Witness Stones Dedication Speeches
These speeches were made at the May 27th, 2025 Dedication Ceremony
Speech made by Todd Mealy, PhD. Curriculum Leader
We gather here today to honor the lives of four individuals – Bob, Sue, Bet and Frank. These four lived in enslavement under Gen. Edward Hand, right here in Lancaster. For centuries, their names have existed in inventory lists, letters/correspondences, and runaway ads; however, their names have no appeared in the stories that we choose to tell about our own community.
That ends today.
That ends today largely because of the powerful work performed by students at JP McCaskey High School. Today is special because it marks one year that we have worked on reconstructing the lives of Bob, Sue, Bet and Frank. For an entire school year, students have worked as researchers, historians, and artists to do work that is typically limited to professionals. During the process, they asked many difficult questions.
- What was it like to be enslaved in a city that promoted freedom?
- What was it like to make the decision to resist, or to run away?
These are not abstract questions. These student live in the exact city, walk the same streets, attend the same places of worship, and quite literally go to school just blocks away from where Sue was forced into labor; and where Bob was forced to sit in segregation pews at church; and where 13-year-old Bet appeared in inventory lists, and just further down the road, where Frank plotted his own freedom.
It is important that after today, we continue to look for documents related to Bob, Sue, Bet and Frank. But even more, it’s important that we continue to reconstruct the lives of people like these four – people who endured the worst living conditions, but in the face of that dehumanization, made important contributions to our community. Their stories; their lives---like the work of these students—should inspire us all!
Hello, Good Morning. I am Todd Mealy. I teach and coach at JPM and my job is to introduce our four student speakers: all are juniors and will serve as the voices of every student working on the Witness Stone Project: They are Ty London, Makayla Ressel, Hasset Tesfaye, and ending with Hana Rebek.
Thank you.
Speech made by Ty London, Witness Stones Project Student
Good morning. My name is Ty London, and I am honored to speak about a young girl named Bet, whose name appears in a 1780 inventory list from the household of General Edward Hand—a Revolutionary War hero, a physician, and an enslaver here in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
We estimate that Bet was about twelve years old when her name appeared on the 1780 household inventory of General Edward Hand, listed alongside Sue and Bob as property. That same year, Pennsylvania passed its Gradual Abolition Act—the first statewide antislavery law in the newly independent United States.
To many, this legislation symbolized progress. But for Bet and others like her, it offered no immediate freedom. Instead, the law laid out a compromise: children born to enslaved mothers after March 1, 1780 would not be considered chattel or would not be enslaved for life but would instead serve their enslaver as “bound servants” until the age of 28. Those already enslaved—including Bet—often remained in bondage unless their enslaver chose to free them voluntarily. The law also required enslavers like Hand to register the birth of children born into servitude and to submit annual lists of the enslaved people they still held. A copy of this registry currently exists at LancasterHistory.org for anyone to see.
For Bet, gradual abolition meant that despite living in a “free” state, she had no claim to freedom, no protections, and no clear path forward. She disappeared from the records after 1780, so it is possible she was eventually manumitted by the Hands; However, Bet remained the legal property of the Hands and her inclusion on that inventory list stands as a stark reminder that freedom was not granted—it had to be waited for, fought for, or taken.
We don’t know much about Bet’s individual story. But we do know why she was enslaved. During the Revolutionary War, many elite families relied on young girls and women like Bet to labor in the home while men went off to war. Girls like her cooked, cleaned, fetched water, sewed, and cared for children—quietly sustaining the families with Patriots who spoke of liberty while denying it to those they held in bondage.
By speaking her name today, we restore a small piece of what was taken. We remember her not as property, but as a person—young, vulnerable, and full of humanity.
Speech made by Makayla Ressel, Witness Stones Project Student
Hello, My name is Makayla Ressel, and I am here to speak about Bob, the first person known to have been enslaved by Edward Hand.
Bob was only eleven years old when General Edward Hand purchased him on June 28, 1776, in what is now Brooklyn, New York. The timing was no accident. British and American forces were gathering near New York for what would become the Battle of Long Island, the first major engagement after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. With war looming, enslaved labor became even more essential—not just for plantation work, but for building defenses, hauling supplies, and performing critical support roles near military encampments.
It’s possible that Bob was purchased with this in mind. At just eleven, he may have been forced to help fortify the area around Long Island—digging trenches, carrying tools, or assisting soldiers—as General Hand and other officers prepared for battle. But he was soon sent away. Within days, Hand ordered that Bob be transported south to Princeton, New Jersey, and then on to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where Hand’s wife, Katharine “Kitty” Hand, was waiting. The general’s letters reveal he expected Kitty to pick Bob up and “fit him with clothes for state days and holy days,” a reference to both his labor responsibilities and his expected religious attendance—almost certainly in the segregated balcony of St. James Episcopal Church in downtown Lancaster.
Bob’s early years were marked by constant displacement, forced obedience, and the trauma of separation. He was moved across three colonies in a time of war, not for his protection, but for his usefulness—to serve the daily and economic needs of the Hand family. He wasn’t sent to safety; he was sent to work.
