Black Involvement
While many well-known histories of the Underground Railroad focus on the role of white conductors, the role of free Black Americans was significant. While Southeast Ohio lacked the structure of an urban community like those in New York, small settlements of free Black Americans were scattered across the region, often near white communities known to have abolitionist sympathies. In Washington County, Cutler, Bartlett, and the Marietta area had Black settlements by 1850. In Morgan County, there were several Black families settled near the Quaker settlement of Chesterhill.[1] Near New Straitsville, Black settlers settled and bought a large amount of land at Payne’s Crossing in the 1830s.[2] The Tabler family lived in Athens County since 1836, and Albany’s free Black population increased with the introduction of the private academies.[3] With their placement throughout Southeast Ohio and often in rural locations, these Black settlements could aid freedom seekers without drawing unwanted attention from prying eyes.
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Albany, Ohio, Historical Marker.
Black Southeast Ohio residents found opportunities to help freedom seekers in their journey north. Some were enslaved people or former slaves. Josephus, an enslaved man who lived on a Virginia plantation, often snuck away at night to row freedom seekers across the Ohio River to Duck Creek above Marietta. He took a route used by freight ships to avoid the current, which meant that the route had less traffic than the busy river.[4] Josephus took a great risk with his involvement, but his familiarity with the area allowed him to help with a vital part of northward migration.
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Likewise, three Curtis brothers fled to Ohio from Rockingham County, Virginia, believing John Curtis had killed his master. They found shelter in a cave, where they lived for two months before the youngest brother, Benjamin, died of exposure. The other brothers, John and Harrison, buried him, and the grave was found by abolitionists who took the teenagers to Stafford and offered them jobs at the local mill. When they learned the slaveholder was alive, the abolitionists and the Curtis brothers worked together to buy their freedom, and the Curtises helped guide freedom seekers north when they passed through Stafford.[5] The presence of an abolitionist community near the Ohio River helped John and Harrison Curtis gain the resources they needed to buy their freedom and to help those who also hoped to be free.
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John Curtis and his family on their Stafford, OH farm. Courtesy of Henry Robert Burke.
Like the Curtis brothers, some Black conductors acted as a team with local white abolitionists. In Marietta, white abolitionist David Putnam Jr. worked with two Black barbers, Jerry Jones and Daniel Strawther, who gave him valuable information.[6] Black barbers played an important role in the abolitionist movement. In urban areas like Philadelphia, they distributed newspapers, participated in vigilance committees, and provided their shops for meeting places. Black barbers could also help freedom seekers find local businesses or homes who would be open to them. Black barbers often served white clients, including slave catchers, so they were able to quickly find and spread information about nearby danger.[7] Towns like Chesterhill and Albany, which had both Black and white abolitionist residents, could combine their resources in similar ways.
Even when white allies could not be found, free Black communities were a safe haven for freedom seekers. Near New Straitsville, less than a dozen families settled at what is now known as Payne’s Crossing. They were light-skinned, possibly the children of slaveholders. Some were mixed-raced households, and many had above average wealth.[8] These rural landowners provided a network of farms to pass through safely. Though many of the community members moved away after the war, possibly due to racism and threats of violence throughout Hocking County, before the war, Payne’s Crossing was an ideal remote series of stops for freedom seekers.
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Payne's Crossing Cemetery Historical Marker.
Notes
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1. 1850 United States Federal Census, Washington County, Ohio; 1850 United States Federal Census, Morgan County, Ohio. Ancestry Database.
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2. The Friends of Freedom Society, Ohio Underground Railroad Association, “Payne’s Crossing,” Payne’s Crossing Cemetery, New Straitsville, OH.
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3. Ivan M. Tribe, Albany, Ohio: The First Fifty Years of a Rural Midwest Community (Athens: Athens County Historical Society and Museum, 1985), 7.
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4. Henry Robert Burke and Charles Hart Fogle, Images of America: Washington County Underground Railroad (San Francisco: Arcadia, 2004), 115.
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5. Henry Robert Burke and Charles Hart Fogle, Images of America, 70-72.
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6. Henry Robert Burke and Charles Hart Fogle, Images of America, 47.
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7. Quincy T. Mills, Cutting Along the Color Line: Black Barbers and Barber Shops in America (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013): 42-46.
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8. David Meyers and Elise Meyers Walker. Historic Black Settlements of Ohio. (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2020). EbscoHost.
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Image 2: John Curtis and Family on their Farm at Stafford, Monroe County, Ohio. Henry Robert Burke, “John Curtis and Family.” https://henryburke1010.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/johncurtisfamily.jpg.
