Chesterhill in Morgan County, Ohio — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
Quaker Meeting House
Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., February 7, 2009
1. Quaker Meeting House Marker
Despite the fugitive slave laws that prohibited harboring runaway slaves, fugitives found refuge in the Quaker village of Chesterfield, now Chesterhill. Legend tells that no runaway slaves were ever captured here, although many were hidden and helped on their way to freedom in Canada. A well-organized branch of the Underground Railroad ran through Morgan County with Elias Bundy as a principal conductor. Bundy sometimes concealed fugitive slaves in the woods east of Chester Hill. Historian W.H. Siebert says Bundy, Jesse Hiatt, Nathan Morris, Abel W. Bye, Joseph Doudna, Arnold Patterson, and Thomas Smith belonged to the inner circle of old and reliable Friends [Quakers] upon whom dependence could always be placed. The first Monthly Meeting was held on October 21, 1839 at the location of the present Meeting House, which was built in 1834.
Erected 2003 by Ohio Bicentennial Commission, The P & G Fund, and The Ohio Historical Society. (Marker Number 15-58.)
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Abolition & Underground RR • Peace • Religion & Religious Structures. In addition, it is included in the Ohio Historical Society / The Ohio History Connection, and the Quakerism series lists. A significant historical month for this entry is October 1840.
Location.
this page online
Regionally, this marker is in the American Midwest, in the Ohio River Valley, in Appalachia, and specifically in Northern Appalachia. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, and the Northwest Territory.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 8 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Big Bottom Massacre (approx. 5.7 miles away); The Stockport Mill (approx. 5.7 miles away); Stockport (approx. 5.8 miles away); Underground Railroad (approx. 5.8 miles away); Two Riverboat Pilots (approx. 5.8 miles away); Brick Church and Cemetery (approx. 7.3 miles away); Amesville (approx. 7.7 miles away); The Coonskin Library (approx. 7.7 miles away).
Also see . . . Chesterfield Monthly Meeting. Ohio Monthly Meeting website entry (Submitted on March 20, 2022, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York.)
Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., February 7, 2009
2. Quaker Meeting House and Marker
Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., February 7, 2009
3. Quaker Cemetery near the Meeting House
Credits. This page was last revised on July 2, 2023. It was originally submitted on March 4, 2009, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio. This page has been viewed 3,729 times since then and 80 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on March 4, 2009, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.
