From Circleville to Chillicothe on the Ohio-Erie Canal

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I wasn’t sure what to think when a friend asked me to join a historical novella collection about the Erie Canal. But this historic achievement soon captured my imagination. I became even more excited when I discovered that the Ohio-Erie Canal connected Lake Erie, one of the five Great Lakes, to the broad Ohio River.

 

My ancestors settled in Ohio way back in the late 1700s when Virginia gave land to their Revolutionary War veterans instead of paying them in cash. The Virginia Military District, consisting of more than four million acres, was north of the Ohio River between the Little Miami River and the Scioto River. This was before Ohio became the 17th state in 1803. 

Fun Fact: President Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower signed Ohio’s official statehood documents in 1953, retroactive to the March 1, 1803 date. 

 

Getting back to the Ohio-Erie Canal, here are the basics:

·      Date of Construction: 1825 through 1832

·    Length: 308 miles

·    Lift Locks: 146

 

Two towns located along the canal’s route, Circleville and Chillicothe, have connections with my childhood so I chose them as settings for my novella. During my research, I learned fascinating information about both.

 

Circleville

 

My Connection

When I was growing up, my mom and her nine siblings held our annual Christmas get-together at the local high school with a potluck and gift exchange. Multiple cousins and their families still live in the area.

 

The Town's History

 

In 1810, the streets were laid out in a circle on top of a Hopewell Indian mound on the eastern bank of the Scioto River, hence the name of the town. 

 

As time went by, the residents complained about the odd layout. They didn’t like going around in circles or how the circular streets formed irregular lots. 

 In the late 1830s, the Ohio General Assembly created the Circleville Squaring Company which was tasked with changing the streets into a grid layout and to rebuild the curved buildings.

 

The town’s modern-day claim to fame is the popular Circleville Pumpkin Show. It's marketed as the "Greatest Free Show on Earth," and held the third Wednesday through Saturday in October. 

 

Chillicothe

 

My Connection

 

My paternal grandparents lived for a time at the end of a “holler” south of this historic city. I loved visiting my grandparents and often spent a week or two with them during the summers. But I didn’t like driving through Chillicothe to get to their house. The century-old paper mill located there emits a very unpleasant odor. The locals euphemistically call it the smell of money, but I always held my nose!

 

History

 

Chillicothe, first settled in 1796, is also located along the Scioto River. The town has the distinction of serving as Ohio’s first capital (1803-1810) and its third capital (1812-1816). 

 

In the years prior to the Civil War, Chillicothe’s free black community played a vital role maintaining stations along the Underground Railroad. In my story, the heroine and hero help runaway slaves escape the hunters who wanted to take them back across the Ohio River.

For the past thirty-plus years, Chillicothe has hosted the annual Feast of the Flowering Moon Festival, a three-day event celebrating Native American culture, with music, arts and crafts exhibits, and various demonstrations. 

 

The city also hosts the annual Southern Ohio Storytelling Festival. Though the multi-day event only began in 2004, the history of storytelling in the region has a long tradition that includes the Shawnee and Mingo tribes, early settlers, and travelers along the Underground Railroad. All these groups passed stories from one generation to the next.  

My story in the Erie Canal Brides Collection is called "Journey of the Heart" and takes place in 1852. The heroine, Charity Sinclair, secretly writes abolitionist pamphlets while thwarting architect Tavish Dunbar's effort to redesign her father's post office--a hidden stop on the Underground Railroad. When a slave hunter captures a runaway, Charity vows to rescue the fugitive. But can she trust Tavis with her secret...and with her heart?

Harriet Tubman and William Henry Seward (and a free book event)

by Kathleen L. Maher

Are you "geeking out" about the new Harriet Tubman movie like me? If so, I thought you might enjoy reading about this amazing lady's not-commonly-known relationship with Lincoln's Secretary of State. 

First, some trivia about William H. Seward, a historical figure and native New Yorker whom I never get tired of studying.

• New York State Senator 1830-34
• New York Governor 1839-42
• US Senator for NY 1849-61 
• Considered early favorite Republican for president in 1860  
• Secretary of State 1861-1869 for Lincoln and Johnson
• Attacked and seriously wounded by Lewis Powell during Lincoln's assassination plot
• purchased Alaskan territory (considered "Seward's Folly") in 1867

Seward was a passionate abolitionist, which damaged his presidential chances in 1860 though he was a strong contender to Lincoln. Slavery was not abolished in New York until 1827, and I found it an ironic surprise to learn his own father was a slaveholder. He and his father had a strained relationship over tight purse strings, and as a young man, William--or Henry as his friends called him--left school to find employment in Georgia, where he witnessed the mistreatment of slaves. He remained devoted to the abolitionist cause even after his family reconciled with him, and called him home to New York to finish his law degree.

