Indian Run, Mercer County, Pennsylvania
[3] Indian Run had a reputation as a "safe haven" for African Americans, whether they were free or escaping slavery.
John Young Sr. settled in Mercer County in 1804, bringing his wife Elizabeth Elder Young and children William, Jane, Mary, Hannah, Isabel, Margaret, Elizabeth, John, and David from Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.
[10] It was named for Joseph White who delivered runaways from New Castle, where he lived, to John Young at Indian Run.
[8] He worked in concert with his niece Elizabeth Stewart Kilgore, whose residence, also an Underground Railroad station, was six miles away.
[8] They spent their nights traveling, often under stage coaches or in piles of hay in wagons, and hid during the daytime.
[8] Pandenarium, believed to mean "a fertile and plowed plateau", was a settlement established just for freed African American men, women, and children.
[3][7] He left them each $1,000 (equivalent to $35,215 in 2023), which was used to buy the freedom of spouses and other family members who were scattered away from Everett's plantation: Nancy Bell bought her husband Dan.
[3][7][10] His nephew, Dr. Charles D. Everett, bought 50 acres in Indian Run for the settlement, from which people were given two-acre plots of land.
[11] Sixty-three formerly enslaved people arrived with their families—including George Washington Lewis and John and Rosie Allen—on November 12, 1854.
[7] The act was established to "authorize and empower the Court of Common Pleas of Mercer county to legitimate certain persons who were emancipated by the last will and testament of Dr. C.D.
It listed the names of the people who were emancipated by Everett's will and others who were explicitly identified to prevent them from being kidnapped back into slavery.
George Washington Lewis (c1836 – 1916) served in the 127th United States Colored Infantry Regiment during the Civil War.
[3][12] Whatever the situation of African Americans, whether they lived in bondage or freedom, archaeology has the power to shed light on their experiences.
The initial town layout was made according to local abolitionists' mindset for a northern rural village.
It evolved over time to more closely resemble quarters for enslaved laborers on Mulberry Row at Monticello and the town of Hadley in Mercer County, Pennsylvania.
[13] Toy tea sets used by the Allens' children were like those of their neighbors, but tended to be colorful and decorative, like those found at Mulberry Row.
