The Underground Railroad / Escaping Slavery In North Central Ohio

The Underground Railroad, also, Escaping Slavery In North Central Ohio. Historic Underground Railroad Site. , The Underground Railroad , The Underground Railroad was neither underground nor a railroad, but a system of loosely connected safe havens where those escaping the brutal conditions of slavery were sheltered, fed, clothed, nursed, concealed, disguised, and instructed during their journey to freedom. Although this movement was one of America's greatest social, moral, and humanitarian endeavors, the details about it were often cloaked in secrecy to protect those involved from the retribution of civil law and slave-catchers. Ohio's history has been permanently shaped by the thousands of runaway slaves passing through or finding permanent residence in this state., Escaping Slavery In North Central Ohio , Having fled the brutality of bondage, enslaved people were terrified of betrayal and capture by slave catchers. They found themselves north in an uncertain and dangerous environment. The sparse population and geography of counties, Wyandot, Crawford, Seneca, Huron, Sandusky, Erie, and Ottawa, helped alleviate some worry. The numerous villages, Native American missions and waysides were located seven to ten miles apart, the average distance for a male runaway to find sanctuary within a night's trek. The area's flat topography with no hills and few ravines enabled runaways to quickly reach Sandusky Bay where they hoped for quick passage across Lake Erie into Canada. Trails leading into Clyde, Sandusky County, followed what is now State Route 101., Local lore tells of an escaped slave woman and her child found hiding in a shed on the farm of Loomis Ames. He attempted to take them into his house, but they suspiciously cringed in a corner. refusing to leave. The woman wore no shoes and had only a few possessions in a cloth bag. Loomis and his wife left plates of food until finally she was enticed from her hiding place. The Ames family hired her as their housekeeper, and she remained in Clyde for the rest of her life. Elizabeth "Lizzie" Anderson died February 11, 1911 and is the only former slave buried in Clyde's McPherson Cemetery.