Grandfather Was An Underground Railroad Station Agent

In the summer of 1929, an aging Iowa farm house was torn down to make way for a gas station. As the demolition crew began their work, they uncovered secrets that revealed the home's historical significance in one of American history's darkest chapters.

Dismantling the property, workmen discovered secret chambers beneath the house that were used to hide men and women escaping southern slavery for freedom in the north.

Upon the discovery, a journalist wrote that there were long "obscure legends in Indianola about the house," which was now proven to be "one of the most important links in the underground railroad system."

Between March 15, 1852 and 1864, Mahlon Stanton Haworth, owned, lived, and farmed on the property located in Indianola, Iowa.

A Man of Conviction
Mahlon, my fifth great-grandfather, was born in Ohio and raised in a Quaker family with strong anti-slavery views. The Quakers were ardent abolitionists who were among the first to "fully condemn slavery as both ethically and religiously wrong in all circumstances."

While he agreed with the Quaker party line on politics, matters of the heart were different. In January 1829, a Quaker meeting was convened in Vermillion, Indiana (where Mahlon lived at the time). Meeting records reveal that he was "disowned" for "marrying contrary to the faith." Evidently, my fifth great-grandmother, Mary Hockett, was not a member of the Society of Friends (Quakers) and was unwilling to convert.

Mahlon's excommunication didn't prevent him from pursuing the marriage and creating a family with Mary. Eventually, they moved to Iowa where they settled and were welcomed into that area's Quaker community.

Family lore suggests that in Iowa, Mahlon was an outspoken abolitionist who vocally espoused his faith's objection to slavery. However, there is no existing documentation of him confiding his work as a station agent aiding slaves escaping to freedom. The home would have to speak for itself.

A Home's Secret
Writing in the Des Moines Sunday Register on August 4, 1929, a week after Maholn's home was demolished, journalist George Shane described the property's secret hiding places:

"The basement was divided into two compartments - one of them a secret chamber... Entrance was made through a trap door. The opening was hidden by rugs on the floor above. No pursuing federal officer would have suspected the hiding place of slaves - in fact, from the outside, the rear part of the dwelling that covered the room seemed to have no basement."

Mahlon Haworth's home (diagram created by author based on 1929 sketch from real life)

In his article, Shane included a sketch of Mahlon's property, which I've updated in my own illustration above for copyright purposes. The lower quadrants of the home depict the secret chambers.

Shane wrote, "Slaves would enter room marked A and climb down ladder to subterranean chamber labeled C, where they would hide with minimum danger of discovery. Section of basement marked D is walled off from other portion, with no connection except a tunnel between the partitions. The tunnel provided a second exit in case raiders were to find the upper trap door and come down the ladder. Entering the tunnel in the hollow partitions, which extended around part of cellar marked D, the slaves could make a getaway through an exit on the opposite side of the building. Room labeled B was the Hayworth (sic.) parlor."

The Underground Railroad in Iowa

The Underground Railroad's exact path to and from Indianola was unclear because, as Shane noted, Mahlon "kept no schedules of arrivals and departures." It's speculated that men and women escaping slavery came to Iowa from Missouri on their way north. Mahlon's station may have been a final stop before Des Moines.

The Underground Railroad (public domain)

The Iowa Freedom Trail Project conducted by the State Historical Society of Iowa concluded that, "Haworth did his work as a UGRR station agent so effectively that neither he nor Mary (who certainly had to be involved although there is no known documentation) never got caught by slave catchers or federal marshals or even had his house searched... because Haworth kept his secret so well, there are no documented connections between him and other UGRR participants."

Abolitionist Views
Abolitionist views were one thing, but serving as a station agent on the Underground Railroad carried severe consequences. According to Shane, people convicted of providing assistance, "could have been sent to prison for six months and fined $1,000 under the federal fugitive slave law."

While the number of lives Mahlon may have helped save are lost to history, it's a remarkable legacy to leave - having the courage of your convictions and quietly working to help human beings escape unimaginable tragedy. It's a legacy in which I take great pride.

Mahlon Haworth's grave in Cuba, Kansas
(Photo by author)

George Chalkley Haworth

George Chalkley Haworth

A picture is a worth a thousand words. After I discovered a photograph of my 4th great-grandfather George Chalkley Haworth (see Facebook Tags Forgotten Ancestor), it seemed appropriate that I add a few more words and assemble a profile of his life.

Early Life and Quaker Upbringing
George Chalkley Haworth was born January 16, 1833 (according to his headstone) in Indiana to parents Mahlon Stanton Haworth and Mary Hockett. The family moved to Iowa before 1850.

Although he was disowned for "marrying contrary to the faith," Mahlon had belonged to the Religious Society of Friends, and, it would seem, adhered strictly to Quaker doctrine throughout his life.

Mahlon was an ardent abolitionist; a trait closely aligned with the tenants of his faith. According to Bryn Mawr College (a Quaker founded institution), the Religious Society of Friends was the first organization in North America to "fully condemn slavery as both ethically and religiously wrong in all circumstances."

It was discovered, years after his death, that Mahlon's Iowa home contained secret rooms that hid slaves escaping to freedom on the Underground Railroad. This was the environment in which George Chalkley Haworth was raised. These were the values to which he was exposed.

Building Family
On October 29, 1859, George married Mary Emily Hadley in Warren County, Iowa. They had three daughters, including my 3rd great-grandmother Iva Elzina Haworth.

Marriage Registration for George and Mary (Hadley) Haworth

The marriage was short lived. Mary passed away in January 1865, and was buried in Ackworth Cemetery in Warren County. Her headstone indicates she was 25 years old.

