Historical Records Imaging Project and the Underground Railroad
in Centre County, Pennsylvania by Robert L. Baker This article
appeared in the March, 1999 issue of the Newsletter of the
Centre County Genealogical Society. It is reprinted here by
permission of the Society. The recent disclosure of DNA tests on
the progeny of Thomas Jefferson's slave Sally Hemmings with a
link to our third president, along with last year's National
Book Award winner Slaves in the Family by Edward Ball has raised
some interesting questions about the existence of slaves
everywhere and their role in that social entity known as
"family." A little-known but recently discovered series of
documents found in the early Quarter Sessions records of Centre
County reveals 14 instances in which persons of African American
descent had their birth recorded. Although Pennsylvania had made
a decision to abolish slavery as early as 1780 as late as 1820
Centre Countians were still registering blacks, if not as
property, then as members of the fami