Descendants of Missouri slave owner and Iowa abolitionist

In October, John and Genie Gerdes, of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania visited the Lewelling Quaker Museum in Salem. John is the great-great-great grandson of Missouri slave owner Ruel Daggs (1775-1862) and the great-great grandson of Andrew Jackson Daggs.

Students of Lewelling Museum history know of the June 1848 slave escape that is a cornerstone of the museum standing in the National Park Service Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.

In October 1848, Ruel Daggs of Luray, Clark County, Missouri sued nineteen Salem men for theft of his property, nine slaves who had sought their freedom through escape northward to Salem. In a dramatic jury trial held in the newly established United States District in Burlington in 1850 six of the men were found to have violated the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act by harboring and aiding the slaves in their escape. The six were fined $2,900.00, the judge’s estimated value of the slaves not captured and returned to Missouri.

The handwritten trial transcript of the case, Ruel Daggs vs. Elihu Frazier et al., describes chaotic and highly charged events that took place in Salem when Daggs’ bounty hunters, the nine fugitives and twelve Salem abolitionists came together in the brush south of town.

Named in the trial court summons as a witness to events was Joel C. Garretson, (1809-1895) nearby farmer and abolitionist. During this time Garretson served as an Underground Railroad conductor, secretively shepherding slaves northward as they sought their freedom. Family accounts tell of a $500.00 bounty placed by Missourians for the capture of Garretson.

In an enlightening exchange at the museum under the watchful portrait of Quaker abolitionist Henderson Lewelling, Gerdes, Cathy Garretson Helman, brother Joel H. Garretson and Lewelling museum historian Mary Savage shared perspectives on these historic events. Cathy and Joel are the great-great grandchildren of conductor Garretson. Joel and Mary are members of the Henry County Historic Preservation Commission and Cathy, the Lewelling Board of Directors.

As far as is known, this serves as the first visit to the museum, established in 1959, by a Daggs descendant.

In reviewing the museum visit, John Gerdes wrote to the LQM Board, “The story of Ruel Daggs, my great-great-great grandfather, is the most shameful part of our family history. Eventually the slaves got their freedom but our family got the farm. The Daggs family retained what the enslaved people helped earn.

“I hope that more and more people learn of the window in history that you open for them at LQM. Your mission and lesson are extremely important: slavery was dehumanizing, but ordinary people, living by their faith, helped those escaping from injustice. That lesson should inspire us all to stand up against racial injustice.”

John and Genie Gerdes have joined as “Lewelling Partners” and provided a generous donation to the museum.