On April 15, 1841, Ann and Gerrit Smith arranged to purchase the freedom of Harriet Sims Russell and her family after Harriet had been enslaved by Ann’s family in Maryland. They hired James C. Fuller, a Quaker abolitionist from Skaneateles, to escort the Russells from Kentucky to Peterboro, and because African-Americans could not use public transportation, Fuller bought a stagecoach to carry the family. The Smiths deeded the Russells a house in Peterboro for one dollar. Harriet Sims Russell became manager of The Laundry on the estate. Her husband Samuel brought a Johann Georg Mendel violin that he had played in a plantation orchestra, but as his health failed, the family sold it to pay the doctor’s fee. Samuel died on December 28, 1857. Harriet’s father William Sims joined the family in 1859 and lived in Peterboro until his death at 102 years. Harriet’s daughter Mary worked and lived with Elizabeth Fitzhugh and James Birney, the 1840 and 1844 candidate for U.S. President, and her daughter Emily lived for a time with Ann and Gerrit. Her son William played the fiddle for dances and died in 1914; his descendants remained in the area and in 2010 organized the first Emancipation Day in 75 years. Her son Richard served in the 157th Volunteer Infantry as a laborer in 1862 and, after the Emancipation Proclamation, as a corporal in the 8th United States Colored Troops; he was injured at the battle of Olustee, Florida. On April 4, 1895, a $500 U.S. Pension for Richard arrived at Peterboro, but he had died on March 12. Harriet’s daughter Malvina, called Viney, spent nearly all of her adult life working for the Smith-Miller family, and she and Richard lived in the home inherited from their parents. In 1925, she died in Peterboro at age 85, and her funeral was held in the Smith Mansion parlor; she was the last Peterboro resident to have been born a slave. Harriet’s son Gerrit Smith Russell was born in Peterboro in 1842; although Gerrit Smith wanted the baby named Freeborn, the family named him after their benefactor. Gerrit accompanied the 157th as a fifer and stayed with the regiment until after the battle of Fredericksburg, and following the Emancipation Proclamation he was principal musician of Company B in the 8th U.S. Colored Troops. For many years he worked for Dr. Goertner of Hamilton College and later for Dr. Oren Root, father of Elihu Root, Secretary of State in 1906.