Guide to Important Terms
The Underground Railroad in Boone County 1837-1863
Abolitionist: a person who supported ending the institution of slavery.
Bus Tour
Agent: a person who assisted in the planning and execution of an escape.
Anti-slavery Organizations: American Anti-slavery Society, Liberty Society, Emancipation Society, Free Soil Movement and
various church denominations.
Border States: Civil War era phrase referring to slave-holding states which did not secede and were exempt from the
Emancipation Proclamation. This phrase is also used to describe the geographical position of these states as a border to Free
states. Border states included: Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and West Virginia.
Canada: even after making it to a free state, escaped slaves were sometimes at risk of capture. Many travelled all the way to
Canada, where the Federal Laws of the U.S. did not apply .
Conductor: a person on the Underground Railroad who would lead or direct freedom seekers to their next stop or destination.
Enslaved person/ Slave: someone “owned” by another, used for labor. These terms may be used interchangeably with regards
to historical context.
Enticement (of slaves): the term “enticement” was often used in the press in slave holding states to describe the help offered to
slaves by abolitionists or agents on the underground railroad.
Itinerary
9:45
Leave Main Library in Burlington
10:00- 10:45 Richwood Presbyterian Church
11:00- 11:45 Big Bone State Park
Unload vehicle for presentation at Visitor Center
Rest Room Break
12:00– 1:30 Rabbit Hash
Lunch & Guest Presentation by Dr. Eric Jackson
Browse town shops and Visitor Center
2:00- 2:45 Petersburg
Freedom seeker/ escaped or runaway slave/fugitive slave: these terms are used to describe someone who has escaped from
enslavement. The terms may be used interchangeably with regards to historical context.
Unload vehicle on Front Street
Fugitive Slave Acts: the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, placed responsibility for catching runaway slaves on officials of slave states.
The 1850 act required that officials of Free states assist in the recapture of “fugitives” within their state. Slave catchers in these
states were granted immunity in order to do the job for which they were hired; both were federal laws at the time.
Rest room break at Community Center
North Star: in Underground Railroad history and lore, the North Star (Polaris) was used as a compass point for freedom seekers.
Overseer: a free or enslaved person hired or assigned the job of labor-management of slaves on a particular farm.
Patroller: Boone County citizens appointed to regularly patrol assigned areas and prevent escape of slaves. According to court
orders, patrollers were not entitled to receive a reward for the return of “fugitives,” though news accounts of the day indicate
instances where patrollers received bounty.
Quakers: a peaceful religious group with widely held anti-slavery feelings, some acted upon these feelings through their
involvement in the Underground Railroad.
Slave catcher, slave hunter: someone hired to track, capture and return runaway slaves for a reward.
Slave holder, slave owner or “master”: a person who claims ownership of another person/persons in a slave-holding state.
These terms may be used interchangeably with regards to historical context.
Slave Trader: someone who made his living buying and selling slaves for profit.
Safe house: a stop along the Underground Railroad, where those escaping to freedom could hide and obtain food, clothing and
shelter.
Skiff: a small boat, similar to a row boat, used to cross the river to freedom.
Underground Railroad: loosely organized system for helping fugitive slaves escape to Canada or to areas of safety in Free
states.
Boone County Public Library
www.bcpl.org
Walking tour presentation
3:15 -3:30 North Bend (Giles Conrad Park)
Unload vehicle for presentation
3:45– 4:00 Return to Main Library in Burlington
Special Guest Speaker: Dr. Eric Jackson
Dr. Eric R. Jackson is an associate professor of history and director of the Black Studies program
at Northern Kentucky University. He received his doctorate from the University of Cincinnati in
2000, where his studies focused on Early American and African American history, with a minor in
Colonial Latin American history. His dissertation examined the educational history of African
American Indianapolians during the early part of the 20thcentury.
Dr. Jackson has taught numerous courses, such as: Researching Local Underground Railroad
Sites; Introduction to Black Studies; the History of African Americans to 1877; and the History of
African American Education. Dr. Jackson has published in several local, regional, national, and
international journals, as well as, several books that include but is not limited to a co-author volume
titled Reflections of African American Leaders in the Peace Movement and Northern Kentucky.
Copies of Dr. Jackson’s latest publication, Cincinnati’s Underground Railroad may be
purchased during the tour for $22.
