Priscilla Baltimore facts for kids
Priscilla "Mother" Baltimore (born May 13, 1801 – died November 28, 1882) was a very important person who fought against slavery. She was also a social worker. She helped many people, including children who had no parents and former slaves. She is famous for starting the town of Brooklyn, Illinois.
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Priscilla Baltimore's Early Life Journey
Priscilla Baltimore was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, in 1801. Her mother was enslaved, and her father was the slaveowner. When she was just 10 years old, her father sold her.
Later, in St. Louis, she was bought by a Methodist missionary. This missionary allowed her to work and save money to buy her own freedom. It took her seven years to earn enough money to become free.
Once she was free, Priscilla went looking for her father. He had moved from Kentucky to southern Missouri. After finding him, she bought her mother's freedom from him. She brought her mother back to St. Louis. She also bought her husband John's freedom. Priscilla became a respected nurse in St. Louis. She earned a good income for her nursing work.
Founding Brooklyn: A Place of Freedom
In 1829, Priscilla Baltimore left St. Louis, Missouri. Missouri was a slave state at that time. She crossed the Mississippi River with eleven Black families. On the other side, in Illinois, they started a new town called Brooklyn, Illinois.
Brooklyn was known as a "freedom village." This meant that people living there, including those who had escaped slavery, could live more freely. This was important because of "black codes" at the time. These laws made it hard for Black people to live freely.
Priscilla may have traveled back to St. Louis later. Records show her there in the 1830s. She helped start two African Methodist Episcopal Churches (AME churches). One was St. Paul's in St. Louis, and the other was Quinn Chapel in Brooklyn.
The land where the families settled was owned by a white farmer named Thomas Osburn. In 1837, he and other landowners officially mapped out the town. Priscilla Baltimore lived in Brooklyn in 1839. In 1851, she bought her own piece of land, lot 521, on Madison Street. She built a simple wooden house there. Archeologists studied this site in 2014.
In 1861, a woman named "Pricilla Baltimore" paid $500 to the State of Missouri. This was called a "Free Negro Bond." It was a payment required for free Black people to live in Missouri.
Brooklyn's Role in the Underground Railroad
Brooklyn became a major stop on the Underground Railroad. This was a secret network that helped enslaved people escape to freedom. We don't know exactly how much Priscilla Baltimore was involved. However, she was a very active abolitionist. Abolitionists were people who worked to end slavery.
The Quinn Chapel, the church she helped found, was very active in helping people escape. Many AME churches helped freedom seekers. After the US Civil War ended in 1865, Priscilla Baltimore continued her work. She helped formerly enslaved people who were moving north.
Priscilla Baltimore's Lasting Legacy
In 1873, Brooklyn voted to become an official town. It was the first American community with a Black majority to do so.
Priscilla Baltimore passed away in 1882. Two newspaper articles were written about her in the St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat. This was unusual for a Black woman at that time. Her unmarked grave was found in 2008. The Brooklyn Historical Society raised money and placed a headstone for her in 2010.
Today, Brooklyn is the only known Black town founded in the US in the 1800s that is still a living community. Priscilla Baltimore is remembered and respected as the founding mother of the town.
