OMB Control No. 1024-0232 Expires 5/31/2013 NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL UNDERGROUND RAILROAD NETWORK TO FREEDOM GENERAL INFORMATION Type (pick one): Site Facility Program Name (of what you are nominating): George Guthrie House Address: 521 Woodlawn Avenue City, State, Zip: Zanesville, Ohio 43701 County: Muskingum Congressional District: Ohio 12th Physical Location of Site/facility (if different): Address not for publication? Date Submitted: July 12, 2013 Summary: Tell us in 200 words or less what is being nominated and how it is connected to the Underground Railroad. Built in 1842 in Putnam, Ohio (now Zanesville), the temple-form Greek Revival house was the residence of prosperous merchant George Guthrie and his wife, Sarah and a station on the Underground Railroad.1 George was a founding member and later served as a trustee of the Putnam Presbyterian Church, which was strongly linked to the abolitionist and Underground Railroad movements and is currently listed in the Network to Freedom. It is document that George and Sarah, working in concert with George’s brothers Austin (whose home is also listed in the Network to Freedom) and Stephen, along with members of the African American community, participated in Underground Railroad activities.2 The two-story building with a two-story portico supported by four Tuscan columns is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of Zanesville’s Putnam Historic District. The house is currently a private residence. FOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE USE ONLY I hereby certify that this ___ site ___ facility ___ program is included in the Network to Freedom. __________________________________ _________________ Signature of certifying official/Title Date 1 National Register of Historic Places, Putnam Historic District, Zanesville, Muskingum County, Ohio, National Register # 75001511, Section 8, pg 3. In 2003, the National Register nomination was amended to include abolition and Underground Railroad as part of its significance. 2 Wilbur H. Siebert, The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom (London: MacMillan, 1898), 427-428. 1 OMB Control No. 1024-0232 Expires 5/31/2013 Owner (Share contact information Y N) Name: Toby Settles Address: 521 Woodlawn Avenue City, State, Zip: Zanesville, Ohio 43701 Phone: 740-221-4258 Fax: E-mail: Owner/Manager (Share contact information Y N) Name: Address: City, State, Zip: Phone: Fax: E-mail: Owner/Manager (Share contact information Y N) Name: Address: City, State, Zip: Phone: Fax: E-mail: Application Preparer (Enter only if different from contact above.) (Share contact information Y N) Name: James Geyer, Director, Pioneer & Historical Society of Muskingum County Address: 115 Jefferson Street City, State, Zip: Zanesville, Ohio 43701 Phone: 740-454-9500 Fax: 740-454-9500 E-mail: [email protected] Privacy Information: The Network to Freedom was established, in part, to facilitate sharing of information among those interested in the Underground Railroad. Putting people in contact with others who are researching related topics, historic events, or individuals or who may have technical expertise or resources to assist with projects is one of the most effective means of advancing Underground Railroad commemoration and preservation. Privacy laws designed to protect individual contact information (i.e., home or personal addresses, telephone numbers, fax numbers, or e-mail addresses), may prevent NPS from making these connections. If you are willing to be contacted by others working on Underground Railroad activities and to receive mailings about Underground Railroad-related events, please add a statement to your letter of consent indicating what information you are willing to share. Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom to nominate properties, facilities, and programs to the Network to Freedom. A Federal agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Response to this request is required for inclusion in the Network to Freedom in accordance with the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Act (P.L. 105-203). Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 25 hours per response including time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form to the National Coordinator, National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, NPS, 601 Riverfront Drive, Omaha, Nebraska 68102. 