We have created a map based on the individual lives of Thomas E. Dorsey and James Vogelsang Fortin. Using digital mapping and research, we can see how the lives of two individuals came to intersect. Thomas Dorsey was born in Philadelphia in 1838 to a family involved in the Underground Railroad and liberation of slaves. He first attended New York Central College, and then eventually worked his way into medical school at Harvard University. After becoming personally associated with Frederick Douglass and opening his own medical practice, he became Deputy Marshal until 1881. He eventually died in 1897, with little to no obituary or recognition for personal accomplishments. James Vogelsang Fortin literally grew up in a house that served as an Underground Railroad station. Born in Byberry, PA, Fortin was eventually sent to New York Central College to become a “future reformer and humanitarian”. Eventually, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and became an officer’s steward. He also reunited with his father after being stationed in Baltimore. After being discharged and moving to Centre, NJ, Fortin/Forten became renowned as the richest man of color to ever live in America, and it is said he spent most of his fortune on facilitating the escape of slaves or actually purchasing their freedom. He died May 27, 1907 in Centre, NJ. In the map below, you can see the paths of these two individuals’ lives from their place of birth to their location of death.

 

Map of James Fortin and Thomas Dorsey’s lives

 

By Peter McKasty, Monique Walsh and Kara Smith

Digital Mapping provides many benefits for understanding the past. For example, we can see patterns that we otherwise may have not seen if not for the map. Or, maybe we would have seen all of this information, but we wouldn’t have been able to connect it in our minds, which the map already does for you. For our in class assignment we completed the first week, we had to map the students who attended Central College. The goal was to try and see patterns in the living situations that maybe a raw data set wouldn’t show us, or we wouldn’t be able to piece together this information on our own. We did see these patterns, and if my memory serves me correctly, a historical thesis that emerged form our spatial analysis of the data was that we also were able to find some sort of pattern with religion, and that was shocking to me. Its pretty amazing to see these benefits that digital mapping provides us with. Before this course I knew absolutely nothing about mapping, and I would have never guessed or even thought that data like what we have seen could be provided in a map. Personally for me, I need to physically see things in order to make sense of them because I am a visual learner. I feel as if most people would agree with that and say that they are visual learners as well, and this is why I believe that mapping is very beneficial for everyone. It is definitely a little confusing at first, especially if you have to make the map yourself, and that part I am not a fan of. However if I was looking up information for a project or something of that nature and I found a digital map, I would be very happy because it would provide me with a boatload of vital information right at my finger tips.

 

Megan Bender

The Lost Museum is an interactive digital museum that contains information on P.T. Barnum’s American Museum. The information on the site is given to visitors in the traditional way — an index of references and essays in the Archive tab — but also in a unique way: a 3-D, virtual reality experience where visitors can tour the museum and collect information that way. There’s also a special component for younger knowledge-seekers where they can solve a mystery on the site by using the 3-D environments and looking for clues. It gives them the experience of seeing the museum for themselves and learning about its history without leaving the computer. These VR components make learning and understanding the past way more enjoyable and fun for students, so this site could easily be incorporated into classrooms (hence, the classroom tab shown above and below).

The interactiveness of the murder-mystery game, mixed with facts about P.T. Barnum’s history, is also a great way to make students want to seek out information for themselves, instead of being forced to. Sites like this one and virtual reality technology, in general, have the potential to usher in a new era of students that can learn from the past without needing archives, books, or the need to leave a classroom — they can experience the past and live through experiences virtually, which is unlike any learning experience ever used before. I think it’s important for students and scholars alike to use what we have now, in the future, to discover and chronical the past.

-Sarah DeLena

The work we did in the archives while researching the Cortland Fire of 1919 was extremely beneficial as it created a way for the information to be accessed more widely. By taking using technology such as the scanner and WordPress, we were able to make a sort of online museum so that people who may not be able to make their way to Cortland, New York can still access not only the information but see, as best they can, the old newspaper clippings and photos taken at the time of the fire. Old documents and records were able to be uploaded with descriptions alongside them. The project helped us to take all of the information from the archives, and make it into a story in an online museum form.

Benjamin Antony Boseman Jr. 

