Ohio History Journal
BEGINNINGS OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
IN OHIO
by WILBUR H. SIEBERT
Professor Emeritus of History, Ohio
State University
The presence of fugitive slaves in Ohio
was evidently one
of the reasons for the enactment of the
Black Laws by the Gen-
eral Assembly in January 1804. These
laws provided that any
one harboring or secreting such
"objectionable" intruders, or
obstructing their owners in retaking
them should be fined from
$1O to $50 for each offense. It was also
provided that the claim-
ant, on making satisfactory proof of
ownership of a slave before
a magistrate within Ohio, would be
entitled to a warrant direct-
ing the sheriff or constable to arrest
and deliver the runaway
to the claimant. Any person attempting
to kidnap or remove a
Negro from the State without proving
title to the property was
liable, on conviction, to a fine of
$1,000, one half for the State
and the other for the informer, the
kidnaper being liable also to a
damage suit by the party injured.
This act was followed by another in
January 1807, which
was reenacted and reprinted in 1811,
1816, 1824, and 1831, re-
quiring in addition that no Negro or
mulatto should be permitted
to migrate into and settle within Ohio
without giving, within
twenty days, a bond of $500, with two
competent sureties, to
guarantee his good behavior and to pay
for his support if unable
to support himself. Any person
employing, harboring, or con-
cealing a mulatto or Negro contrary to
the provisions of this act
should forfeit not more than $100, one
half for the informer and
the other for the use of the poor of the
township where he resided.
These laws were not repealed until
February 10, 1849.1
It seems that the first authenticated
capture and release of a
1 Ohio Laws, II, 63-66, reprinted in O. L., VIII, 489-492; Western Reserve His-
torical Society, Collections,
Publication No. 101 (Cleveland, 1920), 55-56.
70
BEGINNINGS OF UNDERGROUND RAILROAD IN
OHIO 71
fugitive slave in Ohio occurred in the
opening year of the War
of 1812. In that year Canada gained a
prominence that recom-
mended it to the slaves yearning for a
land of liberty. Many
of their young masters took part in
military campaigns extending
to the Great Lakes, which imparted some
geographical ideas to
the Negroes watching the departure of
the uniformed whites.
Doubtless some of those canny and
adventurous slaves trailed
behind along. northward lines of march,
easily eluding the atten-
tion of people deeply interested in
military matters.
However one such pilgrim was captured at
Delaware, Ohio,
in 1812. His hands were tied together
and a rope connected him
with his captor on horseback, behind
whom he walked or ran as
they moved south on the road to
Worthington. Some time before
the rider and his captive arrived in the
village, word was brought
of their approach, and Colonel James
Kilbourne, the founder
and justice of the peace of the village,
suggested that the fugitive
be released. Villagers gathered while
the Colonel halted the rider
and talked to him. Suddenly a man ran
from a neighboring
building with a butcher knife and cut
the captive's cords. The
justice gave the parties a hearing and
decided that the Negro was
free.
Worthington was then a supply depot for
United States
troops at Sandusky. From Worthington
government wagons were
frequently moving war materials
northward. The Negro was
placed in one of these wagons and sent
towards Lake Erie. The
claimant quickly mounted his horse and
galloped south to Frank-
linton for a warrant to recover the
freed Negro. Upon his return
the latter was brought from up the road,
another hearing was held,
the Negro was again released and bundled
into a government
wagon for the trip to Sandusky.2
The late Colonel James Kilbourne, of
Columbus, Ohio, grand-
son of the founder of Worthington, had
not heard of the above
incident. He stated, however, that his
grandfather was "active
in assisting fugitive slaves on their
way to Canada," and that
2 Letter
from Robert McCrory, Marysville, Ohio, September 30, 1898, telling
the story told him by Richard Dixon, a very early
settler.
72 OHIO
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
they were concealed at times in his
house in Worthington.3 This
village is about ten miles north of
Columbus, in approximately the
geographical center of the State.
Southern soldiers returning to Kentucky
and Virginia from
the War of 1812 carried back the news of
an alien land beyond
the Great Lakes. Many of the slaves were
eager but unpretend-
ing listeners to such talk and picked up
more information about
Canada as opportunity offered. They
learned to know the north
star as marking the cardinal direction
they should take in their
flight, making their plans accordingly.
As early as 1815 many
fugitives began to traverse the Western
Reserve to reach focal
points for crossing Lake Erie, being
directed and assisted by
antislavery friends.4
The next earliest Underground activities
in Ohio, revealed
by research and correspondence with
abolitionists and their kin-
dred, were those of Isaac Mullin and his
son, Job, a mile north
of Springboro, close to the north
boundary of Warren County.
Springboro was a Quaker neighborhood.
The Mullins settled
there in 1802, when there were only
three other families living
within ten miles of them. They raised
ten children, Job being
born in January 1806. By 1816 the
Mullins were aiding fugitive
slaves. Neighbors thus engaged then and
later were Jonah D.
Thomas, Samuel Potts, Jonathan Wright,
Jesse Wilson, Job Carr,
and Joseph Evans. In 1821, at the
age of fifteen years, Job
Mullin was sent at night on horseback
down to the village to
fetch a runaway slave. During the next
year Job learned to
weave and turned out homespun for most
of the family clothing
for several years. At one time in the
loft over his loom room six
fugitives were secreted for a
fortnight--a man, his wife, and
their children. Sometimes they were
noisy until Job silenced
them by pounding on the floor with a
cane when he saw someone
approaching. Isaac Mullin harbored other
fugitives at various
times, and so did Job and his wife in
their separate home from
1829 on.
