USA > Ohio > Ashtabula County > History of Ashtabula County, Ohio > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99
33
HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.
spread over it, a small plate of butter is placed in the middle of the table, and a dish of sauee by the side of it, composed of wild plums or eranberries, sweetened with maple-sugar. There is put at each place a spoon and knife. Supper ready, the guests stand reverently while the host asks a blessing ; then seated, each one is handed a eup of tea, sweetened with maple-sugar, and the smoking hot short- eake is broken and handed around, and each one helps herself to butter with her own knife, and to sauee with her own spoon out of a common dish. Such a thing as a plate for each one was unusual. Even for breakfast the meat and po- tatoes were eut in morsels and fried together, then served in a dish set in the middle of the table, aud all, supplied with a fork, would proceed to stab the morsels from the platter and to help themselves from a common dish.
" In the winter the visiting was generally during the long evenings. One man would take his oxen and sled and eall for each neighbor between his home and the place of rendezvous. Here a pile of logs aglow, thoroughly warming the one room of the house, and lighting it more brilliantly than half a dozeu gas-jets could do, awaited their arrival.
" A social evening is spent, with refreshments, consisting of nuts, pop-corn, and maybe doughuuts. The eloek hanging against the wall strikes the hour of nine, the orthodox hour of retiring, and the company disperse. Every family in the country was clothed in home-made cloth. The wool has been carded during the summer, the mother has taken it to the mill herself, the huge saek which contains it being strapped to the rear of the saddle, and in some cases rises as high as the head of the rider. With a baby in her arms and five or six eolts following or eapering ahead, with two or three dogs lolling with their open mouths, she, amid a eloud of dust, would make her way to the mill. Every house was a place where she was welcome to stop and take tea with the family, and rest herself and little one. Having arrived at home, the garments for the household were made of the same material which her hands had prepared from the time the wool eame off from the sheep's baek. In some cases the elothing of men was still more primitive than this."' Mr. Joel Blakeslee describes the buekskin pants which the men sometimes wore, and says that they beeame so tight after getting them wet, it was almost impossible to get them off. When they had dried they became so stiff that one felt as though he was clad in cast-iron. It was not an uneommon sight to see men with pants of buekskin and vests of fawnskin, with the hair left on. Boys were frequently elothed in buckskin, and wore squirrel-skin eaps, with the tails dangling. This mode of dress was more common in the more retired towus, such as Pierpont, Richmond, and others. In the history of Wayne it is told that the men were aceustomed to go to ehurch barefoot, and the women earried their shoes with them, and put them on before entering the house of worship.
The amusements of these days have also been described. The young people would gather and find pleasure iu " twirling the platter" or " holding the button." In some places there was an interdiet against tripping the " light fantastie toe." The story is told that the young folks of Austinburg were actually interrupted in a social gathering where the fiddle was to be employed, and the parental authority of Judge Austin suddenly put a stop to the prospective dance. These seruples were not maintained in every place. It is said that in Harpersfield old and young would frequently gather, aud enter into the danee with a freedom which was not to be restrained. We ean imagiuc the graee displayed by the eow-hidc boots of the young gentlemen and ealf-skin shocs of the young ladies. But these were in keeping with the puneheon floors and rude furniture of the log dwellings of that day.
Sometimes the young people would go several miles to attend an evening party. They went two on a horse, each young gentleman with a lady behind. If the rain overtook them it did not dampen their ardor; though at times the chintz dresses were soiled by the ride, yet a little soap and water would restore them. At barn- and house-raisings all the people within many miles congregated, and the favorite amusements were wrestling and foot-racing. One praetiee-that of drinking whisky-was almost universal. Nearly every settler kept on haud a pleutiful supply. Yet drunkenness was not eommou. The crime of habitual intemperanee, a erime by means of which a man debases his better nature, failed to fasten itself upon the lives of the mass of the people. Instanees of exeess there were. Even good people, who loved sobriety, would sometimes beeome in- toxicated when mingling with their fellows at raisings and other social gatherings. Loeal temperanee societies were organized at an early day, which served to check the tide of intemperanee, and, in the language of Platt R. Speneer, to lead the people
" Back to cool, delicious floods, That dance along in silvery sands, And springs that hide in rocks and woods, Whence come the brave spirits of our lands. There drink, when living friendships burn, Rich, pure waters from Nature's urn."