Richwood area: Margaret Garner Escape Attempt
Margaret Garner: Along with the rest of her family and other
Boone County slaves, escaped across the frozen Ohio into Cincinnati
in January 1856. Some of the group made it to Canada, but the
Garner family was caught in Cincinnati. At the time of capture,
Margaret killed her youngest child and appeared to attempt to kill the
other children. A lengthy trial ensued to determine if Margaret would
be tried for murder by the free state of Ohio or returned to Kentucky
under the laws of the federal Fugitive Slave Act . Prior to her escape,
Margaret was held by the Gaines Family of Maplewood Farm in Richwood and was a member of
Richwood Presbyterian Church. Thomas Satterwhite Noble [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Big Bone: Dr. Thomas Trundle
Dr. Thomas Trundle: Trundle was born in Bourbon County and moved to Boone County in the
1820s. He purchased land in the Big Bone and Mudlick areas. Trundle frequently bartered with
patients for his medical services, and provided loans through mortgage for many local
landowners. As a result, conflict arose between Trundle and the many people who owed him
money. He married Martha (Utz) Black in 1852. Martha had been a battered wife previously and
was a neighbor of Trundle. Trundle was arrested in 1853 for “enticement of slaves”. Fearing for
his life, he asked for and received a change of venue to Kenton County, where he died of
mysterious causes on the morning of his trial. Conflicting news reports claimed Trundle was
either an abolitionist or slave stealer who sold slaves south for financial gain.
Rabbit Hash & Rising Sun: Key Players and Escapes
Laura Smith Haviland: A well-known anti-slavery activist and daughter of
Quaker parents, she founded the Raisin Institute in Michigan with her
husband. In 1847, she attempted to extract John “Felix” White’s wife and
children from the Stephens’ farm in Rabbit Hash/ East Bend area.
Laura Smith Haviland, public domain image
John “Felix” White: Escaped from George W. Brasher in 1846 and attended
Haviland’s Raisin Institute in Michigan. After Haviland’s aborted attempts to
extract his wife Jane and their children, White attempted to extract the family
himself and they were captured by slave catcher Wright Ray.
Rising Sun, Indiana: A river town established in 1814, it was a well-known crossing point for
Underground Railroad. The town was also the home of three key African American conductors:
Benoni Dixon, Samuel Barkshire and Joseph Edgerton.
Universalist Church: Congregations located on East Bend Road in Boone County, Rising Sun,
Indiana and Patriot Indiana. Universalists were staunch abolitionists who established antislavery
doctrine by 1840’s.
Petersburg: Key Players and Escapes
George W. Brasher: A slave hunter and trader from Louisiana, Brasher moved
to Boone County in the 1820s. He owned several town lots in Petersburg, all
near the public landing. Some of the lots may have been used as holding “pens”
for slaves he intended to sell in the south. Brasher was involved in Kentucky
raids in Cass County, Michigan and aggressively pursued runaways.
George W. Brasher (Brashear), Mrs. Thomas White Collection, Kentucky Historical Society, ca. 1845.
Elijah Anderson: Anderson was a Virginia-born free African American, blacksmith by trade, active
agent and conductor on the UGRR. He was known for helping slaves escape in great number.
Anderson arrived in Cincinnati in the 1830s, moved to Madison, IN in 1835, then to Lawrenceburg,
where he immediately began affecting Boone County’s slave escapes. Arrested in 1856, Anderson
died of suspicious circumstances in a Kentucky penitentiary in 1861, on the day he was due for early
release.
Cincinnati 28: the story of 28 freedom seekers enslaved by Boone County’s Parker and Terrill
families, who escaped through the Cincinnati area to Canada in 1853. They crowded into three
skiffs to cross the Ohio, with one of the boats sinking along the way. They were assisted by the
following key people:
Washington Parker: One of the freedom seekers, who was a leader within the group, who
reportedly read Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and was inspired to action.
John Fairfield: A daring agent/conductor from a Virginia slave-holding family, known for his risky
(but effective) methods.
Deacon John Hatfield: A free African American agent in Cincinnati, who came up with a plan to
stage a mock funeral procession toward integrated Wesleyan Cemetery.
Levi Coffin: Known as the “Superintendent of the Underground Railroad” in Cincinnati, who helped
provide dry clothing, and food He also organized a route for the group.
North Bend: Key Players and Escapes
Mat Bates: Freed African American slave in the North Bend area of Boone County
in the 1850s. Bates was accused of helping slaves to freedom.
Almeda Phillips: Boone County slave who went to live with John Cleves Short in
Addyston, Ohio.
Jones vs. Van Zandt Supreme Court Case: Boone County slave holder, Wharton
Jones sued John Van Zandt for helping in the 1847 escape of his nine slaves. Van
Zandt was an abolitionist and conductor on the UGRR. The case ruled in favor of
Jones, citing the constitutionality of the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act.
Ed Moxley Slave Narrative: Moxley was one of several slaves who fled Boone County through
North Bend in 1837. In an interview conducted in Canada, in 1895, Moxley gave his account of his
escape from the Hamilton family of Boone County, KY.
John Cleves Symmes, public domain image