In 1859, 28 Black men, women and children arrived in Westerville, Ohio
and were officially emancipated after being guided out of enslavement
in North Carolina. They did not travel by way of the Underground
Railroad, but their journey is regionally significant. Marium P. Alston,
part of the enslaving couple, spent years negotiating laws that favored
slavery and the rights of white men to ensure the community of
Black families and kin arrived in Ohio and were emancipated. As was
customary at the time, the Black community assumed the last name
of their enslavers. The Alston Family, as they became known, found
shelter and employment within Samuel Patterson's farm located in East
Orange Township, a few miles north of Westerville along Alum Creek.
Patterson, an abolitionist, helped establish the Alstons with housing in
one of the many outbuildings on his farm, and with jobs. Around this
time, certain racist neighbors started calling the settlement of free Blacks and
whites Africa, Ohio.

The Alston's journey to Africa, Ohio is remarkable because their family
and kin were able to stay together, an unusual circumstance for those
who were enslaved and those escaping slavery. The domestic slave
trade brutaly separated mothers and fathers from their children, men
and women from their spouses and partners, siblings from one another.

After Emancipation, freed people placed thousands of ads in African-
American newspapers across the country to search for family and

friends from whom they had been separated through slavery. Staying
together on the Patterson farm outside Westerville made it easier for
other Alston family members––such as Vina "Viney" Alston, who was
enslaved in North Carolina, and later joined her family in Ohio––to find
one another after Emancipation.

Polaris, commonly known as the “North Star,” is a well-known
navigation point as it holds nearly still in the night sky while the rest
of the Northern Hemisphere stars revolve around it. Polaris is easily
identified by its relative brightness and its consistent relationship to
the Big and Little Dipper constellations. For centuries, travelers over
land and sea relied upon the North Star for navigation. In Ohio, the
Big Dipper and the North Star were tools some Freedom Seekers
used to orient towards the free north and Canada.

Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), the African American abolitionist
who escaped slavery and became one of the most famous orators,
authors, and journalists of the 19th century, founded and edited his
first antislavery newspaper, The North Star, in 1847. Douglass’s orations
brought him as near as Delaware, Ohio. As Douglass explained in
the initial issue: “To millions, now in our boasted land of liberty, it is
the STAR OF HOPE.” Douglass’s paper focused on ending slavery,
promoting equal rights for all, and promoting the advancement and
equality of African Americans.

Native to Ohio, Sycamore trees are easily identified by their white
bark, height, and spreading canopy of massive branches. They thrive in
deep, moist, rich soils, and are found naturally along rivers and streams
and in wet fields and woodlands. They can be used to locate river
corridors from a distance. In Ohio, Sycamore trees are concentrated
along the Scioto River, Alum Creek, and Big Walnut Creek. For the
Underground Railroad, they helped the traveler find their way to the
waterways.

Throughout the mid-19th century, several anti-slavery groups, churches,
institutions and individuals activated the Alum Creek area, establishing
spaces and communities dedicated to ending slavery. Abolitionist
homes are the most stable remnants from the Underground
Railroad. The Stoner House, Thomas Alexander Home, Hanby House,
Sharp Family Homes, and the Samuel Patterson House are marked
throughout Westerville. Intellectual and spiritual institutions were
founded in this area as well. Blendon Young Men’s Seminary, which was
acquired by Otterbein College, an institution with enrollment open to
African Americans and women from its inception in 1847. The Alum
Creek Friends Settlement, a Quaker community established in 1809,
was also active in the Underground Railroad.

Otterbein University was one of the first colleges in the United States
to admit Black people and women. Bishop William Hanby co-founded
the college before the Civil War in 1847. Active abolitionists, the Hanbys
advocated for social reform causes, sheltered Black men and women
fleeing enslavement, published newspaper articles against slavery, and
wrote the popular song “Darling Nelly Gray” to advocate anti-slavery
ideals. The Hanbys lived at the now preserved “Hanby House” from
1853-1870.

William Henry Fouse was born in 1868 in a log cabin outside of
Westerville, three years after his parents, Squire and Sally Fouse,
were emancipated from slavery in North Carolina. Strong believers
in education, the Fouse family purchased the “Hanby House” in 1889.
Their son, William, was the first Black graduate of the Westerville
school system, and in 1893 became the first Black student to graduate
from Otterbein. William lived at the “Hanby House” while he attended
Otterbein. Upon graduating, William taught in Ohio, Indiana, and
Kentucky, where he instituted profound educational reforms. William
founded the Bluegrass Oratorical Association and Bluegrass Athletic
Association, instituted the Penny Saving Bank Plan in schools, and
served as president of the Kentucky National Education Association.
The Fouse family continued to support Black education by transforming
the Westerville home into a boarding house for other Black students
and families.

Even though the “Hanby House” is remembered for the Hanby family’s
accomplishments, the family to live in the Hanby House the longest
was actually the Fouse Family. The Fouses also made significant
contributions to anti-racist social reforms by championing Black
excellence through education.

This sign describes a difficult and painful part of American and Ohio
history.

Before the Civil War, people placed ads in newspapers searching for
“escaped slaves.” Even though Ohio did not allow slavery, the Fugitive
Slave Act of 1850 required residents of all states to capture and return
Freedom Seekers to their enslavers. In the 1840s–60s, newspapers
throughout Ohio published ads searching for runways and offering
rewards for their return.

For decades after Emancipation, newspapers were used to connect
families who were separated by the domestic slavery system. Formerly
enslaved people placed notices hoping to reconnect with family and
loved ones. For example:
Allie Grace Walsh placed an ad in a Chicago paper: “Information
Wanted. Miss Allie Grace Walsh, 434 State Street rear, is in search of
information as to the whereabouts of her father John Walsh, or her
mother, Mrs. Nettie Thompson, or her sister, Ida Thompson or uncles,
Charles, Fred, and John Anderson. She was born in Columbus, Ohio,
and stolen from her parents at the age of six. Any information will be
gladly received by her. –– Western Appeal (St. Paul and Minneapolis,
MN; Chicago, IL), October 6, 1888.

George W. Dority placed this advertisement in a Minneapolis paper: “I
wish to know the [whereabouts] of my mother Mary Ann Dority and
also my sister Mary Jane Dority. When last heard from she was working
for Mrs. Price in Oxford, O. My brother, Dan Dority was last heard from
Westerville, Ohio. –– Appeal: A National Afro-American Newspaper (St.
Paul and Minneapolis, MN), May 23, 1891.

Isom Allston placed this notice: Of my three brothers, Osborn, Philip
and James Johnson. They were originally residents of Edenton, N. C.,
owned by Jas. C. Johnson, who sold them to a man named Jas. Allston
(or Alston). I have learned that James was in Cleveland or Columbus,
Ohio. Any information addressed to me will be thankfully received. ––
The Christian Recorder (Philadelphia, PA), April 28, 1866
The profound repercussions of the domestic slavery system ricochet
across time, culture, society, politics, communities and families. We
include these hard facts as a way to band together in the spirit of
humanity and live in a way where we never repeat these eras again.