CHAPTER XIII.
ASHTABULA'S CONNECTION WITH THE ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT .*
ASHTABULA COUNTY has gained for itself a just renown by reason of its position upon the anti-slavery question. At an early day the eitizens were agi- tated upon the fugitive slave law, and their attitude upon the rendition of slaves gained for them some degree of uotoricty. No eounty in the State took higher grounds upon these subjects than did this. It is probable that the early religious influences will, in part, furnish a reasou for this faet. The old Puritans were eelebrated for their love of liberty. No people ever accomplished more in the way of resistance to oppression than did they. England to-day owes very much for its constitutional freedom to this onee despised people. Hume, in his " His- tory of England," says, "The Catholic religion had ranged itself upon the side of monarchy, the Protestaut on the side of liberty."
" The precious spark of liberty had been kindled, and was preserved by the Puritans alone ; and it was to this seet, whose principles appear so frivolous and habits so ridiculous, that the English owe the whole freedom of their constitution. Nothing but a pious zeal which disregards all motives of human prudenee eould have made them entertain hopes of preserving any longer these privileges." In speaking of King James I. he says, " The more he knew the Puritanical clergy the less favor he bore to them." " He had remarked in their Scottish brethreu a violent turn towards republieanism and a zealous attachment to civil liberty,- prineiples nearly allied to that religious enthusiasm with which they were aetu- ated." This radical eharacter their deseendants have inherited. After their settlement iu New England the colonies prayed " for the continuance of eivil and religious liberties." During the times of Cromwell the sympathies of the Puritans were with the struggle against oppression. After the restoration of Charles II., Conneetieut was especially sueeessful in seeuring chartered liberties. There never was any betrayal of the eause on the part of that commonwealth. The descendants of the Conneetieut eolony brought the same love of liberty to their new homes in the wilderness of Ohio. Bancroft says of the Independents in England, " They gradually became the advocates of religious liberty and the power of the people. This tendeney cropped out at last when oppression in a new form eame to be apprehended in all its evils. The Puritans of New England and of the west were the first to abhor the atroeities of Americau slavery. They were ready to put themselves as a bulwark of defense for the rights of the op- pressed, as before they were willing to make sacrifices for their own rights of conseience. Human liberty was as dear to them as religious liberty."
We have already spoken of two vessels-the " Griffin" and the " Mayflower" -as representing different civilizations. Protestantism and liberty landed from the " Mayflower" upon the New England eoast; popery and monarchy were represented by the French explorers.
In the same year of the landing of the " Mayflower" a Duteh vessel entered Jamestown harbor. That vessel contained a cargo of slaves. Thus three dif- ferent systems were introduced by three different nationalities. Ameriea inherited the institutions of Europe, and partook of its different forms of eivilization. All along through the ages it became a question which should prevail upon this eontinent,-Puritan liberty, papal despotism, African slavery. It is singular that the tides which began to beat all along the sea-shore should meet here upon the borders of this lake. Fortunately, the contest between the French and the English was decided before the settlement of this eounty. The influenees which eame in through the mouth of the St. Lawrence never reached the south shore of Lake Erie. They expended themselves upon the northern coasts. Not so with those which found lodgment at the south. They spread themselves over the whole southern territory, and at last sent up their tidc to meet the Puritau influences which had landed upou the New England shores. This was the place where these two great forins of civilization met. Here Puritanism and slavery contended. " There is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will." It was inevitable; the two systems could not exist together. Wheu fugitives came panting from the house of bondage to this asylum, those who had in the person of their fathers escaped from the oppression of the Old World were in readiness to receive them.
