Wilmore, Pennsylvania - History

History

In the book Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania by William J. Switala. Switala makes reference to Wilmore, Pennsylvania being a part of this anti slavery movement. - Johnstown -Wilmore-Ebensburg-Burnside Route. "From Johnstown, the fugitive slaves moved northeasterly through the heavily wooded valleys and gullies of the Appalacian Mountains. The more well known of the two routes … proceeds from Johnstown all the way to Ebensburg, following the trace that eventually became I-219. Blockson mentions a stop along the route at the hamlet of Wilmore, a small black community located about eight miles south of Ebensburg and near Portage. Godfrey Wilmore, a former slave from Maryland, is reported to have founded the community."

Godfrey Wilmore was born 1751 in or near Cumberland, Allegheny County, Maryland and died April 2, 1815 in Wilmore, Pennsylvania; buried St. Michael’s Cemetery, Loretto, Pennsylvania. Godfrey married Mary Higgins, who was born 1747 in Ireland and died Aug 28, 1822 in Wilmore, PA; buried St. Michael’s Cemetery, Loretto, Pennsylvania.

Godfrey was a freed slave of African descent. Mary was either an indentured servant or a redemptioner and was of Irish descent. Both his and Mary Higgins’ servitude was documented within Harford County, Maryland. Godfrey is said to have been a man of above average intellect, who could read and write. This is referenced numerous times within Cambria County, Pennsylvania documents by the notation that Godfrey Wilmore wrote the document and witnessed it by his signature, whereas the other parties sign by their mark “ X “. In that he was a slave, the fact that he could read and write is remarkable and suggests that he may have been a “house slave” or a supervisory slave laborer. Even more remarkable is that it is further said that he was an energetic man who worked enough extra, outside of his servitude, that he was able to buy his freedom. Documents go on to say that he then bought the remaining time of indentured servitude of his white wife Mary Higgins. Further it is also noted that due to his education, Godfrey becomes the first teacher in the area that surrounds Wilmore Pennsylvania.

According to the "Souvenir of St. Michael's Parish, Loretto, Pa." - On or about 1800 (?), this family traveled from Harford Co., Maryland, along the Conocacheague Valley (pronounced by the early settlers Con-eck e-jig), west word through Cumberland, Maryland, and eventually coming to settle in a place then known as "Jimmy Rhey Place" (1909- John Mangus resides). This Family was a charter pioneer in the formation of Summerhill Township (1810) and very likely a charter pioneer in the formation of Cambria County (1804). The family moved but once more, to a farm approx. 1 mile south of the town of Wilmore (1909- James H. White Farm). Godfrey built the first sawmill in this section of the County on the Little Conemaugh River, below the town of Wilmore, Pennsylvania. This water driven saw mill was subsequently washed away and rebuilt about 800 yards east of the present (1910) Pennsylvania Railroad Depot. Mary (Higgins) Wilmore was a Catholic. Godfrey Wilmore, on the other hand, was a Baptist and well acquainted with the Sacred Scriptures. Father Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin, a Catholic priest, who was a former Russian prince, visited the Wilmore household with a view to reconciling the differences of religion within the family and it was said that they had many earnest, controversial conversations, which eventually resulted in Godfrey's conversion to Catholicism.

In 1829, Sylvester Welch's Corps of Engineers was running the lines of the Allegheny Portage Railroad through Summerhill Township and they came across “… a little village which they marked on their map "Guinea", an appellation which the Irish laborers who built the road adopted until the matter was made a subject of complaint to Fr. Gallitzin, who from the altar denounced this insult to a family for whom he had the greatest respect.

It was said that he Father Gallitzin would chastise any person who would call the town by that opprobrious name and he declared that it should be known as Jefferson..." in honor of our third President. This is further referenced within the will of Bernard Wilmore, the oldest son of Godfrey and Mary Wilmore, that he lists the town of Jefferson as his home.

It was Bernard, with the help of his nephew Martin Wilmore (son of James and Catharine Wilmore) who laid out the town-site of then Guinea, changing the name, because of the promptings of Father Gallitzin, to Jefferson (June 4, 1831). On June 10, 1831 the contract was let for Section 15 of the Old Portage Railroad, which ran through Jefferson. By the time of its completion in 1834.

Jefferson, as the name of the town, never caught on. The 6th Post Office in the County, established in Aug. 1832 along with the train depot were forever referred to, by the residents, as Wilmore's Post Office and Wilmore's Station respectively. In 1859 the town was formally incorporated into a Borough under the name of Wilmore and there were 20 homes.

Mary Wilmore,who was a daughter of Godfrey and Mary Wilmore, married James Young. He was educated, could read and write and was a contractor and the person who built St. Bartholomew's Church- the present day Gothic structure in Wilmore which replaced the small stone church. St. Bartholomew's Church was built in 1854. Even though Bernard Wilmore, at the time of his death (1844), had left a small parcel of land, in the center of town, to Father Gallitzin to be used as a church. Father Gallitzin's executors sold the property and it is currently where the Evangelical Lutheran Church now stands.