Description: Modern photograph of a mill in Bendersville, Adams County, Pennsylvania where fugitive slaves were concealed. The two women in the picture are believed to be Ruth Cook Jacobs and her mother-in-law, ca. 1935. 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: AL03206
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Pennsylvania; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights
Places: Bendersville (Pennsylvania); Adams County (Pennsylvania)
 

Description: Modern photograph of a mill just south of Gettysburg, in Adams County, Pennsylvania, where fugitive slaves were concealed on their way to freedom in Canada. 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: AL03207
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Pennsylvania; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights
Places: Gettysburg (Pennsylvania); Adams County (Pennsylvania)
 

Description: Photograph of a portrait depicting William Wright (1788-1865), who was a Quaker and station-keeper on the Underground Railroad with his wife Phebe in Plainfield, Adams County, Pennsylvania. 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: AL03208
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Pennsylvania; Abolitionists; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights
Places: York Springs (Pennsylvania); Adams County (Pennsylvania)
 

Description: Photograph of a portrait depicting Phebe Wierman Wright (1790-1873), a Quaker who kept a station on the Underground Railroad with her husband William in Plainfield, Adams County, Pennsylvania. 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: AL03209
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Pennsylvania; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights
Places: York Springs (Pennsylvania); Adams County (Pennsylvania)
 

Description: Photograph of Thaddeus Stevens M. C. (1792-1868), who aided fugitive slaves in southeastern Pennsylvania and, as a practicing lawyer, often appeared in court for them. 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: AL03194
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Pennsylvania; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights
Places: Gettysburg (Pennsylvania); Adams County (Pennsylvania)
 

Description: This photograph shows a street scene of William Harrison's inauguration. William Henry Harrison was an American political and military leader and the ninth President of the United States. He was born in Charles County, Virginia, on February 9, 1773. He attended and graduated from Hampden-Sydney College and, at his father's insistence, studied medicine from 1790 to 1791 at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Upon his father's death in 1791, Harrison immediately joined the United States Army. Harrison continued to serve in the military until 1798, when he resigned and accepted a new position as the Secretary of the Northwest Territory. He held this position until 1799. Because of Harrison's excellent political skills, President John Adams selected him to be the governor of the Indiana Territory on May 12, 1800. The Indiana Territory included modern-day Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan. He held this office until 1813. In 1812, the War of 1812 began between the United States and Great Britain. President James Madison promoted Harrison to the rank of brigadier-general and put him in command of the Army of the Northwest. In October 1813, Harrison led the Army of the Northwest against a combined British and Native American force led by General Henry Proctor and Tecumseh. Known as the Battle of the Thames, the United States emerged victorious. The British ran from the battlefield, leaving the Native Americans to fight on alone. The Americans defeated the Native Americans, killing Tecumseh. Following the War of 1812, Harrison returned to politics. He made his home at North Bend just west of Cincinnati, Ohio. He represented Ohio in the United States Congress for two terms. He also served as the United States ambassador to Colombia in 1828 and 1829. In 1836, he ran as a member of the Whig Party against Democrat Martin Van Buren for the Presidency of the United States. Van Buren, Vice President under Andrew Jackson, won the election. In 1840, Harrison ran against the incumbent. He emphasized his military record against Tecumseh and the British in the War of 1812 with John Tyler of Virginia as his running mate. His campaign slogan was "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too." The sixty-eight-year-old Harrison was inaugurated into office on March 4, 1841, on a cold, overcast day. His speech was one of the longest inauguration speeches in presidential history at 8,445 words. He served the shortest time in office of any man elected to the presidency. He died from pneumonia on April 4, 1841, one month after taking office. John Tyler was his Vice president and successor. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07698
Subjects: Harrison, William Henry, 1773-1841; Presidents--Inauguration--United States; Politicians
Places: Washington (D.C.)
 

Description: Caption on reverse reads: "Code - C 1; Class. - Rivers, etc.; Ident. - Ohio River; Location - At Manchester; This photo must be returned to Ohio Writers' Project 78 E. Chestnut St., Columbus, Ohio." Manchester is located approximately 74 miles upstream of Cincinnati, Ohio. Originally called Massie's Station, it was the first permanent white settlement within the Virginia Military District, built along the Ohio River in 1790 and was built near the "Three Islands." Native Americans used these islands to attack settlers traveling down the Ohio River. Nathanial Massie offered nineteen men property if they would settle in the town. He used the settlement as a base for his survey work in the district. In 1791, Massie's Station became known as Manchester, Ohio. Massie named the community after Manchester, England. It was the fourth permanent settlement established in the Northwest Territory. By 1791, residents had completely encircled the community with a stockade to provide protection from Native Americans. Manchester served as the county seat for Adams County from 1797 to 1803, when residents moved local government to West Union. Located on the Ohio River across from the slaveholding state of Kentucky, Manchester proved an important community along the Underground Railroad. The larger of the two remaining islands is called Manchester, and the smaller is called Tow Head. They are now part of the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuges under the supervision of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The Ohio River is the largest tributary of the Mississippi River and is about 981 miles long. It begins at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in Point State Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It forms the border between Ohio and West Virginia, as well as Ohio and Kentucky, Indiana and Kentucky and Illinois and Kentucky. It joins the Mississippi near Cairo, Illinois. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B10F01_001_001
Subjects: Ohio River
Places: Manchester Township (Ohio); Adams County (Ohio)
 