3 Letter from Col. Kilbourne, Columbus, Ohio, August 22, 1898.
4 Henry Wilson, History of
the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power (3 vols.,
Boston, 1822-77), II, 63.
BEGINNINGS OF UNDERGROUND RAILROAD IN OHIO 73
The wayfarers were sent or brought to
the Springboro neigh-
borhood from Shaker Village, nine miles
directly south and five
miles west of Lebanon. Job also knew of
Waynesville, ten miles
east of Springboro, as an Underground
center. Achilles Pugh
was an operator there.5 Probably
it received its early passengers
also from Shaker Village. The crossing
of the Ohio River was
made thirty miles to the south, from
which the trail led up to the
west central part of Warren County.
R. G. Corwin, long a resident of
Lebanon, first aided run-
aways at his father's about 1829, but
was sure that the secret
work had been going on long before. He
said it had gradually
increased until 1840, continuing at a maximum
thereafter.6
By 1816 slaves were escaping across the
Ohio River near
North Bend, fourteen miles west of
Cincinnati. Their course of
travel followed streams northward where
practicable, across five
counties and northeast through Auglaize
County near the Shawnee
village where Wapakoneta now stands.
They continued on up to
Oque-no-sie's town on the Blanchard
River, in Putnam County,
where the village of Ottawa is, thence
somewhat east of north to
the grand rapids of the Maumee, where
that river could be forded
most of the year, and through the Ottawa
village of Chief Kin-
je-i-no, where the red men were friendly
to the fugitives.
Befriending these seekers of
freedom was practiced also
by the Howard family on the Maumee. They
had anchored their
schooner near the picketed walls of old
Fort Meigs in the summer
of 1821 and remained there through the
winter a year and a half
later. They then removed to Grand
Rapids, where Edward How-
ard, the head of the family, built their
cabin on the south side
of the Maumee, opposite Kin-je-i-no's
village. There the How-
ards lived with their young son, D. W.
H. His only playmates
were the Indian children, and from his
sixth to his tenth year
he attended the Indian Mission School,
eight miles below his
home.
Edward Howard hid fugitive slaves in the
dense, swampy
5 Letter from W. H. Newport, Springboro,
Ohio, September 16, 1895, for his
father-in-law, Job Mullin.
6 Letter from R. G. Corwin,
Lebanon, Ohio, September 11, 1895.
74
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
forest near his cabin. When they were in
camp or were ready
to move towards Canada, Mrs. Howard
supplied them generously
with corn bread, boiled venison, and
pork. They were guided
along the course of the Maumee by Howard
and his son.
An Indian friend divulged to the Howards
that a party of
their runaways in the woods was being
watched by spies for the
slave hunter Richardson, a Kentuckian,
who lived at Roche De
Boeuf (Standing Rock) ten miles below
the rapids. The usual
trail for such travelers passed three
miles west of Richardson's.
Hoping to elude pursuit Howard and his
boy led their party
three miles east of the Kentuckian's
lair, then back into the trail,
leaving an armed guard in ambush to
shoot a horse of the pur-
suers, if necessary, and bring up the
rear. After the Howards
and their party had advanced several
miles, they heard the beat
of horses' hoofs behind them. Then the
sharp crack of a rifle
echoed through the dark forest, and a
wounded animal pitched
to the ground. That shot had the double
effect of causing the
immediate retreat of the pursuers and
hastening forward the
fugitives and their conductors.7
In 1815 Benjamin Lundy organized the first
antislavery
society at St. Clairsville, Belmont
County, about sixteen miles
southwest of Mt. Pleasant, Jefferson
County, where, in 1821, he
established the first abolition paper
ever published in the United
States. Those agencies spread their
leaven in that region. 'Both
Mt. Pleasant and its northern neighbor,
Smithfield, were Quaker
settlements where fugitive slaves were
welcomed, harbored, and
moved on towards the King's Dominion as
early as 1816 and
1817.
The indications are that Benjamin H.
Ladd was a pioneer
befriender of fleeing slaves at
Smithfield, where he had settled
in 1814, and that the Quaker merchant,
Finley B. McGrew, played
a similar role at Mt. Pleasant, the
large, dark cellar of his store
providing temporary lodgings for a
succession of many runaways.
The towns named are only six or seven
miles west of the Vir-
ginia panhandle and about ten miles
northwest of Wheeling, from
7 Letter from Hon. D. W. H. Howard, Wauseon, Ohio, August
22, 1894;
Toledo Bee, August 18, 1894.
