These settlements, however, are important
here in that they furnish the key to the location of many of the early
colored churches and schools of the North and West. Philanthropists
established a number of Negroes near Sandy Lake in Northwestern
Pennsylvania.[1] There was a colored settlement near Berlin
Crossroads, Ohio.[2] Another group of pioneering Negroes emigrating
to this State found homes in the Van Buren township of Shelby County.
Edward Coles, a Virginian, who in 1818 emigrated to Illinois, of which
he later became Governor, made a settlement on a larger scale. He
brought his slaves to Edwardsville, where they constituted a community
known as "Coles' Negroes."[3] The settlement made by Samuel Gist, an
Englishman possessing extensive plantations in Hanover, Amherst, and
Henrico Counties, Virginia, was still more significant. He provided in
his will that his slaves should be freed and sent to the North. It was
further directed "that the revenue from his plantation the last year
of his life be applied in building schoolhouses and churches for their
accommodation," and "that all money coming to him in Virginia be
set aside for the employment of ministers and teachers to instruct
them.
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