AN ABOLITION
CENTER.
THOMAS J. SHEPPARD.
In the spring of 1802 two travelers
met in the wilderness
between Zanesville and Marietta, Ohio.
Though they rode to-
gether by day and camped together by
night, each refrained
from disclosing to the other the object
of his journey. That ob-
ject was to purchase the section of land
upon which, later on,
grew up the village of Putnam, now the
Ninth Ward of the city
of Zanesville. The travelers were John
McIntyre, the founder of
Zanesville, and Dr. Increase Mathews, a
nephew of Gen. Rufus
Putnam, who was at that time in charge
of the U. S. land office
at Marietta. Each of these men had set
out at the same time to
seek the same prize.
At the land office, a few days later,
the travelers did some
spirited bidding but Dr. Mathews got the
land. His cousin,
Levi Whipple, joined in the purchase and
later on Gen. Putnam
became a joint proprietor.
On this land, on the western bank of the
Muskingum river,
was founded, two years before Ohio
became a state, the village
of Springfield; so called from a fine
spring of water which
gushed from the rocky face of the
western hillside, and to which
a pioneer romance gave the name of
"The Lovers' Fountain."
Subsequently the name of the village was
changed to "Putnam"
in honor of its most distinguished
proprietor.
The early settlers of Putnam, while they
valued the spring
and the water power of the beautiful
river, set a higher value
on education, morality and religion.
Being of New England
stock they were ardent advocates of
human freedom, and in the
fullest accord with the great Ordinance
which had forever dedi-
cated to freedom the land on which they
had established their
homes.
This anti-slavery sentiment led to the
establishment, as early
as 1833, of a monthly meeting to pray
for the abolition of Afri-
can slavery. For many years this prayer
meeting was held in
(265)
266 Ohio Arch. and
Hist. Society Publications.
the old stone academy on Jefferson street.
It was attended by
Judge Edwin Putnam, Levi Whipple, Dr. Increase
Mathews,
Major Horace Nye, J. C. Guthrie, Solomon
Sturges, M. B. Cush-
ing, Alvah Buckingham and other leading
citizens.
During 1835 the lectures of Theo. D. Weld,
a noted abolition
speaker, created great excitement and opposition.
A committee
was appointed to ask Richard Stilwell,
then the prosecuting at-
torney of the county, to prevent the disturbance
of these meet-
ings. In April, 1835, the state abolition
convention was held in
Putnam. Bands of rioters encouraged by
respectable citizens and
more guilty men, came over from Zanesville,
disturbed the ses-
sions of the convention, defaced the academy
building, insulted
the ladies in attendance, and finally broke
up the meeting. They
threatened to burn the dwellings of Major
Nye, Mr. Howell and
Austin A. Guthrie, which were guarded for
some time by their
abolition friends.
The State Abolition Convention was again
held in Putnam
in 1839. On the assembling of that body
the hostility to the
Abolitionists, which had somewhat subsided,
broke out afresh.
Various inflammatory circulars were distributed,
among them a
hand-bill entitled "The Resurrection
of the Abolitionists in Put-
nam." It was full of bitterness and
well calculated to arouse the
worst passions of lawless men.
The late James Buckingham says, "I
remember on one of
these mornings of asking mother where father
was. Her reply
was that he was not up yet as he had been
out most of the night.
guarding property against the mob. 'Don't
you remember,' she
said, 'that last week a man made an Abolition
speech, and some
fellows from the Zanesville side raised
a row, and threw rotten
eggs at him, and that night they set fire
to Adam Francis' barn
at the brick tavern, because the speaker
put up there, and threat-
ened to burn the town, and how they burned
Levi Whipple's
barn and started other fires which were
put out? And now the
citizens have to be out every night to
guard their property.'"
Part of "the brick tavern" is
still to be seen on the northwest
corner of Putnam avenue and Jefferson
street.
