West Street AME Zion Church

Forty-Three Baltimore Street

The history of a remarkable African-American family in Pennsylvania begins, in a sense, with a two-story frame house at 43 Baltimore Street in Carlisle. The builders of the house, Jonas and Mary Kee, came into Pennsylvania in the mid-nineteenth century from Maryland and Virginia respectively. Their daughter, Margaret, married William James Andrews, whose forebears were in Shippensburg as early as 1790. The Andrews were the second generation to inhabit the house.

Donald E. Owens Sr.

Donald E. Owens Sr.

This transcript includes portions of the tape that relate to the migration of African-American families to Cumberland County or the Underground Railroad. Donald Owens stated that he heard many of these stories from his grandmother, who raised him. Other portions of the tape contain his memories of events in the 1930s, visits to his uncle’s farm where he helped with butchering, going to school, and jobs that he had.