The citizens of Ashtabula County were worthy sons of the New England fathers. When the fugitive slaves came to their doors they found shelter and protection. They seemed to remember that their fathers had also been fugitives from oppression, and that Ameriea had beeome their asylum. Their offspring could take no baekward steps.
The same language which had been used by the colony of Massachusetts after
# Mainly contributed by Rev. S. D. Peet.
34
HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.
the return of Charles II. was the language of their hearts. " The civil lib- erties of New England are part of the inhicritance of their fathers; and shall we give that inlieritance away ? Is it objected that we shall be exposed to great suffering ? Better suffer than sin. It is better to trust the God of our fathers than to put confidence in princes. If we suffer because we dare not comply with the wills of men against the will of God, we suffer in a good cause, and shall be accounted martyrs in the next generation and at the great day." They felt that the fugitive slave law was the violation of the rights of humanity. Long before it was accepted in the halls of congress the citizens of this county adopted the doctrine of the higher law. They felt that it was better to obey God than man. They were early called upon to put into practice the very principles which they had unconsciously adopted. For some reason this county became the resort of fugitive slaves. As early as 1834 they began to escape from their oppressors and to seek a refuge in this vicinity. The proximity of the Ohio river to the lake made this route the nearest. It was lamentable that nowhere within the bounds of the United States the poor black man was safe from his oppressors. England had declared an emancipation. The spirit of Wilberforce stood upon the banks of Lake Eric inviting the refugees to escape to its shores, but liberty was beyond the waters. Only by the aid of the friends of humanity could the op- pressed escape the clutches of their masters. Fortunately, there were true, brave hearts who were willing to meet the vengeance of the law and the wrath of the oppressors if they might save some of these trembling captives who came to their doors. Narratives have been told of the scenes of those days which carry us back to the dark times of the struggle of American freedom. We almost breathe again the stifled air, feel the oppressor's lash, hear the opprobrious epithets and the bitter words which in those days so stirred our sensibilities and caused our bitter feelings to arise within us. It is well for us to remember from what a nightmare dream we have awakened. Thank God, we are free !
The various cases of fugitive slaves which made their resort in this region awakened the attention in their behalf. There were many friends in different parts of the county who made it a point to harbor them. There was a regular line, or " underground railroad," extending from Wheeling, on the Ohio river, to the harbor at Ashtabula. There were regular depots at which fugitives stopped and were carried on their way by the friends of the slaves. Whenever it was known any of them had arrived, it was expected as a matter of course that the citizens would feed them. No one knew who fed them, but they were cared for and sent on their way. A certain vessel, too, was relied upon to take them. If slaves reached Ashtabula County, they always escaped.
The Anti-Slavery society of Ashtabula County was formed June, 1832: Amos Fisk, president ; O. K. Hawley, vice-president ; A. E. Austin, recording secretary. There were also local anti-slavery societies established in various parts of the county. One was formed in Ashtabula in January, 1837. These different societies continued through the whole period of the anti-slavery contest. The Coloniza- tion society was the more conservative, but was itself strongly opposed to the system. The subject must have engrossed public attention, for in the year 1837 the Fourth of July was celebrated by meetings of the two anti-slavery societies, one in Kingsville, and the other in Ashtabula.
Ashtabula County had a noble record during the whole anti-slavery conflict. She chose one of her own sons, a man who had endured the hardships of pioneer life, who had been trained up under the influences and become imbued with the spirit which prevailed here; one who, if not born in the county, was from the stock which constituted her true citizens, and who had received his entire educa- tion and promotion here, and put him forward to fill one of the highest and most responsible positions in the gift of the nation.
The choice of Joshua R. Giddings as a representative to congress at this trying time reflected great honor upon the judgment and sentiment of the people. But the sustaining of the man through all the trying emergencies of his eventful career was one of the grandest things in the history of the nation. Never will it be forgotten that old Ashtabula was so true to the right when the right was unpopular and the wrong was in the ascendency. No storm of faction, no rage of his enemies, no imprecations which were hurled at his defenseless head dis- turbed the confidence which they had placed in the man of their choice. While the tide of unpopularity rolled over him threatening to engulf him, while the storm of passion and prejudice was aroused from every side, they stood true, and like a rock presented themselves a bulwark to liberty.
