The public is invited. All ages are
welcome to join in the games, snacks, songs, stories and more fun --
and win prizes, too -- all for free.
For answers to questions about the
event, call the church office, 732-6957.
The carnival is sponsored by the
St. John Christian Education Ministry.
Harvest
of Talents adds new feature to this year's event
Something new is coming to the 30th Harvest of Talents for World
Hunger. The committee for Spring for Tea, a well-known Harvest of
Talents spring event, is planning a new offering at the 30th Harvest
on Saturday, Oct. 26.
Harvest guests looking for a brief respite from shopping or a few
minutes to sit and chat with a friend or renew old acquaintances
will be afforded that opportunity.
Georgia Vinson, who chairs the new Harvest area, aptly named
Hospitali-tea, points out that while the mini-tea will not offer all
of the elegance of the Spring Tea, it will provide tasty homemade
foods accompanied by a Harvest blend of tea, chosen for the
occasion.
A variety of handmade tea-related items will also be available
for sale in the tea room.
Advance tickets for the tea will be offered for four seatings:
10-10:30 a.m., 10:45-11:15 a.m., 11:30-noon and 12:15-12:45 p.m. Tea
tickets are only $5 each and may be obtained at the office of
Lincoln Christian Church. Purchasers may choose their seating time
when they purchase the tickets.
Vinson stresses the importance of timeliness in arriving at the
mini-tea, due to the number of seatings available. She also noted
that only a limited number of tickets will be available for this
Harvest event.
The mini-tea is being offered in addition to the regular
breakfast and luncheon menus and is intended to provide an occasion
and location to enjoy a bit of rest and relaxation, accompanied by
light refreshments and a cup of hot, fragrant Harvest tea.
Those having questions may contact Georgia Vinson at 732-9069 or
Marcia Bidwell at 732-7772.
The Harvest of Talents for World Hunger is an annual fundraising
event sponsored by Lincoln Christian Church. Events begin at 7 a.m.
on Saturday, Oct. 26, and climax with a 2 p.m. auction of several
dozen handmade items, including quilts, furniture, woodworking
pieces and heirloom-quality needlework.
The final event of the weekend will be a service of celebration
at 10 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 27, in the Earl C Hargrove Chapel on the
campus of Lincoln Christian University.
The public is invited and encouraged to attend all the weekend
events of the Harvest of Talents.
Chamber
seeks opinions on this year's festival
Lincoln Art & Balloon Festival organizers are
asking that people who took part in the 40th annual festival take a few
minutes to complete a survey. The feedback from the survey will be valuable
in planning future festivals. The steering committee will meet at
the beginning of October to evaluate how well this year's event
went, and the results of the survey will be a valuable tool to help
in the evaluation process.
The
organizers would greatly appreciate the survey being completed by
Friday, Sept. 20. To complete the survey, use the link below:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/
2013LincolnArtBalloonFestival
Lynn
Spellman discusses the Underground Railroad in Stark County
Lincoln Art & Balloon Festival organizers are
asking that people who took part in the 40th annual festival take a few
minutes to complete a survey. The feedback from the survey will be valuable
in planning future festivals.
The town of Toulon in Stark County had a history that the residents never
discussed when Lynn Spellman was growing up there. Spellman, a Lincoln
resident and retired Lincoln College professor, spoke about Toulon's past at
the August meeting of the Logan County Genealogical & Historical Society.
Toulon's location on the Spoon River, 40 miles northwest of Peoria,
made it a convenient, major stop on the Underground Railroad before
and during the Civil War.
Spellman was at a loss to explain why this important piece of
Stark County history was never discussed during her childhood.
The area of Illinois where she grew up had a strong abolitionist
tradition. Knox College in Galesburg was founded in the early 19th
century as an abolitionist institution, just down the road from
Spellman's home in Toulon.
Currently, the college has a large library of Underground
Railroad information and is home of the Knox College Underground
Railroad Freedom Society. Spellman went through much of this
collection to create her presentation.
