Site of Thomas and Jane Leonard House

East Fayette between Walnut and University, North side

Syracuse, New York

Questions for Students: 

1.       Were Jane and Thomas Leonard freedom seekers themselves?

2.       Did they help other freedom seekers?

3.       How important were they as leaders in the African American community?

I. Significance

A.      Thomas Leonard was probably a freedom seeker himself, based on:

            1. place of birth, as listed in the U.S. census. In 1850, Leonard

            reported his birthplace as New York; in 1855, Virginia; in 1860, N.Y.; and in 1865, Maryland.

2.       his sister’s place of birth. As noted in the Syracuse Journal, May 1, 1877, his funeral was at the home of his sister “Mrs. Sidney,” at 226 E. Water Street. This was probably Martha Sidney, who listed her birthplace in the 1855 census as Canada  .In 1855, two of Martha and William Sidney’s children (Helen and Sarah) lived with the Leonards. In the 1850s, William and Martha Sidney lived close to the Leonards, at 179 East Fayette Street.

3.       the fact that Thomas Leonard apparently went to Canada right after the rescue of William “Jerry” Henry in 1851. He returned sometime before 1855. (Earl Sperry)

B.      Leonard was a member of the Freedom Trail network, helping others escape, including Harriet Powell (1839). He and Jane probably also offered their home as a safe house to freedom seekers. In 1865, his household included African American boarders who listed their birthplaces as Canada, South Carolina, and Virginia. They lived on the south side of the Erie Canal, in the center of the Eighth Ward, where many freedom seekers, like Tom Leonard himself, settled and purchased property.

C.      Jane and Thomas Leonard were part of the stable core of the African American community in Syracuse. They came to Onondaga County about 1830, just after the end of slavery in New York State, and they worked and lived here until they died. Thomas Leonard worked variously as a waiter, cartman, boatman, and laborer. Jane Leonard worked as a cook at the Exchange Hotel and probably elsewhere. She may also have been a member of the AME Zion Church.

II. Evidence

A.      Censuses

1. 1850 Census

Probably the duplication in this list comes from being counted both at home and at work. We have found several instances of this in 1850.

2. 1855 Census

3. 1860 Census

Why do you think there are two Thomas Leonards listed in the 1860 census?

4. 1865 Census

151       180       frame

                                    Leonard Thomas            70         M          B          head                 Md        none    

                                    Leonard Jane                 41          F            B          wife                 Albany

                                    Marden?Mariah            34          F            B          boarder            Canada

                                    Starks   Mary                 26          F            B          boarder            S.C.

                                    Williams, John               27         M           M         boarder            Va.       Laborer

                                    Williams, Elisa               26         F             B          boarder            Onondaga

                                    Williams, Laura            14          F              B          boarder            Onondaga

                                    Stark, Aarbarn?            40          M            M         boarder            SC  boteman?

(Information from the 1865 census comes from Sylvester Clark, Early Black Syracusans, 65).

B.      Newspapers

1. “Slave Story of September, 1839, Which Awakened Many Abolition Feelings.” (Reprinted from the Sunday Times, published June 10, 1877)

“There recently died in the Eighth Ward a man—poor and in the lowly walks of life, but in many respects a hero. He belonged to a race which had been despised and downtrodden, but he was nevertheless a man, every inch of him, and his death recalls to mind one affair in which he took a humble part, but from the risk he ran . . .he showed the stuff that heroes are made of.”

Leonard worked as a waiter at the Syracuse house, Syracuse’s most important hotel, on the southeast corner of Clinton Square, where most of the servants of both sexes were African American. He helped in the escape from slavery of Harriet Powell, a young African American woman brought to Syracuse with the Davenport family. Trying to find out what had happened to Harriet, her owners had Leonard arrested for stealing her clothes, but all charges were dropped. Harriet was spirited away, after narrow escapes, to Gerrit and Ann Smith’s home in Peterboro, and from there she went to Kingston, Ontario. When abolitionists discovered a plot to kidnap Harriet Powell from Canada, Tom Leonard was sent over to warn her about it.

“A few words more about the venerable colored individual, Leonard. Little is known of his early life. He was industrious and accumulated some property. After the date of our narrative he became the proprietor of a horse and dray and did business in that line until the Jerry excitement, when he, with others of his race, fearful of their safety here, fled to Canada, where he remained a year or two. He was one of the few colored citizens who were able to avail themselves of the $250 privilege of voting.

“When the Rebellion broke out and a colored regiment was being recruited in Massachusetts, he was one of the first of the squad to go from here to join it. But greatly to his disappointment and grief, he was rejected by surgeon as too old (he was more than 70 then).  He was always an energetic worker on election day among his people, when the franchise was extended to them, until decrepitude confined him to the home of a friend, where he died at the age of 88.”

Reprinted in Sperry, The Jerry Rescue, 57-66.

2. Thomas Leonard, “colored recruit from this city,” volunteer for Civil War. Journal, March 21, 1863, in OHA non-local regiments file.

3. Thomas Leonard, 15^th Amendment Celebration. Journal (May 31, 1870, from OHA 1870s file).

C.      Site-based Evidence: Place of Residence and Property Ownership

Jane and Thomas Leonard lived most of their lives in Syracuse at 219 E. Fayette Street (later 1113 East Fayette Street). According to the insurance map of 1882, this was a small frame building, one-and-a-half stories on the southwest side (facing front), with a large one-story ell on the southeast side (facing front) and across the rear.

1. City directories:

            1851—219 East Fayette Street

            1853—219 East Fayette Street

            1857—219 East Fayette Street

            1859—219 East Fayette Street

            1867—219 East Fayette Street

2. Insurance Atlases

See maps.

3. Deeds and Assessments

In 1860, Thomas Leonard is paying taxes on a house and lot at 219 East Fayette St. on Block 211, Lot 88, worth $425. He is listed in the 1860 census as owning real property worth $1400. In 1867, he also bought land on Block 212, lot 181 from R. Benham.

Jane and Tom Leonard bought three pieces of property, all in the Eighth Ward of Syracuse.

D. Death

            Jane Leonard died on March 9, 1873, aged 67 years. After a funeral at Zion’s Methodist Church, she was buried in Rose Hill on March 11, 1873.

Thomas Leonard seems to have remarried another woman named Jane, since the 1865 census listed Thomas, at 70 years old, living with a woman named Jane, listed as his wife, at 41 years old.

Thomas Leonard died April 29, 1877, aged 88 years. His funeral was at the home of his sister, Mrs. Sidney, probably Martha Sidney, who lived at 226 East Water Street, and at Zion’s church. He was buried the next day at Rose Hill Cemetery.

(Rose Hill Cemetery records, Journal, March 10, 1873, and May 1, 1877, on file at the OHA.)

E. Sources

1.       Primary Sources

Assessments, 1860, on microfilm at the Onondaga Historical Association.

Censuses, 1850, 1855, 1860, 1865, on microfilm at the Onondaga County Clerk’s

Office and the Onondaga County Public Library.

City Directories, Onondaga Historical Association, Onondaga County Clerk’s Office, and

Onondaga County Public Library.

Deeds, Onondaga County Clerk’s Office.

Newspapers, as noted, in clippings files at the OHA.

2.       Secondary Materials

Clark, Sylvester, comp., Early Black Syracusans.

Davis, Barbara Sheklin. A History of the Black Community of Syracuse.

Earl E. Sperry, The Jerry Rescue (Syracuse: Onondaga Historical Association, 1924), 57-66.