The Cyrus Gates Farmstead is located in

Maine, New York Maine is a town in Broome County, New York, United States. The population was 5,377 at the 2010 census. The town is on the western border of the county and is northwest of Binghamton. Maine is home to Greater Binghamton Airport, serving Binghamt ...

. Cyrus Gates was a

cartographer Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...

and map maker for New York State, as well as an

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

. The great granddaughter of Cyrus-Louise Gates-Gunsalus has stated that from 1848 until the end of

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1865, the Cyrus Gates Farmstead was a station or stop on the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...

(Woodward 1973). Its owners, Cyrus and Arabella Gates, were outspoken abolitionists as well as active and vital members of their community. Historian Shirley L. Woodward states that through those years escaped

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

came through the Gates' station. One runaway female slave, a 16-year-old girl named Margaret "Marge" Cruizer was so comfortable with the Gates family that she decided to stay at their station and live with them. Marge ended up spending the rest of her life with the Gates and is buried in the cemetery next to the house. (Woodward 1973 pp 52–53). Margaret was also known as the wife of Thomas "Old Bay Tom" Crocker. Mr. Crocker was famous for being the first African-American to be elected as mayor of Binghamton, New York, albeit a protest vote that was reversed in the election of 1872. (Smith 2014).

Role of the Farmstead

Owning a station or being a conductor on the Underground Railroad (UGRR) was most certainly

illegal Illegal, or unlawful, typically describes something that is explicitly prohibited by law, or is otherwise forbidden by a state or other governing body. Illegal may also refer to: Law * Violation of law * Crime, the practice of breaking the ...

behavior, although not considered unethical behavior by many people. In light of this, participation in the Underground Railroad was very secretive; records were not usually, if ever kept of the comings and goings at stations. It would be an unwise act to record illegal behavior, especially in New York where the Northern Democrats were strong. In fact Cyrus' own brother William Gates was an ardent

Copperhead Copperhead may refer to: Snakes * ''Agkistrodon contortrix'', or copperhead, a venomous pit viper species found in parts of North America * ''Austrelaps'', or Australian copperhead, a genus of venomous elapids found in southern Australia and Tas ...

and after an argument with Cyrus over "breaking the law" moved out of the family house. In light of this it is easier to see why much of the history of this vast network of stations has been passed down through

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...

. The oral history of the Cyrus Gates Farmstead says that the main house was used before and after the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

as a station on the Underground Railway and that Cyrus and Arabella Gates were station hosts or conductors. The following is a statement made by Cyrus Gates' great-granddaughter, Louise Gates-Gunsalus (1894-1982): "I know of only one route in Maine township for the travel and care of slaves. This route has, as far as I have been told, its first point of contact in a home in

Vestal, New York Vestal is a Town (New York), town within Broome County, New York, Broome County in the Southern Tier of New York (state), New York, United States, and lies between the Susquehanna River and the Pennsylvania border. As of the 2020 census, the popu ...

. Its next station, or stop, the Luce home on Route 26, south of Union Center, and next, to the Russell Gates home. The next and last known point was the Bushnell home on the Newark Valley, Dryden Road at the crossroad where the Bushnell house stood. From there the next station was in or near Ithaca, but where I have no information." (Woodward 1973 p. 52) As UGRR historian

Milton Sernett Milton C. Sernett is an American historian, author, and professor at Syracuse University. He has published many books, articles and book chapters on African American history. His published works in African-American history focus on abolitionism, r ...

has referenced: To facilitate the harboring and if necessary the hiding of runaway slaves, the Gates built a hiding place inside the south wing of their attic. Inside the master bedroom upstairs, an access panel was made inside of one of the closets. The old leather thong used to close the panel to the wall is still there to this day. This panel would give assess to an area that was roughly 20 feet by 10 feet by four feet high. It is not known if runaways were actually ever forced to retreat to this area. There would probably have to be a high level of concern, such as a

bounty hunter A bounty hunter is a private agent working for bail bonds who captures fugitives or criminals for a commission or bounty. The occupation, officially known as bail enforcement agent, or fugitive recovery agent, has traditionally operated outsid ...

in the area to necessitate the hiding of slaves inside the house. (Sernett 2002, p162)

Underground Railroad Connection

The Southern Tier of New York State was a key geographic area for runaway slaves, whether on their own or as a part of the

(UGRR).