By 1779, a year before the Gradual Abolition Act, Hand apprenticed Bob to a blacksmith in Lancaster. This may have been a step toward freedom—or just another way for others to profit from his labor. By 1781, Hand casually wrote to his wife: “I wish with you to part with Bob.” We don’t know if Bob was sold or if he escaped, or if he received manumission.
But what we do know is that Bob’s story reflects a larger truth: even children were not spared from enslavement. And even in a state moving toward abolition, freedom was far from guaranteed. Today, we remember Bob not just as someone who was enslaved, but as someone whose life mattered, and who contributed to America’s war for independence.
Speech made by Hasset Tafaye Desalgn, Witness Stones Project Student
Good morning. My name is Hasset Tafaye Desalgn, and I’m here to share the story of Sue, a woman enslaved by Edward Hand during the American Revolution.
In early July 1776, Edward Hand purchased Sue, a twenty-two-year-old woman, on Long Island, likely near the British military lines, and sent her to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where she lived under the control of his wife, Kitty Hand. The two women were nearly the same age—Sue twenty-two, Kitty twenty-five—but their lives could not have been more different. Kitty wielded full authority over Sue’s daily existence, while Sue was expected to serve.
Sue became pregnant in 1779, a time when Pennsylvania was preparing to end slavery for future generations. But her child would have been born before the Gradual Abolition Act took effect, meaning the baby would be born into chattel slavery for life.
Faced with this horrifying reality—and likely facing abuse or pressure from the Hand household—Sue chose to run. On July 14, 1779, Edward Hand placed the first of several runaway advertisements for Sue. The ad gives us rare details: Sue had a scar on her forehead, and she fled with several items of clothing, including a calico gown and a striped petticoat.
These were not rags. These were carefully chosen garments, suggesting that Sue was a skilled seamstress, someone with access to fabrics and the knowledge to construct or alter clothing. These skills made her a valuable asset to the Hand household.
In the same collection of runaway ads, we learn that Sue received help from a woman known only as "Captain Molly," a white woman believed to have been a laundress or camp follower connected to the Continental Army. She traveled alongside members of the 4th Continental Light Dragoons, a cavalry regiment authorized by Congress on January 5, 1777, and organized in Philadelphia and Baltimore with troops from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey. Her husband served in the unit. It is within this world of mobile encampments, informal alliances, and wartime chaos that Captain Molly encountered Sue. Whether she offered Sue a disguise, guided her path, or provided temporary shelter, her actions were known to Edward Hand, who singled Captain Molly out in his runaway ads for Sue, where he offered up to $100 for her return.
Sue remained on the run for nearly four months. The last runaway ad appeared on November 5, 1779. The language is more desperate—Hand had invested money in Sue, and her pregnancy made the situation all the more pressing. It’s possible she fled toward Long Island, the place she had been torn from three years earlier. But wherever she ran, someone helped capture her and rendered her back into bondage.
That winter, Sue was taken to Philadelphia, where she endured a traumatic childbirth. The baby did not survive.
And yet, Sue lived.
Sue’s story is not just about pain. It’s about resistance, about a woman who tried to save her child and herself. It’s about courage in the face of overwhelming control. Today, we honor her fight to be free.
Speech made by Hana Rebek, Witness Stones Project Student
Hello, my name is Hana Rebek. I want to tell you about Frank, the last person we know who was enslaved by Edward and Katherine Hand. He is also the one we know who got away.
Of the four individuals enslaved by the Hands, Frank was the one who resided at the family’s plantation estate known as Rock Ford. Life there was isolated, but Frank’s labor extended far beyond the fields.
He was also enslaved as a stagecoach driver, transporting Edward Hand and his family from Rock Ford into Lancaster City. While the Hands worshipped inside their church, Frank waited—either in the church’s segregated gallery, or outside entirely. While there, he observed, listened, and, most importantly, made connections.
Frank used his mobility to build relationships—likely with Lancaster City’s growing community of free Black residents. These were people who may have helped him obtain “free papers.” The documents Frank carried had belonged to a deceased free Black man named Prince Wheel.
In March 1802, Frank assumed the identity of Prince Wheel—a deceased free Black man—and used his papers to flee enslavement. Dressed in a dark coat, striped overalls, a round hat, and good shoes, Frank presented himself as a legally free man. At the time of his escape, Frank was twenty-eight years old—born before Pennsylvania's Gradual Abolition Act took effect—which meant he was legally considered a slave for life.
Hand tried very hard to locate and render Frank back to Rock Ford. He ran runaway ads in the Lancaster Intelligencer for six months, offering $30 for his safe return.
Had he been captured, it is likely General Hand would have sold him to the Deep South, where slavery remained deeply entrenched and escape was far more difficult. In fact, Frank’s decision to flee may have been in direct response to an impending sale, as Hand was facing mounting debts. Frank’s flight not only endangered his own life but also placed any collaborators—especially within the free Black community in Lancaster—at serious risk of legal punishment or violent retaliation.
There are famous stories of enslaved people escaping bondage in the lead-up to the Civil War - Henry Box Brown, William and Ellen Craft, and more. But to occur during the Revolutionary Era, long before the formal establishment of the Underground Railroad, Frank’s 1802 escape offers us a tale of agency, intelligence, and courage.
Frank’s escape is a declaration that no matter how powerful the enslaver, the human will to be free is stronger.