Ohio

Started by Hatte Blejer (absent until Nov 1) on Thursday, May 31, 2012
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5/31/2012 at 6:43 AM

My mother is convinced that her great grandfather who was an abolitionist in Ohio was involved in the Underground Railroad. His family lived in Pennsylvania, bought land and lived in Virginia, and then moved up to Ohio, supposedly because they were opposed to slavery. Or so the family story goes. What sources are there for figuring this out, if any?

Private User
5/31/2012 at 8:16 AM

I'm not sure what sources are available to you but Cincinnati was a know refuge for runaway slaves. During NGS there was talk about this and they have a museum dedicated to the underground railroad. Unfortunately, because of our schedule I was not able to find out a lot of specifics.

5/31/2012 at 5:23 PM

What is his name?

5/31/2012 at 5:31 PM

Here s a place to begin looking.
http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground/states.htm

5/31/2012 at 8:50 PM
5/31/2012 at 8:54 PM

He lived in Xenia, which I read had many supporters of the Underground Railroad.

Here's a stop on the railroad in Xenia (I think): http://www.blackvoicenews.com/ugr/urg_2001/1998/day-to-day/tuesday1...

6/1/2012 at 2:38 AM

Here is a mention that a Richard Franklin Petticrew's parents were involved in the Underground Railroad. Perhaps he is related to you Petticrew.

http://books.google.com/books?id=rtRFyFO4hpEC&pg=PA683&lpg=...

6/1/2012 at 9:32 AM

Thanks, I don't think he's closely connected to the Petticrew family that moved from Dauphin Co, Pennsylvania to Rockbridge County, Virginia and then to Montgomery and Greene Counties in Ohio. His family was in Vermont at the time. He has a profile on Geni by the way that Doug Robinson created. An interesting fellow.

6/1/2012 at 1:30 PM

I read somewhere that someone else didn't think the VA and VT Petticrew families were related. Interesting though if both Petticrew families were a part of the Underground Railroad.....

6/1/2012 at 3:00 PM

I'm in the midst of learning about the Scotch-Irish, including the Petticrews and Pettigrews, who came to Pennsylvania and then moved southward to Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky. Some moved back to the North, like my Petticrews. While most of the Scotch-Irish appear to have settled inland and not in the Northeast, some may well have gone to the frontier of Vermont.

6/1/2012 at 3:11 PM

I just found an interesting quote about the Harshbarger family of Botetourt County. My Petticrew ggg grandfather married Sarah Kenney of Botetourt. Sarah's brother married a Harshbarger in Botetourt.

"...David Harshbarger Sr. moved with his family to Cabel County, Virginia, which was on the Ohio River. Again, it is believed that the Harshbargers moved because of their opposition to slavery and the feeling that they could not compete economically against it. Cabel County, along with many other Virginia counties separated from Virginia at the time of the Civil war..."

6/1/2012 at 3:12 PM

They were Presbyterians and from what I read Xenia had a large number supporting the Underground Railroad and it makes sense that very religious Scotch-Irish who emigrated to Virginia and then, opposing slavery, moved to the North, would teach their children to oppose slavery vigorously.

6/1/2012 at 3:13 PM

Perhaps someday you will find a link between them.

6/1/2012 at 3:16 PM

I think it is hard to find info about who was involved in the Underground Railroad because of fear of being caught helping slaves escape. The records were destroyed to protect the people involved.

6/1/2012 at 3:35 PM

Well it got me interested in the Underground Railroad. That and the fact that I am named for Harriet (Hattie) Stowe, a distant Stowe relative of Harriet Beecher Stowe :)

6/1/2012 at 3:43 PM

Have you seen the Underground Railroad project? Perhaps this project will eventually run across the answer on your gggrandfather.

http://www.geni.com/projects/Underground-Railroad/369

6/1/2012 at 3:46 PM

I got interested in the Underground Railroad while working on Harriet Tubman tree.

6/1/2012 at 4:30 PM

http://www.geni.com/path/Elijah+Parish+Lovejoy+is+related+to+Allen+...

I originally started following the project because Allen Perry Lovejoy married my great great aunt, Julia Stowe Lovejoy, sister of my g grandmother, Hattie Stowe. As you see Allen Perry Lovejoy is a close relative of Elijah Parish Lovejoy. To this day, my Lovejoy cousins are social activists and religious :)

6/1/2012 at 5:16 PM

I would think that family traits are often passed down from one generation to the next.

Isn't it fun to learn more about history through the lives of the people. I like it when there is a photo of the person to go along with the story of their lives.

6/1/2012 at 7:28 PM

My mother has scanned in a lot of family photos so hopefully I'll have some fairly old photos to add soon.

6/1/2012 at 7:37 PM

I'll be watching for them, Hatte.

6/6/2012 at 11:21 PM

My mother wrote me about Algernon Sidney Petticrew tonight out of the blue:

http://www.freedomcenter.org/genealogy/

"My grandfather, Algernon Sydney Johnson was a Presbyterian Minister and a staunch Abolitionist. He worked for Clark Lane of Owens, Lane and Dyer, a large manufacturer of steam wood working equipment who was a prominent citizen, a live wire, and a strong Abolitionist too. He and my grandfather were friends as well as co-workers. Johnson was from Zenia Ohio and moved to St. Louis after the Civil War. I have a strong feeling that both men must have been involved with the Underground Railroad"

Dear Hatte

I've been thinking and thinking about A S Petticrew. He lived a short distance north of the U R route where it crossed the Ohio River at Ripley. He was a strong abolitionist and a Presbyterian Minister,(they were notable abolitionists) and a close friend of CLark Lane, a prominent activist citizen, live wire, business success, and strong abolitionist.

After he moved to St. Louis he spent much money and time on a Presbyterian Mission in So St. Louis.

6/7/2012 at 2:51 AM

Are you thinking that this money for the mission was for the Underground Railroad?

6/7/2012 at 11:29 AM

No, the Mission was in St. Louis after the Civil War. I need to check dates. I believe he was an active abolitionist, along with Clark Lane, while living in Xenia (Zenia) prior to the Civil War, and that it was then that he was likely involved in the UR.

6/7/2012 at 5:23 PM

http://www.lanepl.org/hb_2.htm re the friend and employer of my gg grandfather, Algernon Sidney Petticrew -- Clark Lane:

According to One Square Mile, a history published by the Mt. Healthy Historical Society in 1992, the Lane home was said to
be a station on the so-called “underground railroad.”

6/7/2012 at 6:49 PM

Interesting Hatte. It does seem likely.

6/7/2012 at 6:52 PM

It sounds like Clark Lane's family's house was an UR stop in Mt. Healthy, Hamilton County, Ohio. If you look at his profile (I added him to this project to represent the family), he was fired from his first job at age 22 for voting the Abolitionist ticket in Rossville, Ohio.

Private User
6/8/2012 at 12:22 AM

Hatte,
Many of the towns along the Ohio River were stops on the Underground Railroad. I've been to the house mentioned in this Wiki article -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripley,_Ohio#History. as well as some in Cincinnati. Mt. Healthy is not that far from where my parents grew up.

There were some Quaker settlements in the counties that bordered the Ohio River. Many Quakers worked the Railroad. I'm currently working on some Quaker lines. If I find anything that ties into your line, I'll certainly let you know.

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