2 OMB Control No. 1024-0232 Expires 5/31/2013 SITES: In addition to the responses to each question, applications must also include the following attachments: 1) Letters of consent from all property owners for inclusion in the Network to Freedom (see sample in instructions) 2) Text and photographs of all site markers 3) Original photographs illustrating the current appearance and condition of the site being nominated 4) Maps showing the location of the site S1. Type: Building Object District (neighborhood) Structure Landscape/natural feature Archeological site Other (describe): S2. Is the site listed in the National Register of Historic Places? Y N What is the listing name: George Guthrie House, part of Zanesville’s Putnam Historic District S3. Ownership of site: Private Private, non-profit (501c3) Multiple ownership Public, local government Public, state government Public, federal government S4a. Type(s) of Underground Railroad Association (select the one(s) that fit best) Station Assoc. w/ prominent person Rebellion site Legal challenge Escape Rescue Kidnapping Maroon community Destination Church w/active congregation Cemetery Transportation route Military site Commemorative site/monument historic district/neighborhood Archeological site Other (describe) S4. Describe the site’s association and significance to the Underground Railroad. Provide citations. Timelines are encouraged. Built in 1842 in Putnam, Ohio (now Zanesville), which had a reputation as “a strong anti-slavery place”3, the temple-form Greek Revival house was home to prosperous merchant George Nelson and Sarah Abbott Guthrie (née McFarland) and a station on the Underground Railroad. 4 George was a founding member and later served as a trustee of the Putnam Presbyterian Church, which like the place where it was founded, was strongly linked to the abolitionist and Underground Railroad movements and is currently listed in the Network to Freedom. It is documented that George and Sarah, working in concert with George’s brothers Austin and Stephen, along with members of the African American community, participated in Underground Railroad activities.5 3 Rev. T. M. Steavenson, “Letter to Wilbur Siebert,” 22 August 1892. Wilbur H. Siebert Collection [microfilm] (Columbus: Ohio Historical Society), reel 11. 4 George was involved in a mercantile business with his brothers and the “Bucket Factory”, a saw and planning mill business that began in 1845 and involved a partnership between him and members of the Buckingham family. 5 Of the Guthries only Albert is listed as a conductor by Siebert in the list of conductors that appears in the appendix of his 1898 publication. However, later in Mysteries of Ohio’s Underground Railroad, Siebert does mention both George’s and Stephen’s participation. See Wilbur H. Siebert, The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom, 3 OMB Control No. 1024-0232 Expires 5/31/2013 George Nelson Guthrie was born May 18, 1811, in Newbury, Ohio. He was described as “a man of high moral worth, a most estimable citizen, and has ever been active in all benevolent and worthy objects which tend to elevate the people among whom he lives."6 References to George Guthrie in the Siebert papers and other writings about the Underground Railroad in Putnam, Ohio, often appear in conjunction with his more famous brothers Albert Austin (A.A.), Stephen, and Erastus, or as member of the Putnam Presbyterian Church. According to Rev. T. M. Steavenson of Marietta, Ohio, the Guthries were “principal U.G.R.R.”7 Stephen, George’s brother, wrote the following concerning the brothers’ involvement in the Underground Railroad: We repudiated the infamous law in every way. If a poor bondsman came to us fleeing by the twinkling light of the north star to the realms of liberty where no slave could breathe air, we can say, and thank God for it, he never asked in vain. We have helped many on their way to Canada, and as far as we know it, no slave was ever taken and returned to bondage from here. Out Underground Railroad was safe and sure, and no train was ever ditched or run of the track. And the blessing of freedmen in Canada has been wafted to us from that land of liberty many times to cheer our hearts.8 Recalling one incident, in which the brothers worked in concert with William Harris, an African American resident of Putnam whose home was located not far from George’s, near the Putnam Presbyterian Church. Stephen, wrote: In the month of August when the corn was in the milk and fit for roasting, the slaves commenced coming. Our work was done by our colored friends, and never was our trust or confidence betrayed. At one time in 1852, we had a poor woman with four small children hid in the loft of a colored man here, when the slavehunters passed within one hundred yards of them. A friend slyly informed them of an old abandoned coal mine upon the top of Putnam Hill, and said it was quite possible the fugitives were hidden there. The slaveholders took the hint, and while they were groping their way underground, the woman and the children were removed to a place of safety…9 The women and children were sent along in “large store boxes” (which the Guthries would have had access to as operators of a general store) and made their way to Canada.