Description: Travelogue by Benjamin Lundy describing his journeys from southern Michigan through Ohio, and westward along the Ohio River from Wheeling, to Cincinnati, up through Indiana, and down through Dayton back to Cincinnati. Lundy gives date numbers but no month names in his travel journal entries, but his descriptions show that he is traveling in the dead of winter. His entries detail traveling conditions in Michigan and Ohio during the 1820s, and pay special attention to the difficulties of traveling across the swampy landscape of southern Michigan in freezing weather. Later portions of the travelogue detail Lundy's experiences on a variety of boats on the Ohio River, including coal ships and steam boats, and his thoughts on the bigotry of two fellow passengers praising the institution of slavery. Comments at the close of this particular travelogue indicate that one of the purposes of Lundy's travel was to gain more subscribers to his serial anti-slavery publication, the Genius of Universal Emancipation; Lundy's comments indicate that this particular journey through Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Indiana garnered the publication an additional 200 subscribers. Cities and towns Lundy visits on the leg of the journey described here include (in Lundy's chronological order): Detroit, Michigan; Tecumseh, Michigan; Ypsilanti, Michigan; Clinton, Michigan; Saline, Michigan; Blissfield, Michigan; Sandusky, Ohio; Tiffin, Ohio; McCutchenville, Ohio; Zanesfield, Ohio; Bellefontaine, Ohio; Milford, Ohio; Dublin, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Newark, Ohio; Lancaster, Ohio; Zanesville, Ohio; St. Clairesville, Ohio; Wheeling, West Virginia; Marietta, Ohio; Gallipolis, Ohio; Cincinnati, Ohio; Carthage, Ohio; Reading, Ohio; Hamilton, Ohio; Middletown, Ohio; Milton, Indiana; Centerville, Indiana; Richmond, Indiana; Eaton, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; and a return to Cincinnati, Ohio. Benjamin Lundy (1789-1839) was a prominent Quaker abolitionist best known for his development of abolitionist periodicals. His Genius of Universal Emancipation was first published in 1821 from his home in Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, and enjoyed a wide circulation across the antebellum United States. In the 1820s, the young William Lloyd Garrison came to work for The Genius. Benjamin Lundy traveled widely seeking subscriptions to The Genius, giving talks about the anti-slavery movement, and observing and documenting the conditions of enslaved people across the Americas. He was also involved in the establishment of freed slave colonies in Mexico. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: TraveloguebyBenjaminLundy,II
Subjects: Abolition; Transportation--Ohio; Rivers--Ohio; Slavery; Steamboats; History of technology; Lundy, Benjamin, 1789-1839
Places: Zanesfield (Ohio); Logan County (Ohio); Ohio River; Michigan; Indiana