I am training as a docent at a historical house in Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ (this does have relevence, I promise). Among the interesting facts we've learned is that the owners of the house, whose money came from the mill they operated, were pro-Confederacy, partially because of the business ties they had to the South and because of the friendships they had made there.

There is a misconception about the house that a tunnel leading to it was part of the Underground Railroad, which was active in northern New Jersey. In fact, the owners would never have participated in the Underground RR because of their pro-Southern leanings.

It's also little known that slavery was only outlawed in New Jersey in the 1830s, I believe -- and then only for any slave born after an arbitrary date. The result was that through a quirk of your birth date, you could be born free or slave.

Brenda Rigby
GGG-grandfather Needham Gibbs fought with Co. B, 2nd Louisiana cavalry