Seward earned a reputation for defending a black man accused of murdering four white people following escape from jail. Seward argued a new defense strategy, insanity, citing the abuse the man William Freeman incurred in prison. Seward was an advocate for prison reform and humane treatment for the insane. Seward also defended an underground railroad conductor by the name of John Van Zandt who was sued by a slaveholder. Seward's wife Frances was even more devoted to the abolitionist cause than he. After the Fugitive Slave law of 1850, the couple opened their own home as a safe house along the Underground Railroad route passing through Auburn, New York. 

In the mid 1850's the Sewards met Harriet Tubman in their mutual work on the Underground Railroad. Frances Seward gave Margaret Tubman a place to stay in Auburn after Harriet brought her niece from Maryland. In 1857, a permanent home was offered to Harriet to house her aging parents, whom she had helped escape in a daring trip south. For a while they stayed in Canada, but the active anti-slavery sentiment in Auburn assured her of their safekeeping.  In 1859 the Sewards sold that property to Harriet for a small sum. Harriet would use this house as a base of operations throughout the rest of her activity on the Underground Railroad. 

Harriet met and later married Nelson Davis, and the Auburn wedding was attended by the Sewards, among many other friends. The brick structure of the Harriet Tubman Home on her 25 acre parcel of land is where she spent most of her living from 1859-1913, a part of the Harriet Tubman National Historic Park in Auburn exists to honor her work and legacy. The Thompson Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church which she helped finance and build remains on the property as well as the home for indigent and elderly African Americans which was her dream to provide after the war.

Tubman died in 1913 at the venerable age of 93. She is buried in Auburn at the Fort Hill Cemetery, which became listed on the National Register of Historic places in 1999.

Kathleen L. Maher’s first crush was Peter Rabbit, and she’s loved conflicted heroes ever since. She has two novellas in BARBOUR BOOKS' collections: Victorian Christmas Brides and Lessons on Love. Winner 2012 ACFW Genesis Award. Author of Sons of the Shenandoah Series: The Abolitionist's Daughter and The Chaplain's Daughter.
Kathleen and her husband live in an old farmhouse in upstate NY.
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My first book, The Abolitionist's Daughter provides a look into the Underground Railroad through a fictitious family and features real heroes of the Underground Railroad. Book 2 in Sons of the Shenandoah series, The Chaplain's Daughter, kicks off five days of a Free Kindle Event. Be sure to download your free copy today through November 12 on Amazon.

100 Steps to Freedom

by Tamera Lynn Kraft

Before the Civil War, Ohio had the largest Underground Railroad of any state in the Union. It is believed that every county in Ohio had a route. Many slaves would escape over the Ohio River and through Ohio on their way to Canada. This was a dangerous undertaking because, even though Ohio was a free state, the Fugitive Slave Law made it so anyone helping escaped slaves could be fined and jailed, and the slaves would be returned to their masters.

Parker's Foundry in Ripley, Ohio

Ripley, a small town in Ohio, helped more slaves escape than any where else. Ripley is located on the banks of the Ohio River across from Mason County, Kentucky.

One man who helped slaves escape was a freed black man named John Parker. Parker. He was educated by his master in Virginia and eventually bought his freedom. He traveled to Ohio and opened a foundry on Front Street facing the Ohio River. He was the first black man to earn a patent for one of the inventions he used in his foundry. At night, he would search the Ohio River looking for escaped slaves and helping them find their way to an Underground Railroad Station. In my novel, Red Sky Over America, Parker has a minor role.

Rankin House

Reverend John Rankin, a Presbyterian minister, owned a house on top of a hill in Ripley and also had a large role in the Underground Railroad. He built one hundred steps to the house that could be seen on the other side of the river. At night, he would light a lantern and hang it from the porch to signal slaves that it was safe to cross. It is estimated over 2,000 slaves escaped through the Rankin House. None of them were ever recaptured.

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote her famous novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, about the escape of the slave, Eliza, after hearing the story from Reverend Rankin. I also added John Rankin's house in my new novel, Red Sky Over America. The story takes place on the Ohio River where all these exciting events happened.

Tamera Lynn Kraft has always loved adventures and writes Christian historical fiction set in America because there are so many adventures in American history. She has received 2^nd place in the NOCW contest, 3^rd place TARA writer’s contest, and was a finalist in the Frasier Writing Contest. Her Novels, Red Sky Over America and Alice’s Notions and her novellas Resurrection of Hope and A Christmas Promise are available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and at other online stores.