Ian McGiver wrote: > > Is any one on the list familiar with "vigilance committees" operating in > mid-nineteenth-century New York State? > > I am trying to make sense of a brief notation in the town minutes for the > town of Fulton, Schoharie County. In Feb. 1840, the town formed a > "commitey at vigelence." Several men from various sections within the town > were named to be on the committee. > > At that point Anti-Rent difficulties were starting up in nearby Albany > County. I know that Schoharie County farmers were paying close attention > to the Albany situation. And, within a few years, many Schoharie County > farmers would join the anti-rent resistance. The farmers in the uplands of > the town of Fulton were said to be particularly fierce in their support > for the resistance. So I am wondering if the 1840 vigilance committee > might have had something to do with the anti-rent situation. But this is > only a guess. I have no other information about this committee, or its > actions, other than this brief notation in the town records. Nor did I see > a reference to such a committee in the town an earlier or later date. > > Any suggestions? > > Thanks > Ian McGiver > [log in to unmask] I was just at Mystic Seaport, and in their Amistad exhibition there is a letter that went out soliciting financial support for a vigilance committee, which helped fugitive slaves. I can't remember the state from which it originated, and I believe it was nineteenth century. -- Lesley L. Humphreys Curator of History and Research New York State Historical Association/The Farmers' Museum PO Box 800 Cooperstown, NY 13326 PH 607-547-1531 FX 607-547-1404