Underground Railroad, Ohio is Up and Running

Question

It seems that the state of Ohio has the most miles of "track", the most "stations", and even the most "conductors" on the Underground Railroad.  So, to make searching easier, I created a category just for Ohio.  It simply    Category:  Underground Railroad, Ohio :  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Underground_Railroad%2C_Ohio

So, if you run across a person who was a part of the Underground Railroad in Ohio, you now have a new place to put him/her.  Thanks so much! 

Comments

My 2nd greatgrandparents are said to have met as family of underground railroad conductors in Illinois.  The only "source" I know of, beyond family anecdotes, is that one of them worked at what is now the NPS underground railroad museum.

Answer 1

Excellent! I have ancestors who were active in the Underground Railroad in Indiana. I will keep an eye out!

Answer 2

Levi Coffin who was known as the 'president' of the UGRR should be listed/categorized on your Ohio UGRR page. He is already included in the UGRR Conductors category.

Comments

My daughter-in-law is related to Levi Coffin.  I thought his URR Station was in IN.   Maybe he did work in OH, too.   Say, she has several Presnall relatives with Stanton in their names.   I always wondered how that got started.  Are you related to a particularly famous Quaker Stanton of some sort?

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Levi is a second cousin a few times removed. Yes, he first went to Indiana, he died in Hamilton County, Ohio. My relationship to the Coffin family is via the Bond family (paternal grandmother). The Coffin and Bond families both originated New Garden Meeting (Guilford), North Carolina and relocated north at approx the same time. They both operated large sections of the UGRR. See this PDF (attached to Levi's profile). I'm not familiar with the surname Presnall. My Stanton lineage (Quakers) were also from North Carolina (after Virginia) and migrated to Ohio and Indiana. Stantonsburg, North Carolina (a very small burg) named after the founding family Stanton -- does that make any connection to Presnall?

Answer 3

How will subcategories be added? I'm asking because I noticed Zanesville, Ohio isn't listed as a subcategory. The Stone Academy is located there, recognized nationally, and was home to 2 anti-slavery conventions where Frederick Douglass spoke in the 1830s. Stone Academy on Muskingum County History.

Comments

The Stone Academy was a station in the Underground Railroad and, technically, was in Putnam, Springfield Township, Muskingum County, Ohio.  I'm working on Maj. Horace Nye and his wife Lucinda (Belknap) Nye, active abolitionists in Putnam.  Putnam will be a subcategory in just a bit.

Thanks for letting me know about this town, Diane.  :D

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While Putnam is still recognized as the "historic district", it was annexed by Zanesville in 1872. Putnam (originally called Springfield) was founded in 1801 by Dr. Increase Mathews, Levi Whipple, and Brig. Gen. Rufus Putnam. It was renamed Putnam in 1814. The Stone Academy was built by Mathews, Whipple and Buckingham in 1809. Whipple organized the abolitionist movement in Putnam according to the Muskingum histories. His barn was burned down because of his activities. A lot of fights over the slavery issue occurred between residents of Putnam and Zanesville!

Harriet Beecher Stowe's brother was also a minister of the Congregational Church in Putnam and very actively involved in this movement.

I've done some research trying to find out if Increase was involved - he had to have built that trap door in the Stone Academy - but I haven't been able to pinpoint anything definitive. I heard (when I toured his house that's now a museum?), or read somewhere, that the home he built for his son Henry was an underground stop. But I haven't been able to locate any reference.

Additionally, Increase's sister and brother-in-law, Susannah and Captain Jonathan Stone, and their son Col. John Stone were active abolitionists at Belpre in Washington County. I believe their home is also nationally recognized as an underground railroad stop.

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I found correlation of the Stone family's involvement with the UR in Belpre. It's part of the Siebert digital collection on Ohio Memory. It also mentions Perly Howe who was married to one of Brigadier-General Rufus Putnam's daughters.