Description: John Brown (1800-1859) was an ardent proponent of abolition. He aided many fugitive slaves to freedom along the Lane Trail while he lived in Kansas. This photograph was taken in September 1856. The image was collected by Ohio State University professor Wilbur H. Siebert (1866-1961). Siebert began researching the Underground Railroad in the 1890s as a way to interest his students in history. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03037
Subjects: Underground Railroad -- Kansas; Abolition movement--1850-1860; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Harpers Ferry (W. Va.) History; John Brown's Raid, 1859; Abolitionists -- Ohio
Places: Bourbon County (Kansas)
 

Description: Illustration of a meeting held by the Union and Emancipation Society at Exeter Hall in London, England, published in Harper's Weekly. The Union and Emancipation Society was an anti-slavery, pro-Union organization in England that supported the Union and the abolitionist movement in the United States during the Civil War. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: NAM_OVS25A-D_006
Subjects: Abolition; Civil War 1861-1865; Emancipation of slaves; Slavery
Places: London (England)
 

Description: A portrait of Benjamin Lundy with a copy of his signature at the bottom. Benjamin Lundy (1789-1839) was an abolitionist who settled in St. Clairsville (1815) and Steubenville (1822). He published his own anti-slavery gazette, The Genius of Universal Emancipation. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07938
Subjects: Quakers; Abolition; Abolitionists;
 

Description: Benjamin Lundy, pioneer of Anti-Slaveryism in America, organized an anti-slavery group of 500. He collaborated with Chalres Orborne in publishing The Philathropist. Lundy was also the author of Genius of Universal Emancipation from his home in Mount Pleasant, Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07941
Subjects: Quakers; Abolition; Abolitionists;
 

Description: Broadside announcing an abolitionist lecture by T. B. McCormick, to be given at the Eaton, Ohio, town hall on April 30, 1857. McCormick was a reverend with the Presbyterian Church who was active on the Underground Railroad, primarily in and around Princeton, Indiana. He eventually fled to Canada to escape prosecution for aiding fugitive slaves. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04161
Subjects: Eaton (Ohio); Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Abolition movement--1850-1860; Abolitionists -- Ohio
Places: Eaton (Ohio); Preble County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing a house that was once used as a "station" on the Underground Railroad. The description on the back of the photograph reads: "The Alexander Doty home, one of the stations on the Underground Railroad and harbor of refuge for Udney Hyde." The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses and hiding places that helped fugitive slaves escape to freedom in the northern United States or over the border to Canada. Udney Hyde was a well-known operator on the Underground Railroad in Mechanicsburg, Ohio. While aiding escaped slave Addison White, Hyde went into hiding from federal marshals, staying for a time at this home. The home has since been torn down. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC1338_002_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Ohio; Abolition; Abolitionists; African Americans--History; Houses; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century
Places: Mechanicsburg (Ohio); Champaign County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing a house that was once used as a "station" on the Underground Railroad. The description on the back of the photograph reads: "Lazy Man's Rest, another station." The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses and hiding places that helped fugitive slaves escape to freedom in the northern United States or across the border in Canada. Anson Pearl Howard built his home in Mechanicsburg in 1855, calling it "Lazy Man's Rest." He regularly hid fugitive slaves on the premises, sometimes housing as many as ten at a time in the cellar. Howard went on to represent his county in both the U.S. House and the Senate during the Civil War. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC1338_004_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Ohio; Abolition; Abolitionists; African Americans--History; Houses; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century
Places: Mechanicsburg (Ohio); Champaign County (Ohio)
 

Description: The description on the back of the photograph reads: "Aaron L. Benedict's house, an underground station in Alum Creek Settlement." The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses and hiding places that helped fugitive slaves escape to freedom in the north. Aaron Benedict was a conductor on the Underground Railroad in Alum Creek. Ohio. He was born on January 21, 1817, in Alum Creek, and eventually inherited his father's farm property. As a devout abolitionist, he was known for assisting fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad. Slave owners eventually established a $1,000 reward for Benedict's capture. On several occasions, Benedict hired attorneys for accused fugitive slaves. He once convinced a slave owner to free a slave mother and her four children, whom the owner had recaptured near Alum Creek. Benedict threatened the owner with arrest, convincing him to leave the five fugitives alone. Benedict also helped another fugitive, John Green, to free family members still held in bondage in Kentucky. Unfortunately for Green, slave catchers eventually seized his wife and children and returned them to slavery despite Benedict's efforts. Following the American Civil War, Benedict began to raise and breed bees. He became widely respected for his bee research and eventually moved to Kelleys Island on Lake Erie, where he opened an apiary. Benedict died on February 17, 1905. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC1338_006_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Ohio; Abolition; Abolitionists; African Americans--History; Houses; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century
Places: Delaware (Ohio); Morrow County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image shows the Edwin Coppock Memorial, errected by Daniel Howell Hise in Salem, Ohio. The engraving reads "Edwin Coppock 'A martyr to the cause of liberty' Born in Butler Township near Salem, Ohio. June 30, 1835. Was one of John Brown's Company in his attempt to liberate the slaves at Harpers Ferry, VA. October 1859. Was executed at Charleston, VA. December 16, 1859." John Brown was an abolitionists whose obsession with ending slavery led him to violence and his eventual death. Under the influence of his father, Brown decided to dedicate his life to destroying the institution of slavery, and he spent time serving as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Brown gained national attention in 1859 when he led a group of twenty-one men on a raid of Harper's Ferry, Virginia (modern-day West Virginia). A federal arsenal was in the town, and Brown hoped to capture the buildings and the weapons stored inside of them. He then intended to distribute the guns and ammunition to slaves in the region, hoping to create an army of African Americans that would march through the South and force slave-owners to release their slaves. Brown and his men succeeded in capturing the arsenal, but local residents surrounded the buildings, trapping the abolitionists inside. A detachment of United States Marines arrived and stormed the arsenal on October 18, capturing seven men, including Brown. The court found Brown guilty and sentenced him to death, along with his comrades. John Brown's Harper's Ferry raid raised issues for the presidential election of 1860. It was also one of the events that led to the eventual dissolution of the United States and the Civil War that followed. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06500
Subjects: Slavery; Abolition movement--1850-1860; Harpers Ferry (W. Va.) History John Brown's Raid, 1859; Memorials--Ohio
Places: Salem (Ohio); Columbiana County (Ohio)
 

Description: Print of Josiah Henson (1789-1883), clergyman, conductor of fugitive slaves, abolitionist, businessman, soldier and the model for "Uncle Tom" of Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin". Standing at his side is his second wife, Nancy. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: NAM_aaeo_progress_001
Subjects: African Americans; Clergy; Abolition;
 

Description: This is the Painesville, Ohio, residence of Seth Marshall (1815-1883), who gave shelter to fugitive slaves escaping to freedom in Canada along the Underground Railroad. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B15F04_001_003_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Ohio; Historic houses; Abolition movement
Places: Painesville (Ohio); Lake County (Ohio)
 

Description: Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, Hamilton, Ohio, ca. 1840-1849. Lane Theological Seminary was founded in 1829 to educate Presbyterians into the ministry. It was named for Ebeneezer and William Lane, who pledged $4,000 to the school. The first president of the seminary was Lyman Beecher, the father of Harriet Beecher Stowe. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00619
Subjects: Lane Theological Seminary (Cincinnati, Ohio); Religious education; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century; Abolition
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)