Emeline and Samuel Hawkins facts for kids

Emeline and Samuel Hawkins were a brave couple from Queen Anne's County, Maryland who lived in the 1800s. They had six children. In 1845, they made a daring escape from slavery with the help of Samuel Burris. He was a "conductor" on the Underground Railroad, a secret network that helped enslaved people find freedom. The Hawkins family faced a harsh winter snowstorm but eventually reached a safe farm. However, they were captured and put in jail. Luckily, Thomas Garrett, another helper on the Underground Railroad, stepped in. He helped them get free, and they settled in Byberry, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Two slaveholders, Charles Glanding and Elizabeth Turner, claimed to own Emeline and her six children. They started lawsuits against John Hunn and Thomas Garrett for helping the family. A jury, mostly made up of slaveholders, found Hunn and Garrett guilty. They had to pay huge fines, which caused them serious financial problems.

Samuel's Early Life

Samuel Hawkins was enslaved by John Hackett in Queen Anne's County, Maryland. In 1808, Samuel was freed. This meant he was no longer enslaved. After gaining his freedom, he became a sharecropper. A sharecropper is a farmer who works on land owned by someone else and pays rent with a share of the crops.

Family Life and Challenges

Samuel married Emeline. She was likely much younger than him. They lived close to each other and were allowed to form a relationship. Because Emeline was enslaved, they could not legally marry. They lived together in Samuel's house.

Emeline was enslaved by James Glanding of Queen Anne's County. This meant that when her sons, Chester and Samuel, were born, they were also owned by Glanding. This was due to a law that said children born to an enslaved mother were also enslaved.

When James Glanding died in 1839, he left Chester (who was 16) and Samuel (who was 14) to his son, Charles Glanding. There was no mention of Emeline in his will. A neighbor named Elizabeth Turner said that she owned Emeline and her four younger children. These children were Sally Ann, Washington, and two others born around 1832 and 1838.

The family lived together in 1840. Later, they were separated and sent to different farms in the Beaver Dam area. However, they were still able to visit each other. Samuel tried for years to buy his wife and children's freedom. He continued trying until 1845.

Elizabeth Turner was forced to sell Emeline because she was having money problems. Samuel was worried that his family would be sold and separated even more. So, he arranged with Samuel Burris to help the Hawkins family escape. Their plan was to travel through Delaware and meet up with Thomas Garrett.

The Escape to Freedom

In November 1845, Samuel Burris led Emeline, Samuel, and their six children out of Queen Anne's County, Maryland. They traveled to Camden, Delaware. There, they met four other Black men who were also using the Underground Railroad. A Quaker named Ezekiel Jenkins gave the group a letter for the next helper on their journey.

They traveled through a snowstorm. Samuel drove a wagon with Emeline and their children. The men walked through the deep snow.

In December 1845, they arrived at John Hunn's farm in Middletown, Delaware. Hunn's farm was a station on the Underground Railroad. Hunn welcomed the group of thirteen people. He noticed that they had all suffered from the difficult journey. He later said, "One man, in trying to pull his boots off, found they were frozen to his feet...Most of them were badly frost-bitten from walking through the six inches of snow." Hunn received the letter from Jenkins, who was his cousin. The group was given food and a safe place to stay.

Capture and Release

Hunn's neighbor saw the Hawkins family and the four men arrive. The neighbor reported it to Richard C. Hayes, the Constable of Middleton. Hayes went to Hunn's house with a search party of five men from Queen Anne's County. These men were looking for the Hawkins family.

The family was captured by slave catchers and taken to the New Castle County Jail. However, the slave catchers did not have the correct legal papers to hold them. Thomas Garrett heard about the Hawkins family's situation. He filed a legal request called a habeas corpus. This is a court order that demands someone be brought before a judge to decide if their imprisonment is lawful.

The Chief Justice of Delaware, Judge Booth, reviewed a copy of James Glanding's will. He found no proof that the family was legally enslaved. He ordered the family's release. Thomas Garrett then arranged for the family to be taken by coach to Pennsylvania, where they would be free.

Legal Battles for Helpers

In May 1846, Charles Glanding (who enslaved Chester and Samuel) and Elizabeth Turner (who enslaved Emeline and her four younger children) took John Hunn and Thomas Garrett to court. They sued them under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793. This law made it a federal crime to help people escape slavery.

Six court cases were held in the U.S. Circuit Court in Delaware. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Roger B. Taney, oversaw these trials. Glanding and Turner asked for money because they claimed Hunn and Garrett had caused them harm and debt. The jury decided in favor of Glanding and Turner. Thomas Garrett was fined a total of $5,400 from the six lawsuits. This was a very large amount of money at the time.

Most of the jury members were slaveholders from Sussex County. Judge Taney set a new rule. He said that the $500 fine under the Fugitive Slave Act applied to each person who was helped, not just a single $500 fine for the whole group. Because of this, John Hunn lost his farm. Thomas Garrett lost his home and business. Hunn admitted his actions and did not go to trial. He was fined $2,500.

New Life in Pennsylvania

The Hawkins family settled in Byberry, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They lived near the farm of Robert Purvis, who was a member of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. This group worked to end slavery. The family changed their last name to Hackett.

Chester and Samuel started learning trades by working as apprentices for people in the area. Samuel Hawkins died two or three years after they settled in Pennsylvania. Generations of the Hackett family have continued to live in the area since then.