During the time the Underground Railroad existed, three important
hubs were in Illinois: Quincy, Galesburg and Princeton. Runaway
slaves would come up the Mississippi River from the south or cross
it from the slave-holding state of Missouri on their quest for
freedom. Initially they headed for the river city of Quincy. Then
they would be funneled by abolitionists through a web of routes to
Galesburg and then on to Princeton. The slaves' ultimate destination
was Chicago, with the hope of boarding a ship to cross into complete
freedom in Canada.
Being between Galesburg and Princeton, Stark County and Toulon
were essential stops along the Underground Railroad.
The runaway slaves traveled at night to protect themselves and
their rescuers in Illinois. Early in the 19th century, Illinois
adhered to the Fugitive Slave Act, which permitted bounty hunters to
track slaves and receive a reward for their capture and return to
slave owners in the south. Those aiding the slaves were subject to
severe financial penalties and jail time if caught.
Stark County had three clusters of homes that provided safe haven
for slaves traveling the Underground Railroad: West Jersey, Toulon
and Elmira. The web of routes along the Underground Railroad
provided many options for the slaves. If a member of an abolitionist
family was suffering from an illness or if the family was under
surveillance by authorities, the slaves would be shuttled along
another link in the web of routes through Stark County.
The Underground Railroad in Stark County was active from the late
1830s until after the Civil War.
Spellman related the story of the Rev. Samuel Wright in Stark
County. Wright came to Illinois from New Hampshire, first settling
in Canton and then moving to Stark County. He was a Presbyterian
minister but also worked with the Congregational Church, of which
Lynn Spellman was a member while growing up in Toulon.
Wright was a traveling preacher in Stark County, going to various
places to perform his religious duties at area congregations that
did not have a regular preacher. He also gave lectures on abolition,
abstinence and astronomy. As such, he met a lot of people in the
area and was able to facilitate the movements of the Underground
Railroad. When his house was under watch by the authorities, he was
able to signal his cohorts in the movement to use another route
through Stark County for moving their precious cargo.
A little-known fact is that during the period before Illinois
banned slavery within its borders, there were slave owners in the
state, mostly in southern Illinois. Sometimes slaves there would
escape and travel north toward Chicago, passing through Stark
County.
Spellman related one story of a southern Illinois abolitionist
who took a slave and her children north to Galesburg from southern
Illinois to place them on the route of the Underground Railroad. The
slave owner found out about this and pursued the runaways. He was
able to capture the children and take them back to servitude in
southern Illinois.
He then sued the abolitionist and won the case, a decision that
reduced the abolitionist and his family to poverty because of the
size of the financial judgment against them.
Participation in the Underground Railroad was a dangerous
business for runaway salves and the abolitionists who helped them
flee.
By the late 1840s, runaway slaves were traveling during the day
and on public transportation through Stark County. This was a strong
abolitionist area that was committed to the anti-slavery movement.
Spellman related that Wright kept a detailed journal of his
travels along his religious circuit, a meticulous record that he
kept for 50 years. The total number of volumes was 19 handwritten
journals that are now at Knox College. Wright detailed his daily
travel and submitted quarterly reports to his employers in the
church. He often referred to his participation in the Underground
Railroad in a type of code that hid his involvement.
Spellman ended her presentation with a quote from Wright's
journal of 1858. He attended the Lincoln-Douglas debate in Galesburg
and related his impressions of the two orators. It was a treat to
hear her mimic Wright's description of Douglas' speaking style, a
sort of bombast designed to reach the farthest edge of the crowd,
estimated at 20,000. Wright said Lincoln spoke plainly as he always
did and still had no trouble being heard by the entire crowd.
With the Underground Railroad a revered institution in American
history and the fact that its web of safety for runaway slaves led
through her hometown, Spellman has been researching this
little-known history of her hometown for the last few years, sharing
her findings with others. It is a fascinating part of central
Illinois history.
[By CURT FOX]
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