February 2, 2022 • 65 mins
In honor of Black History month, come hear one of Ohio Folklore most downloaded episodes, Ripley, Terminus of the Underground Railroad.
Most of us have heard tell of the Underground Railroad, the secretive movement that spirited enslaved peoples northward, toward freedom. Yet few Ohioans know of the integral role of one tiny town on the bank of the Ohio River.
Meet Ripley, Ohio. History has dubbed this quaint village a "terminus of the Underground Railroad."
Come hear intriguing stories of a secret society of abolitionists who aided those seeking freedom. And most compelling of them all, hear the daring tales of one John Parker, a former slave who risked life, limb and his very freedom to rescue desperate souls waiting on Kentucky's banks.
To them, Ohio was a promised land...
If you enjoy this episode please rate, review and subscribe to Ohio Folklore on your chosen podcast platform. You can also find Ohio Folklore at:
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And as always, keep wondering...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:03):
Hello and welcome to Ohio folklore. I'm your host,
Melissa Davies. I've got aspecial announcement before we
begin today's rebroadcastedepisode, I'm taking a temporary
break from producing newcontent. While I'm pursuing a
new creative outlet. There'll bea pause and new episodes. But
I'm hoping you devoted Ohiofolklore fans will ultimately
(00:27):
appreciate my brief detour intothe world of writing. I began
writing a book which willchronicle legendary stories from
one county in the northwestcorner of the state. Set to
publish next fall 2023 I'mdiving deep into legendary lore
(00:47):
that stems from Ohio zone, WoodCounty. For anyone who has
inside knowledge on legendarystories that come from Wood
County, I'd love to hear fromyou. Are you an alumni from
BGSU, who recalls a hauntingexperience on campus? Did you
(01:09):
once spot a transparent figurepatrolling the grounds of Fort
Max, with the musket slung overhis shoulder? Have you caught a
glimpse of the ghostly nunsknown to linger inside Nazareth
Hall and Grand Rapids. If youare someone you know has insight
into folklore from Wood County,and would like to see your story
(01:32):
featured in the book itself.
Please reach out to me atMelissa at Ohio folklore.com. In
the meantime, while my effortsare focused on writing the first
draft, you'll see some of themost popular Ohio folklore
episodes drop in your feed. Thisway, new listeners will have a
(01:52):
chance to hear the mostcompelling stories I've stumbled
across over the 50 episodes I'veposted so far. You can think of
it as a kind of greatest hitsalbum. For those of you who've
come to look forward to newepisodes dropping, don't fear.
I'm coming back to be sure. Idon't know the exact timeline at
(02:14):
the moment, but I'll be sure tokeep you posted along the way.
And so without further ado,let's get to today's
rebroadcast. And in honor ofBlack History Month, we're
taking another listen to theepisode which has enlightened me
the most. It's the story ofRipley terminus of the
Underground Railroad, and one ofits favorite sons, John Parker,
(02:37):
this African American formerslave turned entrepreneur,
committed his life to freeingand extracting those yet
ensnared in the bonds ofslavery. We've come a long way
from those days. And yet we haveso far to go. His example is one
worth following. Come here, thisstory Hello, and welcome to Ohio
(03:04):
folklore. I'm your host, MelissaDavies. I'm so glad you could
join me. Today story centers onone small river town that stands
(03:27):
today as a living museum. Itsunsung history creates fertile
ground for legendary lore.
Normally, stories thisextraordinary or more fiction
than fact. Not this time.
Today's story is devoted to avery true history, and real
characters that prove largerthan life. Some lore needs no
(03:50):
embellishment from supernaturalclaims. This part of our Ohio
History reflects universaltruths that resonate with the
soul. I'm talking about RickLee, Ohio, a once terminus of
the Underground Railroad.
(04:15):
Ripley sits right on the OhioRiver about 50 miles upstream
from Cincinnati. Its small townstatus has remained throughout
its existence. Its totalpopulation has never exceeded
2800 people. And today, about1700 residents called Wrigley
home. But don't let the sizefool you. The Tales you're about
(04:36):
to hear are reflected in thehistorical record. This little
towns role and ushering peopleto freedom should make us all
proud as a Highlands. Storiesabout the Underground Railroad
are scattered throughout Ohio ashistory. As listeners, we
connect with those who yearn forfreedom. We're wrapped in the
tension and the danger ofcapture. We're intrigued By the
(05:00):
subterfuge and the glimmer ofhope found in the northward
journey. What I'm about topresent to you carries all of
these elements. But that's notall. Be sure to stay around for
the second half of today'sepisode, you'll learn of a man,
a former slave himself, whosecourage and devotion to the
cause of freedom goes beyondcomprehension. I'm saving the
(05:24):
best for last. Let's start ourstory by hearing from a local
herself. Allow me to introduceyou to Miss Betty Campbell. She
serves as site manager for theRankin house. This historic
structure is one of manypreserve sites that once
serviced enslaved people ontheir journeys northward. John
(05:46):
Rankin the original owner, was awhite Presbyterian minister, who
aided about 2000 enslaved peopleon their path to freedom. His
house, which sits high on abluff above the Ohio River, was
used as the fortress, a place ofrefuge for those who dared to
cross the wide expanse come.
Let's hear what Betty has toteach us. Okay, I'm Betty
(06:08):
Campbell, and I am the sitemanager for the Rankin house.
Our local history group, Ripleyheritage, manages Rankin house
for the Ohio History Connection,the state's Historical Society.
I've been involved with the rankand housing our local
(06:30):
organization has since 1981.
People still have that thirst tolearn more about Ohio's role
winning Underground Railroad,and we're happy to share that
with all of our visitors. Right.
It's something to be very proudof Barry. Do you have any
memories of visitors that standout?
(06:54):
Well, we've had severalinteresting visitors and a
couple of stick out in my mindquite well is that good. Many
years ago, we had a reportercome to the site, it was her
first time coming to Ripley,Ohio, and to the Rankin house,
and she was in newspaper,journalist. And when she got on
(07:19):
site, and stood out by theRankin house, which overlooks
the village of Ripley, Ohio, theOhio River in the Kentucky Hill,
she just burst into tears. Itwas a pilgrimage of sorts for
her and she became veryemotional, and was so overcome
with just the spirit of theplace. And so many people tell
(07:43):
me that they feel a spirit ofthe place for the role that the
Rankin's had in the UndergroundRailroad and helping other
people achieve freedom. And sothat that was very moving for
me, as well. Another incident,several years ago, the
University of Cincinnati hadsome foreign students who were
(08:09):
spending one or two semesters atthe University of Cincinnati,
and these were older students,and they were from African
countries. And so I'm givingthis is in the offseason, I'm
giving the tour and everything'sgoing well. And then we get to
our question and answer session.
And one of the women said, We'rejust so amazed at how freely you
can speak about this issue. Andthat had never occurred to me,
(08:34):
living in southern Ohio thatwhat I take for granted, my
ability to speak freely and tellthe truth about the Underground
Railroad was something thatother people in the world cannot
take for granted. And that wasvery special and really hit home
for me.
(08:56):
I'm sure it makes you realizethe freedoms that we enjoy that
many do not. Yes, it's not justthe history story. It's a story
that is as relevant today. As itwas 175 years ago. I couldn't
agree with you more. So I'm surea lot of my listeners have never
been to Ripley. And I waswondering if you might offer a
(09:20):
description of what it's like tobe there, what it looks like,
what it sounds like, even how itfeels Ripley is my hometown, and
Ripley is a small community nowof about 1800 people, and it
sits right on the Ohio Riverwill about an hour's drive from
(09:42):
Cincinnati, and Ripley wasfounded in 1812 by Colonel James
Pogue, who was a revolutionarywar veteran, and he bought a lot
of his ideals, when he came toRipley, was that he had just
fought for For freedom, and forsupposedly American freedom, and
(10:05):
he couldn't turn around and notbe supportive of having every
person become free. So he reallyset the groundwork for what was
to come. And that was otherearly settlers who were also
Revolutionary War veterans, somewho had inherited slaves, and
(10:25):
then came to the Ohio Countryand freed their slaves, and then
worked as Underground Railroadconductors. Today in Ripley, we
have a charming 55 acre HistoricDistrict in downtown Ripley,
part of it is along the OhioRiver, and quite a few preserved
(10:46):
homes that have many have beenrestored. And some were homes of
some of these other earlyUnderground Railroad conductors,
and many of them have plaquesand signage on their private
homes telling us the stories ofthe Underground Railroad in
Ripley, Ohio. But of course, ourmost two famous conductors are
(11:10):
Reverend John Rankin, this whitePresbyterian ministers who came
directly in 1822. And then JohnParker, a freed slave, who was a
foundry man by trade, who camehere in the early 1850s. And
both worked as conductors. Andthe reason they're so well
(11:30):
remembered as the because bothof them left a written record of
their deeds. Reverend Rankin,wrote his autobiography as an
older man, so we have a lot ofaccurate information about what
he did in Ripley, as anunderground railroad conductor.
John Parker was interviewed by anewspaper reporter in his later
(11:54):
years. And so that reporterturned that into what was called
John Parker's autobiography, andhe also shared stories of
helping fugitives escapedthrough this river town of
Ripley, Ohio. Reverend JohnRankin in his autobiography, he
(12:15):
wrote that over a period ofabout 40 years of living on on
his hillside farm, that he andhis family hated roughly 2000
fugitive slaves passing throughRipley, and as Reverend Rankin
wrote, I never lost thepassenger, meaning Fuji does in
the care of the rank and familywere never caught by their
(12:38):
owners, or by bounty hunters andtaken back into slavery in
Reverend Rankin was very proudof that. That is quite an
accomplishment. As I understoodthere were a number of patrols
in the area and folks trying tocapture fugitive slaves to bring
them back. Yes, not everyone inRipley was sympathetic to what
(13:04):
the Ripley Underground Railroadconductors were doing there,
there was a group of men whofelt that slavery was perfectly
fine. And some of them worked aspatrol or they physically
patrolled the Ohio river shorearound Ripley, looking for
(13:24):
fugitive slaves trying to escapeand if they could capture them,
and take them back to theirowners, or to the authorities,
and there was reward money forthem. I see for the fact that
Reverend Rankin was able toshepherd these folks
effectively. That was no smallfeat.
No, it was not. It was not inReverend Rankin and his wife,
(13:48):
Jean, have a large family, theyhad 13 children, and nine of
them were sons. And it was thenine sons as they became
teenagers that were doing thephysical work of moving fugitive
slaves from the Ripley locationsnorth to the next station, and
then other conductors would takeover and move on with the war
(14:12):
miles, and then someone elsewill take over. And then
eventually, for most fugitives,the goal was to try to reach
Canada get to another countrywhere the laws of the United
States don't apply. So that wasa goal. For most. These were
dangerous times.
(14:34):
Yeah, very revolutionary, verysocial justice minded. Yes. Is
one of the common visuals Ithink people have is the story
about a lantern and a window ora candle in the window being a
sign. Is that one of themisconceptions? Well,
no, that is actually true thatRankin and his sons do right In,
(15:01):
in different papers, that theywould keep a light of some sort,
burning in one of their frontwindows overlooking the river.
And that was used as a guide ora beacon to fugitives escaping
out of Kentucky. They were toldif you make it to the river
around Ripley, in your escape,look for a house on the hill and
(15:21):
widen the window. So the Rankinfamily did do.
