A front view of the F. Julius LeMoyne House
A rear view of the F. Julius LeMoyne House NHL-NPS Photo |
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The LeMoyne House, a National Historic Landmark, was built in 1812, and was a
center of antislavery activity in southwestern Pennsylvania from the 1830s
through the end of slavery. Dr. F. Julius LeMoyne (1798-1879), the son
of a Parisian doctor who immigrated to the United States, was born in
Washington and studied medicine at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.
In 1834, LeMoyne joined the Washington Anti-Slavery Society and was the
organization's president from 1835 to 1837, after which he was commissioned
by the American Anti-Slavery Society to be its regional agent. LeMoyne,
along with his children and wife Madelaine, were active in the Underground
Railroad. The tightly knit free black communities in southwest Pennsylvania
helped slaves escape and developed an operational network that white antislavery
activists, such as LeMoyne, joined. LeMoyne's correspondence from the
1840s includes letters from individuals asking for aid and thanking him
for his assistance in getting them and their friends and relatives out
of the South. In his activism and philosophy, LeMoyne represents the mainstream
of antislavery activity in the United States before 1850 and is typical
of the middle-class Americans of the antebellum period who became caught
up in the antislavery debate.
The F. Julius LeMoyne House is located in Washington, Pennsylvania
at 49 East Maiden Street. It is open to the public for guided tours
Tuesday-Friday, 11:00am to 4:00pm. For groups tours of 20 or more, please
call to make an appointment. Call 724-225-6740 for further information,
or visit the house's website.
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