There is no doubt but that the strength of Mr. Giddings was in his constituency. He knew on whom he relied. His heart beat in sympathy with their hearts, and he expressed sentiments which he knew to be dear to them as their own life. We do not wonder that the man was bold and daring in the fierce conflict, for he knew the hearts of the people whom he was representing.
There were three parties in Ashtabula County during the latter part of the anti-slavery struggle. They were the old Democratic, the Whig, and the Free-
Soil party. These divided the sentiment of the people somewhat, but it may be said that the Free-Soil party at last gave tone to the sentiments of the people. There may have been some extreme measures proposed and the expressions were oftentimes decidedly radical, but it was this very determined spirit which gained the victory. There was a conviction lying back of these expressions which could not fail to have force. If the advocates of anti-slavery lost all patience, it was because they realized the evils of the system as few others did. The very fact that fugitive slaves made this their asylum awakened minds to the subject and stirred the sensibilities of the people. In order to show the intense feeling that prevailed in some localities, we take the following extracts from the Ashtabula Sentinel, published in Ashtabula, December 21, 1850. This was in the height of the anti-slavery excitement under the administration of President Fillmore. A public meeting of the citizens of Hartsgrove was held for the purpose of taking action relative to the fugitive slave law. Out of fifteen resolutions passed we quote the four following. We doubt whether any public meeting of the present time could frame such resolutions, for their language is the result of the intensity of the thought and feeling which prevailed only then. They are as follows :
" Resolved, That we hold the fugitive slave law in utter contempt, as being no law, and pledge ourselves to despise the conduct of the makers of it for their utter destitution of principle, as well as for their reckless violation of the constitution of these States, which they were sworn to support ;
" Resolved, That sooner than submit to such odious laws we will see the Union dissolved ; sooner than see slavery perpetual we would see war; and sooner than be slaves we will fight !
" Resolved, That Herod made a law in regard to male children ; King Darins made a law in regard to Daniel ; Duke George made a law in reference to Luther ; John Bull made a law in reference to the American colonies ; and, meanest of all, congress made a law in reference to fugitive slaves ; a law to strip us of our humanity, to divest us of all claim to Christianity and self-respect, and herd us with blood-hounds and men-stealers, upon penalty of reducing our children to starvation and nakedness. Cursed be said law !
" Resolved, That we will not aid in catching the fugitive, but will feed and protect him with all the means within our power ; and that we pledge our sym- pathy and property for the relief of any person in our midst who may suffer any penalties for an honorable opposition or a failure to comply with the requirements of this law."
An editorial in the same paper says, " The underground railroad through this section of the State is doing a fair business nowadays. Two fine-looking ‘ chat- tels,' fresh from ' Old Virginia,' passed up the fourth range of this township, last week, en route for Canada. We learn that they met with no difficulty in finding food, shelter, and necessary assistance in their course. . .. The voice of our peo- ple is, ' Constitution or no constitution, law or no law, no fugitive slave can be taken from the soil of Ashtabula County back to slavery.' If any one doubts that this is the real sentiment, they can easily test it."
There is an account also in the same paper of the escape of a mulatto, a slave. Being straight-haired and light-complexioned, he represented himself successfully as a white man.
There is no doubt but that the sympathy for the fugitives and the abhorrence of the evils of slavery made these sentiments palatable.
