Historic Bowne House in Queens to hold tours through Black History Month on Quaker family’s role in abolitionist movement

In the mid-1800s, a prominent abolitionist sent a letter to William Bowne Parsons in Flushing, Queens, urging the Quaker man to shelter a runaway slave.

“Williamsburgh (sic) is too near the city for his safety,” wrote Simeon Jocelyn in the note dated Sept. 28, 1850. “If he can be kept for a few...