USA > Ohio > The Western Reserve and early Ohio > Part 17
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
300
EARLY COUNTERFEITERS
by reputation as any President of the United States."
During the early times in Norton township, much counterfeit money was in circulation and suspicion pointed to persons then living at Johnson's Corners. One DeCoursey was generally considered to be the ring- leader of the whole crookedness. He was a sharp, shrewd man-one who seemed to know all that was go- ing on in the whole neighborhood; for no sooner did the justice issue a warrant for his arrest, than he took to the woods, where he would remain until the storm had blown over, when he wold again make his appear- ance. At one time, when the constable came to arrest him, DeCoursey spied him coming and quick as thought he pulled off his coat, tossed it to George Beach, who was with him at the time, saying, "Put on that coat and streak for the woods." Beach did not wait to be told a second time but "streaked." The constable and posse took after him full speed. Beach ran until he thought he had carried the joke far enough, when he turned around and faced the music with the remark: "What do you want?" "Sucked, by -! " said the constable. DeCoursey in the meanwhile had time to escape. About 1825, a young man by the name of Henry Flickinger came to Johnson's Corners with about $300 in money, which was good, but not the kind that would pass at the land office where he wished to use it for the purpose of buying land. DeCoursey had a man with him by the name of Downs, who they said, could exchange money with Flickinger; this Flickinger was glad to do, but alas! when Flickinger came to the land office with his money, it was fond to be spurious Virginia money. He swore out a warrant for the arrest of Downs, before
301
EARLY COUNTERFEITERS
Esquire Van Hyning. It was served by Henry Spar- hawk, the constable, who found his man at Yellow Creek Basin, then a favorite resort for counterfeiters and horse theives. Downs had a fine horse which he rode. They proceeded on their way to Norton, but had not gone far when Downs took to the woods leaving the horse in possession of the constable who brought it to Norton, gave it up to the Esquire who in turn delivered it to Mr. Flickinger, who thus had a horse for his $300. Suspicion also pointed to one James Hendershot. After- wards, when his house was torn down soon after he left, some counterfeit half dollars were found in the cellar.
In Northampton the Mallet brothers also erected "a mint" on a lonely isolated point of land densely cov- ered with timber and ever since known as the "Money- shop." Here a foundry for melting mixed metals with molds, dies, plates and engravers tools were kept secret- ed. When the annoyance to the citizens of this locality from the presence of strange and suspicious visitors became no longer endurable, a public meeting was called and by mutual agreement the "mint" was destroyed.
BUILDING OF PERRY'S VESSELS
In the month of January, 1813, the Navy Depart- ment of the U. S. found it necessary to build a number of small vessels to be used as gunboats on Lake Erie.
The contract for building three of these boats was awarded to Brimel Robins of Allegheny Co., Pa. He selected Old Portage, on the Cuyahoga, as the most con- venient place to build them. The size of the river at Old Portage today makes this seem quite impossible but it must be remembered that one hundred years ago this stream was much larger. The timber and lumber was furnished by Captains Rice and Stowe. It was sawed at the mill of Francis and Zenas Kelsey in "Old Cuya- hoga Village." Stewart Gaylod superintended the con- struction at the boat yard. In June the three were launched and named "Trippe", "Tigress" and "Portage".
Wm. Coggswell, a pioneer of Granger township, later said, "I was employed with others to float these boats down the river to Lake Erie. We had instructions to furnish each boat with masts and spars at the "Pinery" near Peninsula. While we were detained here for several days awaiting some rigging I shot a porcu- pine and threw it upon the deck of the "Portage." The animal was examined with much curiosity by the crew. They immediately renamed their boat the "Porcupine."
When they arrived at Cleveland the gunboats were examined by many people. Cleveland at that time was a village of about 200 inhabitants. The boats promptly went into commission as part of Perry's fleet. They did good service during the battle of Lake Erie, Sept.
303
PERRY'S VESSELS
10, 1813. Thus did good old Summit oak help whip the British.
