Pennsbury Township
The Mendenhalls and Oakdale
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Isaac Mendenhall was the son of Benjamin Mendenhall who purchased a 1,000 tract of land from William Penn in 1703. He built the homestead that is known today as Oakdale where Isaac was born. He became a progressive member at the Old Kennet Meeting because of his involvement in the temperance and anti-slavery movements, and the Society disowned him as a result. As opposition to slavery became more accepted, the Society at Kennet invited him back, but he refused to return as he and his wife Dinah had affiliated with the "Progressive Friends at Longwood."
Isaac and Dinah used the Oakdale estate as an underground ground stop for runaway slaves. They had harbored three of the slaves who had caused the Christiana Riots.
An Escaped Slave Found
"In 1833, an escaped slave living in Pennsbury Township was captured in West Chester and held to be sent back. The matter was heard by Judge Darlington, who determined he was an escaped slave and ordered his return under federal law. Wealthy members of the Quaker community collected $300 and arranged to buy Henry Cooper’s freedom before he was returned to slavery."
- Mark Ashton, Chester County: A Modern History
Bibliography
Friends' Intelligencer, Volume 59. (Philadelphia: Friends' Intelligencer Association, 1902): 418-419.
Haas, Kimberly. "Imagining a Route to Freedom Aboard the Underground Railroad." Hidden City Philadelphia. Last modified February 25, 2021. https://hiddencityphila.org/2021/02/imagining-a-route-to-freedom-aboard-the-underground-railroad/.