That is an actual fact. Oh,okay. And I seen some drone
footage of the house. And itdoes look like it's truly
sitting singularly on top of thehill, above the river.
(15:42):
Yes, Rankin house sits alone ona crest of a hill. And you
really can see a light in thewindow from across the river in.
In Kentucky, I've been withenough.
TV crews when when they weredoing their piece for Black
(16:03):
History Month, and there cameremain would be across the river
in Kentucky, and their producerand I would be in the ranking
house with a lamp or a candle.
And by cell phone, we wouldcommunicate, I want you to raise
it a little bit higher, move itto the left and move it to the
right. And I've seen, you knowthe end result in you know, at
(16:24):
night when it's dark. There areno other lights around the rank
and how can you truly can seelight in the window across the
river in the Kentucky?
Oh, wow. Do you think if hepurposely built the house with
that sort of intention at thatlocation,
(16:47):
he needed a larger locationbecause of his ever growing
family was ending up with so tochildren's. Among the reasons he
chose that location was to havethis vantage point where he also
wanted to see what was going ondown in the town of Ripley and
add on the river and all theKentucky shoreline as well as
(17:08):
people seeing them. So yes, hecertainly chose that with this
business in mind.
Right, I could see where itwould offer a vantage point for
slaves on the Kentucky side ofthe river to see his house. But
also he would be able to seemaybe if there were patrol
people moving about, you know,that sort of thing he would be
(17:33):
able to he had a good view ofthe town. Exactly. Yes, he
did. Okay. I did want to mentionthat both the ranking house and
the Parker house are open to thepublic and both sides have
national historic landmarkdesignation, and that's the
(17:53):
highest designation our federalgovernment can give to a
historic side. That means thepeople who lived there and or
the events that took place hassignificance throughout the
United States. So in Ripley,we're quite proud that we have
in our small town, two nationalhistoric landmarks and those
(18:13):
devoted to the UndergroundRailroad.
Yeah, what an absolute treasure.
It's hard to overstate the jewelwe have in Ripley, a town that
stands testament to Ohio's rolein promoting freedom to those
daring enough to seek it. Thetrue value in this history in
particular, is our great fortuneand having a written record. As
(18:35):
Betty mentioned, the stories I'mabout to share with you come
from validated accounts of thepeople themselves. So often,
most stories about theUnderground Railroad are left to
hearsay tales that have beenpassed down orally from one
generation to the next. Mostpeople who were directly
involved in these effortspurposely avoided documenting
(18:57):
them for obvious reasons. That'swhy we're usually left with just
the oral tellings of whathappened. What we have here
today, however, is the rareopportunity to know the
incredible life story of oneman, a conductor and extractor
on the Underground Railroad. I'mdevoting the rest of today's
(19:18):
episode to this man whose life'sadventures are nearly beyond
belief. When I stumbled acrossthis during autobiography, I was
stunned that I had never beforeheard of him. He was not native
to Ohio, but as among its mostrevered adopted sons. He
overcame incredible odds tofinally settle in the Free
(19:38):
State, after liberating himselffrom the claws of bondage for
most enslaved people seekingfreedom. Finally, crossing the
Ohio River was an importantmilestone, but it was not the
final one. To ensure liberty,the enslaved had to keep moving
north into Canada. After passageof the Fugitive Slave Act of
(20:00):
1850. This was the only way toensure freedom from their
owners. One Mr. John Parkerwould not continue northward.
After suffering nearly fatalsetbacks in his journey to
freedom, he would choose to stayin the country that bore him,
the country that enslaved him,the country that forsake his
(20:23):
right to life, liberty, and thepursuit of happiness. He chose
to stay against his owninterests and those of his
family. He would lead a life ofoutsized proportion, he would
rise from his station as anenslaved child, to a successful
business owner, employer andpatent holder. Yet most dear to
(20:44):
his heart were the unendingpursuits he made to aid those
who came behind him countlesstimes he would risk his own life
and freedom, in an effort tofree others. Come hear the story
of the life and times of JohnParker.
(21:10):
The following accounts of JohnParker's personal life
experiences are derived from hisautobiography, entitled his
promised land. That's what hecame to call Ohio. This treasure
of a story offers an intimateglimpse into how one African
American man not only managed tofree himself from the shackles
of slavery, he then took on theinstitution itself and freed
(21:34):
hundreds more. After the closeof the Civil War, Parker was
interviewed many times by alocal newspaper reporter, who
transcribed Parker's words byhandwriting them. However, on
the manuscripts completion inthe 1880s, racist attitudes,
which prevailed among publishersat large, prevented the
manuscript from going to print.
The handwritten account wouldeventually be shelved and the
(21:57):
Duke University archive, JohnParker was not well known. And
the legibility of the transcriptleft it gathering dust. Until
its final publication in 1996.
We owe Stuart Seely Sprague, aprofessor of African American
Studies at Morehead StateUniversity and Kentucky. For his
(22:19):
painstaking work in reading,editing, and assembling the
autobiography into what it istoday. You can easily find it
wherever you buy books. What agift that Parker's incredible
story did not die with him. Byall means you should read the
book. But for our purposes, letme tell you some of its main
(22:40):
passages. To start off, I'd likeyou to think about your own
childhood to the time when youwere eight years old. For most
of us that would have beenaround third grade. Can you
picture yourself back down? Doyou remember finding wiggly
teeth and your attempts toextract them? The excitement of
hiding them under your pillow atnight? Do you remember growing
(23:03):
out of your shoes every fewmonths? Do you remember the
thrill of a birthday party andthe first day of school. John
Parker was once eight years old.
He had been born into slavery in1827 in Norfolk, Virginia. But
it was at this tender age thathe was forcibly removed from his
mother. His father was believedto have been his master. The
(23:25):
same master had made thebusiness decision to sell him
down south as it was called.
There, it was presumed that hewould work day after day in the
fields sentence to a life ofhard labor. Parker was chained
to an old man and was forced towalk from Norfolk to Richmond, a
(23:47):
distance of nearly 100 miles. Herecalled the old man's kindness
as he tried to carry the weightof the chain as much as he
could. Parker was overwroughtwith grief over the loss of his
mother, and wept along the way.
The old man was the only one toshow him kindness during this
leg of the journey. When theyfinally reached Richmond, Parker
(24:08):
would soon be sold to onefamily, and the old man would be
sold to another. Yet for somereason Parker never understood.
He watched as a drunken slavetrader beat the old man to death
before the sale was complete.
(24:29):
from Richmond Parker would thenbegin the marched Alabama. This
time, he was chained to a convoythat included men, women and
children. He remembers walkingthrough wooded areas on the
journey and feeling jealous ofthe wildlife around him. The
critters who had freedom to comeand go as they pleased. Once
when they were forced to four tostream, the lead member felt
(24:52):
deep into a hole and one by one,those behind him were drugged
under the surface of the water.
Parker could do nothing thing asthe force of the chain yanked
him down under the surface withthe rest of them. He would
regain consciousness later,after the slave traders had
managed to pull the group outwith the aid of their horses
pulling on the chain. And themarch continued. unreachably
(25:15):
mobo, Parker would have thegreat fortune of being purchased
by kindly Dr. Parker would laterrecall much appreciation for
this man whose sons he wouldcome to know on an intimate
basis. It was these boys, youngwhite men of privilege that
would take it upon themselves toteach Parker to read and write.
(25:38):
Without their father'sknowledge, they provided him
books which Parker read with avoracious appetite. It was
illegal to teach a slave to readand write. These books open
Parker's mind to the widerworld, enlightening him to what
existed beyond his life as ablack child in slave territory.
(26:01):
When it came time for the doctorsons to head to Yale to further
their educations, Parker wasgranted the privilege of
traveling with them as theirpersonal servant. Yet On
arriving in Philadelphia, Parkerand the boys encountered
abolitionists bent on freeinghim. They even attempted
abducting him on more than oneoccasion. And with that, Parker
(26:23):
was sent back to Alabama, andthe doctor. He would be forced
into a life of labor, which didnot suit his growing mind and
intellect. What follows here isa very detailed harrowing story
of Parker's eventual efforts tofleet in New Orleans, and then
up the Mississippi River bystowing away and cargo ships
(26:46):
headed north. His encountersalong the way can stand as
stories within themselves.
Parker would eventually beapprehended and brought back to
New Orleans, and left in a jailuntil the doctor could come
retrieve him. For a time afterthat, he would serve as an
apprentice in an iron foundry,where he would develop expert
skills and the trade. The Kindlydoctor would allow him to keep
(27:09):
what income he generated there.
And for the first time, Parkerbegan purchasing his own
clothes, taking pride in thefruits of his own labor. And in
yet another act of ingenuity andresolve, Parker would secure an
agreement with a wealthy widowby the name of Mrs. Ryder. She'd
(27:30):
been a patient of the doctor andseemed to harbor his sympathetic
views on slavery. Parker askedthat she purchased him, the cost
of which was $1,800 and in duetime, he would pay her back to
win his own freedom. It tooksome convincing that she
eventually agreed. Parker signeda contract pledging to pay the
(27:51):
full cost plus interest at therate of $10 per week. He made
double payments when he could,and delighted at the notion of
his own freedom. Exactly 18months later, Parker had earned
it. He took no time and headingnorth with his documents of
freedom sewn into this fast. Heheaded first to Jeffersonville,
(28:14):
Indiana, where jobs and ironfoundries were plentiful. But
his stay there was shortenedwhen he learned at the growing
abolitionists town called Ripleyon the Ohio River. Kentucky had
become known as a border land,where those enslaved peoples
desperate on their sojourn tofreedom required assistance on
(28:35):
crossing the river and movingonward. They face patrols of man
searching for them, eager for abounty on returning them to
their masters. Parker would findhis life's purpose and aiding
those seeking the freedom hehimself held so precious. You
would move to Ripley, and jointhe fight. For 20 years from
(28:57):
1845 to 1865, Parker would notonly aid fugitives and their
escapes, at great personal risk,he would venture into the slave
state of Kentucky and extractpeople. Humans owned his
property and bring them forwardtoward freedom. Not everyone in
Ripley was on board with theabolitionist movement. Parker
(29:17):
walked the streets armed downthe center of the streets.
Walking along sidewalks made ittoo easy to be ambushed by those
who might pop out of alleys andbuildings. Many homes within
Ripley were secretively friendlyto the abolitionist movement.
The most prominent was that ofReverend John Rankin, who we
(29:38):
learned about earlier, Parkerspoke of the Reverend as a quote
man of deeds as well as words.
Rankin's house, high on the hillabove the river, stood as a
fortress against all comers.
Those who were sheltered withinits walls enjoyed uncommon
refuge. Parker's own house andiron foundry were No less
(30:00):
remarkable a structure for thistiny town. unsettling and
Ripley, this former slave turnedentrepreneur, built an iron
foundry, which grew to employ 25people, both white and black.
