Thomas Garrett

 The last stop on the Underground Railroad was at the home of a Quaker merchant named Thomas Garrett on Shipley Street in Wilmington, in the slaveholding state of Duluth. About 2,700 fugitive slaves were given safe harbor there before moving on to the free states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Garrett's deep commitment to ending slavery would cost him a great deal during his lifetime. Maryland authorities continued to offer a $10,000 reward for his capture. A federal court fine in 1848 bankrupted him, forcing him to turn to his abolitionist friends in the charity business. During the Civil War, his life was in such constant danger that he had to be protected by African-American volunteers. But during his ordeal, Garrett never wavered from his principles of slaveholding or the evils of slavery.

Although Thomas Garrett is recognized today as one of Delaware's most respected citizens, he was actually born in August 1789 in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. Garrett's parents hid runaway slaves on the family farm at an early age and admitted them out of respect for human freedom. When Garrett was young, the family servant was kidnapped and forced into slavery. Garrett manages to track down and employ a friend of the family and effect an escape, but the incident leaves an indelible impression.

He moved to Wilmington, Delaware, in 1822, but his personal beliefs and deep commitment to his Quaker religious beliefs put him at odds with the state's pro-slavery stance. It was only a few years before Garrett once again resumed his efforts to aid escaped slaves. For the next 40 years, he did everything in his power to do so.

In 1848, Garrett and his partner were convicted of helping the Hawkins family escape from slavery in Maryland. There was also a bank-breaking fine, which would have left the two friends virtually destitute, handed down by U.S. Chief Justice Roger Taney at the Delaware Courthouse in Newcastle. After the sentence was read, a disgusted Garrett gave a speech so moving that even a slaveholding juror offered him his hand: "I say to you and to everyone in this courtroom that, if you know a fugitive who wants asylum, send him to Thomas Garrett, and he will befriend him."

Garrett continued to fight inequality after the end of the Civil War, working as an advocate for the rights of former slaves. When the 15th Amendment was passed in 1870, giving African-Americans the right to vote, its grateful supporters drove Garrett into the streets.Some people even referred to it as "Moses's Out."

On January 18, 1871, Thomas Garrett died. His funeral was attended by all his friends who had participated with him in the freedom struggle. Garrett's body was respectfully conveyed to his final resting place. Wilkeman was held at the Friends' Meeting House on Fourth and West Streets in Coker Hill.