The Chester Family Oyster House

Like all great historical figures, the story of Harrisburg's civil right leader, T. Morris Chester, was not created in a vacuum. Chester's parents, George and Jane Chester, and their Oyster House on Market Street, were channels for abolitionism and activism in nineteenth-century Harrisburg and influenced their children to pursue civil rights efforts in the city, state, and country.

On May 11, 1834, a child was born in the second-story apartment above an oyster shop on Market Street. That child was Thomas Morris Chester, who became one of Harrisburg’s most prominent civil rights leaders. Chester is remembered for his role as the United States’s first Black war correspondent, his advocacy for Black citizenship, and many other contributions. Today, Chester is the centerpiece of many Harrisburg initiatives to honor local Black history and advocacy, including this civil rights tour. Chester’s legacy begins with his parents, George and Jane Chester. The Chesters were activists in their own right, as well as the owners and operators of an oyster house that served as a locus of abolitionist activity in the mid-nineteenth century.

The exact location of the Chesters’ oyster house and restaurant is difficult to identify. In the 1840s, the restaurant was situated in the basement of a building that, according to local historian George F. Nagle, “flanked the county property . . . to the east.” This means that the restaurant was in some way connected to the county courthouse of Harrisburg — the very place where Frederick Douglass was egged after giving an abolitionist speech in 1847. Additionally, records indicate that by 1856 the restaurant sat on the corner of Third and Market Streets. Historians believe either that the building in question was one long structure, extending all the way to this corner from the Courthouse property, or that the Chester family relocated to the building on the corner in 1856. This house hosted freedom-seeking people of all kinds. Not only did it function as a social spot for civil rights activists but also as a stop on the Underground Railroad for those escaping slavery.

The house on Market Street belonged to George Chester, the patriarch of the family. Little is known about George. He was born in 1784 and was someone deeply involved in fighting for Black Americans’ civil rights. He was Harrisburg’s only agent of the Liberator, an abolitionist newspaper published by William Lloyd Garrison, which ran from 1831 to 1865 and was the most widely circulated publication of its kind.

It is also known that George was present when a young woman named Jane arrived in York, Pennsylvania, after escaping from enslavement in Maryland. Jane M. Chester, Thomas’s mother, was born into slavery and, according to later accounts, was possibly enslaved four different times before she escaped from Maryland in 1825. Though the journey from Maryland to Pennsylvania may seem like a comparatively small distance, there was no Underground Railroad at this point to aid Jane. To make matters more dire, slavery was still occurring in Pennsylvania at the time, the last recorded case in the state ending in 1847. 

Upon arriving in York, she met George Chester, and the two went on to wed and settle in Harrisburg. Together, they had twelve children, but only seven survived into adulthood. In Harrisburg, Jane worked with her husband to provide a safe place for freedom seekers and activists. George and Jane capitalized on the relatively lucrative, high-demand business of oystering in order to build a successful life for themselves and to help make it possible for their fellow African American peers to endure. At the time, there was a relative boom in demand for seafood, and working as an oysterman was one of the most profitable jobs a Black man could hold. Because of this position of marginal privilege, the Chesters’ restaurant connected many patrons to the abolitionist movement and the fight for civil rights.

Following George’s death in 1859, Jane moved her residence and the catering business to a home she bought on 305 Chestnut Street. It was rare for either women or African Americans to own homes in the city during this time, let alone someone who belonged to both categories. Considered one of the best caterers in Harrisburg, Jane catered more than three hundred wedding ceremonies and cooked for many prominent people in the state capital, including several governors. In short, Jane carried on the family business of serving the community by promoting justice while supplying delicious food.

It is no wonder, then, that Jane passed on to her children her passion for serving the community and fighting for civil rights. After her death, this legacy of Chester hospitality continued as Jane’s daughter, Eliza Zedericks, lived in the Chestnut Street home with her husband into the twentieth century. Like her mother, she utilized the family home to organize and provide hospitality to people traveling through the city. 

Tragically, Jane outlived most of her children, dying on March 19, 1894, at age ninety-two. Thomas Morris Chester had passed away just two years earlier on September 30, 1892. However, the pain of burying her beloved children did not stop her from fighting for what she believed in. An obituary in the Harrisburg Telegraph reveals the impact that Jane had on the community amid her continuous struggle for justice:

During the later years of her life she was in the habit of going about among the business offices and hotels selling her famous home-made taffy, which was always in demand. She was the principal caterer twenty-five years ago and no great feast or fashionable entertainment was complete without her presence and assistance. She was a consistent Christian and had many friends among all classes of citizens. During her life she saw many famous men, and . . . she could relate interesting incidents of the visits of distinguished public men to [Harrisburg].

Jane set an example for her children by hosting, serving, and providing for those fighting for their rights. Significantly, her house served as the epicenter of this. She opened her home to the downtrodden, served the community from her kitchen, and welcomed with open arms those who turned to her. 

The Chester family business may have changed locations, but the legacy of the Chester Oyster House remained the same. Currently, Market Street boasts a historical marker where all can pay witness to that legacy that inspired so many to follow in her footsteps in the past, and still has the power to do so today.

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