California (PA) Historical Society

My visit to western Pennsylvania has been very productive. First, seeing the Century Inn where my Grandmother Fiedler worked as head chef, where iron rings bolted to the floor in the attic tethered slaves; and then spending a few hours at the California Area Historical Society to get research on my family’s genealogy so when I visit the Washington County Recorder of Deeds, I have names to check.

California Area Historical Society

California Area Historical Society California, PA

I met the president of the Society – Pat Cowen as well as the secretary of the organization Mary Beth Graf.

L-R: Mary Beth Graf, Patricia Cowen

Ms Graf had pulled several files for me to review prior to my arrival since I spoke with her a few weeks earlier. She also gave me a folder with Underground Railroad stories centered around western PA to review. From the file I have a copy of a thesis written in 1900 about the Underground Railroad and western PA. Can’t wait to read it!

Inside California Area Historical Society House 1st floor

Inside California Area Historical Society House 1st floor right side from front door

Inside California Area Historical Society House 1st floor from left side of front door

California Area Historical Society

The Century Inn and family ties

Another connection to my family history was presented to me Monday (9/21). My cousin, Kirk Holman took my husband and me to dinner to a restaurant in Scenery Hill, PA called the Century Inn. When I first walked into the path, I was amazed at how similar the Inn was to the Stone House.

Front view of the Century Inn

What made this visit extra special was seeing the place my Grandmother Fiedler (heir of the Latta Stone House) worked as head chef in the 40s and 50s. I was only 7 months old when she died in 1957, but had been told throughout my life how she was a great cook and about the fabulous dinners she would make.  (Her culinary expertise did NOT pass on to me!) So, to see the facility that diners raved about the food was a very special treat.

My cousin also told us when he was a youngster the third floor was opened to the public and he was allowed to go up and play with the iron rings bolted to the floor. When I had a puzzled look, he explained that the slaves were bound up there so they could not escape.

My husband Bob queried Kirk to explain since Pennsylvania was NOT a slave state how could there be a place for the slave to be tethered. Kirk told us that although Pennsylvania was indeed not a slave state, it respected the laws of other states regarding property. Hence, if someone was traveling from Virginia to Pennsylvania and had slaves with them, there needed to be a place to secure their property — the rings on the third floor.

I can only imagine how hot that attic at the Century Inn was in the middle of summer. When visiting the Stone House during summer months and entered the attic where the runaway slaves hid, it was stifling.

Going out on a limb…And finding a relative

My last post indicated that the questions I was pondering about the Stone house — as a safe haven, becoming a part of the Underground Railroad — was directing me to research my family tree. I began wondering who owned the house during that time. I searched the web and found an article pertaining to the house. (see previous post September 3, 2009)

I noticed the article was written by a Beryl Redfield, captain of Branch 45. What’s a Branch 45? Back to the web and found the website www.latta.org Branch 45 is one of 22 branches of the Latta family. (Originally there were 52 branches, so it appears some branches were loped off or broken.) Branch 45 was about the Stone House! It shows a picture of how the house looks today, not when any direct descendants occupied it.

Redfield’s email address was visible, so I emailed her what I was doing  regarding researching the Stone house. To my surprise, she quickly responded back telling me she had done some research on the house in 2002 because she was a descendant of a Latta. Wow! I found a relative, though many generations and states removed. She lives in Utah and I’m in Indiana.

In her email she told me  she joined a genealogy group for Washington County, PA and posed questions to a Suzanne Edwards (Another case of small world, my maiden name is Edwards. I may find Suzanne is also a relative! Another branch to follow, but that will be another project since she would be on my father’s side.) Redfield offered to make copies of all the materials she received and found on her own and snail mail them to me. She thought I would find it quite interesting since I’m a direct descendant.

As a direct descendant, you’d think we would have lots of material about the house, especially how it was used in the Underground Railroad. The only thing I truly have is photographs. Very little about the history of the house was discussed, nor written down. Just like a photograph, I am on this journey to create an image of the house’s history. (Thanks to Dr. Ken Smith, my adviser  for this analogy.)

Curious as to Redfield’s Latta connection, I emailed her my lineage to the house – mother, Mary Jane Fiedler Edwards; grandmother, Grace Chester Fiedler; great grandmother Ollie Jane Latta Chester who was daughter of Ostrander D. Latta (my great great grandfather) who co-owned the house (so it seems from Redfield’s article) with his brother Alexander. Her lineage is not as direct to the house as mine. Redfield’s great grandmother (maternal grandfather’s mother) was Irene Latta daughter of Thomas Latta of Elizabeth, PA. A Latta database she used shows Thomas’ father as William Latta who was a brother to Ostrander – my great great grandfather. (Redfield indicates she hasn’t found proof of this connection…yet.)

As I read her email, I wondered how the Latta database got started, and why. She explained,

…I started doing some research on the house for an article in the Latta Genealogy Newsletter.  I am involved in the Latta Genealogy Society which evolved from research started in the 1930s by a man who believed all the Lattas could be traced back to Ireland.* His research resulted in an accumulation of a large amount of data so he divided the families up into what he called “branches” and this information was donated to some library.  In recent times, it became available on the internet which is where I found it in 1999 while doing research on my Latta family.  My grandfather was contacted by the Latta man, and in 1934 he supplied his family information.

*I had been told that the Lattas had come from Canada. I guess they could have started out from Ireland and come to Pennsylvania through Canada!

Armed with names and approximate dates, I can really start to find the lineage of the house – who owned it when – by contacting the Office of the Recorder of Deeds. Or perhaps Ms. Redfield’s information will have it.

History of the Stone House

Preliminary internet research on the Latta Stone House is very limited.

The bottom photo in the link is how the house currently looks. (How I remember the house is posted in my earlier post – back side of the Stone House.) When my mother’s family sold the house after my Grandfather Fiedler died in the late 1970s, the new owner did extensive remodeling. Unfortunately, I was able to view the home with my mother and was very disappointed with the alterations.

Gone were the beautiful moldings and storage closets in rooms. (No closets like we have in our homes today.) The sloping floor on the second level (See back side of the Stone House photo) was gone. The “porch” upstairs with its wide windows surrounding the twin bed I slept in when visiting was demolished. The modernization of the kitchen, the addition of French doors have altered my memories of summers on vacation. I keep pushing those alterations away and remember (with the help of my photos) of the good times in that house.

Underground Railroad Homes in Western Pennsylvania

Welcome to my blog! I’m Lou Putnam and am a graduate student of the Masters of Liberal Studies program at IUSB. I began my research on homes or sites that were part of the Underground Railroad in the Monongahela Valley, (Washington and Fayette counties) in Pennsylvania since my maternal grandfather’s home was reportedly a part of the system.

Initial plans were to interview and record my aunt and uncle who lived in the home from the 1920s until they left in the 1940s. But after speaking with them, their memories were not helpful. I had hoped to uncover many of their memories of the stories told regarding the way the house was used as part of the Underground Railroad. Unfortunately, my mother has died, so her memories were unavailable. However, my paternal aunt helped with her great connections in the area as well as to the local historical society. I visited the area later and did some on-site research.

I documented my experience in researching this topic via this blog and welcome any comments and suggestions on this project.