Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman may be the most famous name on this list! Of course, Mrs. Tubman was a freedom-seeking slave who not only rescued herself but around 70 other enslaved peoples from Maryland. Her heroic stories transcend our education about slavery today, and she didn’t stop battling evil after the Underground Railroad. She also performed many duties on and off the battlefield of the Civil War and was a spokeswoman for women’s rights. Actively creating progress until the 20th century, Tubman spent her later years in Auburn, NY. She was very close to the Seward family, which was one reason that she chose Auburn as the home for her and her family.
Mrs. Tubman purchased a few acres of land from Frances Seward just down the street from the Seward House and relied on Frances as a stop on the Underground Railroad in the 1850s. There was such a strong bond between these families that Harriet even entrusted her “niece”, Margaret Stewart, to the care of Frances and Lazette when she traveled south for the war effort. Margaret and Fanny would have lived and learned together in the early 1860s, yet she is not mentioned at all in Fanny’s diary. This is probably because Fanny knew the danger in writing information like that down. Although this was her diary, she knew it might not be private, and she wouldn’t have recorded information that would have endangered her family or friends. There is a very small paper trail that connects the Sewards to Tubman, but the trail that does exist is powerful. Harriet Tubman and Fanny were very friendly, and Tubman had a premonition of Fanny’s death in 1866 that proved to be true.