{"id":699,"date":"2021-07-05T19:16:06","date_gmt":"2021-07-05T23:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.petermotthouse.org\/?page_id=699"},"modified":"2021-10-21T15:21:29","modified_gmt":"2021-10-21T19:21:29","slug":"learn","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.petermotthouse.org\/learn\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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LEARN<\/h1>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Story of Peter Mott\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAccording to Historian Paul Schopp\u2019s research, Peter Mott was \u201cborn between 1800 and 1810 in Delaware to a Virginian father and a mother from Maryland. It appears Peter had slipped his shackles of bondage and made his way to Gloucester County [around] 1830.\u201d Gloucester County marriage records show that he married Eliza Thomas on November 2, 1833.

\nThe size of his house in what was then called Snow Hill, or Free Haven, combined with its method of construction and two story size \u2014 reflected his status as a respected member of the community.

\nAccording to Schopp, \u201cin 1844, Peter Mott purchased the first of three lots in Free Haven.\u201d Land transactions for May 30, 1844, record Mott's purchase of the property for his home from Thomas Stephenson for $100. On [the property], Mott constructed a 1\u00bd-story house and completed construction in 1845. We know that Mott built some items in his house, and one of the cabinets he created still stands in what was the kitchen today.

\nThe Motts attended Mt. Pisgah, where Peter served as the first Sunday School superintendent in 1847. He also served as a deacon in the church and held a Local Preacher\u2019s License.

\nIn the 1850 U.S. Census, Peter Mott is listed as a 40 year old, black male laborer owning real estate valued at $600. His wife, Elizabeth Ann Mott, was listed as 42 years old. By the 1870 Census, the Mott's real estate was valued at $1,000 and his personal estate at $250. Peter and Eliza Ann remained a couple devoted to each other until she died in November 1879. Peter met his demise two years later.

\nHis house, now a museum, is widely considered \u201cone of the oldest houses in Lawnside, NJ.\u201d

\nWhile no primary-source documentation or contemporaneous account has been found for verification, oral tradition places Peter Mott in the center of Underground Railroad activity, and, perhaps, the settlement of fugitive slaves in the Snow Hill and Free Haven area. William Switala, writing in his 2006 book, Underground Railroad in New Jersey and New York, notes: \u201cIt was from his home and the Mount Pisgah A.M.E. Church, in which he later served as pastor, that he carried out his role as an Underground Railroad agent and conductor. From Snow Hill, the freedom seekers had several possible avenues of escape, with routes leading to Pennsauken, Haddonfield, and Evesham Mount.\u201d\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPlay Video<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tReclaiming History: The Search for the Underground Railroad\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tReclaiming History: The Search for the Underground Railroad discusses how Underground Railroad sites are determined via various means such as letters written by locals and legislators, oral histories, inherited properties, newspapers and more. This documentary released in 2006 by Howard University faculty member James Rada serves as a teaching video, or \"how-to-video\" for people and organizations looking to research and validate Underground Railroad sites.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Saving a Piece of History <\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The efforts to save the Peter Mott House came up unexpectedly for concerned citizens of Lawnside. One evening during a local meeting centered around Black History Month – Clarence Still, official historian of the Still Family and the town of Lawnside made a startling announcement.<\/p>

According to journalist Hoag Levins for Historic Camden County<\/a>, “So Clarence Still comes to our gathering, remembered [current President of the Lawnside Historical Society Linda P.] Waller.” And he gets up to speak and says ‘I can’t let this opportunity go by without telling you all about something that is very important. Everybody in Lawnside ought to be up in arms about it. The Peter Mott House is going to be destroyed.'”<\/p>

“We adjourned to the hallway and my sister and a couple of her friends from school said we ought to form a Lawnside Historical Society and do something about this. We’ve got to focus on saving that house,” said Waller. “My sister turned to me and said ‘We’re going to have a meeting about this next Thursday and it’s going to be at your house.” And I said, ‘Can I come?’ And that’s how I got involved.”<\/p>

Clarence Still was head of the Still Family Historical Committee, named for Philadelphia Abolitionist leader William Still, who, in 1871, wrote the first comprehensive account of the secret smuggling system that had helped escaped slaves find their way to freedom in the northern states and Canada. Clarence\u00a0Still was the founding President of the Lawnside Historical Society.<\/p>

“Mr. Still is the reason any of this happened,” Waller said. “He is the person who understood what the house meant and the one who stood up and said, ‘Builder, stay that backhoe.'”<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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A Community Mobilizes<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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