TALE OF JACKSON TOWNSHIP SLAVE HERITAGE:
The (African Americans) who live in Jackson Township today are offspring from the slaves which migrated to this section of the country back in the year 1823.
Their primary purpose for leaving the South was to escape slavery, of course. It is said that they came from Monroe County, Virginia.
Their leader was Mr. Walker, a great grandfather of Cletis Jackson of Jackson Township.
Mr. Walker was a school teacher and minister of the Baptist faith. Most of the people who settled in this area were descendants from the Walkers or Raglands.
Mr. Walker migrated from Virginia with 75 slaves. They had stopped only for sleep and long enough to prepare what food they had to eat.
The reason for the African Americans to settle in this hilly land at this time was because the land here was cheaper than it was in the Chillicothe area.
The land in Jackson Township was around 50 cents an acre, but almost $50 an acre in the Chillicothe area.
W hen the 75 slaves reached this area, they had no homes, clothing, money or anything else, except what they could carry.
So, they used the old family get together plan and helped each other clear the land for crops and cut logs to construct their houses or some sort of shelter.
In 1823, there were Indians not far from this area. This made it necessary to secure protection from the Indians as well as wild animals.
History tells us there were Indians in this territory until 1825. This was just a few years after the Battle of Point Pleasant. The War of 1812 had their troubles with the Indians, especially Tecumseh, who was chief of the Shawnee.
There is no record of the Indians attacking the African Americans, but there is little doubt that there have been a few killed.
These African Americans reached Ohio during the term served by Jeremiah Morrow, a Republican (not the present party as it was formed over 25 years later) from Warren County.
Some of the activities going on in Ohio at this time were the great canals being constructed over the state including Ohio and Erie which was completed through Pike County in 1832.
Small log houses were usually built in this county at that time. The people had to grow all they wanted to eat. They didn't have the money to buy everything and many of the staple items of today were not available.
These people would raise corn, potatoes, one or two head of hogs, a few chickens and a cow, if they were fortunate.
There were no schools, churches or stores in this section. Mr. Walker started a small school of his own in Jackson Township a few years later.
He had a few books of his own which he had brought with him from Virginia.
To explain the school a little more ---- it was the teacher on one end of the log and the student on the other.
He taught them reading, writing, arithmetic and possible some geography. Mr. Walker received no salary for the work of conducting the school.
Abstracted from Jim Henry’s Pike Past
Feb 27, 2008 – Waverly Watchman
Copyright © 2009
Pike Co. Genealogy & Historical Society
P. O. Box 224, Waverly, Ohio 45690
