By DARREL RADFORD HISTORICALLY SPEAKING

One was a droll story teller. Another was “quite a clog dancer.” A third could “greatly tickle the young Quakers with his songs.” All shared two things in common — one tragic and the other magic. They were slaves being ushered to freedom along an Underground Railroad operation in Henry County.

The story, found in Dr. Herbert Heller’s book “Historic Henry County,” bears repeating during this, another observance of Black History Month. Stories like these also help set the stage for an encore performance here in New Castle by Columbus actress Charlotte Battin. Battin will present her one-woman Underground Railroad drama “Freedom Is My Home” at noon Saturday, Feb. 16, in the New Castle-Henry County Library Auditorium. The event is co-sponsored by the Henry County Historical Society and the library.

In October, Battin gave the same performance at the historical society museum to a large crowd. Subsequent articles in this “Historically Speaking” series have highlighted Greensboro’s contributions to Underground Railroad activities and the help residents there gave great orator Frederick Douglass. This week, through the research of Dr. Thomas Hamm and the writing of Heller, we learn that Spiceland, too, played a significant role in the Underground Railroad Operation. Hamm and Heller relay the story told by Daniel Newby about help given to slaves as they passed through the Richsquare neighborhood.

Some creative maneuvering by Henry County residents kept them safe. He said it was the general report at the time that slaves were constantly going through Dayton, Ohio, for Canada. Newby wrote that one Sunday afternoon, three strange white men were guests at a local hotel and one was recognized by a former slave at Spiceland as the neighbor of his master. That prompted what Daniel Newby called “an anti-slavery conclave convened in Spiceland.”

What transpired after that was an apparent diversion-filled ride for the freedom seekers. “They went south to Dunreith thence east thru Lewisville at dusk, and on east two miles or so, drove back a mile or so then north past the farms of John Parker and David Johnson and in at Abel Wickershams,” Newby wrote. Wickersham had been asked to have a team ready for a night drive and continued the diversionary tactics. “They played the ruse or subterfuge of going to Dunreith and five or six miles east on the Pike so that anyone who might follow would conclude they were bound for the Dayton pilgrimage,” Newby wrote.

Another account came from Sue R. Unthank, according to Heller who wrote that the runaways were kept in Spiceland, staying at Joe Unthank’s store.

“He was showing them how to protect themselves,” she said. “It was understood among friends that if any runaway slaves came this way, and a conveyance was needed to carry them to the next station, it was not necessary to ask for it but to take whatever was needed. Many persons kept harness and equipment hung in the barn ready to be taken at night without the aid of light.”

Interestingly, Hamm and Heller report that the Foster home in Spiceland was a station on the Underground Railroad and that the family was related to Mrs. Emery Dunreith Coffin, for whom Coffin’s Station, now known as Dunreith, was named.

Battin’s dramatic performance highlights the importance — and the risk — people like those Henry County residents mentioned above played in the Underground Railroad process. While the South had been the slaves’ biggest enemy of freedom, southern Henry County helped open the door to a better day for some of them, thanks to the Quaker ingenuity and influence.

Those interested in more information about the local role played in the Underground Railroad can purchase a copy of Dr. Thomas Hamm’s book about the anti-slavery movement in Henry County, still available at the museum. Dr. Herbert Heller’s three-volume set called “Historic Henry County,” while no longer for sale, is still available for research at both the local library and the museum.

Darrel Radford is executive director of The Henry County Historical Society and a staff writer for The Courier-Times.