The first steamboat built and launched on Lake Erie was christened "Walk-in-the-water." She was employed in running between Buffalo and Detroit touch- ing at all intermediate ports. She entered Cleveland harbor September 1st, 1818. The entire populace was out to greet her upon her arrival and give her a royal welcome. A writer says: "She was regarded with in- tense interest and was rightly named for she seemed 'like a thing of life' that literally walked upon the water. Both on her arrival and departure she was greeted with the discharge of thirteen rounds of artillery. The cap- tain acknowledged the salute by a return of the same number of guns and flung to the breeze from the mast- head the glorious banner of American freedom. The excited citizens could not restrain their joyful expres- sions but continued to fire guns, wave hats and hand- kerchiefs and utter wild hurrahs until the majestic vision disappeared in the offing on her way to Detroit."
The first steamboat was named after Chief Walk- in-the-Water, the great Wyandott war chief. It was he who related to General Harrison, the night after Perry's victory, the Indian tradition of the first battle on Lake Erie.
Lorenzo Carter built the first schooner built in Cleveland. It was built on Superior lane and launched at the foot of the street amid great excitement. It was of thirty tons burden and was named the "Zepher." This vessel was commanded by Catpain Stowe.
1
NEW PORTAGE AS AN EARLY PORT
Thomas Jefferson in his notes of the State of Vir- gina, written in 1781, says: "The Muskingum is 280 yards wide at its mouth and 200 yards at the lower Indian towns, 150 miles upward." This means that the Tuscarawas River was 600 feet wide at its junction with the Muskingum, it then being considered a part of the Muskingum and was called the Little Muskingum. He goes on: "It is navigable for small batteaux to within one mile of a navigable part of the Cuyahoga River which runs into Lake Erie." If this then was true pre- vious to 1781, the head of canoe navigation on the Cuya- hoga must have commenced within the present limits of the city of Akron, while canoe navigation on the Tusca- rawas extended as far as the northern shore of Summit Lake. Evan's map of the Middle Colonies, 1755, gives the rise of the Tuscarawas in Summit Lake and the Portage between the two rivers as one mile. Thomas Hutchison, a civil engineer, employed by Col. Boquet, gives the same facts in his maps published in 1764. Heckwelder's map of Northeastern Ohio, published in 1796, although his knowledge did not extend beyond the early eighties of the seventeenth century, confirms all the above statements. The ancient channel running from Summit Lake into the little Cuyahoga is yet clear- ly traceable, proving the fact that at one time the waters of that lake flowed both into the great northern lakes and into the Gulf.
On the other hand, the surveyors of the Western Reserve, under Moses Cleveland, established the fact
305
NEW PORTAGE
that the Portage between the two rivers in 1796, was a little over eight miles in length. The commencement of the south Portage or that on the Tuscarawas, was called "New Portage," while the commencement of the Portage on the north, or that on the Cuyahoga, was called "Old Portage," or, "Upper Headquarters," a point that later on was to become famous in our nation- al history.
The Ordinance of Freedom or, the Ordinance of 1787, as it has been variously called, stated that: "The navigable part of waters leading into the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence and the carrying places between the same, shall be common highways and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of the said territory as to the citizens of the United States." Capt. Thomas Hutchins, in a work published in London, in 1788, mentions the carrying places between the Ohio and Lake Erie and says: "From Muskingum to Cuyahoga is the best port- age between the Ohio and Lake Erie."
The Indians had used this portage for unnumbered generations. This was the treaty line agreed upon be- tween the United States and the Indian tribes at the treaty at Fort McIntosh in 1785, confirmed by the treaty of Greenville and by later treaties. Thus it be- came the western boundary line between the United States and the great unknown, recorded as the Indian Nations.
Tallmadge Mills or Middlebury, as it was later known, now called East Akron or the Sixth Ward was the only trading place for many miles around the port- age in the early pioneer times. Goods for this point was
306
NEW PORTAGE
shipped in those earlier days by the way of the Cuya- hoga to Old Portage. It was nò uncommon sight in those days for one hundred teams to load or unload at this place on Cuyahoga River flat boats.
Goods from the south were received at New Port- age via the Muskingum and the Ohio. From this point regular lines of packet boats ran directly to New Orleans without breaking bulk. "These boats were long narrow vessels, frequently dug outs as they were called. They were from twenty to forty feet long and from three to five feet wide and were propelled by poles while going against the current. Their capacity was from ten to twelve barrels of pork, salt, flour, or whiskey." Salt sold in those days for twenty dollars per barrel or ten cents per pound, while a barrel of whiskey could be bought for five dollars, fifteen cents per gallon or even less.