Broome County, New York Broome County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 United States census, the county had a population of 198,683. Its county seat is Binghamton. The county was named for John Broome, the state's lieutenant governor when Br ...

stands midway between a Philadelphia UGRR launch point such as

William Still William Still (October 7, 1821 – July 14, 1902) was an African-American abolitionist based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a conductor on the Underground Railroad, businessman, writer, historian and civil rights activist. Before the Ameri ...

's and the significant UGRR station zone of

Gerrit Smith Gerrit Smith (March 6, 1797 – December 28, 1874), also spelled Gerritt Smith, was a leading American social reformer, abolitionist, businessman, public intellectual, and philanthropist. Married to Ann Carroll Fitzhugh, Smith was a candidat ...

in Peterboro, NY. As the most well known of UGRR conductors,

Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and social activist. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 slaves, including family and friends, us ...

frequently traveled this area. She made several trips from the South to Upstate New York stations such as the Smiths and possibly the Gates,

St. James AME Zion Church (Ithaca, New York) St. James AME Zion Church is a historic African Methodist Episcopal Zion church located at Ithaca in Tompkins County, New York. It is a two-story, frame church structure set on a high foundation and featuring a four-story entrance tower. The chur ...

, and eventually to final stops in places like

St. Catharines, Ontario St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2016, it has an area of , 136,803 residents, and a metropolitan population of 406,074. It lies in Southern Ontari ...

. In addition,

lived in Auburn, New York where as a member of the Thompson AME Zion Church she started the

Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged Harriet Tubman National Historical Park is a US National Historic Site (United States)#National Historical Parks, historical park in Auburn, New York, Auburn and Fleming, New York, associated with the life of Harriet Tubman. It comprises three p ...

. Slaves traveled from the South to the North from station to station mostly under the cover of darkness. Often, once runaways got into the states of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, they were not in much danger of being captured by bounty hunters or the police. Runaways in New York often worked and did chores with the station owners during the day. In 1850 the United States government, in trying to prevent a war between the slave and non-slave states, passed the new and more aggressive

Fugitive Slave Act A fugitive (or runaway) is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also kno ...

. This law gave bounty hunters from the South more rights to chase slaves into the North and forced Northern

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

s into arresting and returning runaway slaves that they captured. Abolitionists hated the Fugitive Slave Act, and started working with more intensity and urgency to find ways to end slavery. Southern slave plantation owners hated Northern abolitionists because the abolitionists wanted to end slavery which in turn would mean that the plantation owners would lose their laborers, considered as their chattel. The average slave was worth a lot of money to a slave owner-about $1,000 in the 1860s, so owners would pay bounty hunters to bring runaway slaves back to them or pay upon delivery of the runaway slave.

Historic Registry

The Cyrus Gates Farmstead was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1999. In addition to the main

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

farmhouse, the farmstead contains two barns (one built in 1836), a tenant farmer's house, a bee keeper's house or sugar shack, a blacksmith's shop, a four-seat outhouse, and a pole barn. The placement was based on the home's

Greek Revival architecture The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

, the importance of Cyrus Gates, a cartographer and mapmaker for the State of New York and its strong oral history as a stop on the Underground Railroad. ''See also:''

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * *Smith, Gerald and Basler, George 'Did Ex-Slave Beat Banker in 1872 Binghamton Mayor Race? November 9, 2014.

External links

* * http://www.wpcsd.org/CyrusGatesFarmstead.aspx {{DEFAULTSORT:Gates, Cyrus, Farmstead Houses on the Underground Railroad Houses in Broome County, New York 1840s in New York (state) Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Historic American Buildings Survey in New York (state) Greek Revival houses in New York (state) Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Broome County, New York Underground Railroad in New York (state) de:Atlantischer Sklavenhandel he:עבדות בארצות הברית pl:Niewolnictwo w USA sk:História otroctva v Spojených štátoch amerických