French John's Wharf

French John's Wharf. Trail to Freedom. , In 1787, a free black man named John DeBaptiste rented a portion of this property from Henry Fitzhugh. DeBaptiste established a shipping wharf at the foot of this lane and eventually purchased the land in 1796. He came from the French-speaking island of St. Kitts in the West Indies and this site became known as French John's Wharf. In 1792, at a time when no bridges crossed the Rappahannock, DeBaptiste also secured the rights from the local government to operate the Falmouth Ferry., During the Revolutionary War, DeBaptiste served aboard a schooner called Dragon, built in Fredericksburg by Fielding Lewis. After the war, the family prospered in local enterprises, but a series of harsh laws severely restricted the rights of free Black people in Virginia. John's descendants moved away. George DeBaptiste, his grandson, moved to Indiana in 1838, and later Detroit, where he was a leader in the Underground Railroad, helping nearly 200 people escape enslavement., [Sidebar:] , John DeBaptiste's grandson, George DeBaptiste, is depicted in the Gateway to Freedom Memorial in Detroit, Michigan, which recognizes those who escaped via the Underground Railroad. George is the figure at left with his arm upraised., [Captions:] , George DeBaptiste as a young man on an undated photograph. Born in 1814, he left Fredericksburg by 1838, eventually becoming an anti-slavery leader in Indiana and Michigan., Born in 1840, John DeBaptiste died in 1804 and was buried at Union Church in Falmouth. The metal marker recognizes him as a Revolutionary War veteran.