William Brinkley

William Brinkley ( – January 5, 1887) was a conductor on the Underground Railroad who helped more than 100 people achieve freedom by traveling from Camden, Delaware, past the "notoriously dangerous" towns of Dover and Smyrna north to Blackbird and sometimes as far as Wilmington, which was also very dangerous for runaway enslaved people. Some of his key rescues include the Tilly Escape of 1856, the Dover Eight in the spring of 1857, and the rescue of 28 people, more than half of which were children, from Dorchester County, Maryland. He had a number of pathways that he would take to various destinations, aided by his brother Nathaniel and Abraham Gibbs, other conductors on the railroad.

Biography William was a laborer and a farmer, born about 1813 or 1814 in Delaware. He was married to Ann, also called Annie, born about 1820 in Delaware. They lived in Camden in Kent County, Delaware, next door to his younger brother Nathaniel Brinkley, who was married to Sarah and had two children, Elizabeth Brinkley and John Brown.

At the age of 72, William Blinkly, a laborer from Camden, died in Kent County, Delaware, on January 5, 1887. His parents were not stated.

Underground Railroad

He lived at Brinkley Hill, named after the Brinkley family, was a black community near northeast Camden, Delaware, off State Route 13. Brinkley Hill was a stop on the network that led freedom seekers north,

When Harriet Tubman came into the area, she stayed at Brinkley's residence. Abraham (formerly Abel) Gibbs and Nathaniel Brinkley, William's brother, risked their lives to lead fugitive slaves along the Underground Railroad. Tubman mentioned that she felt "safe and comfortable" with Gibbs and the Brinkley brothers. Brinkley wrote of six who had returned to Camden:

Group of Dorchester families

In a remarkable escape the rainy night of October 24, 1857, when two dozen people escaped from six Dorchester County, Maryland, enslavers. Nearly all of Samuel Pattison's bondspeople had run away. The event is notable because of the size of the group of people, who traveled with infants and other children, through days of heavy rains. Over the first three days it rained heavily and their group grew to 28 people when Marshall Dutton, George and Solomon Light, and Silas Long joined them. They prepared for run-ins with slave capturers by carrying pistols, knives, and other weapons.

School trustee Brinkley was one of five trustees of a school that was built in Camden with the assistance of the Delaware Association and the Freedmen's Bureau. The school sat on land that adjoined his brother Nathaniel's property and along the road from Camden to Dover. His brother, President of the Camden Colored Lincoln Union League, requested the establishment of a school on February 23, 1867. The 22' by 36' wood-framed schoolhouse was completed that year .