Program

NYS Historic

Subject

People

Location

1008 Portville-Obi Rd, Portville, NY 14770, USA

Lat/Long

42.043272, -78.3275759

Grant Recipient

Portville Historical and Preservation Society

Peter Jones was born in North Carolina. He was believed to have been a slave who escaped during the Civil War with the Union army. This area of western New York was a common path for the formally enslaved escaping to freedom. While many moved further north to settle, Peter Jones lived out his life as a freed man in the Portville area. He was taken in by the Hatch family who farmed in Mayville. Affectionately known by the family as “Uncle Pete”, he lived with the Hatches until his death in 1933. He was buried in their family plot in Chestnut Hill Cemetery.