Parker would live under his ownroof, his wife and six children
with him. He would run asuccessful business and secure
(30:22):
three patents for his inventionsof farm implements. These
devices would help relieve theneed for human labor in the
fields, and thus relievedcountless slaves from back
breaking work. And as remarkableas this all sounds, these were
not his greatestaccomplishments. Parker would
later proclaim that theUnderground Railroad had its
(30:43):
origin in Ripley. In fact, hereferred to the town as the
terminus of the UndergroundRailroad.
at an earlier time, during theera of the Revolutionary War,
this area in and around Ripleyhad been the only place where
slave owners from Virginia couldfree their slaves and face no
liability. It was known as theVirginia Military District of
(31:07):
Ohio. From then on seeds of theabolitionist movement were
planted. By the time Parkermoved to town, the movement was
in full bloom. From this pointforward, I could regale you with
many heroic tales of Parker'sextraction of enslaved people
from Kentucky's banks. Pleaseread the book for yourself to
(31:28):
get a full understanding of theimpact of his actions. But for
brevity sake, I'll present youwith just a couple of the most
compelling stories. Word hadmade it to Ripley that a party
of fugitives were nearing theOhio River after a very long and
arduous trek. By the time Parkerhad heard tell of it. They were
(31:48):
only about 20 miles away fromthe river when their leader had
been captured, leaving themhelpless and alone in the
wilderness. John Parkervolunteered to rescue them. He
placed a pair of pistols in hispockets and a knife in his belt.
With the help of a local slave,he would discover the group of
10 Standing helpless in the deepwoods off the Kentucky bank of
(32:11):
the Ohio River. Some of thegroup had become so traumatized
that they were ready to give up,others still managed to have the
courage to go on. After someconvincing, Parker announced it
was time for the group to followhim. It was then that one of the
men started wailing in fear ofwhat was to come. Without
(32:32):
hesitation, Parker raised apistol to the man's head, and
advised that he keep quiet andfollow his lead, or he'd have to
ensure his silence by killinghim. After that show of force
the entire group fell in andobeyed has every command
traipsing through the underbrushwas intensive work. But it was
(32:53):
the only way to avoid detectionfrom patrols that surveilled
trails and roads, it was theonly way forward, they had to go
as quietly as possible to avoiddetection. At one point, another
of the man had complained ofthirst and announced he was
going off to look for freshwater. Parker begged him not to
leave the group but the manmanaged to slip away. There was
(33:16):
nothing more the group could dobut keep moving. Only Moments
later, the man came rushing backtoward them, pursued by two
white patrol officers, Parkerordered the entire group to lie
down in the underbrush. Theywaited as the man ran on by
them, followed by the sound of ashot echoing off the trees.
Parker whispered to the group toremain hidden, or he'd shoot the
(33:39):
first person that sprang up andrevealed their hiding place.
After what felt like hours, thegroup would spot demand, his
wrist tied behind his back,being led by a rope attached to
his captors. Luckily, he hadn'tdisclosed the location of the
rest of them. Parker knew thattime was of the essence, the
(34:00):
group pushed on with new vigor,and they made it to the river
one day ahead of schedule.
Consequently, the boat which wassupposed to greet them, arranged
by fellow abolitionist named TomCollins, was not there. It was
then that a patrol officerspotted the group standing along
the bank, but he took offbecause of the sheer size of the
group. All knew that he wouldsoon return with the unit of
(34:23):
patrol officers in tow. Parkerordered the group to drop all
their bundles and possessionsand run along the bank in hopes
of encountering a moored boatthat they might take across. One
woman fell and exhaustion duringthe rush. Parker told her to
keep up if she could, but thegroup could not wait for her. As
luck would have it, they found aboat boat with no oars in sight.
(34:47):
During the frenzied search forthem, hound dogs started banging
in the distance In the patrolwas closing in on them. The
group piled into the boat asParker tore up his seat to use
as a paddle. In the process, hecame upon the oars there within
(35:09):
the hall.
The boat was not large enoughfor all of them. All but two men
had made it inside. They remainstanding on the bank, watching
as they shoved off into theriver. One woman started
wailing, begging that herhusband be allowed to join them.
It was done, that one singleman, wordlessly stepped out of
(35:33):
the boat. In an act oftremendous self sacrifice, the
woman's husband ran into thewater and leaped up into the
boat, now seated where the youngman had just been, as they made
their way out into the center ofthe river. The group watched as
the two they left behind, wereapprehended. Those two
(35:53):
unfortunate souls had beencaptured inside of the Ohio
bank, the land that Parker wouldlater call his promised land.
The group would arrive at theopposite bank and safety and
Parker would usher them to thehome of James Gilliland. Five
miles out of town. From then on,he never heard what more came of
(36:15):
the lot of them. This was onlyone of many extractions that
John Parker performed in hiscareer as a conductor on the
Underground Railroad. Anotherstory stems from an encounter
Parker had with one of his whiteemployees at his iron foundry.
The employee lived across theriver in Kentucky with his
(36:36):
father, a slave owner. Theemployee had chided Parker about
the rumors going around that hehad been abducting slaves and
bringing them across the river.
Parker denied the claim to hisemployees face. However,
something shifted when theemployee finally challenged
Parker, stating that if he wereso brave, why didn't he go and
(36:56):
steal some of his father's ownslaves. It was then that Parker
secretly vowed to do just that.
That's it same night, Parkertook a skiff across the river to
the employee's father's farm.
His aim was to make contact withslaves there and offer
assistance in their escape.
(37:18):
After some hairy encounters withskittish and uncertain
candidates, one enslaved managreed to go if only his wife
and baby could come with him. Ascheme was made for just how the
deed would be done, and Parkerplan to return the next week to
carry it out. When the appointednight arrived, something had
gone wrong. The little familywas not at the designated
(37:42):
location, and the agreed upontime. at great risk, Parker
sneaked into the slave cabinsand found the couple so
frightened they could barelyspeak. Their owners had caught
suspicion that something was upand had taken their baby to
sleep with them in their ownhouse. It was an insurance
policy to keep the couple fromany thoughts of running off. The
(38:05):
owner had promised to shoot anyperson who entered their
bedroom, and an attempt to takethe little one. After some
discussion, Parker agreed torescue the baby from the owners
clutches. He was determined notto return home empty handed.
Parker took off the shoes inorder to creep in silence, and
(38:25):
instructed the husband todestroy them if he didn't make
it back to destroy the evidence.
If they heard shooting, theywould remain in their cabin and
claim ignorance of the wholeaffair. And with that, Parker
headed for the house. His dreadand his fear grew with every
step. When he first arrived, hecrouched on the porch, and then
(38:46):
slipped through the kitchendoor. He left it wide open to
make for an easy escape. Heallowed his eyes to adjust to
the darkness before taking hisnext steps on floorboards that
creeped and popped. The ownersbedroom door had a large crack
along the bottom, and light froma candle was streaming through
(39:06):
it. He hesitated at the doorbefore opening the latch. He
waited until he could hear theslow rhythmic breathing of the
owner and his wife sleepingsoundly. Then, holding his
breath, he pushed the dooropened as it squeaked on its
hinges. Remarkably, the coupleremained heavily asleep. The man
(39:27):
slept in a wooden chair. Next tohim, were two pistols. It was
then that the man adjustedhimself in his sleep, and turned
away from Parker. He took thisas a fortunate sign, and stooped
down to begin crawling towardthe other side of the bed, where
the infant was kept. Only as hewas working toward this end, the
(39:50):
door swung itself shut andlatched loudly. Peering around
the corner, Parker spotted thebundled up, baby and pulled it
toward him. A Creek in the bedsprings rang out as the candle
extinguished, plunging the roomof darkness.
With no more need for creeping,Parker leaped to his feet with
(40:12):
the baby in his arms and headedin the direction of the door.
The sound of the pistolscrashing on the floor, echoed on
the walls of the small room. Hemanaged to open the door with a
jerk and bold it across thekitchen and out into the yard.
As Parker barreled toward theriver, where he was to meet with
(40:32):
the husband and wife, bulletswhizzed by his head. The three
of them soon reached theriverbank where the skiff was
there waiting for them. Heinstructed the husband to lie
down in the hall, so only twoadults were visible from the
shore. When they made it onlyabout a third of the way across
the river, Parker could hear thevoice of his employee shouting
(40:53):
the names of the enslavedhusband and wife, threatening
their lives if they didn'treturn immediately. His threats
only furthered Parker's resolveto get them to safety and onward
toward freedom. When theyfinally reached the Ohio side,
the couple realized they'dforgotten Parker shoes in the
frenzy. After dropping the threeof them off at a safe house,
(41:16):
Parker's fears grew that theshoes would serve as evidence
that he had been the guiltyparty to aid them in their
escape. And sure enough, he soonheard voices outside his own
home. One of them the wideemployee and a band of others
demanded they search his homefor the fugitives. Normally,
(41:37):
Parker refused patrols fromsearching his premises, but he
took pleasure in allowing thisgroup. It must have been quite a
sight for him to watch as theygrew frustrated in their search.
The employees father soonarrived pistol in hand. After an
exhaustive search of Parker'sproperty was completed, the
(41:58):
young employee turned to Parkersaying, I believe you are over
the river just the same and knowwhere my people are. The
employees suspicions were onlyfurthered when Parker's
distinctive shoes werediscovered near the slave
cabins. The employee came andshoved them in Parker space and
declared that he would soonprove him the guilty party. He
(42:21):
went so far as to travel fromstore to store looking for a
merchant who would acknowledgehaving sold them to Parker, none
would give Parker up. Theemployee would never return to
work at the foundry. In the end,Parker would claim it's a real
sense of satisfaction and havingachieved what this white man his
(42:43):
employee no less never thoughtpossible. As I mentioned, these
are only two of many harrowingconquests achieved by this
remarkable man. John Parkerwould live on to see the fall of
the Confederacy reconstructionand the rise of the Jim Crow
(43:03):
era. He would die on February2 1900. There in his adopted
town of Ripley. his obituaryreads as follows
John P. Parker died at his homeon West Front Street very
suddenly, Tuesday morning. Hehad been on the street Sunday
(43:24):
and at his place of businessMonday, at five o'clock Tuesday
morning, he woke his family withthe complaint of feeling ill and
a physician was hastilysummoned. Before his arrival,
Mr. Parker had passed away. Acomplication of diseases running
back over several years had beentending to the sudden ending,
(43:45):
and that it did not come soonerwas due to the indomitable will
and energy of the man who heldon to life with the same
tenacity with which he grippedevery enterprise and success
along the years that brought himup the ranks of Ripley's useful,
prosperous and honoredbusinessmen. Mr. Parker was
(44:05):
probably the foremost coloredman and our community, a man of
deep thought, learning andattainments, who labored
incessantly along his chosenlines of mechanical work, until
he built up a name for himselfwith his patent tobacco screws
and other devices and affordedemployment for his fellow men.
(44:26):
To the people of his own race.
He was indeed a friend, and inthe darker days of slavery was a
strong right arm too many ofthem of his relations to his own
family. It needed only to besaid that his sons were all
occupying honorable positionstoday in the world. They as well
as his daughters, all receivedcollegiate education's. Their
prosperity is the best tributethat can be offered to the
(44:50):
Father. Mr. Parker was not amember of any church. He
believed in the supremacy andwonderful love of the Heavenly
Father. And he lived out theprecepts of caring for his
brother and giving secret armsto the needy. Of a truth. He was
a great hearted, generous man.
(45:11):
He had been sole proprietor ofthe Phoenix foundry for many
years. A wife survives him, alsothree sons and three daughters,
a son and daughter in Chicago, ason and daughter in St. Louis, a
son in Memphis and a daughter athome. All of the children will
be here today. It was Mr.
Parker's desire that his body becremated. Whether or not this
(45:33):
will be done will be decidedlater, a son is buried in
Maplewood. 70 years was the spanof Mr. Parker's life. I'd like
to end today's episode with thewords and insights of another
local one, Mr. Dewey Scott. Heis the docent of the Parker
(45:53):
house, which stands today on thebank of the Ohio River. It's
open to the public, we can tourthe very home where Parker
lived, and the foundry he builtand managed. Mr. Scott has
worked at this historic site fornearly 11 years. In that time,
he's accumulated a wealth ofknowledge, and has agreed to
pass it along to us today. Comehear his story. So I was so
(46:18):
intrigued when I came acrossJohn Parker's autobiography, and
thought it's really deserved.
For my listeners to hear such acompelling story. And wanted to
start out by just asking whatyour role is, with the Parker
(46:39):
house itself.
Okay, there's Ellison. I'm theonly employee, we are a
nonprofit organization. I am theonly paid employee, everyone
else is a volunteer Parkerhouse, and I am the docent and
have been so for 10 Completeyears, I'm working on my level.
(47:01):
What are some of the typicalreactions that you see that
visitors have when they come?
Visitors are mostly intrigued bythe story of John Parker, they
had no idea of the expanse ofhis talents, and his
determination, people are justmesmerized by his all in his
(47:21):
determination in what he did,and how he did it. And why back
in that time period, which weredesperate times, needs, time
grew on me quite a bit differentthan what we're experiencing
now. But nonetheless, it wasdesperate times back then.
It's hard to even kind of wrapyour brain around the tenacity
(47:43):
that he had to face those oddsand to know he was risking
conscious life and limb thatthat he could have been re
enslaved, especially for histrip back the process.
Knowing that because he hated itso much to raise that three
enslavement, when, in his earlyyears, it was a driving force to
(48:09):
be on and not via slavinglonger. And to risk it back
again.
It's such a selfless act, andhis commitment to freedom, not
just for himself, but forothers. It's just amazing. And
so unique. I mean, of course,you know, we've heard, or at
(48:30):
least I should say, I've heardstories of the Underground
Railroad, that so many of them,they seem focused on white folks
in their role. And I think,unfortunately, a lot of times,
African Americans and their ownstories can get pushed to the
side. Which is one of thereasons why I'm so drawn to, to
(48:55):
John Parker.
There were a lot of AfricanAmericans that were in the
endeavor of helping their ownbecome free. Course. Now, the
documentation is not theresimply because for the most part
they couldn't read or write. Sotherefore, you know, you can
(49:16):
document this for posterity. Sotherefore, doesn't mean that it
doesn't exist, just because it'snot document. And we come up, we
come across instance, quite afew times that we never moved
before. We're always learningstuff.
I like covering the same. Sure.
(49:39):
Oh, wow. That's all on onebasis. Yeah, that we, we we find
a segment of something. And onceit's tied together to another
segment, and it becomes crystalclear.
So it's like an unfolding story.
Right. The John Parkerfoundation and took on new
(50:01):
members with new endeavors. Anda stronger effort was made. They
didn't keep fighting for it. Andtherefore they started work on
it in 97, completed New Year2003.
And they did some renovation ofthe structure itself, right? Oh,
yeah. Okay. I'm so glad is it'spreserved now so that folks can
(50:27):
actually see it and experienceit. Emergent. Yeah. Are there
any misconceptions that peoplehave ideas that are false about
what it is or who John Parkerwas? Or things that you have to
kind of educate people? About?
(50:48):
Well, probably most of thefalsehoods revolve around the
the hiding the hiding of theslaves, especially in our area.
The hiding of the slaves is apart that people seem to
gravitate towards, when youmentioned the Underground
Railroad. They want to know whatrooms that you hide them in and
(51:10):
where the tunnels and or whatitems are, you know, free, show
me that, that the hiddendisplays, a lot of that didn't
go on not as much as we wereleads led to believe. For it
didn't make sense. Being closeto the river close to slave
territory as we are, it didn'tmake sense to hide displays, for
(51:32):
that allowed to pursuers.
Mm hmm. So more of the effortwas in helping them along,
move them as quickly as youpossibly could to the next
lesson. You've had them, floatthem if they needed it, heal
their wounds, heal theirsicknesses, that all that was
present, and you move them asquickly as you possibly can. The
(51:56):
main thing is that you did feedthem simply because more often
than not, they were extremelyhungry. For if you can imagine
out there in the woods for days,with no force, he didn't he
didn't have a gun, you could notthere was no fishing pole. Nor
did you have the time to cook ameal, you couldn't build a fire
(52:18):
on the day or at night, becausehe would be detected once the
fire is made. Didn't have, as Isaid, done or anything. So
therefore, you had no way ofgetting input.
That's a real risk ofstarvation. Oh, yeah. Right.
So starvation wanted that thentakes over. And that becomes
(52:44):
your primary. A fun food.
And, of course, if they wereexposed in any way, you know,
they couldn't certainly seek outbeg for food or something like
that, because it risksthemselves out. Right? Right.
Okay.
(53:05):
Right. And even if you, let'ssay Solon ham out of Smokehouse
or chicken out of a ruse, thenonce you detect it, then they
would alert the county sheriffthat you're in the area, and
he's to bring out the dogs andonce the dogs came out, you
still have a 60% chance of beingcaught. Very difficult to lose
(53:28):
adults. So I think for the firsttime,
right? So someone that decidedthat they were going to try to
escape to their freedom, facedincredible odds, starvation and
danger around every corner. Andthen if they were caught, and
were sent back to their slaveowners, God only knows what the
(53:51):
way they were. When they cameback
lease the lease you were in forthe sound beating. Other than
that, if you had received to bea threat to run again, then the
wisest thing for that owner todo is to sell you down south.
And you did not want to be solddown south, where therefore
(54:12):
you're going to end up on acotton farm. And a cotton
plantation is not where you wantit to be. That's where they work
into death.
And your chance of escaping thatwould have been even even
very, very difficult. Not onlyis a distance come into play
that you've got to traveltowards your freedom, but the
(54:37):
they were well guarded they werewell. Those plantations were
well. First personnel will keepthe safe and running was high.
Really makes you think about themental anguish that enslaved
folks had to go through to makethat decision whether they were
(54:57):
going to tryright away The scary situation
then. And then the top of all ifyou Let's go back to those days,
there's no television. There'sno radio, there's no, they
couldn't read. So they weren'tfamiliar with the newspapers.
They did not know what was outthere. He was going into the
(55:18):
blind,right, like literally heading
north. And that was right.
You had no idea what what wasthat? Because you had never
ventured. And there was no wayof knowing what was out there,
though that has made the tripbefore or escaped before, did
(55:40):
not come back. As a rule, onlyunless you're caught, you know,
then you had some kind of ideaof what you're going to see out
there, by listening to them telltheir stories of what they
experienced while they werefree. But for the most part,
those who made a successfulescape, did not come back to
(56:02):
tell the story to those who arestill unplanned days. In the
slaves to understand freedom, orto have that concept in their
mind. They want them to believethat they're that the world as
it exists is their world thatthey're in
really denying their humanitykind of seeing them as just
(56:26):
labor, producing labor andnothing more. Right. Right, the
John Parker knew difference. AndI mean, that he grabbed the
concept of freedom early on, andas a young as a young man,
within need to say, partly dueto the the ability to read, and
to understand the world do bothcity read, he was an avid
(56:51):
reader, he read everything youuse hands on.
Part of what I found myselfwondering about as I was reading
a story was what kind of life hemight have led, had he not been
born alive. You know, he has theskills and the intelligence and
the ingenuity and was free ofhaving to deal with the burden.
(57:16):
And, you know, it's hard toknow. I guess what other life
you would have had.
But, you know, thank goodnessthat he took the role that he
did, and that he offered theassistance to others at his own
cost. Just was, there's notelling what limits he could
(57:41):
have achieved. Not only notbeing a slave, but not only not
being black, we're here to fightthat as well, even that's no
longer a slave, you still it'sstill the black man. And he has
faced that world.
Right now. If I understoodright, though, he employed white
men. And his foundry.
(58:03):
Yes, he did. His largest Foundrywas the Phoenix foundry. And
they, He and Mr. Hood, who was aSaudi, excuse me, was a white
belt. And so they employ 25people, both black and white.
And oddly enough, on the recordsthat we've seen, pretty much
split evenly.
That's so hard to imagine inthat day and age, and he must
(58:26):
have had such a personality tolead a group as a black man in
that day, you know, employingwhite man,
the banks of the day, instead ofthe credit checks and so forth.
The electronic credit, creditchecks that we have to go
through today, the credit checksout that day of yesteryear was
(58:50):
the word of your neighbor. Inother words, they would ask your
neighbor what they thought, whatwhat you thought of John Parker,
and your credit would rely onwhat they thought about you. And
if you've got raving reviewsfrom your neighbor, like well,
he's a great guy, he's alwaysforth with a great big handshake
and a How'd he do, and he's justa nice fella, you might get your
(59:13):
loan. But if your neighbors didnot say, encouraging things
about you, then you're not goingto get your loan. That's the
credit check of the day. Thebank's records. John Parker is
having good credit and easy toloan to and on any in business
(59:34):
endeavor that he should want topursue. Yeah, quite a few
don'ts. So by all accounts, hewas a stand up guy. Right. And
really intelligent and inventiveor he had invented Was it some
farm implements? Three in flatthree. inventors are free
(59:56):
patents. He was one of us sixblacks to have a patent In the
1800s, it was very, very rarefor blacks to have a bat. But he
was one of six blacks to haveone. And he had three all
together,such a overachiever. And there's
so many ways that he kind ofbusted through the norms. You
(01:00:17):
know what was supposed to happenin those days, a man of his
color and stature. It's really,really something to aspire to,
in some ways.
Not only was John Parker, aconductor on the Underground
(01:00:37):
Railroad, he was an extractor.
And there are very, very fewextractors in our history,
especially black ones. The mostfamous extractor is Harriet
Tubman. He would go intoVirginia and she would bring
slaves from Virginia. She made17 trips into Virginia, John
Parker did much the same, hewould go into Kentucky, which he
(01:00:59):
called the Borderlands, and hewould bring slaves from
Kentucky, to Ohio, which hecalled Thomas lamb. This was
very dangerous for had John beencaught any given night fooling
around over get that he, in thisendeavor, one question would
have been asking only onequestion. And that's who's got a
rope?
(01:01:22):
Yeah, I remember reading thestory where there was a reward
on its head. Right? Yeah. So youhad people looking out for him.
So not only did he have to dothat incredibly hard task of
freeing and attracting people,but he had to keep an eye out.
For those that were looking forhim. Right. The larger than life
(01:01:45):
story of John P. Parker servestestament to what one man can
achieve in the midst ofoppressive forces beyond his
control. By all accounts, andwith the odds stacked against
him, he should have lived inmisery and died is just one more
slave among hundreds of 1000s.
And yet, he sees what wasavailable to him. He created a
(01:02:06):
path forward and would not giveinto despair. Both fortune and
tenacity created in him the willto do what so many had never
dared. And we are all the betterfor it. No one knows what this
remarkable man could have done.
Were he not burdened with theyoke of slavery? Had our
(01:02:29):
forefathers not endeavored downthis wicked path. Had we
outlawed slavery from the start.
There's no telling what Parkeror countless other African
Americans might have enjoyed,achieved, and contributed to
society. And therein lies ourgreatest loss, and labeling one
group of people as subhuman, inreducing their personhood to the
(01:02:51):
sum of the labor they couldproduce. We lost out on the
brilliance, the creativity, andthe true potential of what we
can become as a people. For allof slavery's horrors and evil,
for all the excruciating painand misery, it caused one group
of people, it's marks remain.
(01:03:15):
It's a legacy we're still comingto terms with. We have a long
way to go. It's the hope ofreaching that promised land that
propels us all forward. May welearn the lessons of those
who've gone before us?
(01:03:36):
This concludes today's episodeon the village of Ripley
terminus of the UndergroundRailroad. I hope you've enjoyed
it. If so, please considerwriting a review on Apple
podcasts. It helps people findthe show. You can also find Ohio
folklore on Ohio folklore.comAnd on Facebook. And as always,
(01:03:57):
keep wondering
Hello and welcome to Ohio folklore. I'm your host,
Melissa Davies. I've got aspecial announcement before we
begin today's rebroadcastedepisode, I'm taking a temporary
break from producing newcontent. While I'm pursuing a
new creative outlet. There'll bea pause and new episodes. But
I'm hoping you devoted Ohiofolklore fans will ultimately
(00:27):
appreciate my brief detour intothe world of writing. I began
writing a book which willchronicle legendary stories from
one county in the northwestcorner of the state. Set to
publish next fall 2023 I'mdiving deep into legendary lore
(00:47):
that stems from Ohio zone, WoodCounty. For anyone who has
inside knowledge on legendarystories that come from Wood
County, I'd love to hear fromyou. Are you an alumni from
BGSU, who recalls a hauntingexperience on campus? Did you
(01:09):
once spot a transparent figurepatrolling the grounds of Fort
Max, with the musket slung overhis shoulder? Have you caught a
glimpse of the ghostly nunsknown to linger inside Nazareth
Hall and Grand Rapids. If youare someone you know has insight
into folklore from Wood County,and would like to see your story
(01:32):
featured in the book itself.
Please reach out to me atMelissa at Ohio folklore.com. In
the meantime, while my effortsare focused on writing the first
draft, you'll see some of themost popular Ohio folklore
episodes drop in your feed. Thisway, new listeners will have a
(01:52):
chance to hear the mostcompelling stories I've stumbled
across over the 50 episodes I'veposted so far. You can think of
it as a kind of greatest hitsalbum. For those of you who've
come to look forward to newepisodes dropping, don't fear.
I'm coming back to be sure. Idon't know the exact timeline at
(02:14):
the moment, but I'll be sure tokeep you posted along the way.
And so without further ado,let's get to today's
rebroadcast. And in honor ofBlack History Month, we're
taking another listen to theepisode which has enlightened me
the most. It's the story ofRipley terminus of the
Underground Railroad, and one ofits favorite sons, John Parker,
(02:37):
this African American formerslave turned entrepreneur,
committed his life to freeingand extracting those yet
ensnared in the bonds ofslavery. We've come a long way
from those days. And yet we haveso far to go. His example is one
worth following. Come here, thisstory Hello, and welcome to Ohio
(03:04):
folklore. I'm your host, MelissaDavies. I'm so glad you could
join me. Today story centers onone small river town that stands
(03:27):
today as a living museum. Itsunsung history creates fertile
ground for legendary lore.
Normally, stories thisextraordinary or more fiction
than fact. Not this time.
Today's story is devoted to avery true history, and real
characters that prove largerthan life. Some lore needs no
(03:50):
embellishment from supernaturalclaims. This part of our Ohio
History reflects universaltruths that resonate with the
soul. I'm talking about RickLee, Ohio, a once terminus of
the Underground Railroad.
(04:15):
Ripley sits right on the OhioRiver about 50 miles upstream
from Cincinnati. Its small townstatus has remained throughout
its existence. Its totalpopulation has never exceeded
2800 people. And today, about1700 residents called Wrigley
home. But don't let the sizefool you. The Tales you're about
(04:36):
to hear are reflected in thehistorical record. This little
towns role and ushering peopleto freedom should make us all
proud as a Highlands. Storiesabout the Underground Railroad
are scattered throughout Ohio ashistory. As listeners, we
connect with those who yearn forfreedom. We're wrapped in the
tension and the danger ofcapture. We're intrigued By the
(05:00):
subterfuge and the glimmer ofhope found in the northward
journey. What I'm about topresent to you carries all of
these elements. But that's notall. Be sure to stay around for
the second half of today'sepisode, you'll learn of a man,
a former slave himself, whosecourage and devotion to the
cause of freedom goes beyondcomprehension. I'm saving the
(05:24):
best for last. Let's start ourstory by hearing from a local
herself. Allow me to introduceyou to Miss Betty Campbell. She
serves as site manager for theRankin house. This historic
structure is one of manypreserve sites that once
serviced enslaved people ontheir journeys northward. John
(05:46):
Rankin the original owner, was awhite Presbyterian minister, who
aided about 2000 enslaved peopleon their path to freedom. His
house, which sits high on abluff above the Ohio River, was
used as the fortress, a place ofrefuge for those who dared to
cross the wide expanse come.
Let's hear what Betty has toteach us. Okay, I'm Betty
(06:08):
Campbell, and I am the sitemanager for the Rankin house.
Our local history group, Ripleyheritage, manages Rankin house
for the Ohio History Connection,the state's Historical Society.
I've been involved with the rankand housing our local
(06:30):
organization has since 1981.
People still have that thirst tolearn more about Ohio's role
winning Underground Railroad,and we're happy to share that
with all of our visitors. Right.
It's something to be very proudof Barry. Do you have any
memories of visitors that standout?
(06:54):
Well, we've had severalinteresting visitors and a
couple of stick out in my mindquite well is that good. Many
years ago, we had a reportercome to the site, it was her
first time coming to Ripley,Ohio, and to the Rankin house,
and she was in newspaper,journalist. And when she got on
(07:19):
site, and stood out by theRankin house, which overlooks
the village of Ripley, Ohio, theOhio River in the Kentucky Hill,
she just burst into tears. Itwas a pilgrimage of sorts for
her and she became veryemotional, and was so overcome
with just the spirit of theplace. And so many people tell
(07:43):
me that they feel a spirit ofthe place for the role that the
Rankin's had in the UndergroundRailroad and helping other
people achieve freedom. And sothat that was very moving for
me, as well. Another incident,several years ago, the
University of Cincinnati hadsome foreign students who were
(08:09):
spending one or two semesters atthe University of Cincinnati,
and these were older students,and they were from African
countries. And so I'm givingthis is in the offseason, I'm
giving the tour and everything'sgoing well. And then we get to
our question and answer session.
And one of the women said, We'rejust so amazed at how freely you
can speak about this issue. Andthat had never occurred to me,
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living in southern Ohio thatwhat I take for granted, my
ability to speak freely and tellthe truth about the Underground
Railroad was something thatother people in the world cannot
take for granted. And that wasvery special and really hit home
for me.
(08:56):
I'm sure it makes you realizethe freedoms that we enjoy that
many do not. Yes, it's not justthe history story. It's a story
that is as relevant today. As itwas 175 years ago. I couldn't
agree with you more. So I'm surea lot of my listeners have never
been to Ripley. And I waswondering if you might offer a
(09:20):
description of what it's like tobe there, what it looks like,
what it sounds like, even how itfeels Ripley is my hometown, and
Ripley is a small community nowof about 1800 people, and it
sits right on the Ohio Riverwill about an hour's drive from
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Cincinnati, and Ripley wasfounded in 1812 by Colonel James
Pogue, who was a revolutionarywar veteran, and he bought a lot
of his ideals, when he came toRipley, was that he had just
fought for For freedom, and forsupposedly American freedom, and
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he couldn't turn around and notbe supportive of having every
person become free. So he reallyset the groundwork for what was
to come. And that was otherearly settlers who were also
Revolutionary War veterans, somewho had inherited slaves, and
(10:25):
then came to the Ohio Countryand freed their slaves, and then
worked as Underground Railroadconductors. Today in Ripley, we
have a charming 55 acre HistoricDistrict in downtown Ripley,
part of it is along the OhioRiver, and quite a few preserved
(10:46):
homes that have many have beenrestored. And some were homes of
some of these other earlyUnderground Railroad conductors,
and many of them have plaquesand signage on their private
homes telling us the stories ofthe Underground Railroad in
Ripley, Ohio. But of course, ourmost two famous conductors are
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Reverend John Rankin, this whitePresbyterian ministers who came
directly in 1822. And then JohnParker, a freed slave, who was a
foundry man by trade, who camehere in the early 1850s. And
both worked as conductors. Andthe reason they're so well
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remembered as the because bothof them left a written record of
their deeds. Reverend Rankin,wrote his autobiography as an
older man, so we have a lot ofaccurate information about what
he did in Ripley, as anunderground railroad conductor.
John Parker was interviewed by anewspaper reporter in his later
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years. And so that reporterturned that into what was called
John Parker's autobiography, andhe also shared stories of
helping fugitives escapedthrough this river town of
Ripley, Ohio. Reverend JohnRankin in his autobiography, he
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wrote that over a period ofabout 40 years of living on on
his hillside farm, that he andhis family hated roughly 2000
fugitive slaves passing throughRipley, and as Reverend Rankin
wrote, I never lost thepassenger, meaning Fuji does in
the care of the rank and familywere never caught by their
(12:38):
owners, or by bounty hunters andtaken back into slavery in
Reverend Rankin was very proudof that. That is quite an
accomplishment. As I understoodthere were a number of patrols
in the area and folks trying tocapture fugitive slaves to bring
them back. Yes, not everyone inRipley was sympathetic to what
(13:04):
the Ripley Underground Railroadconductors were doing there,
there was a group of men whofelt that slavery was perfectly
fine. And some of them worked aspatrol or they physically
patrolled the Ohio river shorearound Ripley, looking for
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fugitive slaves trying to escapeand if they could capture them,
and take them back to theirowners, or to the authorities,
and there was reward money forthem. I see for the fact that
Reverend Rankin was able toshepherd these folks
effectively. That was no smallfeat.
No, it was not. It was not inReverend Rankin and his wife,
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Jean, have a large family, theyhad 13 children, and nine of
them were sons. And it was thenine sons as they became
teenagers that were doing thephysical work of moving fugitive
slaves from the Ripley locationsnorth to the next station, and
then other conductors would takeover and move on with the war
(14:12):
miles, and then someone elsewill take over. And then
eventually, for most fugitives,the goal was to try to reach
Canada get to another countrywhere the laws of the United
States don't apply. So that wasa goal. For most. These were
dangerous times.
(14:34):
Yeah, very revolutionary, verysocial justice minded. Yes. Is
one of the common visuals Ithink people have is the story
about a lantern and a window ora candle in the window being a
sign. Is that one of themisconceptions? Well,
no, that is actually true thatRankin and his sons do right In,
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in different papers, that theywould keep a light of some sort,
burning in one of their frontwindows overlooking the river.
And that was used as a guide ora beacon to fugitives escaping
out of Kentucky. They were toldif you make it to the river
around Ripley, in your escape,look for a house on the hill and
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widen the window. So the Rankinfamily did do.
That is an actual fact. Oh,okay. And I seen some drone
footage of the house. And itdoes look like it's truly
sitting singularly on top of thehill, above the river.
(15:42):
Yes, Rankin house sits alone ona crest of a hill. And you
really can see a light in thewindow from across the river in.
In Kentucky, I've been withenough.
TV crews when when they weredoing their piece for Black
(16:03):
History Month, and there cameremain would be across the river
in Kentucky, and their producerand I would be in the ranking
house with a lamp or a candle.
And by cell phone, we wouldcommunicate, I want you to raise
it a little bit higher, move itto the left and move it to the
right. And I've seen, you knowthe end result in you know, at
(16:24):
night when it's dark. There areno other lights around the rank
and how can you truly can seelight in the window across the
river in the Kentucky?
Oh, wow. Do you think if hepurposely built the house with
that sort of intention at thatlocation,
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he needed a larger locationbecause of his ever growing
family was ending up with so tochildren's. Among the reasons he
chose that location was to havethis vantage point where he also
wanted to see what was going ondown in the town of Ripley and
add on the river and all theKentucky shoreline as well as
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people seeing them. So yes, hecertainly chose that with this
business in mind.
Right, I could see where itwould offer a vantage point for
slaves on the Kentucky side ofthe river to see his house. But
also he would be able to seemaybe if there were patrol
people moving about, you know,that sort of thing he would be
(17:33):
able to he had a good view ofthe town. Exactly. Yes, he
did. Okay. I did want to mentionthat both the ranking house and
the Parker house are open to thepublic and both sides have
national historic landmarkdesignation, and that's the
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highest designation our federalgovernment can give to a
historic side. That means thepeople who lived there and or
the events that took place hassignificance throughout the
United States. So in Ripley,we're quite proud that we have
in our small town, two nationalhistoric landmarks and those
(18:13):
devoted to the UndergroundRailroad.
Yeah, what an absolute treasure.
It's hard to overstate the jewelwe have in Ripley, a town that
stands testament to Ohio's rolein promoting freedom to those
daring enough to seek it. Thetrue value in this history in
particular, is our great fortuneand having a written record. As
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Betty mentioned, the stories I'mabout to share with you come
from validated accounts of thepeople themselves. So often,
most stories about theUnderground Railroad are left to
hearsay tales that have beenpassed down orally from one
generation to the next. Mostpeople who were directly
involved in these effortspurposely avoided documenting
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them for obvious reasons. That'swhy we're usually left with just
the oral tellings of whathappened. What we have here
today, however, is the rareopportunity to know the
incredible life story of oneman, a conductor and extractor
on the Underground Railroad. I'mdevoting the rest of today's
(19:18):
episode to this man whose life'sadventures are nearly beyond
belief. When I stumbled acrossthis during autobiography, I was
stunned that I had never beforeheard of him. He was not native
to Ohio, but as among its mostrevered adopted sons. He
overcame incredible odds tofinally settle in the Free
(19:38):
State, after liberating himselffrom the claws of bondage for
most enslaved people seekingfreedom. Finally, crossing the
Ohio River was an importantmilestone, but it was not the
final one. To ensure liberty,the enslaved had to keep moving
north into Canada. After passageof the Fugitive Slave Act of
(20:00):
1850. This was the only way toensure freedom from their
owners. One Mr. John Parkerwould not continue northward.
After suffering nearly fatalsetbacks in his journey to
freedom, he would choose to stayin the country that bore him,
the country that enslaved him,the country that forsake his
(20:23):
right to life, liberty, and thepursuit of happiness. He chose
to stay against his owninterests and those of his
family. He would lead a life ofoutsized proportion, he would
rise from his station as anenslaved child, to a successful
business owner, employer andpatent holder. Yet most dear to
(20:44):
his heart were the unendingpursuits he made to aid those
who came behind him countlesstimes he would risk his own life
and freedom, in an effort tofree others. Come hear the story
of the life and times of JohnParker.
(21:10):
The following accounts of JohnParker's personal life
experiences are derived from hisautobiography, entitled his
promised land. That's what hecame to call Ohio. This treasure
of a story offers an intimateglimpse into how one African
American man not only managed tofree himself from the shackles
of slavery, he then took on theinstitution itself and freed
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hundreds more. After the closeof the Civil War, Parker was
interviewed many times by alocal newspaper reporter, who
transcribed Parker's words byhandwriting them. However, on
the manuscripts completion inthe 1880s, racist attitudes,
which prevailed among publishersat large, prevented the
manuscript from going to print.
The handwritten account wouldeventually be shelved and the
(21:57):
Duke University archive, JohnParker was not well known. And
the legibility of the transcriptleft it gathering dust. Until
its final publication in 1996.
We owe Stuart Seely Sprague, aprofessor of African American
Studies at Morehead StateUniversity and Kentucky. For his
(22:19):
painstaking work in reading,editing, and assembling the
autobiography into what it istoday. You can easily find it
wherever you buy books. What agift that Parker's incredible
story did not die with him. Byall means you should read the
book. But for our purposes, letme tell you some of its main
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passages. To start off, I'd likeyou to think about your own
childhood to the time when youwere eight years old. For most
of us that would have beenaround third grade. Can you
picture yourself back down? Doyou remember finding wiggly
teeth and your attempts toextract them? The excitement of
hiding them under your pillow atnight? Do you remember growing
(23:03):
out of your shoes every fewmonths? Do you remember the
thrill of a birthday party andthe first day of school. John
Parker was once eight years old.
He had been born into slavery in1827 in Norfolk, Virginia. But
it was at this tender age thathe was forcibly removed from his
mother. His father was believedto have been his master. The
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same master had made thebusiness decision to sell him
down south as it was called.
There, it was presumed that hewould work day after day in the
fields sentence to a life ofhard labor. Parker was chained
to an old man and was forced towalk from Norfolk to Richmond, a
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distance of nearly 100 miles. Herecalled the old man's kindness
as he tried to carry the weightof the chain as much as he
could. Parker was overwroughtwith grief over the loss of his
mother, and wept along the way.
The old man was the only one toshow him kindness during this
leg of the journey. When theyfinally reached Richmond, Parker
(24:08):
would soon be sold to onefamily, and the old man would be
sold to another. Yet for somereason Parker never understood.
He watched as a drunken slavetrader beat the old man to death
before the sale was complete.
(24:29):
from Richmond Parker would thenbegin the marched Alabama. This
time, he was chained to a convoythat included men, women and
children. He remembers walkingthrough wooded areas on the
journey and feeling jealous ofthe wildlife around him. The
critters who had freedom to comeand go as they pleased. Once
when they were forced to four tostream, the lead member felt
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deep into a hole and one by one,those behind him were drugged
under the surface of the water.
Parker could do nothing thing asthe force of the chain yanked
him down under the surface withthe rest of them. He would
regain consciousness later,after the slave traders had
managed to pull the group outwith the aid of their horses
pulling on the chain. And themarch continued. unreachably
(25:15):
mobo, Parker would have thegreat fortune of being purchased
by kindly Dr. Parker would laterrecall much appreciation for
this man whose sons he wouldcome to know on an intimate
basis. It was these boys, youngwhite men of privilege that
would take it upon themselves toteach Parker to read and write.
(25:38):
Without their father'sknowledge, they provided him
books which Parker read with avoracious appetite. It was
illegal to teach a slave to readand write. These books open
Parker's mind to the widerworld, enlightening him to what
existed beyond his life as ablack child in slave territory.
(26:01):
When it came time for the doctorsons to head to Yale to further
their educations, Parker wasgranted the privilege of
traveling with them as theirpersonal servant. Yet On
arriving in Philadelphia, Parkerand the boys encountered
abolitionists bent on freeinghim. They even attempted
abducting him on more than oneoccasion. And with that, Parker
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was sent back to Alabama, andthe doctor. He would be forced
into a life of labor, which didnot suit his growing mind and
intellect. What follows here isa very detailed harrowing story
of Parker's eventual efforts tofleet in New Orleans, and then
up the Mississippi River bystowing away and cargo ships
(26:46):
headed north. His encountersalong the way can stand as
stories within themselves.
Parker would eventually beapprehended and brought back to
New Orleans, and left in a jailuntil the doctor could come
retrieve him. For a time afterthat, he would serve as an
apprentice in an iron foundry,where he would develop expert
skills and the trade. The Kindlydoctor would allow him to keep
(27:09):
what income he generated there.
And for the first time, Parkerbegan purchasing his own
clothes, taking pride in thefruits of his own labor. And in
yet another act of ingenuity andresolve, Parker would secure an
agreement with a wealthy widowby the name of Mrs. Ryder. She'd
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been a patient of the doctor andseemed to harbor his sympathetic
views on slavery. Parker askedthat she purchased him, the cost
of which was $1,800 and in duetime, he would pay her back to
win his own freedom. It tooksome convincing that she
eventually agreed. Parker signeda contract pledging to pay the
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full cost plus interest at therate of $10 per week. He made
double payments when he could,and delighted at the notion of
his own freedom. Exactly 18months later, Parker had earned
it. He took no time and headingnorth with his documents of
freedom sewn into this fast. Heheaded first to Jeffersonville,
(28:14):
Indiana, where jobs and ironfoundries were plentiful. But
his stay there was shortenedwhen he learned at the growing
abolitionists town called Ripleyon the Ohio River. Kentucky had
become known as a border land,where those enslaved peoples
desperate on their sojourn tofreedom required assistance on
(28:35):
crossing the river and movingonward. They face patrols of man
searching for them, eager for abounty on returning them to
their masters. Parker would findhis life's purpose and aiding
those seeking the freedom hehimself held so precious. You
would move to Ripley, and jointhe fight. For 20 years from
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1845 to 1865, Parker would notonly aid fugitives and their
escapes, at great personal risk,he would venture into the slave
state of Kentucky and extractpeople. Humans owned his
property and bring them forwardtoward freedom. Not everyone in
Ripley was on board with theabolitionist movement. Parker
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walked the streets armed downthe center of the streets.
Walking along sidewalks made ittoo easy to be ambushed by those
who might pop out of alleys andbuildings. Many homes within
Ripley were secretively friendlyto the abolitionist movement.
The most prominent was that ofReverend John Rankin, who we
(29:38):
learned about earlier, Parkerspoke of the Reverend as a quote
man of deeds as well as words.
Rankin's house, high on the hillabove the river, stood as a
fortress against all comers.
Those who were sheltered withinits walls enjoyed uncommon
refuge. Parker's own house andiron foundry were No less
(30:00):
remarkable a structure for thistiny town. unsettling and
Ripley, this former slave turnedentrepreneur, built an iron
foundry, which grew to employ 25people, both white and black.
Parker would live under his ownroof, his wife and six children
with him. He would run asuccessful business and secure
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three patents for his inventionsof farm implements. These
devices would help relieve theneed for human labor in the
fields, and thus relievedcountless slaves from back
breaking work. And as remarkableas this all sounds, these were
not his greatestaccomplishments. Parker would
later proclaim that theUnderground Railroad had its
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origin in Ripley. In fact, hereferred to the town as the
terminus of the UndergroundRailroad.
at an earlier time, during theera of the Revolutionary War,
this area in and around Ripleyhad been the only place where
slave owners from Virginia couldfree their slaves and face no
liability. It was known as theVirginia Military District of
(31:07):
Ohio. From then on seeds of theabolitionist movement were
planted. By the time Parkermoved to town, the movement was
in full bloom. From this pointforward, I could regale you with
many heroic tales of Parker'sextraction of enslaved people
from Kentucky's banks. Pleaseread the book for yourself to
(31:28):
get a full understanding of theimpact of his actions. But for
brevity sake, I'll present youwith just a couple of the most
compelling stories. Word hadmade it to Ripley that a party
of fugitives were nearing theOhio River after a very long and
arduous trek. By the time Parkerhad heard tell of it. They were
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only about 20 miles away fromthe river when their leader had
been captured, leaving themhelpless and alone in the
wilderness. John Parkervolunteered to rescue them. He
placed a pair of pistols in hispockets and a knife in his belt.
