OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List Issue 57 ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES(tm) NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgenwebarchives.org ************************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 05 : Issue 57 Today's Topics: #1 Fw: Tid Bits -- Part 41 B ["Ohio Archives EV1" ] Administrivia: To unsubscribe from OH-FOOTSTEPS-D, send a message to OH-FOOTSTEPS-D-request@rootsweb.com that contains in the body of the message the command unsubscribe and no other text. No subject line is necessary, but if your software requires one, just use unsubscribe in the subject, too. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #1 Date: Mon, 2 May 2005 00:45:33 -0400 From: "Ohio Archives EV1" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <0c9501c54ed1$c6d50db0$0300a8c0@margaret> Subject: Fw: Tid Bits -- Part 41 B Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ----- Original Message ----- From: "Darlene & Kathi kelley" To: Sent: Sunday, May 01, 2005 5:34 PM Subject: Tid Bits -- Part 41 B Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley May 2, 2005. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Ohio And Then They Went West Know Your Ohio by Darlene E. Kelley Tid Bits - Part 41 B. Notes by S.Kelly ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Part 41 B Quakers and Slavery The abolition of slavery was another major social concern of the Society of Friends, which was one of the first organized groups to denounce the institution. Possibly Quakers were so sensitive to the plight of the slave because they could empathize with him. Quakers were frequently poor, often imprisoned during the early years, and persecuted. Some American Quakers, especially those residing in the southern colonies, did own slaves, but in the late seventeenth century a movement began to eliminate slaveholding among Quakers. In the next century, Anthony Benezet and John Woolman were most active in arousing fellow Quakers to the evils of slavery. In 1754 they simulated considerable antislavery sentiment with the publication of the findings of their private investigations on the abuses of the slave trade. Suggestive of the influences of the above men is the fact that beginning in 1758, one after another of the quarterly and yearly meetings denounced slavery and brought pressure to bear on individul Friends to discontinue the practice. Committees were organized in each quarterly meeting to visit the homes of remaining slave owners to persuade them to relinguish their practice of holding human beings in bondage. By 1780, no slaves were held by members except in peculiar cases where legal difficulties prevented manumission, as where husband or wife was not a member and would not consent. Meanwhile, to the south, ranging as far as South Carolina, the Friends implored Quaker slaveholders to free their black slaves. Naturally the actions of the Friends offended many Southerners who were beginning to believe that the entire southern life style rested on the foundation of slavery. Since slaves in the south represented a considerable amount of wealth, owners were reluctant to lose their invesments, especially without receiving compensation. Several states took direct legislative action to prevent or, at least, to discourage the Quakers' manumission operations. The North Carolina Assembly in 1796 enacted laws which aimed directly at the aggessive antislavery Quakers. For example " no slave shall be set free in any case or under any pretense whatsoever, except for meritorious service, to be adjudged of and allowed by the County Court and license first had and obtained therefor." In the eyes of their neighbors, Friends who freed their slaves were looked upon with hostility; they soon found themselves living in a society which had become uncomfortable, if not dangerous, for them. It was at this time that many southern Friends began to migrate to the Northwest Territory where slavery had been prohibited in 1787. Thus early in the nineteenth century, Ohio began to feel the influence of the Friends in many areas of social concern, but most significantly in the abolitionist movement. Many historians admit that perhaps no other sect was so unanimous in its support of abolitionism as the Quakers, but because they were torn between their hostility to slavery and their traditional preference for peaceful rather than violent reform, they did not provide the principal leaders of the movement. Though this statement was probably true nationally, Ohio did produce individuals of Quaker background who became very active in developing the antislavery movement in the state. Moreover, Mount Pleasant became known as a center of antislavery activity in Ohio. Many of the Quakers living there in the early part of the century were the same individuals who had left the South because of their abhorrence of the institution of slavery; some had brought freed slaves with them. Also, the proximity of slave territory, just across the Ohio River in Virginia, made the Jefferson- Belmont county area a natural refuge for escapees from the Wheeling slave market. By 1816 apparently, Jefferson County and Mount Pleasant had earned reputations well known to runaway slaves as places where they would be welcomed and receive aid in their quest for freedom, because by that year the Underground Railroad was operating in the area. No single issue concerning slavery divided the Society of Friends more than the question of members' involvement in the Underground Railroad, which was a series of routes for runaway slaves to follow on their journey to Canada and eventual freedom. Few organizations kindled the fire of resentment among southern slaveholders as did the Underground Railroad. Southerners said the system was robbing them of their rightful property as well as millions of dollars which had been invested in Negro slaves. Though the Quakers never officially sponsered the Underground Railroad, many individual Friends played very important roles in the system. Active participation distressed many Quakers, not only because it was a violation of the Futitive Slave Law ( after 1850 ) but because it necessitated lying when questioned by the authorities-- and Quakers often would deny there were slaves on their property because they did not recognize that any person could be a slave. Ohio was one of the leading states in the Underground Railroad, since it bordered slave states and was close to Canada. Levi Coffin, a Cincinnati Quaker, was called the " president of the Unerground Railroad." He had been raised among Quakers in New Garden, North Carolina, where even as a youth helped slaves escape along the Underground Railroad. According to his own estimates, Coffin helped more than three thousand slaves escape to freedom during his twenty years of activity in the system. [ It is right to mention here, that many Quakers bought slaves from their slavemasters, approved by their own Meeting houses, and set them free once they were legally in their care.] In the Mount Pleasant area. the Hanes Mill on the Colerain Pike, built by Borden Stanton in 1801, was one of many stations. According to tradition, there was a tunnel under the mill through which many slaves passed to freedom. Among residences in Mount Pleasant which were known to have hiding places for the runaway slaves was Quaker Hill. Members of other religious groups also participated actively in the Mount Pleasant Underground Railroad strategy. The Reverend Benjamin Mitchell, a Presbyterian minister, operated a noted station, and the Seceders, led by Reverend John Walker, were prominent in aiding slaves to gain liberty and in working for abolition. Mount Pleasant was the center for other antislavery activities also, a strategic location from which to influence Quaker opinion. One Mount Peasant Friend, Charles Osborn, in 1817 began publishing " The Philanthropist," the first American newspaper to advocate the abolition of slavery. Osborn, a native of North Carolina, opposed all colonization schemes because he claimed they were designed for the perpetuation of slavery in the south and for ridding the Northern states of freedmen. In 1818 he sold the weekly paper to Elisha Bates, who published it until 1822. One of the Ohio agents for, and contributors to, the paper was Benjamin Lundy, a New Jersey Quaker who migrated to Ohio in 1807. He formed the first antisalvery organization, the Union Humane Society, at Clairsville in 1816. In 1821, Lundy moved to Mount Pleasant to begin publishing his own Genius of Universal Emancipation, a monthly wholly devoted to the cause of abolition. Because his publication secured widespread circulation quickly, Lundy became the first really effective force in the antislavery movement in the United States. Unable to find a printer near Mount Pleasant willing to publish the paper, he walked with manuscript twenty miles to Steubenville, where it was published on the press of James Wilson, grandfather of Woodrow Wilson. While Lundy waited for the paper to be printed, he worked a few days for a saddle maker to earn money. In Steubenville, he stayed with Benjamin Stanton, a Quaker and uncle of Edwin M. Stanton. Then Lundy carried the papers back to Mount Pleasant, where he set them out with the postal mark of that town. Eight monthly issues were published in Ohio before Lundy moved his publishing venture to Tennessee in 1822. Unlike Osborn, Benjamin Lundy supported the aims of the American Colonization Society which was, organized in 1816 due to the inspiration of a Massachusetts Friend, Paul Cuffe, a black. This society hoped to send many free negroes to Africa as a means of resolving the racial and slavery problems. Some Quakers opposed the society for fear that it would diminish the desire of slaves to seek freedom, while other Quakers supported the society because it might induce slaveholders, who were to be compensated for freeing their slaves, to give up their property. One of Lundy's most important contributions to the movement was the recruitment of the man who became known as the leading abolitionist in pre-Civil War days, William Lloyd Garrison, who later published the noted " Liberator " in Boston. One of the more unusual antislavery activities in Mount Pleasant, was the establihment of a free labor store where nothing raised or made by slave labor was bought or sold. Simular stores were organized in several states, beginning in 1826. When prominent Mount Pleasant residents decided that one way to strike a blow against slavery was to boycott all goods produced by slave labor, they organized the Mount Pleasant Free Produce Company of Ohio in 1848. The Mount Pleasant Quakers continued their activities in the Underground Railroad by establishing organizations to give relief and aid to organizations that helped political action to the slavery issue. The continuing prominence of Mount Pleasant as an antislavery center was attested when the 1837 convention of the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society, the first major abolition meeting in Ohio, was held at Mount Pleasant. At the close of the Civil War, work among the freedmen became the main social concern of the Society of Friends. Now, Quakers could cooperate with the government, rather confront it, to assist the Negro. Quaker groups all over the United States helped form relief agencies to aid the negroes with food, clothing, shelter, and education. This practical relief work was yet another expression of compassion to people in need which Friends have shown through the years. Mount Pleasant was a leader in Ohio with this compassion. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tid Bits continued in part 42. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #2 Date: Mon, 2 May 2005 03:04:04 -0400 From: "Ohio Archives EV1" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <011101c54ee5$207a4b10$0300a8c0@margaret> Subject: Fw: {not a subscriber} (no subject) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Saturday, March 19, 2005 6:47 PM My great-grandmother was Martha Beard, b. 1841 in Cincinnati, OH, m. Colvin, Morehead, and William Lockett, d. Mar. 28.1905 Meno, OK buried Meno, OK. Her father was John Beard,b,1804 in VA,m.Mary,d. 1898. John and Mary had children: Mary Elizabeth Beard, b. 1828 in VA;m.,1850 in Pike, IL to George C. Bauman. John T. Beard, b. 1830 inVA, m 1)Jaly Ann Anson, 2) Mrs. Geogia Anson Hale,3) Eliza "Dixie" Hilsey Delilah Beard, b. 1833 in VA,m.1862 in Pike, IL to Larkin D. Bagby, d. 1864 in Pike, IL Martha Washington Beard, b. 1833 in VA, m.1)Colvin, m.2) Moreland 3). William Lockett in Pike, IL, d. Meno, OK bur. Pleasant Hill, formerly Miller cemetery at Meno, OK. Elisa Beard, b. 1844 in Pike, IL. Wallace Beard, b. 1846 in Pike, IL. ______________________________ ------------------------------ X-Message: #3 Date: Mon, 2 May 2005 03:05:21 -0400 From: "Mags" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <011d01c54ee5$4e6ef8e0$0300a8c0@margaret> Subject: Fw: Salt Creek Local News, July 4, 1891 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ----- Original Message ----- From: " Lona Stevens " To: Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2005 7:41 PM The Ohio Democrat, July 4, 1891: Salt Creek John Justice is suffering from the effect of a copperhead snake bite. Somebody recently demolished some of the windows in the Zion Church. The church Society is divided and great strife exists among the members and it is thought by some that this caused the mischief. Grandmother Lewis is in very poor health at this writing. McKinley and protection don't appear to take very well in this vicinity. The voters have enough of voting a tax on themselves. Married -- by S. M. Robinson, J. P. at his residence, June 24; Mr. Chas. Dilts and Miss Susie Harper. Born to Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson, June 19th, a democrat. B. H. Stevenson has so far been very successful as a pension attorney. Several of his cases have already been granted under the new law. Farmers are busy gathering in their harvest. The wheat in this locality is the most promising crop for years. James Taylor has been granted a pension under the new law, rated at $6 per month. Wm. Ross contemplates moving to Illinois this fall. ==== OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List ==== This list if for Archive Material Only. No Queries Allowed. For Ohio Queries visit http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~maggieoh/Maillist/maggiemaillist.html and sign up for Maggie_Ohio-L or OHROOTS-L -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V05 Issue #57 ******************************************