Carrollton, OH Community Numbers 3 Abuse & Neglect Hotline . . . . . . . . . 330-627-5437 Adult Probation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330-627-2240 Board of Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330-627-4866 Carroll County Library . . . . . . . . . . . 330-627-2613 Carroll Co. Sheriff . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330-627-2141 Carroll Co. Transit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330-627-1900 Center Township . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330-627-5788 Clerk’s Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330-627-2411 Clerk of Courts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330-627-5605 Commissioners Office. . . . . . . . . . . . 330-627-4869 Comm. Mental Healthcare . . . . . . . . 330-627-5240 County Courthouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330-627-5049 Highway Patrol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330-339-1103 Income Tax Department . . . . . . . . . . 330-627-7529 Mayor’s Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330-627-7538 Poison Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-800-222-1222 Senior Center. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330-627-7017 Street Dept. Garage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330-627-7212 Water & Sewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330-627-2411 EMERGENCY DIAL 911 Ohio and the Underground Railroad By William E. Walker, M.Ed. It was a perfect pale moonlit night. All the plans were in place. Moonlight was not necessary because John knew the beginning of his journey like the back of his hand. He had made the trip into Ohio and Virginia every week. This trip was almost like all the others, except it was more dangerous this time. He did not plan to return to slavery. There are many stories like John's and many endings both happy and tragic. Most of what we know about the Underground Railroad in Ohio we get from the works of Professor Wilbur Henry Seibert. He had a project at one of his classes at Ohio State University that sent his students throughout the state of Ohio to document the Underground Railroad connections in their counties. Seibert Hall, on the campus at Ohio State University, honors Professor Seibert's wife, Annie, also an outstanding scholar. The information which they collected is the main source of all writings about the Underground Railroad in Ohio. The information, however, is not totally complete because there were not students representing all of Ohio's 88 counties. The information did allow Professor Seibert, however, to draw up maps locating various routes that slaves took to freedom. His maps are readily accessible on the internet. Even though slavery is long gone, sites which hosted the slaves are still being discovered. You'll be amazed as well to discover that the former Ed Preston farm in Leesville, Ohio was a stop on the Underground Railroad. Now owned by Joe Nign, "The Old Underground Railroad Plantation", featured on our cover, is visible from the road and marked by a monument at the end of the drive. The Underground Railroad was not a railroad in fact, but it was one in function. Secret organizations, such as the Underground Railroad, needed some information to stay concealed for such a long time that it became lost or forgotten. Most people are not aware that Ohio shared a border with Virginia. That border was only changed when western Virginia broke off during the Civil War and became West Virginia. So the story of John going into Ohio a free state and returning to Virginia a slave state is not unique. For example, slaves in Kentucky would likewise go with their masters into Cincinnati. This again would repeat the similar experience to John's going from a free state to a slave state and back again. Harriet Beecher Stowe, a Cincinnati native, wrote "Uncle Tom's Cabin". Was she influenced by watching slaves attempting to find their way to freedom? There is no doubt these trips furnished slaves with basic opportunity to make friends and connections that would allow them to escape slavery by journeying from slave state to a free state, and then to Canada. There were many ship owners who would hide the escaped slaves until they could reach freedom at the end of the voyage in Canada. It is very difficult to verify dwellings as part of the Underground Railroad without extensive research. Because even though many places may have hidden passages, it was not uncommon for wealthy owners to keep the comings and goings of their servants from general view. I urge you to check out areas where you live to see if there might be part of the hidden treasure related to the Underground Railroad undocumented near you. Most of the routes ran close to water, because by tracing the flow backwards, it would lead the slaves north. We could never fully name or appreciate the many conductors, agents, churches and genuine humanitarians who made this train of events possible.
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