This story is part of The Post-Standard's 2005 observance of Black History Month. The series, "Stops on the Road to Freedom," tells a story a day about sites in Central New York that played a significant role in the abolitionist movement and the Underground Railroad. Today: The William H. Sabine House, 9 Academy Green, Syracuse.
Built as a house of slavery, within one generation the Academy Green home would become a shelter of freedom. In one generation, the family living at 9 Academy Green would evolve from slave owners to abolitionists.
"It's a great site, " said Judith Wellman, who researched the history of the house for the Preservation Association of Central New York.
The home, a brick stepped-gable Federal house, was built about 1814 by William H. Sabine, who owned one male slave. At the time, there were about 50 slaves in Onondaga County.
About the time the house was built, Sabine became the father of twins, sons William and Joseph.
By 1843, Sabine's son William owned the house. A strong opponent of slavery, William Sabine invited William L. Chaplin, an abolitionist lecturer, to speak at a rally on the lawn of the Academy Green house.
"It was an abolitionist meeting and we know the two brothers became abolitionists, " Wellman said. "They grew up with slavery in the household but they became abolitionists."
William Sabine also ran on the Friends of Abolition ticket as a candidate for Onondaga County coroner and was a founder of the local Republican Party.
Joseph Sabine was not as overtly anti-slavery as his twin brother, but played a role in one of Central New York's major abolitionist events.
A lawyer, Joseph held the office of U.S. Commissioner in October 1851 during the rescue of escaped slave William "Jerry" Henry.
As commissioner, Joseph, who would have had to enforce the federal Fugitive Slave Act, was to preside at the hearing that could have ended with Henry being sent back into slavery.
Before the trial began, however, Henry was seized by abolitionists and sent, via the Underground Railroad, to Canada.
Years later, Joseph's widow, Margaret, claimed her husband was a staunch abolitionist and considered resigning from office before the hearing began.
"There are different stories about that but he seems to have been very reluctant to be the one to have committed to send Jerry back to slavery, " Wellman said. "He wasn't out front and a radical abolitionist leader, but he certainly seems to have been involved in it."
The Sabine family lived in the house until 1944.
This story is part of The Post-Standard's 2005 observance of Black History Month. The series, "Stops on the Road to Freedom," tells a story a day about sites and people in Central New York that played a significant role in the abolitionist movement and the Underground Railroad. Last year: The Post-Standard series, On the Front Lines of History, told a story a day about local blacks' military service.