UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

Underground Railroad

First Congregational Church of Malone

The First Congregational Church of Malone, New York, located at the corner of Clay and Main Streets in the center of Malone, has long been held by its members and by the community to have been a part of the Underground Railroad and is now recognized by the State of New York. It has named the church as a designated historic site on its Underground Railroad Heritage Trail.

The current imposing church building was built in 1883 of blue limestone in the Romanesque style, and towers over the village of Malone. This building is the third church building of the Malone Congregational Church. The first building was completed in 1827 and dedicated in 1828. In 1851, that building was torn down, and a brick building was erected in its place. The “Brick Church” as it is known, was in the Federal style and featured a large, raised portico entrance covered by an extended, prominent pediment with five ionic columns. The brick church was built the same year the Fugitive Slave Law was passed and was demolished in 1883 to make way for the current building and includes tunnels and a formerly concealed room under the old portico, which argue strongly for the presence of Underground Railroad activities. The records of the church also indicate the involvement of its members in the anti-slavery movement.

An excerpt from the First Congregational Church’s application for Heritage Trail designation, written by Peter Kivic:

  • Malone, despite its remote location, was an early hotbed of abolitionist sentiment. The Malone Anti-Slavery Society (MASS) formed in 1836, with about forty members (unusually large for such a small village); among them were a dozen members of the Congregational Church [church records; Seaver, 1918]. Prominent among these was Ashbel Parmelee, the church’s first pastor (1809-1845), a noted orator and staunch supporter of both Abolition and African Colonization [Hurd, 1880; church records; Davis, 1969; Seaver 1918]. In 1835, Parmelee was a delegate to the New York State Anti-Slavery meeting in Utica, New York [Calarco, 2004]. Three years later, he himself hosted another Anti-Slavery Conference in the Malone church, for the “most influential clergymen in the county,” to debate slavery issues and make “high-toned resolutions” against it [Canfield, 1838].

  • Rev. Parmelee’s successor, Rev. Silas Woodruff, the second pastor of the Congregational Church (1845-1853) [church records], was also a longtime member of the MASS [Seaver, 1918]. He was the pastor during the construction of the brick church, resigning the next year. Woodruff followed by Rev. John Herrick, the church’s pastor (1854-1867) [church records]. Like his predecessors, Rev. Herrick was also a longtime member of the MASS [Seaver, 1918]. He was the pastor during the period when the church building was presumably being used by the Underground Railroad, and the Civil War, which followed. During the war, the church hosted “many patriotic meetings” and was “used by recruiters for soldiers.” Henry Ward Beecher spoke at a high school graduation exercise held in the church during this time. [Davis, 1969].

  • William A. Wheeler, Vice President of the United States, 1877-1881, was a member of the Congregational Church and had been a member of the anti-slavery movement. In 1860, Wheeler was the featured speaker at a huge “Wide Awake Club” really Brush’s Mills (now Brushton), New York. “He attacked slavery in Kansas” [Malone Palladium, August 3, 1860]”. The Wide Awakes were a radical wing of the Republican Party, with a strong anti-slavery platform.

Other Area Underground Railroad Sites

An excerpt from the First Congregational Church’s application for Heritage Trail designation, written by Peter Kivic:

  • “The long-time (1836-1848) president of the MASS was the county’s most prominent Lawyer, and the most outspoken abolitionist, Jabez Parkhurst of Fort Covington, the border town then miles north of Malone. Parkhurst, elected Vice President of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society in 1840, was leader of the Franklin County Liberty Party and its candidate for New York State Assembly in 1843 [Calarco, 2004; Seaver, 1918]. Parkhurst made little secret of his Underground Railroad stationmaster and conductor activities. He is known to have secreted in his house and barn groups of fugitives (presumably ones transported north from Malone), whom he then carried the half-mile across the border to Dundee, Quebec, in his hay wagon, Mr. Parkhurst’s midnight deliveries of “hay” to Canada were a standing joke in town [Seaver, 1918]”.

  • Two miles north of Malone, on the road to Fort Covington, was the house of Major John Dimick, a retired military officer and lumber yard owner, who was a member of the Malone Congregational Church for several years. Major Dimick, a known Underground Railroad conductor and station master, transported fugitives from Malone to Fort Covington and Canada, in his lumber wagons [Seaver, 1918]. Concealed hiding places (e.g., a room hidden within the base of the chimney stack) have been discovered in his home.

References cited:

  • Calarco, T. [2004], The Underground Railroad in the Adirondack Region

  • Canfield, T.H. [1838], Friend of Man, February 29, 1938

  • Davis. G.B. [1969], Franklin Historical Review, Volume 6, pages 7-15

  • First Congregational Church of Malone, New York, Church records

  • Hurd, D.H. [1880], History of Clinton and Franklin Counties, New York

Kaplan, S. & Kaplan, E.N. [1989], The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution