Currents
- Currents
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The above-ground railroads
Look at a map of Ohio and find Lake Erie and the Ohio River. Now, draw the shortest possible line between the two.
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Garlick flourished in county
Of all the footprints left by the men and women who passed through Ashtabula County on the Underground Railroad, the impressions made by Abel Bogguess, better known as Charley Garlick, have been the longest lasting.
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XXX and the Gray ‘white rabbit’
“Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hid him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.”Exodus 2:1-3, NIV
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Long, dangerous road to freedom
The road that lead from the place of trial was between the two counties. Great numbers were by this time gathered together. They so managed to throw obstructions in the way of the carriage, that it could make only a zigzag course until both writs were served. Milton was released into Ashtabula County and permitted to go free, the kidnappers in great wrath were taken in an opposite direction, and after a while, they were permitted to return empty-handed to Kentucky.
Lewis Clarke,
“Narrative of the Sufferings of Lewis Clarke” -
Working on the Railroad
More than 160 years after these observations about the Underground Railroad were published, the infrastructure and the spirit that ensured its vitality in Ashtabula County remain subjects of local pride and speculation.
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Tavern on the turnpike
Five months after Ashtabula County was organized, the county’s Common Pleas Court and commissioners took up a matter of extreme importance — the legal establishment of taverns.
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Dark night on Lake Erie
In terms of lives and ships lost, the year 1847 stands out as one of the worst in the early decades of Great Lakes shipping. -
Harpersfield’s soldier wizard
He had “a cold gray eye, solemn visage and sinister aspect.” His Dutch neighbors said he could bewitch things and people at will, and his very presence struck terror in hearts of children. And he had a thirst for the blood of Native Americans, whom he blamed for the death of his only son. -
Naming the townships
On July 4, 1838, the townships in the Ashtabula County took the form we know today, with one exception.
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The night Washington burned
“Who would not take a passage with Washington in
preference to any other?”
That rhetorical question was posed in a spring 1838 newspaper article coaxing passengers to book a voyage on the 400-ton sidewheel steamer, George Washington (also referred to as the General Washington in local references). - More Currents Headlines
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