In 1819, William Laird built himself a cabin on the banks of the Tuscarawas, at New Portage and began the construction of flat boats to run on the river. These boats were loaded with all kinds of products, country produce, etc., and consigned to New Orleans, without transfer. It really seems strange to us now when we see school children wading through the Tuscarawas at New Portage, without scarcely wetting their ankles, but it must be remembered that at this time the virgin forests had scarcely given up their years of hidden moisture. The streams in those days were wider, deeper, and ran with greater velocity, bank full. Then too, this was before the Ohio Canal had robbed the gentle Tuscarawas of its waters in order to make a great artificial waterway connecting the northern and
307
NEW PORTAGE
southern shores of our country. This packet line was an object lesson to the world and through it, attention was attracted to the possibility of building a trans- national waterway connecting the great northern lakes and the waters of the St. Lawrence with those of the Gulf of Mexico. Five years later the canal commenced to build and two years work opened it to the Ohio. This raised the price of wheat from twenty-five cents to one dollar per bushel.
Laird's boats passed down the Tuscarawas into the Muskingum, thence into the Ohio and Mississippi and after a journey of some two months reached their des- tination.
Henry Chittenden of Springfield, Abram Norton of Tallmadge Mills, and Philander Adams of Tallmadge township were contractors and speculators in country produce and shipped almost exclusively by the Laird line.
Alas! How the mighty have fallen! Today even New Portage has lost its ancient and time honored name and our children and our children's children will only know it as Barberton, the Magic City of Northern Ohio.
THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY
And that bold-hearted yeoman, Honest and true, Who, haters of fraud, give to Labor its due: Will the sons of such men Yield to the lords of the south
One brow for the brand, -For the pad-lock, one mouth ? They cater to tyrants- They rivet the chain, Which their fathers smote off, On the negro again ?
No Never !- one voice, Like the sound in the cloud,
When the roar of the storm
Waxes loud and more loud,
Wherever the foot of the freeman Hath prest From the great River's marge To the Lake of the West,
On the south going breezes Shall deepen and grow Till the land it sweeps Over shall tremble below!
The voice of a PEOPLE- Uprisen-awake ---
The Western Reserve's watchword, With freedom at stake,
Thrilling up from each valley Flung down from each height OUR COUNTRY AND LIBERTY! GOD FOR THE RIGHT!
-Whittier.
309
THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY
In the days of slavery, the Reserve, the land of Freedom and freedom loving people, was the natural highway for escaping slaves on their way to Canada. Here they could obtain food, aid, transportation, sym- pathy and the prayers of a people of a land that had never borne the tread of slaves.
The Ordinance of 1787, the Magna Charter of our liberties, the Ordinance of Freedom, as it has been called, says: "No man shall be deprived of his liberty or property but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land." And again it says: "And for extend- ing the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty which form the basis whereon these republics, their laws and constitutions are erected." Again, "There shall be neither slavery or involuntary servi- tude in said territory, otherwise than in the punish- ment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." These rights guaranteed to us by the Congress of the United States, ten years before the lands east of the Cuyahoga River and nineteen years before the lands of the Western Reserve, on the west side of said river were surveyed, were and are the bul- wark of our liberties.
