Bristol Hill Church

Bristol Hill Church. Underground Railroad Heritage Trail. , Black and white men and women worked to build the Bristol Hill Church. While the majority of the congregation were segregated by race, local families worshipped here together. The congregation formed in 1812 and began raising funds to build the church in 1331. African-American Andrew Slater, Isaac Lawson, Amos Mason and his wife donated money, grain, lumber, and labor to pay the preacher, build the church and parsonage, and erect a steeple., Members protested “against the entire system of American slavery”, as one resolution stated. They signed antislavery petitions and joined antislavery societies. Five families were also active in the Underground Railroad, two were African American and three European-American. On a trip south, African American congregant James Watkins Seward was kidnapped and enslaved in Louisiana in 1839. This incident led to the passage of a New York law requiring the state to recover free black residents who had been illegally captured into slavery., [ Drawing Captions: ] , Hiram Gilbert was a deacon and a fervent supporter of the church's antislavery resolution., James Watkins Seward joined the church in April 1831. The church mobilized to secure his freedom after he was kidnapped and enslaved In Louisiana in 1839., This antislavery resolution was recorded in the Deacon’s Book on February 14, 1843. In the resolution the congregation and deacons denounce slavery as a sin.