BEGINNINGS OF UNDERGROUND RAILROAD IN
OHIO 75
which slaves at first occasionally took
refuge with Jefferson
County friends. As the number of
fugitives increased year by
year, series of
"liberty-lovers," living at distances of from five
to twenty-five miles apart, united to
secrete and care for the
homeless Negroes and forward them to the
next station.8
By 1817 Kentucky masters were protesting
over the escape of
their slaves into Ohio and neighboring
free states, bewailing the
fact that they could recover but
few. These complaints were
embodied in resolutions of their
legislature, transmitted that year
by their governor, charging the free
states with failing to enact
and enforce laws for the more effectual
reclamation of fugitive
slaves. In October 1817 Governor Thomas
Worthington of Ohio
defended conditions under his
jurisdiction by replying that the
fugitive act was fully executed, that
the writ of habeas corpus
often protected alleged runaways, and
that proofs frequently were
found to be defective.9
Nevertheless Ohio was infested with
slave hunters who were
so unprincipled that they kidnaped free
persons of color and sold
them into slavery. Wherever possible
these manstealers avoided
appearing before a magistrate to prove
property and got away
with their victims. This was already
easier in general than to
recover hidden passengers of the
Underground Railroad, or to
take them by violence from their
defenders. Furthermore sales
of kidnaped Negroes were far more
remunerative than rewards
for reclaimed fugitives.
The Ohio legislature would not tolerate
kidnaping and passed
an act on January 25, 1819, requiring
that the culprit be taken
before a judge of the circuit or
district court, or a justice of
the peace, in the county where he had
been seized. On conviction
the kidnaper was to be confined in the
state penitentiary at hard
labor for from one to ten years at the
court's discretion. This
law was re-enacted and reprinted in 1824
and 1831.10
8 Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Quarterly, VI (1898), 274-275, 293;
conversation with J. C. McGrew, Columbus, Ohio, August, 1895;
J. A. Caldwell,
History of Belmont and Jefferson
Counties, Ohio (Wheeling, 1880), 534-535.
9 Western Reserve Historical Society, Collections, Publication
No. 101 (Cleve-
land, 1920), 73, 74.
10 Ibid.
76
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Brown County is the third county facing
the Ohio River
from the western boundary of the State.
Villages of the county's
southern expanse soon became the seats
of Presbyterian congre-
gations and pastors, a considerable part
of whom had withdrawn
from the slave states out of disgust
with the "peculiar institution."
Ripley, on the river, was one of these.
It was a convenient place
to cross, having Negro as well as white
townsmen who would
help seekers after freedom.
This clandestine aid evidently began not
long after the close
of the War of 1812. Theodore
Collins informed the writer that
his family settled at Ripley in 1813 and
engaged in Underground
work from its beginning. They had to be
very sly to keep the
proslavery element from discovering how
they operated. Collins'
sons took his horses from the stable for
riding northwards with
the runaways.11
When the Rev. John Rankin assumed charge
of the Presby-
terian Church in Ripley, on January 2,
1822, the antislavery
movement in Ohio was near its birth and
the Underground road
of Brown County found a vigorous
promoter. In 1823 Rankin
erected a house on Front Street, where
he and his family lived
for several years. In 1824 he published
his "Letters on Slavery,"
advocating immediate abolition, in a
local newspaper, The Casti-
gator. They aroused the consciences of many persons through-
out the countryside to the point that
they began secreting fugitives
temporarily and supplying their needs
until they could be safely
conveyed or directed to the next
station.12
Meanwhile, in 1820, two settlements of
freed slaves were
established in Brown County, one three
miles from Georgetown
and nine miles north of the Ohio River,
and the other three miles
east of where Sardinia was laid out. The
one nearer the river
quickly began to attract runaways from
the other side to the
obscurity of its numerous hiding places.
However the freedmen
were timid about harboring such guests
and were glad to run them
11 Conversation with Mr. Collins,
Ripley, Ohio, April 12, 1892.
12 Letter from Dr. Isaac M. Beck, Sardinia, Ohio, December 14, 1892.
78
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
ten miles northeast to secure the better
protection afforded by the
white abolitionists of Sardinia.13
In 1826 and 1828 Rankin's Letters were
issued in book form
and circulated widely. They spread the
talk about the antislavery
men at Ripley and vicinity until slaves
in actual or contemplated
flight knew they had good friends across
the river. Both Rankin
and Dr. Alexander Campbell, living in
the heart of the village,
certainly aided such slaves as came to
them, but the former un-
consciously expanded his services to the
northbound travelers to
wholesale proportions, in 1828, by
removing with his family into
the new brick house on the crest of the
hill overlooking the town.
Their habitation now stood in plain view
of observers on the
Kentucky shore who had humane reasons
for locating the place.
Candle lights at the gable windows were
pointed out at night to
eager slaves during thirty-five years to
direct them to a safe
haven. Rankin's frequent absence
establishing new churches or
lecturing against slavery did not
interrupt their reception. They
were welcomed and fed by Mrs. Rankin,
whose six sons knew
good places, both indoors and out, to
hide them, and when and
how to take them to the next station.
Their first trips were made
to Sardinia, a distance of twenty-one
miles, where they probably
delivered their charges to one of the
Pettijohn brothers, who lived
near the village. They soon shortened their
journey up the road
to six miles, that is, to the village of
Red Oak.14
When Ripley College was founded by
citizens of the town
about 1830, Rankin became its president
and students were at-
tracted from far and near. Among the
subjects they were taught
was the doctrine of human liberty which
not a few of them put
into practice by "carrying the war
into Africa." The students
found frequent nocturnal opportunities
to cross the river in
skiffs from Ripley and bring back
refugees from the opposite
bank.15
Red Oak village was founded by a band of
antislavery Pres-
13 Ibid.
14 Pamphlet: Ceremonies Attendant
upon the Unveiling of a Bronze Bust and
Granite Monument of Rev. John Rankin . .
. (n.p., May 1892).
