THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD IN MARTINS FERRY

	When the Northwest territory was set up in 1787, it was decreed 
that slavery should be prohibited after 1800. Ohio was carved out of 
this territory and admitted to the Union in 1803.
	But across the river was Virginia, a state that still permitted 
slavery.  It was an easy matter for the escaping slave to cross the 
river from Virginia into Ohio and there find sympathetic friends.  In 
order to assist these runaways to freedom the "Underground Railway" 
was established.  There were set up regular stations or houses in 
this chain to freedom, so that a fugitive would be cared for at one 
of them, then passed along from station to station until he was far 
enough away from his former place of bondage to be safe from pursuit.  
	One route of the "Underground Railroad" out of Virginia was 
through a spotter, John Campbell at Wheeling, who guided the slaves 
from the slave block at North Market across the Ohio River to the 
Wood home at Martins Ferry, to the Van Pelt home on the hill that 
overlooked the city, over Ferryview down Buckeye Run to the Joshua 
Cope mill at the head of Glenns Run, on to Mt. Pleasant and then on 
to Canada.
	Joel Wood was a Quaker from Smithfield who first purchased land 
in Martins Ferry in 1837.  He ran a successful mercantile business, 
which he gave up in 1843 to tend his large orchard.  He had been 
educated in the "East," and had an interest in emancipation.  In 
Martins Ferry, he became an active member of the "Ohio Anti-Slavery 
Society."  He helped to form the Liberty Party, which put a 
presidential candidate on the ballot in 1840.  Eight years later he 
was the area delegate to the party convention in Buffalo, where the 
Liberty Party was reorganized as the Free Soil Party.  In 1854, this 
party merged into the Republican Party.  When Ebenezer Martin sold 
much of his land in 1847, Joel Wood bought most of Walnut Grove, but 
not the cemetery. He built his house a city block south of the Zane-
Martin Cemetery. Standing high on a bluff and painted white, the 
house must have been a beacon for slaves escaping from Virginia.
	Joshua Cope was a kindly Quaker who was bitterly opposed to 
slavery.  His was one of the most famous stations on the 
"underground" route, having a cleverly concealed hideout for the 
escaping slaves.
	Prominent abolitionists in the Martins Ferry area included Joel 
Wood, Benjamin Hoyle, Capt. Richard Crawford, Joseph Hargrave, Isaac 
Branson, Joseph Long, James Hammond, James Bane, Dr. William 
Millhouse, Elijah Woods, Ebenezer Martin, Jacob Van Pelt, Joshua 
Steel, Isaac Parker, and James H. Drennan.


Submitted by Barbara Shrodes.
From 'Lillie' by Jacob C. Williams, Sr., 'Bonnie Belmont' by Judge John 
S. Cochran, and 'A Town of Grandeur' by Annie C. Tanks