In
1822, the simple log structure which had housed James Dickey’s congregation for
a decade was replaced by a new building of brick. That same year, the Concord
church hosted the first meeting of the Chillicothe Presbytery.
2
Ministers from many of the Presbyterian churches which were scattered across
that part of Ohio attended. Among them, James welcomed his brother William, his
brother-in-law Samuel Crothers and his friend John Rankin.
3
“Welcome to Concord Church,” James began. He continued: “Brethren, we have much
to discuss here today. As the Apostle Paul said long ago, the body of Christ
must work together for the common good. And we can do much together to advance
our missionary work, but I know that you will all agree with me that there is
no more urgent matter before us than the question of slavery.”
4
The Reverend Rankin spoke next and explained his work in Ripley. “We help these
poor creatures to escape their bonds,” he told them. “They come to me from the
land of Egypt, across the river; and I send them northward to freedom and a
better life. Many of you have helped me in this work, but we could all do so
much more,” he finished.
5
In fact, Rankin’s home on a bluff above the Ohio River had become the symbol of
the Promised Land to many of the fugitive slaves on that muddy river’s southern
shore. Adding to that mystique, Reverend Rankin had even added a small
lighthouse to his yard in order to light the way to freedom after nightfall.
6
Over the years that followed, a large network developed to move these fugitive
slaves northward from Ripley. Sadly, unreconciled to the loss of their
“property,” many of their former masters had decided to pursue them across the
river and bring them “home.” It was to their advantage, therefore, to move as
far away from the land of slavery as possible. In fact, many of them did not
stop until they got to Canada.
7
The loft of the Concord Church concealed hundreds of these poor fugitives on
their way to Canada over the years that followed. Likewise, Reverend Crother’s
church in Greenfield, and Reverend William Dickey’s Church in Bloomingburg
assisted many hundreds of former slaves on their way north to freedom. Many
years later, this network came to be known as the Underground Railroad.
8
At about the same time, a descendant of the pilgrim John Howland was in the
process of founding a new sect of Christianity in Kirtland, Ohio. His name was
Joseph Smith, and he had published his Book of Mormon in 1830. Unfortunately,
his new church would inspire a great deal of persecution and ultimately make a
martyr out of him.
9 In
the meantime, however, a female slave’s desire for freedom had intensified
since the birth of her son. Eliza Harris worked in Kentucky, but the Ohio River
stood as an imposing obstacle to the achievement of her objective. To make
matters worse, it was now almost completely frozen - making the venture even
more hazardous than it would have been during warmer weather.
10
Even so, a gnawing desperation had welled up within her. “I don’t want him to
be a slave,” she explained to the boy’s father. She had to do something, and
she would have to do it before the spring planting began when she would almost
certainly have to be separated from her young son to work in the fields.
11
She had heard about that light on the bluff. “If’n you can get to that light,
you is gwonna be free,” one man had told her.
12
She would have to do it. She decided one night that she simply could not wait
any longer. With her son in her arms, she ventured out onto the treacherous ice
of the river and carefully picked her way across. The ice groaned and creaked
beneath her, and there were numerous places where the water was still open. “If
it breaks, we’ll both be drowned,” she thought.
13
Nevertheless, the frightened woman finally made her way to the other side of
the river. Out of the darkness on the other shore, hands reached down to help
pull them up the steep bank to safety.
14
When the Reverend Rankin heard her harrowing story, he praised God for their
safe deliverance from bondage. “You’ll stay here tonight, of course, but it
won’t be safe for you to remain here for very long,” he explained. “We’ll send
you on north tomorrow night,” he finished.
15
The following evening, Rankin’s son (David) had made the necessary preparations
to take Eliza and her baby northward. “Avoid everyone on the road,” his father
told him. “Get her to Hillsboro as quickly as possible.”
16
From Hillsboro, Eliza was sent to Greenfield and then on to Bloomingburg. “We
will do everything we can to help you,” William Dickey assured her. “We have
friends in Columbus where you will be safe.” And so, Eliza and her son
continued along the trail until they reached safety and freedom.
17
In the meantime, James Dickey (along with his new wife and children) had
relinquished the pulpit at Concord and moved on to Illinois. There, a few miles
to the east of the village of Hennepin, he settled in Putnam County and did his
best to convince his new congregation to help the people that he referred to as
“those poor, oppressed and wretched creatures” to obtain their freedom.
18
Sometime later, Rankin recounted the tale of Eliza’s rescue to one of his
friends in Cincinnati. “I have never heard anything like it,” Calvin Stowe
admitted. “I must share this story with Harriet this evening.”
19 A few years later, a character based on Eliza appeared in his wife’s famous novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. And that book would excite a firestorm all over the nation, North and South. The anti-slavery Presbyterians were more convinced than ever that the institution of slavery was “an evil too grievous to be borne.”
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