15 Ibid.
BEGINNINGS OF UNDERGROUND RAILROAD IN
OHIO 79
byterians who had immigrated from North
Carolina in the early
years of the 1800's, their leader being
the Rev. James Gilliland.
Among them were Robert and William
Huggins, brothers, who
opened their doors for runaways brought
from Ripley after dark.
Neighbors shared in this illegal
hospitality. Somewhat later the
Huggins brothers removed to the North
Fork of Whiterock
Creek, five miles west of Sardinia.
There they still operated
stations, their sons, especially
Robert's five, running Underground
"trains" on a night schedule
twenty miles up to Martinsville, via
Buford and Lynchburg. At Martinsville
Aaron Betts and his
family were zealous workers both in
harboring passengers and
passing them on nine miles to
Wilmington.16
The route running northwestward from
Sardinia via Buford
and Lynchburg to Martinsville and
Wilmington was the western
branch from Sardinia. There was also an
eastern branch, run-
ning northeastward about eleven miles to
New Market, five
miles more to Hillsboro, and six miles
to a Quaker settlement,
Samantha. There it turned sharply east
eight miles to stations
at New Petersburg and three miles on to
Paint Creek, up which
it followed four or five miles to the
abolitionists of the Greenfield
neighborhood. The two branches were
distinct, but several cross-
country switches connected them so that
in time of pursuit pas-
sengers could be readily transferred
from one line to the other.
The broken lines on the map indicate the
normal locations of the
switches.17
As early as 1820 traffic on
the Underground Railroad had
begun in and near Pickrelltown, in
southeastern Logan County,
three tiers of counties from the State's
west boundary and a little
north of its center. Mahlon Pickrell, a
pioneer stationkeeper of
Pickrelltown, fixed the year and told of
his associate, Mahlon
Stanton, son of Benjamin Stanton, as a
principal conductor of the
runaways eastward to the Alum Creek
Friends' settlement in
Morrow County. Young Stanton hauled his
Negro passengers
at night by team and wagon over a
corduroy road through "the
black swamp," sometimes halting on
stormy nights in that dismal
16 Letter from Henry M. Huggins,
Hillsboro, Ohio, September 20, 1895.
17 Ibid.
80
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
place to feed his jaded horses with
oats. At first his trip was
thirty-five miles across Union County
and northeast about seven
miles beyond the town of Delaware to the
settlement. Both the
beginning and end of this journey were
Quaker villages. Later
the trip was shortened a dozen miles by
the appearance of several
new stations on the west side of the
Scioto River, six miles west
of Delaware.
Besides the Stantons and Mahlon
Pickrell, other friends of
the slave at Pickrelltown were Asa and
Silas Williams, Levi
Townsend, and some who were less active.
Pickrell was often
summoned in the night to admit fugitives
and their guides to his
large and commodious house, which became
alive with the sub-
dued stir of feeding and lodging the
Negroes and affording rest
and refreshment to their conductors.
Outside the horses were
well attended to. Mahlon Pickrell's
neighbors credited him with
sheltering and feeding more runaways
than anybody else of the
vicinity.18
Spring Hill farm, a mile and a half
north of Massillon,
Stark County, early became the property
and the home of the
noted Quaker preacher, Thomas Rotch, and
his wife, Charity,
immigrants from Massachusetts in 1812.
Their farm was fifty
miles south of Cleveland and an equal
distance northwest of the
upper Ohio. It was a favorable location
for a couple that ex-
tended hospitality to escaping slaves
and speeded them to their
port of departure. Their services were
much in demand, although
the husband's work was cut short by his
death in September 1823.
An interesting illustration is preserved
to us of the dignified
and impressive way in which Thomas Rotch
treated slave hunt-
ers at Spring Hill farm in April 1820. A
slave woman and her
two children had arrived and been
secreted in the loft of the
springhouse almost adjacent to the
residence. Next morning two
strangers rode up to the door and began
to explain their mission
and to show their search warrant. One of
them was the notorious
De Camp, whose villainous practice was
to plan the escape of
slaves so as to seize them more easily
for the rewards offered
by their masters.
18 Letter from Mahlon Pickrell,
Pickrelltown, Ohio, September 1894.
BEGINNINGS OF UNDERGROUND RAILROAD IN
OHIO 81
The hunters were invited into the house
and were quietly
encircled by the family and several farm
hands. Friend Rotch,
a man of fine appearance and native
shrewdness, let them talk
while he kept silent about the slaves.
At length he broke in to
ask if one of the pair was De Camp. When
one of them admitted
that he was De Camp, Rotch stated that
he expected to have
some very important business with him,
and it would be well for
him to be prepared for it. The strangers
glanced about uneasily,
feeling uncomfortable within the circle,
and suddenly broke for
outdoors. Leaping on their horses, they
galloped through the
gateway never to return. The fugitives
were soon sent safely
northwards.19
Thomas and Charity Rotch had a group of
fellow-workers
in their community, including the
Quakers. Robert H. Folger,
of Massillon, was one of these. He
reported that the first fugi-
tive slave he had any knowledge of was
sent to Thomas Rotch
in 1820.20 Irvine Williams, who had come to Massillon with
Friend Rotch, was another worker in the
Underground. Late
in November 1827 the highly intelligent
mulatto, James Bayliss,
settled in the town and learned at once
of fugitives passing
through. He did not then meet them
because at that time they
were looked after chiefly by local
Quakers, including James Austin
and Richard Williams. Non-Quakers taking
part in the work were
Matthew and Samuel Macy and several
Negroes. Charles Grant,
a Negro conductor, often borrowed a
horse and wagon from
Bayliss to carry fugitives to the house
of a Negro farmer, Gaskin
by name, four miles north and a little
east of Massillon. He
delivered them also to a Negro named
Tripp three or four miles
farther on, or to Tripp's neighbor,
Isaac Robinson, who was half
Negro and half Indian. Conductor Grant
also landed passengers
at the homes of Quakers up the line.
