Zachariah Taylor Shugart, the man on America’s ‘Underground Railroad’, part of a lot sold for $80,000 (£64,725) at Swann.
A principal focus among Shugart family papers was an account book kept by the sitter, Zachariah Taylor Shugart (1805-81), a North Carolina-born Quaker who in the 1840s was an active participant in what was known as the ‘Underground Railway’.
This was a network of safe houses established to help escaped slaves make their way to the free northern states of America and Canada.
One key page, which also presents a long list of legal expenses, most likely relates to his prosecution by Kentucky slaveholders for his role in thwarting an 1847 raid in which he had actively resisted their would-be kidnap attempt and helped dozens of escaped slaves on their way north.
