Over the past years I have written and spoken on the history of the abolitionist movement in Allegany County, New York. The abolitionist movement was a particularly significant movement in the county's history, and in understanding its history it provides some interesting insights into both. This article will be part of a three part series reprinting the contents of my paper The Development of Abolitionism in 19^th Century Allegany County, New York.

Here is the first part:

This paper is on the history of the development of abolitionism and anti-slavery in Allegany County, New York. Allegany County began shortly before the end of slavery in New York and underwent its early period of development at a time when abolitionism, moral reform movements, and related social developments were occurring across Western New York and other parts of the country. This paper will draw on a variety of sources, including archival documents, biographies, monographs, and information provided by local historians, to present an understanding of the developments which occurred. It will make the case abolitionism in Allegany was developed through an interactive and participatory process among the local population, reformist ideas, social developments, and relationships of mutual influence with non-local elements.

Allegany County began in the period of the gradual abolition of slavery in New York. Significant American settlement in the area began near the arrival of the 19^th century and the county was declared in 1806. In 1799, New York State had begun a legal process of gradual emancipation of slaves, which culminated in its full prohibition in 1827. In this early period, most settlers did not own slaves, some significant groups (such as a Rhode island group of Seventh Day Baptists who settled in Nile and Alfred) came into the county with anti-slavery views, and the local Haudenosaunee were largely unfriendly in sentiments toward slavery.But a relatively small number of slaves had been in the County. They were owned mainly by a small number of elites, such as Phillip Church, John Barker Church, Evert Van Wickle, Auguste d’Autremont, and Victor DuPont. According to Helene Phelan, the 1810 censes put the number of slaves at 21. The Genesee river area in general had comparatively few slaves; which were mainly held by a small number of big landowners. Many of these owners, including Phillip Church, freed their slaves before the legal deadline after finding slavery to be unprofitable in the area. While knowledge of these free slaves is limited; it seems that the majority came to live in various communities in the area, and that a few managed to acquire small land holdings. Shortly after the beginning of Allegany County, slavery drew to a close in the state and Allegany County was affected by a regional development toward anti-slavery.

The development of abolitionism and anti-slavery in Allegany County was tied to the religious influencing Western New York. In the early 19^th century, the Second Great Awakening occurred. The religious activity in Western New York gained it the label of the Burned Over District, from the prominent preacher Charles Grandison Finney. The Second Great Awakening in the Burned Over District helped lead to the establishment of a number of anti-slavery denominations and subgroups in the region, helped to produce religiously based abolitionist ideas, and gave example of techniques for reform activists to utilize. Allegany County developed congregations of Seventh Day Baptists and Wesleyan Methodists, which were anti-slavery in orientation, and congregations of Presbyterians, Methodist Episcopalians, Baptists, and other congregations which held anti-slavery subgroups. The Seventh Day Baptists would play a significant role in founding of Alfred University, and the Wesleyan Methodist played a significant role in the founding of Houghton College.^] The Baptist Churches in Belfast and Friendship passed resolutions against slavery in the 1840’s. Local Presbyterian Churches, such as the one lead by Dr. Joel Wakeman, in Almond, were areas of anti-slavery preaching and discussion.The county’s most prominent aid in slave escape, Calvin Fairbank, and the county’s most prominent anti-slavery news writer, Asahel Cole, were both tied to Methodist evangelism. The County’s abolitionist development was significantly connected with religious developments in the Burned Over District.

The development of communication played a role in the development of thinking on slavery. The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, and the creation of additional canals and railroads over the following four decades, helped to facilitate travel and communication.Correspondences enabled members of the county to be part of the broader discourse. For instance, Asahel Cole was in correspondence with figures such as Frederick Douglas and Horace Greeley. Local newspapers and written publications were circulating in the county as early as 1816. In 1852, Asahel Cole started the Genesee Valley Free Press, which was involved in promoting the abolitionist thought and politics. The press received financial support from the prominent abolitionist Garret Smith. By 1836, organizations such as the American Anti-slavery society and newspapers, such as Garrison’s Liberator, brought additional abolitionist literature into the area. The conditions of communication produced a state in which Allegany residents were connected in the discourse and abolitionist ideas were spread among the local population.

The next section of the paper will be presented in the following article.