Austin F. Williams Carriagehouse
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The Austin F. Williams House and Carriagehouse are significant for their association with the
Underground Railroad and the celebrated Amistad affair of 1839-1841. Oral tradition
indicates that Austin F. Williams (1805-1885), a leading abolitionist of the day who devoted
much of his life to the cause, was an Underground Railroad conductor and, along with other
citizens, made the Farmington community a major Underground Railroad stop. After the Civil
War, Williams was appointed director of the Freedman's Bureau of New England and New York
and found housing and job opportunities for freed African Americans. However, it was the
Amistad affair that brought national attention to Williams' abolitionist activities. In June
of 1839, 53 members of the Mende tribe from present-day Sierra Leone who had been illegally
captured and transported to Cuba, were sold to two Spanish planters in Havana. The slaves were
loaded onto the ship Amistad which set sail for Puerto Principe, another Cuban port.
Four days out of Havana, the Mende, led by Sengbe Pieh (renamed Joseph Cinque by his
Spanish captors), took control of the vessel and ordered the ship to sail to America. During the
siege the Mende killed the ship's captain and cook, and by the time Amistad anchored off
the tip of Long Island on August 24, 1839, 10 of the Mende had died from disease or wounds
sustained in the takeover. Brought into custody by the United States Navy, the Mende were
imprisoned in New Haven, Connecticut, and charged with piracy and murder. A defense
committee, including Austin Williams and headed by Lewis Tappan of the American Missionary
Society, was formed and hired the Honorable Roger Sherman Baldwin and former President of
the United States John Quincy Adams to represent the Mende. The Supreme Court ruled that
the Mende had been held illegally by force and that the siege and murder of the captain and cook
had happened in self-defense. The Mende were ordered free on March 9, 1841.
Upon their release, the Mende were taken in by members of their defense committee,
including Austin Williams. Williams constructed a building on his property in which the male
members of the group lived. This building is today the east section of the carriagehouse--the
west section was added on after the Mende had returned to their homeland. The men worked in
local agricultural fields and the women worked as domestics in the private Farmington homes in
which they lived. Required by the defense committee to attend the First Congregational Church,
the Mende also were taken to different parts of New England and asked to perform at various
fundraising events. With the money raised at these events, the defense committee hoped to
establish a Christian missionary in Africa and pay for the Mende's transportation back to their
homeland. Within a few months, it became clear that the Mende were eager to return home and
felt somewhat exploited by these fundraising events. On November 27, 1841, they set sail for
West Africa along with several missionaries and arrived in Freetown, Sierra Leone in January of
1842.
The Austin F. Williams House is located in Farmington, Connecticut. A private residence, it is
not open to the public.
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