The Portsmouth to Columbus Route

Several primary routes on the Underground Railroad went through central Ohio. A major south to north route began in Portsmouth and included stops operated by Richard Chancelor, Robert Chancelor, John Fidler, Jesse Fidler, and Andrew Redmond, along the way north to Chillicothe. This line continued into Circleville where Rev. William Hanby and Phillip Doddridge were station keepers.

The line in Columbus had many conductors including Shephard Alexander, David Jenkins, John Bookel, Thomas Washington, Lewis Washington Sr., Rev. James Poindexter, William Washington, William Ferguson and Jeremiah Freeland. Other well-known operators were bookseller Joseph Sullivant at 111 High Street, Dr. James Coulter, Jason Bull, Edward L. Sebring, and James M. Westwater, who lodged freedom seekers in a smokehouse on Chestnut Street. Also involved in the Underground Railroad were Dr. Samuel Smith of Starling Medical College and Lewis G. Van Slyke of E. Town Street, who later became the warden of the Ohio Penitentiary. Fernando Kelton and Rev. Lovett Taft were also involved in the abolitionist movement and freeing of enslaved people.

Traveling north from Columbus, freedom seekers eventually ended up in Worthington where a strong anti-slavery sentiment existed. Operators in Worthington included James Kilbourne and Ozem Gardner (Flint). From Worthington, freedom seekers would continue on into Delaware County. There were several stations in and around Delaware, but most freedom seekers made their way to the Alum Creek Settlement of Quakers in Morrow County (Marengo), which was a haven of refuge for them. From there various routes connected the freedom seekers to freedom in Canada.

Ohio’s Underground Trails Map

Ohio State University professor Wilbur Siebert spent over 50 years of his life researching the Underground Railroad in Ohio and nearby states. This map demonstrates the vastness of the lines that ran through Ohio and the number of lines that went through Columbus.

Edward Sebring

Sebring worked alongside Jason Bull to help enslaved people to freedom along High Street, which at the time was a plank road all the way to Worthington. The route went from Clinton Township to the Ozem Gardner house in Flint. Sebring said “I had been raised a democrat and had been taught that Abolitionists were very bad, but after seeing the backs of those poor fellows I felt differently, and went with pleasure.”

Courtesy of Ohio History Connection

Fernando Cortez Kelton

The Kelton family was involved in the abolitionist movement in Columbus and was said to have run a stop on the Underground Railroad at the Kelton home on Town Street.

Courtesy of the Kelton House Museum & Garden

Lewis G. Van Slyke House

Another Underground Railroad stop on Town Street belonged to L.G. Van Slyke. He was an abolitionist, as well as a leather and shoe dealer. He became a guardian of a former enslaved girl named Rosetta, who was freed in Ohio by a ruling of the Ohio Supreme Court.

Courtesy of Ohio History Connection

Joseph Sullivant

Son of Lucas Sullivant, Joseph was a book merchant and geologist. He was a member of the Columbus School Board 1850-1861 and 1865-1868, usually holding the office of president. He served as trustee of OSU 1870-1878. Sullivant founded the Columbus Lyceum and the forerunner of the Columbus Metropolitan Library. He was an active abolitionist who helped many enslaved people to freedom at his home on High Street, opposite the Statehouse.

Ozem Gardner House

The Gardner house is three miles north of Downtown Worthington. Ozem Gardner took in freedom seekers from Jason Bull and Edward Sebring and would drive them further north to Milo Pettibone in Delaware to Rev. William Hanby in Westerville.