Sometimes Bayliss and
his associates forwarded travelers at
night twenty miles northeast
to Reuben Irwin, the Quaker preacher at
Marlborough, or to his
parishoner, Samuel Rockhill, or to the
Quaker, Barclay Gilbert.
living on a farm a few miles forther
north. Close to Limaville,
19 William
Henry Perrin, History of Stark County, Ohio (Chicago, 1881).
373-374.
20 Conversation with Mr. Folger,
Massillon, Ohio, August 15, 1895.
82
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
which lies several miles northeast of
Marlborough, Isaac Choates,
a member of the Friends' Society,
received fugitives from Mas-
sillon and its outlying stations.
Occasionally runaways reached
town by following the towpath of the
canal, thus avoiding the
public roads.21
The first escaped slave known to have
arrived at Sandusky,
on the shore of Lake Erie, reached there
in the fall of 1820. He
had traveled on foot through the
sparsely settled country, aided
by settlers here and there, until he was
welcomed at Abner
Strong's place, on Strong's Ridge, at
Lyme, in Erie County,
twelve miles from the port of Sandusky.
Strong kept an Under-
ground station, with passenger service
evidently to Marsh's tavern
in Sandusky. John Dunker, the Negro
hostler of that tavern, and
a Mr. Shepard, captain of a sailing
vessel, one of its regular
boarders, secreted this runaway.
The slave's master arrived in town soon
after, put up at the
tavern, and offered Captain Shepard $300
to find his "chattel."
For three days they hunted together in
vain. The master even
made the round trip to Detroit on the
steamboat Walk-in-the-
Water to search that boat. As soon as the boat had
disappeared
on her outward course, Captain Shepard
sailed away with the slave
to land him at Fort Maiden, Canada.
Discouraged by his failure,
the Kentucky master paid his personal
and livery bills at the
tavern and turned his horse's head
southward.
According to the Hon. Rush R. Sloane,
long a resident of
Sandusky and a careful investigator of
the Underground Railroad
in the Firelands, the pioneer helpers of
fleeing slaves at San-
dusky were almost without exception
Negro citizens. He names
twenty-one as the most prominent. Among
them was Grant
Ritchie who opened the first barber shop
in Sandusky. After
assisting several fugitives to sail for
Canada, Ritchie was arrested
and prosecuted for assaulting the
claimant of a slave. A justice
of the peace bound him over to the Huron
County court of com-
mon pleas. At the next term in Norwalk
the defendant pleaded
not guilty, the prosecution was not
ready, and the barber was
21 Conversation with James Bayliss,
Massillon, Ohio, August 15, 1895.
BEGINNINGS OF UNDERGROUND RAILROAD IN
OHIO 83
sent back to Sandusky. Later the case
was dropped and Ritchie
removed to Canada for a period of years.22
From about 1820, if not earlier, Jabez
Wright, an associate
judge of Huron County which adjoins Erie
on the south, har-
bored, fed, clothed, and employed
runaways on his lands in Huron
Township. Early in 1824 the young woman
teacher of the judge's
children, living in his family, noticed
a fugitive about his grounds
and learned that he had been employed
there for several years.
In 1825 this slave was reclaimed by his
master, but escaped back
to Judge Wright and stayed with him for
some time.23
Fugitives were aided early in the town
of Coshocton, despite
its Democratic politics. The runaways
crossed the Ohio River
at and near Wheeling, West Virginia,
were hurried ten miles
west to St. Clairsville, then
thirty-seven miles farther to Cam-
bridge, and from there twenty-three
miles northwest to Coshocton.
This route was in operation as early as
1820. At Coshocton the
acknowledged host was a large,
intelligent, and respected Negro
named Prior Foster. He lodged the
fugitives in his double shanty,
standing on what was later known as the
Harbaugh Corner, and
accompanied them on the ferry boat
across the Muskingum River
to Hanging Rock. There they remained
hidden until they could
be forwarded at night to New Castle, in
the northwest corner of
Coshocton County. In an emergency they
could be sent over a
north branch from Hanging Rock.
Foster cared for one party numbering
twelve or fifteen and
took them to the ferry past the home of
William A. Johnston.
The latter's mother was on the watch for
them with a generous
basket of provisions. They received it
with joy and gave her
three lusty cheers.24
Two loud-spoken slave hunters from
Virginia posted hand-
bills in Coshocton, offering large
rewards for the capture of the
dozen or more fugitives who had lately
passed through the town.
A high-tempered citizen who heard one of
the Virginians talking
loudly about their "d--d
niggers" knocked him sprawling in the
22 Firelands Pioneer, n.s., V (July 1888),
28-29, 34.
