Folk singers Magpie inspired music at Minerva Central School

MINERVA | From Oct. 20 to 24, John Brown Lives! facilitated a teaching artist residency with folk duo and musical historians Greg Artzner and Terry Leonino of Magpie at the Minerva Central School.

Solomon Northup

Solomon Northup was born in 1808, a free Black man in Minerva, New York.
His father, Mintus, owned and worked a farm there from about 1797 to 1809. Soon after Solomon’s birth, the family moved to Granville, New York, about 65 miles south. Later in life, Solomon became known worldwide for his autobiography Twelve Years a Slave, written after his return from twelve years of enslavement in Louisiana.
Solomon Northup by Minerva Historical Society

Northup’s Connection to the Champlain Canal

In the late 1820s, Solomon Northup joined his father Mintus in working on repairs to the Champlain Canal. Surviving records in the New York State Archives include a pay voucher that confirms their labor on the project under superintendent William Van Nortwick. For Solomon, this canal work was one of many jobs that shaped his early life — he was a farmer, carpenter, boatman, and musician who found opportunity wherever it could be made.
Later, Solomon worked as a boatman along the canal in Fort Edward. The Champlain Canal was more than a workplace; it was a vital waterway linking his community to markets and towns across the state. For free Black families like the Northups, it offered both economic stability and connection to the wider world.
Today, markers in Fort Edward, Schuylerville, and along the Solomon Northup Trail remind visitors of his ties to the canal and the everyday work he carried out long before the tragedy of his kidnapping in 1841.
“Background informed by Google AI Overview, query ‘Solomon Northup Champlain Canal,’ Sept. 27, 2025; verified against New York State Archives records.”

Resources
Local History – New York Local History – Rhode Island Cultural Legacy & Memory Resources for Kids Further Reading
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Teaching Resources

PBL Learning Media

Handouts

Worksheets

North Country Underground Railroad

Underground Railroad Music

​Champlain Canal Stories

Children on the Canals

​Kid's Life on a Canal Boat

Rose Germai

Henry "Pete" LaMore

Life on the
​Canals

Old Canal Days

Locks and Stations

Dynamite the Locks

Waterways to Freedom

​Eerie Canal

Maritime Underground

Underground Railroad