Thomas and Charity Rotch of Spring Hill and the village of Kendal were active on the Underground Railroad, and stations were established as early as 1817. Many of the early leaders of Kendal were Quakers like Thomas and Charity and actively supported freedom seekers on their flight to safety. Spring Hill also has a letter written by a freedom seeker on the Underground Railroad. The letter, named the George Duncan Letter, provides insight into the experiences of being on the Underground Railroad and directly links Spring Hill to it.
The document is a three-page letter written by George Duncan, also known as “Jaki,” on August 14, 1820. In the letter, George thanks Thomas for assisting him on his journey to Canada and coordinating his journey. George continues by stating that after he left Spring Hill and Kendal, he made his way toward Geauga County on his way to Canada and is being treated well. George also asks Thomas if he can help his companion Edy on her flight to freedom and to help her avoid Samuel Spriggs, their enslaver. George then asks Thomas not to mention the letter to anyone. Finally, he writes a portion to Edy.
According to Dr. Roy E. Finkenbine (Ohio History, 2016. Issue 1), Duncan refers to West Liberty, which is in present-day West Virginia north of Wheeling. Freedom seekers followed that route across the Ohio River to Quaker Communities in Mt. Pleasant and St. Clairsville, Ohio. They then often traveled northeastward to Kendal or Massillon. Next, they continued north towards Akron and Cleveland and eventually to Lake Erie, where, by 1820, vessels carried the freedom seekers to Canada.
Today, the letter is part of the Massillon Public Library’s Rotch-Wales papers. Click or tap here to view the full letter.
Arvine Wales, the faithful farmhand turned friend and business associate of the Rotches, was prominent and influential in the early days of the Kendal community. Through working with the Rotches as early as 1807 in Hartford, Connecticut, and moving to Ohio with them in 1811, Arvine was deeply influenced by their Quaker ideals, including abolitionism. Arvine Wales would purchase Spring Hill Farm from the Rotches and Rodman (Charity’s side) families in 1829.
In 1847, Arvine Wales joined the Northern Ohio Liberty Association and was named to their executive committee. The Northern Ohio Liberty Association was a rebrand of the Liberty Party, which was one stance, abolitionist.
Unlike Thomas and Charity, there are currently no primary documents from Arvine Wales’s time regarding the continuation of the Underground Railroad at Spring Hill. However, based on family histories and information about Arvine, it does appear that he continued to operate Spring Hill as an Underground Railroad station. One such story is that a set of stairs in the basement portion of the house was used to quickly escort freedom seekers to a hiding place on the second floor.
Arvine Chaffee Wales, Arvine Wales’s son, would grow up at Spring Hill while the farm would be active on the Underground Railroad. Through a good education and upbringing, Arvine Chaffee Wales was indirectly influenced by the abolitionist views laid down by Thomas and Charity 40 years beforehand.
After returning to Massillon after finishing his formal education at Harvard, Arvine Chaffee openly rejected the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The act added additional punishments for anyone helping a freedom seeker, which would have directly gone against the Underground Railroad at Spring Hill.
There are currently no primary documents from Arvine Chaffee Wales’s time regarding the continuation of the Underground Railroad at Spring Hill. However, after inheriting Spring Hill in 1854, it is believed that Arvine Chaffee Wales continued to operate Spring Hill as a station, just as his father, Arvine, did before.
The Local Underground Railroad: Missing Massillon Project
Spring Hill hired Amanda Sedlak-Hevener in 2018 thanks to a grant from the National Park Service’s Network to Freedom initiative. Amanda researched Spring Hill’s connections to the Underground Railroad beyond the Rotch family in 2018 and wrote the following blog posts about this journey to find research and proof of Massillon and Spring Hill legends and stories related to the Underground Railroad. Learn more about this research regarding Spring Hill and the Underground Railroad here.