Lambert: The Slippery Slope of Quality Hill

The Inquiry

Several readers have inquired whether it is true or not that a home is associated with the Underground Railroad movement of the 19th Century. 

The Facts

Consisting of a network of secret routes and safe houses, the Underground Railroad movement began in the early 19th Century. However, the “network to freedom” for enslaved men, women and children reached its height of activity in the years prior to the outbreak of the Civil War.

Some estimates suggest that as many as 100,000 oppressed individuals escaped through these sympathetic routes. Others suggest that the number who escaped was a small fraction of that estimate. 

The Abolitionist movement was a subversive, underground resistance movement that blossomed in violation of the law of the land. The principle participants included many religious adherents including Quakers, Congregationalist, Presbyterians and some sects of the mainstream Methodist and Baptist denominations. 

To perpetuate the idea of a railroad, terms such as “conductors,” “agents,” and “station masters” were common elements of the coded language of those who were involved. 

Sympathizers worked in a cloak of secrecy. Due to the risk of discovery, routes and means of passage were often shared only by word of mouth. Therefore, little written history exists of actual sites and routes.  

However, clues remain that suggest the likelihood of the existence of underground stations across the nation as well as here at Plainfield. Unfortunately, all of the probable local sites have been destroyed over time … with the exception of one site. 

A Confusing Legacy

The home at 23718 W. Lockport St. has been identified by all sorts of inaccurate names over the years, including the Sam Mottinger House; the John Mottinger House; the Allen Bliss Farmhouse; and Centennial House.

Each name holds a grain of truth about the history of this important house.  But, just as the facts of the Underground Railroad were committed to oral history, the stories of this home have become confused over time as they were passed from one generation to the next. 

Sorting Out History

Carrie O. Morgan lived in the house for many of her 83 years. When the house was sold to the Paul and Jean Huling family in 1954, “Gram Morgan” shared her recollections of the stories she had been told.  

Looking deeper into her stories, it is easy to understand how the history of the property got confusing. Not only did her family have a tie to the historic home, but her husband’s family had a connection to the property decades before. 

Carrie Morgan stated that her family “had been only the second owners” of the property. What she meant—in fact—was that her husband’s ancestors may have been the second owners of the property. Many families were associated with the home between William Eaton Morgan and Carrie Morgan’s father, John Day. In actuality, William Morgan may never have owned or lived on the property. 

“Gram Morgan” never shared any knowledge that her home had once been the safe harbor for fugitive slaves.

But, during  the mid-1950s, “Gram Morgan” shared that the front part of the house was built first and that the kitchen and dining room were added “about 20 years later.” She had the timeframe correct, but she did not have the evolution of the home correct. 

Clues In Construction

Based on its construction, the house is clearly the result of three specific building efforts. 

The earliest section of the house—dating to the early 1840s—stands along Eastern Avenue at the northwest corner of the present structure. A second section, to the east, was constructed within five years. Often, these sections of the house are identified as an addition to the original house. However, that idea is not supported by the construction and architectural design. 

In actuality, the two-story section, facing Lockport Street, is the newest and most formal part of the historic house. The Lockport Street section dates to 1865, when the Civil War had ended. 

The Beginning Is A Good Place To Start

The first apparent occupants of the property seem to have been Robert F. Bartlett and his newlywed wife, Louisa R. Barnes. The Bartlett and Barnes families were among our first pioneer families, settling at Plainfield in the late 1830s and early 1840s.

Louisa Barnes’ family owned the land west of Eastern Avenue. Robert F. Bartlett was a farmer and land developer who eventually subdivided the area around present-day Bartlett Avenue.

Robert and Louisa Bartlett were married in December 1843 and, likely, resided in the original section of the house. Although Robert’s religious affiliations are unclear, his wife was a member of the Congregational church from an early day.

The original house was approximately 16 feet wide and 20 feet deep. Like many of the cottages of that era, the main floor was divided into two rooms, front and back. A steep staircase led to the attic loft where their children would sleep. As their family grew, the small house was expanded with the addition of a wing to the east.

Most historians believe that, within this small house, the Bartletts carried on their secretive activities as sympathetic Abolitionists, harboring runaway slaves in a hidden chamber.

In 1858—just before the outbreak of the Civil War, the Bartletts sold their home to the Michael Dillman family of Plainfield. 

The Morgan Connection

Carrie (Day) Morgan, known to friends and neighbors as “Gram Morgan” had married Fred Morgan in 1892. Fred Morgan was the grandson of Plainfield pioneers William and Fanny (Pratt) Morgan. 

William and Fanny Morgan joined the local Congregational church around 1836.  They were friends of the Bartletts as well as of the Dillman family. 

Edward S. Pratt, a relative of Fanny (Pratt) Morgan, apparently financed the sale of the property when it was conveyed from the Bartletts to the Dillmans. Through a variety of financing schemes, the mortgage was transferred from Edward Pratt to William Morgan and, finally, to Morgan’s son, Samuel. 

Although the Morgans held an interest in the property, it is highly unlikely that they ever occupied the premises as “Gram Morgan” believed in the mid-twentieth century.

Next Week: The Slippery Slope of Quality Hill – Part Two 

Have a question about Plainfield’s history?  Send your inquiries to Michael Lambert via Plainfield Patch.

© 2012 Michael A. Lambert.  All Rights Reserved