The first known attempt to assist a runaway slave in Ross County was recorded in 1815, when local residents helped a slave to safety in Franklin County. Quakers, Presbyterians, and African Americans were the principal participants in moving runaway slaves through Ross County on their way to Canada and freedom. People in Ross County aided fugitives in many ways: some conductors maintained stations or safe houses for short-term safety, others provided horses and wagons for transportation, and several forged free papers and arranged disguises to make the journey safer. The Quakers of Londonderry raised money to help defray costs, Presbyterian ministers openly preached abolitionism, and African Americans traveled long distances taking fugitives to safety. Over many years, conductors included John Harmon of South Salem, Harrison Valentine and Joseph Stillguess of Frankfort, Robert I. Robertson of Bourneville, the Claypools east of Chillicothe, the Steel family west of town, and Albert Douglas, the Renicks, and Chancellors of Chillicothe. The Underground Railroad was neither underground nor a railroad, but a loosely connected system of safe havens where people escaping slavery were sheltered, fed, clothed, nursed, concealed, disguised, and instructed during their journey to freedom. Because those involved faced retribution under civil law and from slave-catchers, many details were kept secret. Ohio’s history was permanently shaped by the thousands of runaway slaves who passed through or found permanent residence in the state.