That the underground railways were fully and systematically established, reaching from the Ohio River on the south and east and extending to Lake Erie on the north, no one in this day doubts. Unfor- tunately these escapes were aided in the darkness and secrecy. Therefore no records have ever been pre- served nor were those participating in these escapes ever inclined to talk concerning them, for obvious rea- sons. The writer was but a lad during the time of the
310
THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY
working of this human railway line but well knows that his father and neighbors assisted in these migrations. Mathew Borland was one of the railroad's most active agents in our neighborhood. The writer, although a grandson of a slave-holder, beheld his father lending all aid and comfort in his power to escaping slaves. W. A. Goodspeed says: "William Beers was a great friend to the escaping slaves and assisted many of them in reaching Canada. One named Lewis Boler came from Kentucky and not fearing pursuit hired out to Beers with whom he remained a year or more. Finally his master appeared but meeting with decided rebuffs from Beers, he resorted to the plan of coaxing his slave to return with him to Kentucky. But the wily slave could not be deceived by promises and was in conse- quence a few nights afterwards forcibly taken secretly and hurriedly towards his former home in the Sunny South. Beers, upon learning of the act, summoned a few of his neighbors and together they pursued the master and despite his protests returned him to Boston with Boler. The latter was told to push for Canada, which he accordingly did, arriving there in safety. An- other escaping slave named Sandy came to Beers and obtained employment. His master came on and made all sorts of promises to induce him to return to the south, offering to make a boss or overseer of him and to make him a present of a dog and a beautiful white pony. Sandy could not resist these offerings and re- turned with his master." Prior to 1860, a well traveled line of the underground railways crossed Franklin township, Summit Co., being confined to what is known as Chestnut Ridge, with occasional side tracks. Promi-
311
THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY
nent officials on this road were Alexander Russell, James Hile, Harvey Maranville, Washington Heffleman and Geo. Wirt. These men lost no opportunity of assist- ing runaway slaves to, Canada.
On one occasion Messrs. Russell and Maranville were notified that five slaves-two women and three men-were west of Clinton in the heavy woods on Chestnut Ridge, awaiting food and clothing. They were supplied and directed on their way to the next station. On another occasion, a settler in the township who had come from Kentucky seeing a negro traveling northward through the woods with a gun on his shoulder, ran after him and took away the gun saying : "It's against the law for nig's to carry a gun." Shortly afterwards he was informed to return the gun or trouble would ensue, whereupon he did, very reluctant- ly. Upon being questioned as to where he had obtained the gun, the negro replied that "Massa Wales of Mas- silon" had given it to him to kill partridges and other
game while traveling north. Wales was probably a train despatcher on this road. John Hall of Spring- field township, often took negroes who were closely pursued by their masters and having concealed them several days at his residence, placed them in his closed carriage and conveyed them the entire distance to Cleveland, where he saw them safely on board Cana- dian-bound steamboats before he left."
These men were simply exemplifying the com- mand "love thy neighbor as thy-self."
Among the best known agents of the underground railroad in Northern Ohio, was "Uncle John Finney,"
312
THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY
as he was familiarly known. During twenty-five years that he was engaged in this work, hundreds of fugi- tive slaves were carried by wagons from one point to another and day or night, Uncle Finney's teams and his personal services were always ready on demand. Un- less pursuit was very close, these escaping slaves were always kept at his home over night and sometimes for days when they were forwarded by wagon to Savannah, Oberlin or other points. He usually left home long be- fore daylight and arrived in Oberlin during the early evening. Having reached this point, they were safe, as public opinion was such that no slave hunt could be held there.
One night in mid-winter, two negroes and their wives came to his house nearly frozen ; they had crossed the Ohio River on ice and had come safely on foot, this far. They were fed, clothed, kept several days and sent on their way rejoicing. Five and seven miles away, there were two of Finney's sub-agencies.
One time, five men and five or six women and child- ren were brought to Finney's house. He lodged the females in the upper story of his dwelling and the men in the granary. Slave hunters, learning that they were secreted about the premises, made a demand for their delivery. He demanded their warrant and as they could not produce this, the party divided, one half of them proceeding to Mansfield in search of a warrant and the other half remaining to watch the premises. Finney sent word to his friends, armed the darkies with pitch- forks and in order to gain time, invited the slave hunt- ers into the house to breakfast. He consumed as much time as possible and while the men were eating the
313
THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY
darkies found an opening and escaped to the woods. When the warrant arrived, Finney's friends, all weil armed had also arrived. Finney delivered the keys of the granary to the officer who found the nest empty and the birds flown. The slave hunters at once began a search of the neighborhood while the women and chilrren were transfered to the care of one of Finney's sub-agencies and from this station they were imme- diately forwarded to another and from there to other points, finally escaping. The male slaves were all rounded up in the woods and also sent on their way to Canada.
Another time, a colored woman and her two daughters came to his house. He took them as far as Mansfield and tried to get others to forward them along, failing in this, he bought a load of flour, stipulat- ing that it should be delivered in Oberlin. He then gave the teamster three dollars to take the females along with him.