With the help of a local slave,he would discover the group of
10 Standing helpless in the deepwoods off the Kentucky bank of
(32:11):
the Ohio River. Some of thegroup had become so traumatized
that they were ready to give up,others still managed to have the
courage to go on. After someconvincing, Parker announced it
was time for the group to followhim. It was then that one of the
men started wailing in fear ofwhat was to come. Without
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hesitation, Parker raised apistol to the man's head, and
advised that he keep quiet andfollow his lead, or he'd have to
ensure his silence by killinghim. After that show of force
the entire group fell in andobeyed has every command
traipsing through the underbrushwas intensive work. But it was
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the only way to avoid detectionfrom patrols that surveilled
trails and roads, it was theonly way forward, they had to go
as quietly as possible to avoiddetection. At one point, another
of the man had complained ofthirst and announced he was
going off to look for freshwater. Parker begged him not to
leave the group but the manmanaged to slip away. There was
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nothing more the group could dobut keep moving. Only Moments
later, the man came rushing backtoward them, pursued by two
white patrol officers, Parkerordered the entire group to lie
down in the underbrush. Theywaited as the man ran on by
them, followed by the sound of ashot echoing off the trees.
Parker whispered to the group toremain hidden, or he'd shoot the
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first person that sprang up andrevealed their hiding place.
After what felt like hours, thegroup would spot demand, his
wrist tied behind his back,being led by a rope attached to
his captors. Luckily, he hadn'tdisclosed the location of the
rest of them. Parker knew thattime was of the essence, the
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group pushed on with new vigor,and they made it to the river
one day ahead of schedule.
Consequently, the boat which wassupposed to greet them, arranged
by fellow abolitionist named TomCollins, was not there. It was
then that a patrol officerspotted the group standing along
the bank, but he took offbecause of the sheer size of the
group. All knew that he wouldsoon return with the unit of
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patrol officers in tow. Parkerordered the group to drop all
their bundles and possessionsand run along the bank in hopes
of encountering a moored boatthat they might take across. One
woman fell and exhaustion duringthe rush. Parker told her to
keep up if she could, but thegroup could not wait for her. As
luck would have it, they found aboat boat with no oars in sight.
(34:47):
During the frenzied search forthem, hound dogs started banging
in the distance In the patrolwas closing in on them. The
group piled into the boat asParker tore up his seat to use
as a paddle. In the process, hecame upon the oars there within
(35:09):
the hall.
The boat was not large enoughfor all of them. All but two men
had made it inside. They remainstanding on the bank, watching
as they shoved off into theriver. One woman started
wailing, begging that herhusband be allowed to join them.
It was done, that one singleman, wordlessly stepped out of
(35:33):
the boat. In an act oftremendous self sacrifice, the
woman's husband ran into thewater and leaped up into the
boat, now seated where the youngman had just been, as they made
their way out into the center ofthe river. The group watched as
the two they left behind, wereapprehended. Those two
(35:53):
unfortunate souls had beencaptured inside of the Ohio
bank, the land that Parker wouldlater call his promised land.
The group would arrive at theopposite bank and safety and
Parker would usher them to thehome of James Gilliland. Five
miles out of town. From then on,he never heard what more came of
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the lot of them. This was onlyone of many extractions that
John Parker performed in hiscareer as a conductor on the
Underground Railroad. Anotherstory stems from an encounter
Parker had with one of his whiteemployees at his iron foundry.
The employee lived across theriver in Kentucky with his
(36:36):
father, a slave owner. Theemployee had chided Parker about
the rumors going around that hehad been abducting slaves and
bringing them across the river.
Parker denied the claim to hisemployees face. However,
something shifted when theemployee finally challenged
Parker, stating that if he wereso brave, why didn't he go and
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steal some of his father's ownslaves. It was then that Parker
secretly vowed to do just that.
That's it same night, Parkertook a skiff across the river to
the employee's father's farm.
His aim was to make contact withslaves there and offer
assistance in their escape.
(37:18):
After some hairy encounters withskittish and uncertain
candidates, one enslaved managreed to go if only his wife
and baby could come with him. Ascheme was made for just how the
deed would be done, and Parkerplan to return the next week to
carry it out. When the appointednight arrived, something had
gone wrong. The little familywas not at the designated
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location, and the agreed upontime. at great risk, Parker
sneaked into the slave cabinsand found the couple so
frightened they could barelyspeak. Their owners had caught
suspicion that something was upand had taken their baby to
sleep with them in their ownhouse. It was an insurance
policy to keep the couple fromany thoughts of running off. The
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owner had promised to shoot anyperson who entered their
bedroom, and an attempt to takethe little one. After some
discussion, Parker agreed torescue the baby from the owners
clutches. He was determined notto return home empty handed.
Parker took off the shoes inorder to creep in silence, and
(38:25):
instructed the husband todestroy them if he didn't make
it back to destroy the evidence.
If they heard shooting, theywould remain in their cabin and
claim ignorance of the wholeaffair. And with that, Parker
headed for the house. His dreadand his fear grew with every
step. When he first arrived, hecrouched on the porch, and then
(38:46):
slipped through the kitchendoor. He left it wide open to
make for an easy escape. Heallowed his eyes to adjust to
the darkness before taking hisnext steps on floorboards that
creeped and popped. The ownersbedroom door had a large crack
along the bottom, and light froma candle was streaming through
(39:06):
it. He hesitated at the doorbefore opening the latch. He
waited until he could hear theslow rhythmic breathing of the
owner and his wife sleepingsoundly. Then, holding his
breath, he pushed the dooropened as it squeaked on its
hinges. Remarkably, the coupleremained heavily asleep. The man
(39:27):
slept in a wooden chair. Next tohim, were two pistols. It was
then that the man adjustedhimself in his sleep, and turned
away from Parker. He took thisas a fortunate sign, and stooped
down to begin crawling towardthe other side of the bed, where
the infant was kept. Only as hewas working toward this end, the
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door swung itself shut andlatched loudly. Peering around
the corner, Parker spotted thebundled up, baby and pulled it
toward him. A Creek in the bedsprings rang out as the candle
extinguished, plunging the roomof darkness.
With no more need for creeping,Parker leaped to his feet with
(40:12):
the baby in his arms and headedin the direction of the door.
The sound of the pistolscrashing on the floor, echoed on
the walls of the small room. Hemanaged to open the door with a
jerk and bold it across thekitchen and out into the yard.
As Parker barreled toward theriver, where he was to meet with
(40:32):
the husband and wife, bulletswhizzed by his head. The three
of them soon reached theriverbank where the skiff was
there waiting for them. Heinstructed the husband to lie
down in the hall, so only twoadults were visible from the
shore. When they made it onlyabout a third of the way across
the river, Parker could hear thevoice of his employee shouting
(40:53):
the names of the enslavedhusband and wife, threatening
their lives if they didn'treturn immediately. His threats
only furthered Parker's resolveto get them to safety and onward
toward freedom. When theyfinally reached the Ohio side,
the couple realized they'dforgotten Parker shoes in the
frenzy. After dropping the threeof them off at a safe house,
(41:16):
Parker's fears grew that theshoes would serve as evidence
that he had been the guiltyparty to aid them in their
escape. And sure enough, he soonheard voices outside his own
home. One of them the wideemployee and a band of others
demanded they search his homefor the fugitives. Normally,
(41:37):
Parker refused patrols fromsearching his premises, but he
took pleasure in allowing thisgroup. It must have been quite a
sight for him to watch as theygrew frustrated in their search.
The employees father soonarrived pistol in hand. After an
exhaustive search of Parker'sproperty was completed, the
(41:58):
young employee turned to Parkersaying, I believe you are over
the river just the same and knowwhere my people are. The
employees suspicions were onlyfurthered when Parker's
distinctive shoes werediscovered near the slave
cabins. The employee came andshoved them in Parker space and
declared that he would soonprove him the guilty party. He
(42:21):
went so far as to travel fromstore to store looking for a
merchant who would acknowledgehaving sold them to Parker, none
would give Parker up. Theemployee would never return to
work at the foundry. In the end,Parker would claim it's a real
sense of satisfaction and havingachieved what this white man his
(42:43):
employee no less never thoughtpossible. As I mentioned, these
are only two of many harrowingconquests achieved by this
remarkable man. John Parkerwould live on to see the fall of
the Confederacy reconstructionand the rise of the Jim Crow
(43:03):
era. He would die on February2 1900. There in his adopted
town of Ripley. his obituaryreads as follows
John P. Parker died at his homeon West Front Street very
suddenly, Tuesday morning. Hehad been on the street Sunday
(43:24):
and at his place of businessMonday, at five o'clock Tuesday
morning, he woke his family withthe complaint of feeling ill and
a physician was hastilysummoned. Before his arrival,
Mr. Parker had passed away. Acomplication of diseases running
back over several years had beentending to the sudden ending,
(43:45):
and that it did not come soonerwas due to the indomitable will
and energy of the man who heldon to life with the same
tenacity with which he grippedevery enterprise and success
along the years that brought himup the ranks of Ripley's useful,
prosperous and honoredbusinessmen. Mr. Parker was
(44:05):
probably the foremost coloredman and our community, a man of
deep thought, learning andattainments, who labored
incessantly along his chosenlines of mechanical work, until
he built up a name for himselfwith his patent tobacco screws
and other devices and affordedemployment for his fellow men.
(44:26):
To the people of his own race.
He was indeed a friend, and inthe darker days of slavery was a
strong right arm too many ofthem of his relations to his own
family. It needed only to besaid that his sons were all
occupying honorable positionstoday in the world. They as well
as his daughters, all receivedcollegiate education's. Their
prosperity is the best tributethat can be offered to the
(44:50):
Father. Mr. Parker was not amember of any church. He
believed in the supremacy andwonderful love of the Heavenly
Father. And he lived out theprecepts of caring for his
brother and giving secret armsto the needy. Of a truth. He was
a great hearted, generous man.
(45:11):
He had been sole proprietor ofthe Phoenix foundry for many
years. A wife survives him, alsothree sons and three daughters,
a son and daughter in Chicago, ason and daughter in St. Louis, a
son in Memphis and a daughter athome. All of the children will
be here today. It was Mr.
Parker's desire that his body becremated. Whether or not this
(45:33):
will be done will be decidedlater, a son is buried in
Maplewood. 70 years was the spanof Mr. Parker's life. I'd like
to end today's episode with thewords and insights of another
local one, Mr. Dewey Scott. Heis the docent of the Parker
(45:53):
house, which stands today on thebank of the Ohio River. It's
open to the public, we can tourthe very home where Parker
lived, and the foundry he builtand managed. Mr. Scott has
worked at this historic site fornearly 11 years. In that time,
he's accumulated a wealth ofknowledge, and has agreed to
pass it along to us today. Comehear his story. So I was so
(46:18):
intrigued when I came acrossJohn Parker's autobiography, and
thought it's really deserved.
For my listeners to hear such acompelling story. And wanted to
start out by just asking whatyour role is, with the Parker
(46:39):
house itself.
