James Hitch

probably a freed slave

see: Dr. William Joseph Hitch and Dr. Hitch's father Rev. Elijah.. Or, Willam S. Hitch

• 1870 CENSUS FOR Schuylkill Township Chester Co PA
• 1880 Census for Tredyfferin Township Chester Co.

In 1880 James and family lived, and perhaps worked for either Nathan Walters of Tredyffrin or George Wersler or Henry Rennard at one of those fair sized farms on Yellow Springs Road. (Wersler is spelled several ways) All are on GENi. ~• MMvB, 2020

My supposition is that once he retired he moved into Paoli, or at least his widow did. Elizabeth was living on Maple Ave. in Easttown township in 1900.

leads

• There is an Ebenezer AME Church ruin in Malvern and an
• St. Paul's AME Church in Malvern
• The was also a black congregation down by Cedar Hollow off of Yellow Springs Road, as reported in Tredyfferin Historical Society records.

Both James and Elizabeth were founding members of the Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church:

"Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church by Ruth J. Moore
Source: January 1941 Volume 4 Number 1, Pages 14–17 (TEHS Quarterly)

Page 14

"The year in which Mt. Zion started is uncertain. About 1849 or 1850, some devout colored folk recognized the necessity of a church near Centreville. Beginning with cottage prayer meetings, the group was organized in the home of Henry and Sarah Roach, Hammer Hollow. Services were conducted by Nelson Hughes, a local preacher. Then meetings were held for a time in a shop near the present location at Devon. The name of the organization was Centreville Circuit, which comprised Phoenixville, Centreville and Valley Hill.

Among the founders were Henry and Sarah Roach, Moses Crooks, Lewis Draper, Hector and Julia Mullen, June Crumbles, Nelson and Liza Hughes, Simon and Binie Tittle, Mary Ann McClane, James and Elizabeth Hitch, Eric Brown, Benjamin Ross, the Van Leers, Johnsons, Gloscoms, Dills, Boggs, and Hippies, Henry and Sarah Jacobs.

how about 1860 Slave Schedules

1860 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules for Wm Hitch
Delaware Sussex Broad creek hundred ....shows a slave owner by the name of William Hitch with 4 slaves

sources

• http://slavenorth.com/delaware.htm
  • " By 1840, only 13 percent of the state's blacks were enslaved, and slaves made up a mere 3 percent of the total population. In the early 1800s, 60 percent of Delaware's enslaved lived in units of 5 or fewer."
  • "In 1832, not long after Nat Turner's rebellion, the General Assembly began to pass "black codes" to control the lives and activities of freedmen. Soon these harsh rules made Delaware "the least hospitable place in the Union for freedmen prior to the Civil War."[2] The result was a migration of Delaware blacks northward in the 1850s."
  • "By the time the Civil War began, fewer than 1,800 slaves lived in Delaware, and 75 percent of them were in Sussex County, mostly in the Nanticoke River basin in the far southwest of the state."
• https://www1.udel.edu/BlackHistory/overview.html
  • "Civil War to the Depression: 1865-1930 - "Following emancipation, the Delaware Legislature began to place even more limitations on African American citizenship. Politicians lost no time in forging an anti-black agenda, especially the Democrats who did not favor emancipation. As Governor Saulsbury said in his inaugural address earlier in the year, the true position of the Negro was as a subordinate race excluded from all political and social privileges. The Democratic legislature, in 1866, resolved that blacks were not the political or social equal of whites. These statements were probably typical of how many white Delawareans felt on the racial issue and were similar to those expressed in the Southern states. The legislature soon found ways to prevent blacks from exercising full citizenship. These measures were so successful that Ku Klux Klan activities in Delaware, during this time were limited."
  • "Fearful that the 1875 Civil Rights Act passed by Congress might establish social equality, Delaware legislators passed a "Jim Crow" law (1875), which virtually made black Delawareans second-class citizens. The law was not appealed until 1963."