One of the rioters, Mike Casey, was arrested
and convicted,
but, while being taken to jail. was released
by an armed band
An Abolition Center. 267
of fellow rioters and taken in triumph
into Zanesville. The ap-
pearance and report of this party caused
the crowd to rush down
Third street and through the bridge with
renewed threats to burn
Putnam. But at the Putnam end of the
bridge they were met by
Mayor Z. M. Chandler with an armed
police, and warned that
further advance would be at their peril,
while Major Nye stood
there, with a musket he carried in the
war of 1812, crying out,
"Mr. Mayor, shall I shoot, shall I
shoot?" After some parley
the mob slowly retreated with bitter
curses on the Abolition town.
This assault led to the organization of
"The Putnam Greys,"
which, under the drill of Captain Jesse
P. Hatch, a graduate of
the Partridge Military School at
Norwich, Conn., was for many
years one of the finest military
companies of the state.
The writer well remembers Capt. Hatch as
the efficient
teacher of music and penmanship in the
Zanesville Public
Schools. And he can never forget, among
the joys of his boy-
hood, following the Putnam Greys, joined
by the Zanesville
Guards and the Warren Greens, in their
parades through the
streets of Zanesville.
While Putnam was the center, the
anti-slavery sentiment was
not confined to that side of the river.
Among the Virginians,
comprising so large an element of the
Zanesville population, were
many who had come to Ohio because of
their dislike to the in-
stitution of African slavery. While this
element was not favor-
able to the Abolitionists it was still
opposed to the evil itself.
There was also a considerable infusion
of English people in the
population. These were usually
sympathizers with the oppressed
blacks. So, on the whole, among
especially the best citizens, there
was a sentiment as to slavery ranging
from mere dislike to active
opposition. This was illustrated by the
fact that when a promi-
nent citizen of Zanesville, having
become United States Mar-
shal, assisted in capturing and
returning to bondage a runaway
slave, the church to which the Marshal
belonged excluded him
from their fellowship, though he was an
active member, and the
father of a prominent Congressman.
The descendants of Joseph Sheppard, a
Baptist preacher,
who lived for many years on Fourth
Street, a little north of Mar-
ket, relate how one night his house was
searched for a runaway
268 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society
Publications.
slave. No negro was found, however,
which, I think, was the
usual result in those days. Elder
Sheppard was a large man,
but of a kind disposition, averse to any
violence. On one occa-
sion, having gone to some Abolition
meeting in Putnam, he found
his return blocked at the bridge by a
mob which declared that
no Abolitionist should pass. But so well
known was his dispo-
sition that on his approach the leader
of the mob cried out,
"Boys, let Elder Sheppard pass, he
won't hurt nobody." After
the passage of "the fugitive slave
law" many Abolitionists were
puzzled to see how they were to obey the
Divine Law and yet
not break a human law which their
consciences could not ap-
prove. Elder Sheppard's daughter, so
well known as "Aunt Bet-
sy," solved the problem in a wise
and practical way. While
busy one evening with her housework the
expected happened.
The dark-skinned fugitive stood at the
door mutely appealing
for help. What should she do! How honor
God and yet not
break the law of the land, were
questions which rushed through
her mind. What was the solution? She
laid upon the table a loaf
of bread and some money and left the
room. When she re-
turned the man, the money and the bread
had moved north to-
ward a land where human freedom did not
depend on race or
color.
Those were times of great political
bitterness, of growing
opposition to slavery, the unrecognized
foreshadowings of the
Civil War. I may close with the words of
Mr. Buckingham:
"In looking back it may be said
that, while the Abolitionists did
not always display the meekness and
wisdom of the Master whom
they professed to serve, the arguments
they advanced were sel-
dom met in fair discussion but rather
with misrepresentation,
personal abuse and the violence of the
mob."
Granville, Ohio.
NOTE: Much of the material for
this article was furnished by Mr.
James Buckingham, the last survivor of
those personally acquainted
with the events.