23 Ibid., 34.
24 Letter from William A. Johnston, Coshocton, Ohio, August 23, 1894.
84
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
mud. The strangers took no further risks
but rode away in a
hurry.25
Doubtless the Ohio counties fronting on
slave territory were
entered by fugitives from the time the
Black Laws were first
enacted. This is indicated by the laws
themselves, but the testi-
mony of inhabitants does not go back
that far. In the case of
Adams, an Ohio River county a little
west of the midpoint of the
State's southern boundary, our
information carries back only to
1822. In the summer of that year the slave, Joseph Logan,
made
his way up from North Carolina, swam
across the Ohio near
Ashland, Kentucky, tramped northwest to
Portsmouth, and.west
to "the Beeches," near
Bentonville, in southwest Adams County.
Joseph's wife, Jemima, and child were
servants there to the Rev.
Thomas Smith Williamson. Joseph had been
there the year be-
fore with his master, and had returned
to his little family. They
probably lived with him now in his
cabin, from which he helped
Kentucky slaves northward. He carried a
club to ward off men
and dogs, and in tight places could rely
on Negro friends. Once,
when a dozen slave hunters surrounded
his cabin, he and his
fellows tricked them and got away.26
Advertisements of runaways in the early
newspapers of
Adams County, describing the chattels
and offering definite re-
wards, encouraged pursuit and recapture.
A Virginian named
Fountain Pemberton who lived less than a
mile north of Locust
Grove, in northeast Adams County, having
located there in 1808,
shared in such lucrative adventure. His farm
and habitation
were on the Maysville and Zanesville
road.27
Slaves from a portion of western
Kentucky early began to
enter Adams County, especially by way of
Manchester in the
southeastern corner. Simon Kenton's
trace led them thirty-one
miles northeast through hilly country to
Sinking Spring, just
inside of Highland County. Pioneer
station-keepers there were
Nathaniel Williams and Thomas Wilson. By
a trip of eleven
miles slightly eastward the travelers
arrived in Paint Creek Val-
25 Ibid.
26 Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers, History of
Adams County, Ohio
(West Union, 1900), 583-586.
27 Letter from H. C. Pemberton, Cleveland, Ohio, ca. 1895.
86
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
ley below Bainbridge, Ross County. An
equal distance up that
valley took them to the mouth of the
Buckskin and the Green-
field neighborhood. There Adam H. Wilson
and William Doug-
lass were early operators. At Rocky
Spring, five miles south, the
shippers of "freight" were
Col. Thomas Rodgers, John Rippey
Strain, and Squire William Wilson. A few
miles in the opposite
direction the agents were Ebenezer
McElroy, Robert Templeton,
Henry Doster, Alexander Beatty, and
David Thormley.28
This section of the road was part of the
west branch that
connected southward with New Petersburg
and down to Sinking
Spring. The Miller family, relatives of
the Stewart clan, kept
the station at New Petersburg. North of
Greenfield the road ran
through Good Hope and on up to
Washington C. H. and Bloom-
ingburg. This whole length totaled some
forty miles and, being
most direct, was preferred when it was
open.29
There was another main route, an east
branch from Sinking
Spring by way of Cynthiana, in the
northwest corner of Pike
County, and northeast through Bainbridge
to Bourneville, on the
lower reach of Paint Creek. At
Bourneville the trail turned
sharply northwest to South Salem, which
was a junction that had
a shortline connection from Greenfield
and an outbound track
northeast to Roxabell and Frankfort.
From Frankfort the route
ran northwest to Washington C. H. and
Bloomingburg. The
operators at South Salem were
Satterfield Scott and John Sample.
Opposite to Frankfort, on the west bank
of the North Fork of
Paint Creek, stood the mansion house
that was old Hugh Stewart's
station. His son, Robert Stewart, kept a
neighboring station and
often made a cross-country run eleven
miles westward to Green-
field with fugitives. Fellow operators
of his were Robert Gal-
braith and James Anderson.
Runaways were harbored in the Negro
settlement of Rox.
abell, a mile south of Frankfort, and
hauled from there to Wash-
ington C. H., where they were received
by Jerry Hopkins, Jacob
Puggsley, and others. In 1825 the small
group of operators at the
28 Conversation of Hugh S. Fullerton
with Stanley W. McClure, May 3, 1892;
letter from Rev. John W. McElroy, Ottumwa,
Iowa, September 17, 1896.
29 Conversation of Hugh S. Fullerton,
cited above.
BEGINNINGS OF UNDERGROUND RAILROAD IN
OHIO 87
county seat was strengthened by the
addition of the brothers, John
and Samuel Craig. The former had a
dry-goods store in the
town and lived there until his death in
1853. The latter removed
to Cambridge, Guernsey County, in 1840.
When there were spies
or pursuers in Washington, the wayfarers
were hurried to emer-
gency stations out in the country. One
of these was three-fourths
of a mile north of town, its keeper
being Edward Hall, a farmer
from Maryland, and the other was a
little more than a mile farther
on, where Thomas Brown operated.
Several miles east of town William
Edward's "depot" pointed
significantly towards Circleville. Six
miles north of Washington
C. H. was Bloomingburg, whose most
active host to travel-worn
Negroes was the Rev. William Dickey, its
Presbyterian minister
from about 1815 to his death, December
6, 1857. His fellow-
workers were George Fullerton, the
brothers George and Hugh
Stewart, old Adam Steele, Wilson
Elliott, William Pickering,
Dr. Gillespie and his nephew, George,
and James McNamara.
