | Rice Corners, Sardinia | Merrill, p. 99 |
| Williams, —– | Siebert, p. 414 | |
| Ziegler, [possibly William?] | Black Rock | Merrill, p. 106 |
| Zimmer, Carl | Buffalo | Graf, p. 79 |
| Source | Full Citation |
|---|---|
| Brown | Brown, William Wells Narrative of William Wells Brown [Chapter 11, excerpt] Boston, MA: Anti-Slavery Office, 1847 |
| Graf | Graf, Hildegarde. Abolition and Anti-Slavery in Buffalo and Erie County Buffalo, NY: Thesis, University of Buffalo, May 1939 |
| Merrill | Merrill, Arch. The Underground, Freedom’s Road and Other Upstate Trails New York: American Book-Stratford, 1963 |
| MSBC | Buffalo Niagara Freedom Station Coalition et al. Historic Structure Report for the Michigan Street Baptist Church Buffalo, NY: Buffalo Niagara Freedom Station Coalition, 2013 |
| Pettit | Pettit, Eber M. Sketches in the History of the Underground Railroad Fredonia, NY: McKinstry & Son, 1879 |
| Powell | Powell, Ed Street as school: Ideas and Assembly in Buffalo, Seen Through the Diary of George Washington Jonson (1835-1849) Urban Education, vol. 18, no. 4, January 1984, pp. 413-425 |
| Picquet | Picquet, Louise Louise Picquet, the Octaroon New York: The author, 1861 |
| Severance | Severence, Frank H. Old Trails on the Niagara Frontier Cleveland, OH: Burrows Brothers, 1903 |
| Siebert | Siebert, Wilbur. The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom New York: Macmillan, 1898 |
| Weir | Weir, George. Still they come: Underground Railroad in Active Operation Frederick Douglass’s Paper, December 11, 1854 |
| White | White, Truman, ed. Our County and its People Boston, MA: Boston History Company, 1898 |
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