The Underground Railroad was neither underground nor a railroad, but a loosely connected system of safe havens where people escaping the brutal conditions of slavery were sheltered, fed, clothed, nursed, concealed, disguised, and instructed on their journey to freedom. Because participants faced retribution under civil law and from slave-catchers, its details were often kept secret. Ohio was permanently shaped by the thousands of runaway slaves who passed through or settled there. In eastern Ohio, freedom seekers heading north encountered allies motivated by deeply held religious beliefs. Quaker communities in Stark, Carroll, and Wayne counties provided refuge and assistance, while the Congregational outlook of the Connecticut Western Reserve inspired strong antislavery activism in Medina, Portage, and Summit counties. John Brown, later associated with Harpers Ferry, lived in Summit and Portage counties, and many Underground Railroad sites there testify to his dedication and that of his family, especially his father, Owen Brown. After Brown's public hanging by authorities in Virginia on December 2, 1859, communities across the Reserve rang church bells in outrage as soon as telegraph reports of his death arrived. J. Ridgeway Haines of the Quaker community in Alliance, Stark County, was among the most active conductors on the Underground Railroad, guarding at night while freedom seekers hid in an upper rear room of his house. Haines knew national antislavery figures including Abby Kelley Foster, who and other abolitionists were frequent guests in his home.