There was a great deal of prejudice against Ashtabula County during those days, but it was a prejudice which was founded in wrong and sprang from the passions which would sustain that wrong. If there were those who were ex- treme in their views, yet the diversities of party held the balance well poised. The radical element had some force, but there was conservatism mingled with it. . When Abby Kelley and Foster and Parker Pillsbury came into the county, they were listened to with respect, but their sentiments did not obtain. There were those who sympathized with them, but, unlike other counties, there was no actual disruption and division made by them. In many places churches were divided, friends were torn asunder, and society was disturbed. When they said the con- stitution was a covenant with death and a league with hell ; when they denounced the church and the clergy for their position; when they sowed broadcast the seeds of discord and infidelity, the religious sentiment of the people here revolted. There is no doubt the people were anchored by their faith, so that the storm of passion did not drive them to sea or leave them wrecked amid the breakers. They were anchored to a rock. If there were those who made a wreck of faith in their devotion to freedom, the majority of the people were held firm. It was this very conviction, so deep, so abiding, and so true, that prevailed. It was fast- ened to the eternal principle of right, and anchored to God himself. Commonly and steadily this conviction made its way. It entered deeper into the hearts of the people ; it had force with the nation; it ruled the councils ; it controlled the parties ; and at last was triumphant.
35
HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.
When the madness of the oppressors became so unbounded that they would submit to no constitutional vote and yield no authority, but resolved to make slavery a corner-stone for a new confederacy, the people realized what spirit had ruled them.
In this connection we publish the following, written by a member of the Black- string band, a resident now of Andover. It is an interesting
CHAPTER OF HISTORY.
Among the many instances showing the devotion of the citizens of Ashtabula County to the cause of the slave, I venture to narrate some of the events pre- ceding and following the memorable attack on Harper's Ferry by John Brown and his handful of followers, as illustrative of the fact that no part of the United States was more devoted to human liberty. And I do so for another reason,-to perpetuate a scrap of unwritten history.
It will be remembered that a secret convention was called by Brown at Chatham, Canada West, May 8, 1858, at which convention a provisional constitution and ordinances for the people of the United States were adopted. During the fol- lowing winter Brown crossed the border from Kansas into Missouri, liberated seven slaves, and deliberately accompanied them through Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Michigan to Canada. Between March 20 and 30 Brown was in Cleve- land, where he advertised and sold the horses he took with the slaves in Missouri, giving everybody notice that the title to the horses might be defective. Early in April, Brown Kagi, who was Brown's scerctary of war, Captain Stevens, and others arrived in West Andover. Brown's Sharp's rifles and other warlike material were shipped to this place, and stored at King & Brother's cabinet-manufactory, on the Creek road, in Cherry Valley. Thence from about the 1st of April, 1859, West Andover became, so to speak, for a time the headquarters for the immortal under- taking of revolutionizing this government by means so out of proportion to the mag- nitude of the enterprise that most men not acquainted with John Brown believed him to be insane ; but to those who knew him,-who knew the depth and fervor of his religious sentiments ; his unwavering trust in the Infinite ; his strong conviction that he had been selected by God as an instrument in His hands to hasten the overthrow of American slavery,-to such he seemed inspired rather than insane. In a conversation I had with him the day he started for Harper's Ferry, I tried to convince him that his enterprise was hopeless, and that he would only rashly throw away his life. Among other things, he said, " I believe I have been raised up to work for the liberation of the slave, and while the cause will be best advanced by my life I shall be preserved ; but when that cause will be best served by my death I shall then be removed."
The result proved that his sublime faith and trust in God enabled him to see what others could not sce. He had so lived that, though dead, " his soul went marching on."
I do not purpose writing a history of the attack on Harper's Ferry, but some- thing seemed necessary as an introduction to the action of our citizens in relation to the immediate results of that historic enterprise. The forces with which Brown made his attack consisted of seventeen white and five colored men. In addition to these a few were stationed outside of the town, and two I believe were left at the Kenneda farm. A few of these escaped, Owen Brown being one of the number. Merriam, a young man from Boston, one of the fugitives, made his way to West Andover, and was received and cared for by the writer. A few more were in the vicinity; and Owen Brown, after resting for a short time in Crawford county, Pennsylvania, came to West Andover, and went to his brother's, John Brown, Jr., who had moved from his residence on the Creek road, in Cherry Valley, to Dorset, with whom he remained for some time.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.