Two years later, on March 21, 1867, George married Ann Simon in Warren County, Iowa. They had five daughters - all born in Iowa. A son would be born in Kansas.

Marriage Certificate for George and Ann (Simon) Haworth

Wagon Train and Founding of Haworth Town

In about 1880, George and Ann Haworth loaded their family and possessions into a covered wagon and followed his brother Mahlon Haworth, Jr. from the prairies of Iowa into Kansas.

A granddaughter of Mahlon Jr.'s later recounted the journey across the plains in Reflections of the Old Homestead. She describes a long and tiresome trip.

"They traveled slow by day and camped before dark...The teams of horses couldn't make it more than ten to fifteen miles per day, depending on the weather, for the wagons were loaded and heavy. The roads were just two wagon wheel paths made by the wagons that traveled this route...the miles from Indianola passed slowly."

 Their search for a new home came to an end when, as Mahlon Jr.'s granddaughter recounts, "they rode down a hill...a valley spread out before them with a muddy creek winding through the valley of trees." Mahlon Jr. said, "well I believe we have found our spot!"

Most of the other travelers in the wagon caravan continued onward, except George who "spotted a place up on the hill a piece from Mahlon's."

There was another influencing factor in the Haworth brothers' decision to settle where they did. In a 2012 academic article, Haworth: Flag Stop Town in Republic County, Kansas State student Rebecca Hall notes that they set up homes near a pre-existing rail line.

"When looking at the 1884 Plat map of Republic County, the establishment of the little town in that specific area seemed to be perfect for the time. The track curved through the eastern portion of Republic County mostly parallel to Mill Creek; its meandering ways continued until running through Cuba, Kansas."

In the ensuing years, George and Mahlon Jr.'s family settlement grew into a proper town, appropriately named Haworth. 

In 1991, The Belleville Telescope ran a feature that included reflections from Haworth's former residents (by that time, the settlement was a ghost town). 

"Haworth may have never been much more than the dream of its founders, George Chalkey [sic.] Haworth and his brother, Mahlon Haworth, Jr.," but, as the paper observed in 1901, it was a "beautiful little city in the eastern part of the County. It has a population of 20. It being situated on the B and M railroad and Mill Creek makes it an important business center."

Postmaster and Final Years
The greatest indication that the town of Haworth was on the map, so to speak, came on May 5, 1884, when a post office was established. George was appointed the first postmaster.

George C. Haworth 1884 Appointment as U.S. Postmaster

Hall notes that "the post office was more than just a place to collect mail; it covered a need that was similar for many people in rural Kansas in the late 1800's. Residents needed a way to communicate with the rest of the world, to keep in touch with families and friends beyond their little plot of land on the prairie."

It would be from this post office that the photo of George C. Haworth and family was mailed to my 3rd great-grandparents Edmond and Iva (Haworth) Hawks.

George wouldn't live to see the town's continued growth or its subsequent decline. On April 8, 1896, he passed away and was buried in the Hawks Cemetery just outside of Haworth. His headstone still stands prominently in the sea of surrounding farmland.
After the turn of the 20th century, the town began to decline. The post office was closed in November 1910. Families moved to bigger settlements. Buildings were torn down and the materials were used to create new structures. Eventually, the land reclaimed remaining foundations and quietly erased the town, relegating its existence to memory and its founder to a photograph.

Family History on the Road - Day One

The day after my maternal grandmother's funeral, I set out on a 7-day family history road trip with my mother and aunt. We traveled across five states, nearly 2,200 miles in total, and paid our respects at the graves of 36 direct ancestors.

It was my hope that the week-long trip would be a healing experience and an opportunity to see and connect with our ancestors' lives. Family was important to my grandmother, and this experience was an opportunity to reinforce and honor that legacy.

My grandmother was from Plainville, Kansas. It's a small farming community with a population today of approximately 1,900. My 3rd great-grandparents Albert and Anna (Dornon) Benedick were among its early settlers. Following their arrival, several generations called the town home and today rest eternally in the Plainville Cemetery. In total, 11 of my direct ancestors are buried on the grounds, including my grandmother who always called Plainville home.

From Plainville, we traveled north to Stockton where my grandparents were married (and later divorced) in the town courthouse. Making our way east, we drove to the small community of Cuba, Kansas. My 2nd great-grandmother Minnie (Hawks) Lumpkins Barber was born in a dugout nearby in 1881.

Coincidentally, the town was holding a festival. Main Street was closed to vehicles, and folks were cooking BBQ and playing games. In one game, people would pair up, grab hold of a rope and pull a sled weighted with blocks down the street. As the couple hauled the sled, onlookers would toss more weights onto the load to heighten the challenge. The crowd's cheering and laughing was occasionally drowned out as biplanes would come in low over Main Street, climb skyward, turn around and make another swoop.

We drove about four miles east of town to the Hawks Cemetery, which is situated alongside a dirt country road. The cemetery is fenced off from the farmlands that stretch for miles in every direction. The grounds are beautifully kept despite the seeming isolation from human activity. 

The Hawks Cemetery is the final resting place for my 4th great-grandfather George Chalkley Haworth and his father Mahlon Stanton Haworth. George and his brother founded the now abandoned ghost town of Haworth. George was the town's first postmaster. Sadly, the road to what remains of Haworth was muddied and prevented my wimpy rental car from making the trip. If I needed a reason to return, this would be added to the list.

Mahlon, my 5th great-grandfather, was a Quaker and an ardent abolitionist. After his death, it was learned that he served as a station manager on the Underground Railroad. His home in Iowa was found to contain secret rooms to hide slaves seeking freedom in the north. That's a legacy in which I take great pride. Not a bad start to our family history journey.

Day One Recap

Miles Traveled: 260

Direct Ancestor Graves Visited: 13