Revolutionary slave an afterthought no more
For centuries, the measure of Hannah Till's life was relegated to the appendix of an obscure Philadelphia history book.
For centuries, the measure of Hannah Till's life was relegated to the appendix of an obscure Philadelphia history book.
An interview with the former slave, who worked as a cook for George Washington at the Valley Forge encampment, was consigned to an afterthought, deemed too insignificant to merit space in the main body of a forsaken text.
But what was a postscript for just about everyone else was a treasure trove for Marion T. Lane.
After a year of research, using information from that appendix, Lane, a retired public schoolteacher from Buckingham Township, Bucks County, nominated Till for a title that she viewed as self-evident: "patriot."
Till, who worked not only for Gen. Washington but for Gen. Lafayette, was honored with that title and a new headstone Saturday by the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) in ceremonies at the historically black cemetery where Till is buried.
"This is a rarity," said Roberta "Bobbi" McMullen, regent of DAR's Pennsylvania State Society. "The generals are all written up, but there are so many people who worked hard for the cause whose contributions are little known."
McMullen and Lane led ceremonies Saturday at Historic Eden Cemetery, in Collingdale, Delaware County, the final resting place for scores of African American luminaries, including opera singer Marian Anderson, with whom DAR shares history.
In 1939, the organization refused to allow Anderson to perform at the group's Constitution Hall in Washington, leading former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt to invite the contralto to sing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
The DAR subsequently invited Anderson to perform at Constitution Hall; she did so in 1943 and on several occasions thereafter.
Anderson's grave is just down the road from Till's. On Saturday, flags waved and a color guard from the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution marched in the cook's honor.
Lane was "ecstatic."
"Just to help reveal some of the true history of the men and women of color who helped to found a nation," said Lane, 67, the author of a children's book on African American heroes of the Revolutionary War. "That's what I want to do."
Lane, a DAR member and a national office holder, has made it her mission to gain recognition for African Americans and Native Americans whose historic contributions during the Revolution have been overlooked.
She is a member of several groups made up of descendants of colonial Americans, and is the immediate past national president of the Society of Descendants of Washington's Army at Valley Forge.
Lane has one ancestor who served in the Continental Army and another who provided goods and services to the Revolution: the two ways to qualify for membership and recognition by the DAR.
"I didn't believe it," Lane said of when her father first told her about her ancestry as a child. But when scholar Henry Louis Gates mentioned her family in a television special in 2006, Lane believed it.
She heard more about Till the next year during a tour of Valley Forge National Historical Park. Lane, who sits on the board of the Friends of Valley Forge Park, decided to do some research.
She scoured books, birth and death records with guidance from historians at Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection at Temple University.
Lane found an interview with Till in the appendix of an 1830 publication of Annals of Philadelphia, Being a Collection of Memoirs, Anecdotes and Incidents of the City and Its Inhabitants from the Days of the Pilgrim Founders that she purchased from an antique book dealer in London.
She discovered that Till was a member of the First African Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Lane eventually found a baptismal record of Till's son Isaac stating that he was born at the Valley Forge encampment in January 1778.
With those discoveries, Lane had enough proof to merit Till's recognition by the DAR.
"She was a very esteemed lady," Christyn Olmstead, the group's Southeast Pennsylvania District director, said of Till.
Till was born a slave in Kent County, Delaware, and managed to buy her freedom. Till and her husband were hired as cooks for Washington and served during all the campaigns and celebrated battles of the war. Till worked for Washington for over six years and for Lafayette for six months.
Records indicate that Till was buried in the First African Presbyterian Church graveyard at Seventh and Bainbridge Streets. When that was sold, the remains were moved to Lebanon Cemetery in South Philadelphia. When that was sold, the remains were moved to Eden in Delaware County.
The stone marker erected by the DAR is near that of James Forten, who was honored last year by the Sons of the American Revolution for his service in the Revolutionary War.
On Saturday, a choir from First African Presbyterian Church sang beneath a tent on a raw and drizzly afternoon. Euell Nielsen, the church's historian, who helped with research, donned colonial garb to portray Till. Samuel Davis portrayed Washington.
Lane closed out the ceremony with a gracious thank you, followed by a recessional of the color guard and a promise of more honors to come.
"I want to give the children pride," she said after the ceremony. "If I don't do it, the people coming behind me won't know it."
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