A mile and a half southeast of town
William A. Eustick and
his son, Robert, cared for fugitives.30
The east branch, from Sinking Spring to
Bloomingburg by
way of Cynthiana, Bourneville, South
Salem, Frankfort, and
Washington C. H., totaled sixty-five
miles and was largely a
family and Presbyterian enterprise from
its start. Most of the
families that were concerned in the work
were related to the
Stewart clan by blood or marriage.31
Bloomingburg also received fugitive
slaves from Chillicothe
and the Scioto Valley to its south by
the mid-1820's. The early
managers at Chillicothe were a few
Negroes, including Charles
H. Langstren, who sent or conducted part
of the passengers ten
miles west to Joseph Skillgess, at Dry
Run Church, on foot or
horseback or by wagon in the night. Mr.
Skillgess forwarded his
wayfarers five miles north, by way of
Roxabell and Frankfort, to
30 Conversation
of Hugh S. Fullerton, cited above; "Rev. William Dickey," in
Presbyterian Historical Almanac and Annual Remembrancer
for 1864 (Philadelphia,
1864); letter from Rev. John W.
McElroy, cited above; conversation with Col. Thos.
L. Rankin, Chillicothe, Ohio, June 10, 1892; conversation with Rev.
R. C. Galbraith,
Chillicothe, Ohio, June 10, 1892; letter from V. D.
Craig, son of John Craig; letter
from R. S. Frame, Washington C. H., Ohio, July
13, 1892.
31 Conversation of Hugh S. Fullerton, cited above.
88
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Bloomingburg, directing them to William
H. Eustick, a little
southeast of town, or to the Rev.
William Dickey or other promi-
nent "railroaders" in
Bloomingburg. These in turn usually moved
them twelve miles farther north to
Mahlon Pickrell's place, in the
southern part of Madison County.32
Morgan County adjoins the north side of
the west half of
Washington County. The latter's frontage on the Ohio River
afforded slaves handy crossings from western Virginia at Ma-
rietta, at Belpre, a dozen miles below,
and at other points. Near
the steamboat landing at Parkersburg,
just opposite Belpre, lived
"old Aunt Jinney," a slave who
blew the horn for the boats. She
was in the confidence of fugitives and
passed the word to Jona-
than Stone, T. B. Hibbard, or other
early emancipators across
the river as to where and when to meet
groups of runaways.33
James Lawton, of Marietta, was one of
these emancipators.
In 1818 he published a poem deploring
slavery and praising the
town of his choice for its freedom. We
quote but three lines:
No mourning slave the passing stranger
meets,
Blessed be thy name while fair Ohio's
waves
Shall part thy borders from the land of
slaves.
Mr. Lawton and others along the river
bank opened lines of
escape for the Negroes. In front of
Marietta and the village of
Harmar, to the westward, Vienna Island
served as a stepping
stone for fugitives coming at night in
skiffs and flatboats.34
At the river hamlet of Constitution,
eight miles below Ma-
rietta, lived Judge Ephraim Cutler, the
grandfather of Rufus R.
Dawes, known to his fellow-townsmen
after the Civil War as
General Dawes. At the age of eight years
Rufus and his mother
visited the grandfather, and one night
were awakened from sleep
by a team and wagon coining over the
hill down to the river.
The driver uttered a shrill hoot-owl
tremulo, which was at once
answered in like manner from the other
side, and a boatload of
fugitive slaves was rowed across. The
method was already work-
32 Conversation with Joseph Skillgess,
Urbana, Ohio, August 14, 1894.
33 Conversation with Miss Martha Putnam,
Marietta, Ohio, August 22, 1892.
34 Charles
Robertson, History of Morgan County, Ohio (Chicago, 1886), 429;
conversation with Miss Martha Putnam,
August 22, 1892.
|
|
|
89 |
90
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
ing smoothly, but there was a long and
perilous journey ahead
for the company just landed. Mrs. Dawes
got out of bed, called
her boy, and both knelt down while she
asked divine blessing and
guidance for the Negro people piling
into the wagon.35
The new routes originating at Marietta,
Constitution, and
Belpre converged at Barlow, eleven miles
west of the first named
town, and eight miles farther on turned
north and then west about
seven miles to Chesterhill, in south
central Morgan County. Ac-
cording to Robertson's History of
Morgan County, runaways were
being spirited through that district by
1820, the state road from
its river terminus at Marietta west for
a score of miles serving
as the main trunk for the secret
traffic. However the county
history does not explain that there were
two separate branches
of the Underground extending northward
from the Quaker set-
tlement of Chesterhill and joining at
Tridelphia and Deavertown,
in the northwest ell of the county. Of
these the east branch
passed through Pennsville, another
Quaker community, Malta,
McConnelsville on occasion, and advanced
twelve miles north-
westward up Wolf Creek to the junction
villages. The west
branch, by a shallow curve on that side,
ran through Rosseau,
Ringgold, Morganville, and proslavery
Portersville, through which
the conductors slipped with extreme
caution, and thus arrived at
the county terminals.
The first known mishap on the
Underground Railroad in
Morgan County occurred in the year 1820.
Already William
C-------- had a station on Wolf Creek, northeast of Chesterhill.
A slave who had fled from a Mr.
Anderson, of western Virginia,
sought protection there and was passed
on to William V--------
Traveling north, he lost the track and
stopped for information at
a tavern a little east of the later site
of Morganville. Unfortu-
nately his master had spent the previous
night there and offered
a reward of $25 for his apprehension.