One very cold day, an escaping slave from New Orleans, came to Finney's house and remained with him until warm weather came. This slave had been sold eleven times, could read and write and at last succeeded in reaching the Queen's dominions. Graham, in his his- tory of Richland county says: "Three colored boys came to Iberia for the purpose of getting an education. They had been there a year or two and had progressed very well, but the blood hounds were on their track. As the train neared Iberia, one evening, the bell-rope was pulled, the train slackened, and a party of slave hunt- ers with a deputy marshall at their head, sprang off.
314
THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY
The boys were at different places and one or two of them were captured. This caused intense excitement. The people collected rapidly, caught the marshal and his slave-hunters and after a consultation, allowed the darkies to "cut their hair and use beech sprouts" on them to such an extent as was deemed necessary. The citizens engaging in this affair expected troble and sent to Cleveland for an eminent lawyer to engage in their defense. The services of Richard Parsons, a man who had the year before been elected to Congress, were se- cured. When told that he would be expected to manage the case for a small compensation, promised to do all in his power and if necessary would employ an attorney in Northern Ohio to assist him. He not only agreed to do the work gratuitously, but said if they were fined, he would help pay it. Rev. Geo. Gordon, President of the college at Iberia, was the man the slave-power resolved to humble. He was indicted, tried, convicted and sen- tenced to pay a fine of $300 and to suffer imprisonment for six months. His name will go down as one of the martyrs in the cause of human freedom." Mr. Gordon was pardoned out of jail by Abraham Lincoln, the par- don did not recognize his innocence and he refused to leave his cell until compelled to do so by his friends. The jail had however done its work, the seeds of con- sumption had been contracted within its walls, and "the friend of the slave" soon lay down his life as the result of his love for the human race.
And Richard Parsons, of Cuyahoga, what of him ? The defender of the poor and oppressed, the friend of the slave, the living exponent of human liberty. His name deserves to be engraved on the scroll of fame and
315
THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY
to be remembered by generations of the freedom loving yet unborn.
Oberlin was the most important station on the un- derground railroad. To reach Oberlin was to reach safe- ty. Of the multitude of fugatives who came, not one was ever taken back to bondage. President Fairchild in his work, "Oberlin, the colony, and the College" says : "Not to deliver to his master the servant that had es- caped from his master, seemed to the people of Oberlin a solemn and pressing duty. This attitude exposed the college and the community to much reproach and some- times apparently to serious danger. Threats came from abroad that the college buildings should be burned. A Democratic Legislature at different times agitated the question of repealing the college charter. The fourth and last attempt was made in 1842, when the bill for re- peal was indefinitely postponed by a vote of thirty-six to twenty-nine.
The people in the neighboring towns were, at the outset, not in sympathy with Oberlin in its anti-slavery movement and position. They agreed with the rest of the world in regarding it as an unmitigated fanaticism. The feeling was often bitter and intense and an Oberlin man going out from home in any direction was liable to be assailed with bitter words and if he ventured to lec- ture upon the unpopular theme, he was fortunate if he encountered words only; of course the self respectful part of the community would take no part in such abuse but fellows of the baser sort felt themselves sustained by the common feeling. On the Middle Ridge Road, six miles north of Oberlin, a guide board put up by the au- thorities stood for years, pointing the way to Oberlin,
316
THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY
not by the ordinary index finger, but by the full-length figure of a fugitive running with all his might to reach the place. The tavern sign, four miles east, was orna- mented on its Oberlin face with the representation of a fugitive slave pursued by a tiger. Where general feel- ing yielded such result, not much could be expected in the way of sympathy for fugitives. But even among these people the slave catcher had little favor. They would thwart his pursuit in every way and shelter the fugitive if they could. Only the meanest and most mer- cenary could be hired to betray the victim. Now and then an official felt called upon to extend aid and com- fort to the slave hunter who claimed his services, but he could expect no toleration from his neighbors in such a course. A whole neighborhood would suddenly find themselves abolitionists upon the appearance of a slave hunter among them and by repeated occurences of this kind, as much as by any other means, Lorain County and all Northern Ohio became at length, intensely anti- slavery in feeling and action."
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.