Name: Charles W. TUBBS Given Name: Charles W. Surname: Tubbs Sex: M  Birth: 21 JAN 1810 in Mexico, Oswego Co., NY Death: 31 DEC 1892 Occupation: farmer Henry and Defiance Counties, Ohio  Census: 27 JUL 1870 Adams Twp., Defiance Co., OH  Census: 17 JUN 1880 Adams Twp., Defiance Co., OH Note: He is a farmer. Census: 1 AUG 1850 Adams Twp., Defiance Co., OH Note: He is a farmer. Census: 25 JUL 1860 Adams Twp., Defiance Co., OH Note: He is a farmer Event: Moved BEF 1837 Ohio Father: Dean TUBBS b: 6 JAN 1777 in Taunton, Bristol Co., MA Mother: Rhoda SAVAGE b: 21 AUG 1784 in Connecticut

Marriage 1 Lucy Ann Moore STOW

Birth: ABT 1812 in Massachusetts Death: 15 AUG 1870 in Adams Twp., Defiance Co., OH Burial: Locust Grove Cem., Ridgeville Corners, Henry Co., OH Census: 1 AUG 1850 Adams Twp., Defiance Co., OH Census: 27 JUL 1870 Adams Twp., Defiance Co., OH Note: She lists her birth state as Vermont. She is also marked as "insane" on the census report. Census: 25 JUL 1860 Adams Twp., Defiance Co., OH Father: William Brown STOW  Mother: Lucy MOORE

Reverend William Brown STOW  was born1 JAN 1782 in Marlborough, Middlesex Co., , lived there for 30 years, then moved to VT, then back to MA, then to Jefferson CO., NY, then to Oswego Co., NY, then to Williams Co., OH, then to Bergen, Genesee Co., NY, then to Adams Ridge (Twp), Defiance Co., OH. Birth: 1 JAN 1782 in Marlborough, Middlesex Co., MA Death: 21 APR 1853 in Adams Twp., Defiance Co., OH Occupation: Presbyterian minister Adams Twp., Defiance Co., OH

• Married: 16 AUG 1836

Children

1. William Brown TUBBS b: 6 NOV 1837 in Adams Twp., Henry Co., OH

2.  Alfred Stow TUBBS b: 30 NOV 1839 in Adams Twp., Henry Co., OH

3.  Charles Dean TUBBS b: 30 MAR 1844

4.  Arba Franklin TUBBS b: 17 MAR 1851 in Adams Twp., Henry Co., OH

Marriage 2 Charlotte Jane NEWELL

Birth: 15 MAR 1838 in Florida, Henry Co., OH Death: 30 NOV 1902 in Adams Twp., Defiance Co., OH  Census: 17 JUN 1880 Adams Twp., Defiance Co., OH Father: Robert NEWELL Mother: Nancy COLE

• Married: 25 FEB 1871 in Defiance Co., OH

Children

1.  Dean TUBBS b: 1872

2.  Alice Elvira TUBBS b: 20 FEB 1874 in Ohio

In the words of Genevieve Eicher in an oral inerview....

Rev. W. B. Stow went to Defiance. He was a land speculator and he was a Presbyterian minister that was sent here by the society to start a Presbyterian church in the area. But he also was a land speculator. And he went back to Mexico New York. He convinced young people that knew they would never inherit land in New York to come out here and settle. And I'm working on Ridgeville Township and there's at least 15 to 20 families that came here because Mr. Stow talked them into moving. He convinced many people, including himself, to settle along the Maumee. And my foster grandfather was one of them and he said that he didn't do a very good job of selling because he was under the impression that there would be some kind of civilization here, and when he arrived in Toledo he was going to settle in Toledo but when he saw it it was such a mud hole that he decided to go farther west and he came all the way to the Ridge--well, it's called the Ridge because it's the old bank left from when there were seas, left ridges that are in the ground. He came to the north side of the river. We know he came through what we now know roughly, Delta and Wauseon along the Ridge that ran through there.  It runs from Upper Sandusky to the southern part of our area, through Henry County, crosses the river at Independence , then goes northeastward, and ends up at Adrian, Michigan. The Black Swamp was included in that area. He came to Ridgeville Township and he settled what would be now where Becks have their establishment west of Ridgeville. That was the farm that he first settled on, and then I don't know why he moved. He lived there from 1836 to 1845 and then he went farther toward Defiance on the Ridge. He lived across from the Bethlehem Lutheran Church on the Ridge and that's where he died.

The Underground Railroad following that trail and it's called 'The Old Independence-Ridgeville-Adrian-Pre-Turnpike.  When it comes to us in Fulton County south of Wauseon it becomes County Road AC, and if you turn--there's a big white house on that corner (the Ridge and 108). And if you turn to the right and go down to what used to be called West Barre. There's nothing there now but farmland but it was a small town. It goes north and east and eventually ends up at Adrian.

It was a very well-traveled road and it was the first road that came through the swamp and so it was an old Indian trail, and when he came that trail was perhaps three foot wide in places and other places as narrow as a man's foot.  He said he always had to scout for a piece of wood to carry because if he should start to slip he couldn't help himself because the mud and mire was up to a man's waist. You get down in that and you might have trouble getting out.

Station masters, were those the ones that ran the free houses for the Underground Railroad?  They understood why they wanted to do it. They felt they had to. They knew what the conditions were and it was to them a moral duty, that God--that they were religious and God wanted them to do this. And they all--most all of them told their children, "Yes, we would have done it again." Some of the times it was a very very hazardous undertaking, and Mr. Tubbs' son he grew up with it. When he was 14 he became very active in the underground railroad, transporting slaves and at 16 he went to Adrian to live with relatives to be what they called a runner. He would escort slaves. Oftentimes they escaped on horses and he would go, ride a horse up and pick up the horse and bring it back. He'd do jobs like that, do errands. But when you think about sending a 16-year-old now with that type of responsibility

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