Historical Perspectives - My Maternal Great-Great-Great Grandfather - Abram Lee
>> Sunday, November 16, 2008
This information about my great-great-great-grandfather was provided to me through his granddaughter and my great-great aunt Olive Lee Banks of Conshohocken, PA via my maternal aunt Linda Holmes Johnson of Wilingboro, NJ. Thanks for the great info ladies!
Abram Lee was born a slave in February 1847, (I too was born in February, only 127 years later). When Abram was a little boy and still a slave, the madam of the plantation killed his brother with the heel of her shoe by beating him to death. Young Abram witnessed his brother's death firsthand. Abram’s slave surname was Slaughter. When he was a little boy, he was sold to another master and separated from his mother and siblings. When he was set free, he tried to find his mother and siblings but could not. He changed his name from Slaughter to Lee.
Abram was about twelve years old when he saw President Abraham Lincoln in person. He remembered that the Quakers were very kind to the slaves and many of their homes and meeting places were stations for the Underground Railroad. The Quakers believed that slavery was evil and wrong.
During slavery, the slaves were not allowed to congregate openly because the master was afraid they were planning to escape. Instead, they would gather together in a slave cabin to sing and pray. They would take a large black iron pot and turn it upside down on the floor of the cabin. This would absorb the sound so the master could not hear them. The spirituals they would sing were actually signals about the Underground Railroad. The songs would tell where and when the “train” would be leaving.
Abram Lee married Agnes Ball. They had 13 children. The youngest child, who was a girl, died as a baby. Poppa, Marshall William Lee, was the youngest child of the 12 and the only one to become a Baptist Preacher.
(It was Reverened Marshall W. Lee who built a church in Conshohocken, PA, and it was in this church that Rev. Lee married my parents in 1973 and Christened me as a baby in 1974.)
Abram and Agnes moved from Plains, Virginia in 1890 when Poppa was four years old. They moved to Conshohocken, Pa. Abram was a local preacher which meant he would cover for the pastor of the church if he were away or ill. He worked in a steel mill at John Woods in Conshohocken, Pa.
In 1905, Abram purchased two houses on East Sixth Avenue in Conshohocken. The addresses were 350 and 352 East Sixth Avenue.
Abram Lee was born a slave in February 1847, (I too was born in February, only 127 years later). When Abram was a little boy and still a slave, the madam of the plantation killed his brother with the heel of her shoe by beating him to death. Young Abram witnessed his brother's death firsthand. Abram’s slave surname was Slaughter. When he was a little boy, he was sold to another master and separated from his mother and siblings. When he was set free, he tried to find his mother and siblings but could not. He changed his name from Slaughter to Lee.
Abram was about twelve years old when he saw President Abraham Lincoln in person. He remembered that the Quakers were very kind to the slaves and many of their homes and meeting places were stations for the Underground Railroad. The Quakers believed that slavery was evil and wrong.
During slavery, the slaves were not allowed to congregate openly because the master was afraid they were planning to escape. Instead, they would gather together in a slave cabin to sing and pray. They would take a large black iron pot and turn it upside down on the floor of the cabin. This would absorb the sound so the master could not hear them. The spirituals they would sing were actually signals about the Underground Railroad. The songs would tell where and when the “train” would be leaving.
Abram Lee married Agnes Ball. They had 13 children. The youngest child, who was a girl, died as a baby. Poppa, Marshall William Lee, was the youngest child of the 12 and the only one to become a Baptist Preacher.
(It was Reverened Marshall W. Lee who built a church in Conshohocken, PA, and it was in this church that Rev. Lee married my parents in 1973 and Christened me as a baby in 1974.)
Abram and Agnes moved from Plains, Virginia in 1890 when Poppa was four years old. They moved to Conshohocken, Pa. Abram was a local preacher which meant he would cover for the pastor of the church if he were away or ill. He worked in a steel mill at John Woods in Conshohocken, Pa.
In 1905, Abram purchased two houses on East Sixth Avenue in Conshohocken. The addresses were 350 and 352 East Sixth Avenue.
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