Okay, there's Ellison. I'm theonly employee, we are a
nonprofit organization. I am theonly paid employee, everyone
else is a volunteer Parkerhouse, and I am the docent and
have been so for 10 Completeyears, I'm working on my level.
(47:01):
What are some of the typicalreactions that you see that
visitors have when they come?
Visitors are mostly intrigued bythe story of John Parker, they
had no idea of the expanse ofhis talents, and his
determination, people are justmesmerized by his all in his
(47:21):
determination in what he did,and how he did it. And why back
in that time period, which weredesperate times, needs, time
grew on me quite a bit differentthan what we're experiencing
now. But nonetheless, it wasdesperate times back then.
It's hard to even kind of wrapyour brain around the tenacity
(47:43):
that he had to face those oddsand to know he was risking
conscious life and limb thatthat he could have been re
enslaved, especially for histrip back the process.
Knowing that because he hated itso much to raise that three
enslavement, when, in his earlyyears, it was a driving force to
(48:09):
be on and not via slavinglonger. And to risk it back
again.
It's such a selfless act, andhis commitment to freedom, not
just for himself, but forothers. It's just amazing. And
so unique. I mean, of course,you know, we've heard, or at
(48:30):
least I should say, I've heardstories of the Underground
Railroad, that so many of them,they seem focused on white folks
in their role. And I think,unfortunately, a lot of times,
African Americans and their ownstories can get pushed to the
side. Which is one of thereasons why I'm so drawn to, to
(48:55):
John Parker.
There were a lot of AfricanAmericans that were in the
endeavor of helping their ownbecome free. Course. Now, the
documentation is not theresimply because for the most part
they couldn't read or write. Sotherefore, you know, you can
(49:16):
document this for posterity. Sotherefore, doesn't mean that it
doesn't exist, just because it'snot document. And we come up, we
come across instance, quite afew times that we never moved
before. We're always learningstuff.
I like covering the same. Sure.
(49:39):
Oh, wow. That's all on onebasis. Yeah, that we, we we find
a segment of something. And onceit's tied together to another
segment, and it becomes crystalclear.
So it's like an unfolding story.
Right. The John Parkerfoundation and took on new
(50:01):
members with new endeavors. Anda stronger effort was made. They
didn't keep fighting for it. Andtherefore they started work on
it in 97, completed New Year2003.
And they did some renovation ofthe structure itself, right? Oh,
yeah. Okay. I'm so glad is it'spreserved now so that folks can
(50:27):
actually see it and experienceit. Emergent. Yeah. Are there
any misconceptions that peoplehave ideas that are false about
what it is or who John Parkerwas? Or things that you have to
kind of educate people? About?
(50:48):
Well, probably most of thefalsehoods revolve around the
the hiding the hiding of theslaves, especially in our area.
The hiding of the slaves is apart that people seem to
gravitate towards, when youmentioned the Underground
Railroad. They want to know whatrooms that you hide them in and
(51:10):
where the tunnels and or whatitems are, you know, free, show
me that, that the hiddendisplays, a lot of that didn't
go on not as much as we wereleads led to believe. For it
didn't make sense. Being closeto the river close to slave
territory as we are, it didn'tmake sense to hide displays, for
(51:32):
that allowed to pursuers.
Mm hmm. So more of the effortwas in helping them along,
move them as quickly as youpossibly could to the next
lesson. You've had them, floatthem if they needed it, heal
their wounds, heal theirsicknesses, that all that was
present, and you move them asquickly as you possibly can. The
(51:56):
main thing is that you did feedthem simply because more often
than not, they were extremelyhungry. For if you can imagine
out there in the woods for days,with no force, he didn't he
didn't have a gun, you could notthere was no fishing pole. Nor
did you have the time to cook ameal, you couldn't build a fire
(52:18):
on the day or at night, becausehe would be detected once the
fire is made. Didn't have, as Isaid, done or anything. So
therefore, you had no way ofgetting input.
That's a real risk ofstarvation. Oh, yeah. Right.
So starvation wanted that thentakes over. And that becomes
(52:44):
your primary. A fun food.
And, of course, if they wereexposed in any way, you know,
they couldn't certainly seek outbeg for food or something like
that, because it risksthemselves out. Right? Right.
Okay.
(53:05):
Right. And even if you, let'ssay Solon ham out of Smokehouse
or chicken out of a ruse, thenonce you detect it, then they
would alert the county sheriffthat you're in the area, and
he's to bring out the dogs andonce the dogs came out, you
still have a 60% chance of beingcaught. Very difficult to lose
(53:28):
adults. So I think for the firsttime,
right? So someone that decidedthat they were going to try to
escape to their freedom, facedincredible odds, starvation and
danger around every corner. Andthen if they were caught, and
were sent back to their slaveowners, God only knows what the
(53:51):
way they were. When they cameback
lease the lease you were in forthe sound beating. Other than
that, if you had received to bea threat to run again, then the
wisest thing for that owner todo is to sell you down south.
And you did not want to be solddown south, where therefore
(54:12):
you're going to end up on acotton farm. And a cotton
plantation is not where you wantit to be. That's where they work
into death.
And your chance of escaping thatwould have been even even
very, very difficult. Not onlyis a distance come into play
that you've got to traveltowards your freedom, but the
(54:37):
they were well guarded they werewell. Those plantations were
well. First personnel will keepthe safe and running was high.
Really makes you think about themental anguish that enslaved
folks had to go through to makethat decision whether they were
(54:57):
going to tryright away The scary situation
then. And then the top of all ifyou Let's go back to those days,
there's no television. There'sno radio, there's no, they
couldn't read. So they weren'tfamiliar with the newspapers.
They did not know what was outthere. He was going into the
(55:18):
blind,right, like literally heading
north. And that was right.
You had no idea what what wasthat? Because you had never
ventured. And there was no wayof knowing what was out there,
though that has made the tripbefore or escaped before, did
(55:40):
not come back. As a rule, onlyunless you're caught, you know,
then you had some kind of ideaof what you're going to see out
there, by listening to them telltheir stories of what they
experienced while they werefree. But for the most part,
those who made a successfulescape, did not come back to
(56:02):
tell the story to those who arestill unplanned days. In the
slaves to understand freedom, orto have that concept in their
mind. They want them to believethat they're that the world as
it exists is their world thatthey're in
really denying their humanitykind of seeing them as just
(56:26):
labor, producing labor andnothing more. Right. Right, the
John Parker knew difference. AndI mean, that he grabbed the
concept of freedom early on, andas a young as a young man,
within need to say, partly dueto the the ability to read, and
to understand the world do bothcity read, he was an avid
(56:51):
reader, he read everything youuse hands on.
Part of what I found myselfwondering about as I was reading
a story was what kind of life hemight have led, had he not been
born alive. You know, he has theskills and the intelligence and
the ingenuity and was free ofhaving to deal with the burden.
(57:16):
And, you know, it's hard toknow. I guess what other life
you would have had.
But, you know, thank goodnessthat he took the role that he
did, and that he offered theassistance to others at his own
cost. Just was, there's notelling what limits he could
(57:41):
have achieved. Not only notbeing a slave, but not only not
being black, we're here to fightthat as well, even that's no
longer a slave, you still it'sstill the black man. And he has
faced that world.
Right now. If I understoodright, though, he employed white
men. And his foundry.
(58:03):
Yes, he did. His largest Foundrywas the Phoenix foundry. And
they, He and Mr. Hood, who was aSaudi, excuse me, was a white
belt. And so they employ 25people, both black and white.
And oddly enough, on the recordsthat we've seen, pretty much
split evenly.
That's so hard to imagine inthat day and age, and he must
(58:26):
have had such a personality tolead a group as a black man in
that day, you know, employingwhite man,
the banks of the day, instead ofthe credit checks and so forth.
The electronic credit, creditchecks that we have to go
through today, the credit checksout that day of yesteryear was
(58:50):
the word of your neighbor. Inother words, they would ask your
neighbor what they thought, whatwhat you thought of John Parker,
and your credit would rely onwhat they thought about you. And
if you've got raving reviewsfrom your neighbor, like well,
he's a great guy, he's alwaysforth with a great big handshake
and a How'd he do, and he's justa nice fella, you might get your
(59:13):
loan. But if your neighbors didnot say, encouraging things
about you, then you're not goingto get your loan. That's the
credit check of the day. Thebank's records. John Parker is
having good credit and easy toloan to and on any in business
(59:34):
endeavor that he should want topursue. Yeah, quite a few
don'ts. So by all accounts, hewas a stand up guy. Right. And
really intelligent and inventiveor he had invented Was it some
farm implements? Three in flatthree. inventors are free
(59:56):
patents. He was one of us sixblacks to have a patent In the
1800s, it was very, very rarefor blacks to have a bat. But he
was one of six blacks to haveone. And he had three all
together,such a overachiever. And there's
so many ways that he kind ofbusted through the norms. You
(01:00:17):
know what was supposed to happenin those days, a man of his
color and stature. It's really,really something to aspire to,
in some ways.
Not only was John Parker, aconductor on the Underground
(01:00:37):
Railroad, he was an extractor.
And there are very, very fewextractors in our history,
especially black ones. The mostfamous extractor is Harriet
Tubman. He would go intoVirginia and she would bring
slaves from Virginia. She made17 trips into Virginia, John
Parker did much the same, hewould go into Kentucky, which he
(01:00:59):
called the Borderlands, and hewould bring slaves from
Kentucky, to Ohio, which hecalled Thomas lamb. This was
very dangerous for had John beencaught any given night fooling
around over get that he, in thisendeavor, one question would
have been asking only onequestion. And that's who's got a
rope?
(01:01:22):
Yeah, I remember reading thestory where there was a reward
on its head. Right? Yeah. So youhad people looking out for him.
So not only did he have to dothat incredibly hard task of
freeing and attracting people,but he had to keep an eye out.
For those that were looking forhim. Right. The larger than life
(01:01:45):
story of John P. Parker servestestament to what one man can
achieve in the midst ofoppressive forces beyond his
control. By all accounts, andwith the odds stacked against
him, he should have lived inmisery and died is just one more
slave among hundreds of 1000s.
And yet, he sees what wasavailable to him. He created a
(01:02:06):
path forward and would not giveinto despair. Both fortune and
tenacity created in him the willto do what so many had never
dared. And we are all the betterfor it. No one knows what this
remarkable man could have done.
Were he not burdened with theyoke of slavery? Had our
(01:02:29):
forefathers not endeavored downthis wicked path. Had we
outlawed slavery from the start.
There's no telling what Parkeror countless other African
Americans might have enjoyed,achieved, and contributed to
society. And therein lies ourgreatest loss, and labeling one
group of people as subhuman, inreducing their personhood to the
(01:02:51):
sum of the labor they couldproduce. We lost out on the
brilliance, the creativity, andthe true potential of what we
can become as a people. For allof slavery's horrors and evil,
for all the excruciating painand misery, it caused one group
of people, it's marks remain.
(01:03:15):
It's a legacy we're still comingto terms with. We have a long
way to go. It's the hope ofreaching that promised land that
propels us all forward. May welearn the lessons of those
who've gone before us?
(01:03:36):
This concludes today's episodeon the village of Ripley
terminus of the UndergroundRailroad. I hope you've enjoyed
it. If so, please considerwriting a review on Apple
podcasts. It helps people findthe show. You can also find Ohio
folklore on Ohio folklore.comAnd on Facebook. And as always,
(01:03:57):
keep wondering
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