Description: Reverse reads: "Mt. Adams Incline, in Cincinnati, Ohio." View of the Ohio River and the City of Cincinnati, facing southeast, from the top of the Mount Adams Incline. Mount Adams Incline, extending from Lock St. to Rookwood Pl. and Celestial St., was the more important of the two local inclines. The inclines comprised two stilted, cable-drawn platforms that raised wagons and pedestrians, and later the Zoo-Eden Streetcars and automobiles 268 feet from Lock Street to the hilltop on an inclined track 945 feet long. The understructure, over house tops and streets, is made of stout lumber and had a track gauge of 4 feet 8.5 inches. The funicular railway, completed in 1875, was closed in 1948, and I-471 now runs through the location at the base of the hill. Near the center of the photograph, a water tower with the word "Seeds" can be seen, next to which can be seen on the building, the words "Acme Seeds." Another picture shows a sign near this building for The J. Chas. McCullough Seed Company but it is unclear if these two are related. More information needed. The Ohio River is the largest tributary of the Mississippi River and is about 981 miles long. It begins at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in Point State Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It forms the border between Ohio and West Virginia, as well as Ohio and Kentucky, Indiana and Kentucky and Illinois and Kentucky. It joins the Mississippi near Cairo, Illinois. The bridge on the left, is the L&N Bridge or Louisville & Nashville RR Bridge, opened in 1872 as the Newport & Cincinnati Bridge and was the first railroad bridge to cross the Ohio River in Cincinnati. The bridge was modified in 1897 to include street car and horse and cart traffic. In 1904, the cart path was paved for automobiles and the bridge renamed as the L&N Bridge after its new owners. By the late 1940's street car service was removed and in 1987 railroad traffic ceased. By the 1990's the bridge was lightly used by automobile traffic, and was officially renamed the CSX Bridge after new owners. On April 17, 2001 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, closed to automobiles in 2002, and reopened in 2003 after a $4 million renovation as a pedestrian only bridge. The bridge on the right, called the Central Bridge or Cincinnati & Newport Bridge, was finished in 1890 and was the first "standard" cantilever truss bridge to be built. Located next to the L&N Bridge seen in the background, the Central Bridge had a similar type and length of approach spans to that of the L&N bridge, with the piers built from identical stone. Demolished in 1992, the bridge was replaced by the Taylor-Southgate Bridge in 1995. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B03F08_030_1
Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; Funicular railroads; Inclined planes
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: This is the photograph of the monument marking the grave of Thomas Kirker (1760-1837), the second governor of Ohio. The gray stone monument has a carved inscription. Born in County Tyrone, Ireland, he immigrated with his family to this country when he was about 18. After living in Pennsylvania and Kentucky, he moved with his wife, Sarah, to Ohio in 1793 and eventually settled in Liberty Township in Adams County. Kirker became an influential figure in the Northwest Territory. Governor Arthur St. Clair appointed him to be a justice of the peace in 1797. Over the next several years, Kirker, a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, actively campaigned for Ohio statehood, to the consternation of St. Clair, a Federalist Party member. Kirker represented Adams County at Ohio's first Constitutional Convention in 1802 and also as a member of the General Assembly (1803-1815, 1816-1817, and 1821-1825). He was speaker of the Ohio Senate for seven terms between 1804 and 1815 and as Speaker of the Ohio House from 1816 to 1817. In 1807, he became governor of Ohio after Governor Edward Tiffin resigned to take a seat in the U.S. Senate. Kirker was defeated in the next election, but the winner, Return J. Meigs, was disqualified because he had not lived in Ohio the required numbers of years to become governor. Instead, Kirker remained as acting governor for the duration of the 1807-1808 term. As governor, Kirker dealt with Ohio citizens' concerns about American Indian threats in western Ohio. He sent Thomas Worthington and Duncan McArthur to Fort Greene Ville in late 1807 to investigate, but the two men found no evidence to support the settlers' concerns. Because of Worthington's and McArthur's report, military conflict with the American Indians did not materialize during Kirker's administration. In 1808, Kirker ran against fellow Democratic-Republicans Thomas Worthington and Samuel Huntington for the governorship. Both Kirker and Worthington held similar political beliefs, arguing that the state legislature was supreme in creating law, while Huntington believed that ultimate authority to determine constitutionality of law rested with the Ohio Supreme Court. Kirker and Worthington split the vote among those sharing their view, allowing Huntington to gain the majority and become the state's next governor. Kirker returned to the state legislature, where he continued to represent Adams County until he retired from public service. He died on his Adams County farm in 1837. He was buried in the Kirker Cemetery, sometimes known as the Kirker Family Cemetery, in Adams County. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06960
Subjects: Adams County (Ohio); Legislators; Politicians; Governors--Ohio; Tombstones (sepulchral monuments);
Places: West Union (Ohio); Adams County (Ohio)