Elial T. Foote (Jamestown), Catherine Harris (Jamestown), and Eber M. Pettit (Versailles and Fredonia) are among the few who score 5, the maximum rating on the Wellman Scale of Underground Railroad involvement. Foote left volumes of correspondence, Harris granted a published interview, and Pettit wrote a published memoir.

Chautauqua County was home to more than 1,100 anti-slavery activists between 1835 and 1860, the period leading up to the Civil War. However, myths about their involvement in the Underground Railroad often obscured the truth about what those people actually did.

For example, stories of “hidden rooms” and “tunnels” cropped up in the 1900s, and myths about “quilt signs” cropped up in the 2000s. To date, there is no evidence to verify those stories. The rumored rooms have turned out to be insufficient to sustain human life for more than a few minutes. The rumored tunnels have been shown to be impossible to secretly excavate, to ventilate, and to make safe from collapse. See https://teamsocialstudies.media.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/47/2021/04/Myths-of-the-Underground-Railroad.pdf.

The rumors of quilt signs are unsupported by direct evidence from the period. Moreover, quilt signs would have been quickly deciphered by bounty hunters, putting safe houses at great risk. See https://folklife.si.edu/magazine/underground-railroad-quilt-codes

Instead, the Underground Railroad in Chautauqua County, and in most other places, operated by a brilliant network of secrecy, moving freedom seekers swiftly, from and to small houses, cabins, or barns. This took place along constantly changing routes, which gradually led northward toward Canada.

Fortunately, Dr. Judith Wellman provides a clear way to evaluate stories about the Underground Railroad activity of specific structures or persons. Professor Wellman taught at SUNY Oswego, then became a principal investigator for Historical New York Research Associates.

Having evaluated 625 rumored sites and persons, Wellman developed a scale for determining the strength of each story’s probability of accuracy. Each level of the scale is of greater probability for Underground Railroad involvement than the previous level.

— Impossible: Level 0 indicates that the subject (structure or person) of the story was not in the specified place at the specified time. As noted, in Chautauqua County, the specified time fell between 1835 and 1860.

— Questionable: Level 1 indicates that the subject (structure or person) of the story may have been in the specified place at the specified time, but there is no direct or indirect evidence to verify the Underground Railroad involvement.

— Maybe: Level 2 indicates that the subject (structure or person) of the story was indeed in the specified place and time, and that the story was told through local, oral tradition before the 1900s. However, there is no direct or indirect evidence to corroborate the Underground Railroad involvement.

— Possible: Level 3 indicates that the subject (structure or person) of the story was indeed in the specified place at the specified time, but that there is only limited, indirect evidence to verify the Underground Railroad involvement.

— Likely: Level 4 indicates that the subject (structure or person) of the story was indeed in the specified place at the specified time, and that there is abundant, indirect evidence to verify the Underground Railroad involvement.

— Nearly Certain: Level 5 indicates that the subject (structure or person) of the story was indeed in the specified place at the specified time, and that there is direct evidence to verify the Underground Railroad involvement.

Samples of indirect evidence are a person’s anti-slavery society membership, a signature on an anti-slavery petition, and/or membership in an anti-slavery church. Samples of direct evidence are diaries, testimonials, or letters from and to the person involved in Underground Railroad activity.

On the Chautauqua County Anti-slavery map, most sites and/or persons score 3 on the Wellman Scale. A few score 4, and a few more score 5. Sites or persons scoring 0 through 2 are not shown. See https://chqugrr.com.