An Unsung Hero and his Underground Railroad Home

180-year-old Fort Covington home, an historic treasure worth saving

Story by Radhika Madana Mohan

One dream, one desire, one drive - for freedom. That was the will that drove many slaves north. Sneaking, hiding, shipped like goods, packed in small packages hidden beneath the shadows. Anything to gain the ultimate freedom.

Slavery, man abusing man, was dehumanizing and lowered the standards of the social morality. The revolutionists who dared to challenge society were sidelined and shamed. It wasn't just black people who were ridiculed and put down. It was anyone who was associated with black people. Nevertheless, abolitionists - people who fought against slavery - came from every part of the region believing in human rights, a right to live, a right to be respected, a right to belong.

In the early 1800s, Jabez Parkhurst was one of these heroes. Parkhurst was born in 1785 in Sharon, Vermont. However, according to Peter Parkhurst, Jabez Parkhurst's second cousin four times removed, “lots about Parkhurst genealogy including Jabez Parkhurst's ancestry dates back to England.”

“Parkhurst made his home a terminus on the on the Underground Railroad, the clandestine network of black and white agents who assisted enslaved African-Americans in their fight for freedom.”

Jabez Parkhurt's house latest owner, Christopher Nye called people such as Parkhurst our unsung heroes, explaining that these people put everything at stake. Some helped fugitive slaves across the border in their quest for freedom. Others provided these fugitives with hide outs, sufficient food to live, and emotional support to make it through the treacherous journey.

At the age of 29, Parkhurst was admitted to the state bar association. He later moved to Malone, New York where he taught at the Harrison Academy. In 1815 Parkhurst moved to 10 miles north away from Malone to French Mills (present day Fort Covington) where he started his own law office. Jabez Parkhurst built his distinctive stoned house in 1827 a half a mile from the Canadian border on Covington Street where he had spent the remainder of his life as an abolitionist.

Parkhurst was a renowned attorney and president of the liberty party in Franklin County in his time According to the Franklin County census of Aug. 7, 1850, Parkhurst owned real estate estimated at $3,000. He was also the judge in Fort Covington.

Parkhurst spoke openly of his disapproval of slavery and worked hard to abolish it, says Don Papson, president of the North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association. Parkhurst was very involved in the anti-slavery movements in the area. Between the year 1836 and 1837, he was devoted to the anti-slavery organizational meetings of the St. Lawrence County Society, and in 1838 he was the president of the Franklin County society and vice-president of the state society. As a supporter of the Liberal Party, he was an advocate for the abolition of slavery in country. It was during this time he was leader of the Franklin County Liberty Party and was the State Assembly candidate for New York in 1843.

“Parkhurst put his life and family in jeopardy to do the right thing.”

Parkhurst also had played a prominent role in the Underground Railroad. His Georgian-style stone house in Fort Covington was used as Underground Railroad tunnel and hide-out for runaway slaves for many years. It was the ideal place to harbor and smuggle fugitive slaves who had traveled the Underground Railroad tunnel before crossing the Canadian border, says Nye.

“Parkhurst made his home a terminus on the Underground Railroad, the clandestine network of black and white agents who assisted enslaved African Americans in their fight for freedom,” Papson says. “Parkhurst had hid and smuggled fugitives across the boarder into Canada. While fugitives could cross into Canada all along the border, there is little documentation about the precise places from which they left New York.”

The question becomes what makes this house so significant, why should it be saved? “Parkhurst put his life and family in jeopardy to the right thing,” Nye notes. “The house to me symbolizes something, and I believe it's worth saving.”

According to Papson, the Jabez Parkhurst house sheltered many fugitives. Although, the number and their names are unknown. Parkhurst's neighbors knew of his abolitionist activities. David Streeter grew up near the Parkhurst home and remembered “distinctively” that the house was “a refuge for the occasional” fugitives wrote Franklin County historian Frederick Seaver in 1918. Streeter said on several occasions, he saw a number of fugitive slaves, two to three at a time. Streeter also had recalled the wagons rumbling past his home late at night, and “that when they were heard, people commented that a train was moving on the Underground Railroad.”

Papson says Jabez Parkhurst was one of the three principal abolitionists in Fort Covington. Parkhurst, along with George Cheney and Daniel Noble, was called a “nigger lover” by some of his neighbors who opposed the equal treatment of blacks. Papson explains how Parkhurst and his fellow abolitionists were mocked by a group of boys who would blacken their faces and pretend to be runaway slaves. These boys would beg for help outside Cheney's house at night. However, this hadn't stopped the abolitionists from pushing forward, Papson notes.

According to Peter Parkhurst's genealogy database, “President Millard Fillmore had reported to have said that Jabez ought to have been president instead of himself.”

Nye and his family intend to do some renovation to the house before moving there this year. The house was almost destined to have been demolished, but Nye didn't have the heart to see such a historical treasure be destroyed, so he recently purchased it. Nye says that when he purchased it, the Parkhurst Manor was a wreck and that several people had even called him crazy.

Nye explains that the condition of the house was severely molding. It was pathetic. The walls of the house had been severely damaged by water and the roof had huge holes. It had a useless electrical, heating and plumbing systems - making it unlivable. Due to neglect, the lawn was completely overgrown with brush, weeds, and piles of garbage. To add to his frustrations, Nye says, the house was filled with tons of raw garbage that people had stuffed into it to avoid taking trash to the dump.  

However, Nye says he is trying his best to keep the house intact to preserve its rich historical symbolization of freedom. “My wife and I have painted the beautiful Georgian moldings and replaced several broken windows. The "wavy glass" windows that are not broken are staying, along with the maple and cherry hardwood floors,” Nye notes.

He adds that they are also furnishing the house with period style lighting and furniture. He and his wife are having new drywall put up, but he emphasizes their intention to not move any walls of the house.“Maintaining its historical appearance is very important to us,” Nye says.

Last summer, Nye and a team of Plattsburgh State's Upward Bound students went on a hunt to search for a possible Underground Railroad tunnel. They spent a while digging through an old room in the basement of the house.

“We found an old envelope and old newspaper,” says Emily Sigel, one of the Upward Bound counselors.

Nye explains that the envelope was addressed to Parkhurst and had a Lincoln stamp on it. “It was disappointing that it was empty, though,” Nye says.

Nye is really enticed by the rich history of the house. In his own investigation, Nye found above a window in the house a broken violin, an empty whisky flask, and D.E. Dineen's journal. Dineen came from a wealthy Irish family who produced and distributed whisky.  He was an educated and well traveled man.  He lived the house after Jabez Parkhurst.

“I found a journal that he kept of his journey to South America next to the flask and violin,” Nye says.

Interestingly, Dineen was always known to have denied ever drinking. Nye believes his findings could possibly change the course of history, and he hopes that in time he will unveil history of the house and its owners.

Papson adds, “in spite of opposition to his convictions, Jabez Parkhurst stood by them. Today his home stands as a reminder of the principle he stood by- freedom and equality for all Americans.”

Do you know of a North Country connection to the Underground Railroad?