The slave was therefore
held until his master came and paid the
reward and took him
away.36
The united-branches issuing from
Deavertown crossed the
35 Conversation with Gen. R. R. Dawes, Marietta, Ohio, August 22, 1892.
36 Robertson, Morgan County, Ohio,
150, 151.
BEGINNINGS OF UNDERGROUND RAILROAD IN
OHIO 91
sought protection there and was passed
on to William V-------
and by a curving but irregular course of
some nineteen miles
reached Putnam (now South Zanesville)
and, just across the
Muskingum River, Zanesville.
Fugitives not only arrived at Deavertown
and Zanesville
from the river towns of the lower half
of Washington County,
but by 1823 and 1824 they were being
brought there from the
upper northeast corner of Athens County,
the trip being thirteen
miles north from Newton. The Hon.
Eliakim H. Moore, a promi-
nent citizen of Athens, so informed the
writer in March 1892.
Most of the passengers were forwarded
northward from station
to station through Gallia and Meigs
counties into Athens. In 1817
David Moore, a migrant from
Massachusetts, father of Eliakim
and grandfather of David H Moore, later
a bishop of the Metho-
dist Episcopal Church, had settled on a
farm six miles north of the
town of Athens. During the decade he
spent there he engaged in
harboring runaways. He continued to do
so during the rest of his
life after moving three miles south of
town. The man to whom he
delivered his fugitives was his
brother-in-law, Solomon Newton,
who lived in the village of Newton,
sixteen miles north of the
county seat. Newton drove the Negroes
eleven miles north to
the Deavertown neighborhood.
Other pioneer helpers and forwarders of
fugitives in Athens
County were Eben Foster, Joseph B.
Miles, Charles Shipman,
John Gilmore, and Jack Howlett. So also
were the brothers
Elisha, Elansome, and John M. Hebbard,
who lived a little north
of the town of Athens. A cave in the
rocks near John Mc-
Dougall's place, six miles north of the
town, was used for hiding
hunted slaves.37
Mahoning County is bounded on the east
by Pennsylvania
and separated from the upper elbow of
the Ohio River by a single
county to the south. From 1823 to 1837
Dr. Jared Potter Kirt-
land dwelt in Poland, a pretty village
in the east central part of
the county. He was an imposing man, a
noted physician and
botanist, and a brilliant talker. His
kindly nature could not deny
37
Conversation with Hon. Eliakim H. Moore, Athens, Ohio, March 1892.
92
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
a welcome to fleeing slaves, who were
admitted to his house for
protection, food, and rest. He
personally conducted them to
stations in Pennsylvania.38
Nephews visited "Uncle Potter"
early in August 1874, and
after breakfast one morning gathered in
his library to hear him
tell the thrilling story of his aid to
fugitives, including two women
who sat in the darkened parlor while Dr.
Kirtland diverted their
masters in the kitchen. After the
departure of the slaveowners
the runaways were driven to the house of
Edward or Eli Kid-
walader, Quakers living six miles
distant at Edenburg, Pennsyl-
vania, on the Mahoning River. Among
other incidents, the rela-
tion of which continued until noon,
"Uncle Potter" told of the
slave Kitty's escape from the sheriff
and his companion in Brooks
County, Virginia.
Brief notes of these matters were
recorded by Charles J.
Morse, one of the nephews, in his diary.
He also learned of the
route through Poland. Quakers of Salem,
in the northernmost
section of Columbiana County, conveyed
the fugitives ten miles
somewhat east of north to operators at
or near Canfield, in Ma-
honing County. From there they were
transported eight miles
directly east to Dr. Kirtland. In
Canfield Dr. Chauncey Fowler
stowed slaves in his basement and
supplied them generously with
food and clothing. Two miles east of the
village lived his close
friend, Jacob Barnes, another ardent
worker. Both Barnes and
Fowler carried their passengers either
to Dr. Kirtland or to
Deacon James Adair who lived a mile and
a half northeast of
Poland.
From these operators near the
border of Mahoning
County the Negroes could be quickly run
to the Kidwaladers in
the Mahoning River bottom, a few miles
below Lowellville. Be-
tween Poland and Edenburg an alternative
station was kept by
the Sharpless family. At Youngstown, a few miles north of
Poland, fugitives could be conveniently
delivered to Richard
Holland and John Van Fleet.39
The present writer did not begin to
collect information re-
38 Letter from Miss Mary L. Morse,
Poland, Ohio, August 11, 1892; letter from
Mrs. Emma Kirtland Hine, Poland, Ohio,
January 23, 1897; letter from Charles J.
Morse, Evanston, Illinois, October 15,
1898.
39 Letter from Charles J. Morse,
October 15, 1898.
BEGINNINGS OF UNDERGROUND RAILROAD IN
OHIO 93
specting the Underground Railroad from
its members and their
descendants and neighbors until
1892. Already most of its
founders in Ohio were dead. If he could
have started at least a
dozen years earlier it is probable that
the origins of the movement
would have been found to be considerably
earlier than appear in
the foregoing pages. Doubtless also the beginnings
would have
been closer together in point of time in
various counties, especially
in those fronting on the Ohio River. As
the work was clandes-
tine, contemporary records were almost
never kept. Personal
recollections have been the chief
sources of information.