 

 

Benjamin Antony Boseman Jr. was born free in Troy, NY in 1839. During the years 1855 – 1857, Boseman spent his time in McGraw, NY at Central College. As a child, Boseman showed interest in becoming a physician. At age 16, he worked as an apprentice studying to be a physician for eight years.   With his experience, he went on to serve as a surgeon for the Union Army during the Civil War.  Boseman settled in Charleston, South Carolina where he started a family. He married and had 2 sons. While he settled in Charleston, he started a medical practice that was very sucessful. During Reconstruction, he was the only politician, black or white,  to ever be elected to 3 consecutive terms in the South Carolina House of Representative. In 1873, he was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant as the first black postmaker of Charleston. At the young age of 41, Boseman died in 1881 in Charleston, SC.

 

Tunis G. Campbell Jr.

Tunis G. Campbell Jr. was born in Middlebrook, New Jersey in 1812. As a child Campbell attended an all-white Episcopal school in Babylon, Long Island. He was the only black student who attended the school. During this time, free African Americans were sent on missionary trips out of the country; however, Campbell was devoted to helping blacks in the United States and did not leave. Campbel worked as a  hotel steward in Boston and New York. In 1855-1857, Campbell spent time in McGraw, NY at New York Central College. In 1863, the United States Secretary of War commisioned Campbell to help displaced refugees after fighting in the Civil War.  While living in Georgia, Campbell was elected Senator sometime in the late 1960s. Campbell devoted his life and career to civil rights and helping blacks. Because of his passion, people found his actions and beliefs to be threatening. He was arrested in Darien, Georgia in 1876. Campbell spent a year locked up. When he was released, he immediately moved to Washington, DC to get away from all the conflict. That same year in 1877, Campbell and his family moved to Boston where he died in 1891.

 

Below is a link to a Digital Map that will allow you a visual of the places both Boseman and Campbell traveled throughout the course of their lives.

https://barbaramackey13.carto.com/builder/1f1aaeb5-0799-4ee8-9cc7-0bf770e2221a/layers

 

Post by Amorie Green and Barbara Mackey

John Francis Cook

John Cook was born in Washington D.C.  in September of 1833 to a very affluent, respected family. His father was a slave, but thanks to a family member purchasing his freedom, he was able to become a very successful clergyman. Cook’s father also became the first superintendent of Washington’s colored public schools. He was a very respected community member in D.C. John’s father sent him to the Central College in New York to study from the years 1849-1853. After completing school at Central College, John went to Oberlin College. Unfortunately, John left college in 1855 after the passing of his father, and returned to Washington D.C. where he continued to run the Union Seminary, a private school that his father owned.

After the Civil War, John became a clerk in the office of the District Tax Collector, and by 1874, he had become the head of the office. John was a very accomplished citizen, he was an alderman, a city registrar, justice of the peace, and commissioner of jurors. He was also the District Delegate to three national Republican Party Conventions. He dedicated his life to the advancement of the black community through education, a politician and an activist. He fought against racism and discrimination and was an inspiration to many by proving that a black man could be an important influence in America’s political, social and economic circles.

John died on January 20, 1910. His work for the black community (and America)  should be recognized still, in our opinion.

Samuel Datcher

Samuel was originally from Washington D.C. He attended Central College in 1852-1853. Samuel is on record for working for the Contingent Expenses of the War Department: he was paid eight dollars for assisting in making fires, cleaning rooms for January 1857.

On the 1860 Census, Samuel Datcher, age 25, was working as a hotel waiter in Niagara, Niagara County, NY. In 1863, Samuel signed up for the Civil War Draft, in Washington D.C. He was given a position by the War Department, as a laborer in Washington D.C. There are records showing he was paid $10 for his service in the office of the Secretary of the War.

Listed in the Washington D.C. City Directory for 1865, Samuel was a messenger for the War Department.

On April 19, 1866, Samuel was married to Mary V. Cook, a teacher working in Washington D.C. At this time, Samuel was working as a messenger in D.C.

On the 1870 Census, Mary V Datcher and her 3 year old daughter, Elinor J. Datcher, were living with Mary’s family in Washington D.C. Mary was listed as a teacher, and her brother George Cook, was listed as the superintendent of public schools. Samuel is no longer with them, and no record of his death can be found. Mary went on to become the principal of the Stevens School in the 1870’s, and later, vice-president of the National Association for the Relief of Destitute Colored Women and Children, a cause for which she worked tirelessly up until her death in 1914.

Here is a link where you can find our digital map of these two lives.