First of all it must be said that the Underground Railroad was never a formal organization.  It was a system of cooperation among African American slaves, free Blacks, abolitionists, Whites and Native Americans to help slaves escape to freedom.  There were no records kept because of the fugitive slave laws which would have inflicted stiff penalities on anyone caught helping an escapee.  Therefore, a researcher cannot go to a specific Underground Railroad history book and locate routes and names of the people involved.  Almost all history regarding this subject was recorded by families and historians after the Civil War, through oral histories, told and recorded after the fact.

REASONS TO BELIEVE THAT SYLVANIA WAS A ROUTE ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD AND THAT THE HOME AT 5362 S. MAIN STREET WAS ONE OF THE UNDERGROUND STATIONS IN SYLVANIA:

1.  A book published in 1940 by Ernest C. Comstock titled The History of the Harroun Family in America - Seven generations; descendents of Alexander Harroun of Colrain, Mass. page 58, reads as follows:  Mrs. Alice Harroun Shaw, a great grand-daughter of David Harroun (who came to Sylvania, Ohio in the early 1830's) writes as follows:  "One of the traditions in the Harroun family was that the old Harroun homestead in Sylvania, was a station on the Underground Railroad, and that my great grandfather Deacon David Harroun, was a very active worker.  David Harroun brought the fugitives from Maumee, Ohio, to Sylvania, in two old lumber wagons drawn by horses.  These wagons were in the family until a few years ago.  They had plank bottoms and sides.  The fugitives were covered with hay and the wagons were driven at night.  The fugitives were hidden either at the Harroun house in the attic or in the loft of the barn.  They were also hidden in the Old Lathrop place, which is now owned by Linton Fallis.  The Old Lathrop place was directly west across fields from the Harroun home.  From Sylvania, they were taken to Petersburg, Mich., and then to the Detroit River and over to Canada.  My father Hall Harroun used to tell about taking the fugitives to Petersburg, Mich.  Sometimes they were taken to Monroe, Michigan.  Lozetta Smith remembers her mother telling of the fugitives being taken to Monroe.  She, Harriet Harroun Smith, told of seeing one intelligent young negro man kept at the Harroun Homestead.  First he was in the attic and then he was taken to the hayloft in the barn.  The Sylvania route was used when the pursurers were too close to take the fugitives through Toledo."

2.  It is said that Toledo, Maumee and Sylvania, from their proximity to Canada were regular routes on the Underground Railroad.  An article written in 1905 in the Ohio Archealogical and Historical Publication, titled The Underground Railroad, written by S.S. Knabenshue, Toledo, page 400, says:  There was a station in Maumee, operated by A.C. Winslow, who operated a foundry.  From there, if there was no close pursuit, fugitives were brought either to Toledo, or taken, via Detroit avenue, to Monroe, Michigan, and thence across to Canada.  If the pursuers were close, the negroes were taken to the Sylvania station, kept by David Harroun, Jr., and from there Hall Deland, the "night hawk," took them to the French settlers along the Detroit river, who ferried them across that stream to Canada.  (As mentioned above in item #1 the Harroun family history reported that the Old Lathrop place was directly west across fields from the Harroun home and was used also).

3.  Another source that proves that there was anti-slavery sentiment, Underground Railroad activities in Sylvania, is the autobiography written by Laura S. Haviland and published in 1881.  She was a Quaker lady whose statue stands in front of the Adrian, Michigan City Hall.  She turned her farm along the Raisin River into a refuse for colored people and established a school, the Raisin Institute, open to all races.  A slave by the name of Hamilton freed by his own master, smuggled his wife on a neighboring plantation off to Canada.  They lived there for some time and then drifted back to Mrs. Haviland's farm.  The wife, Elsie, however, could never be content unless they tried to get their two children out of slavery.  They wrote a letter trying to trace the children and it fell into Elsie's master's hands.  Slave catchers appeared in Adrian soon after.  Mrs. Haviland outwitted them and they disappeared.  Aunt Laura suspected a trap and laid one herself.  With her son and another colored man from her farm she boarded the train for Toledo.  Her colored companion presented himself at the hotel as Hamilton and was promptly seized by two slave catchers.  Aunt Laura straightened things and went back with her two companions to the depot to catch the Adrian train.  The slave catchers, named Chester and Thomas were also at the depot.  They too bought tickets for Adrian.  They seated themselves close to Mrs. Haviland and her party.  They neared Sylvania.  Here is Mrs. Haviland's account:  "Near Sylvania, a small town ten miles from Toledo the train halted to sand the track, and our chivalrous friends got off.  Chester and his son Thomas (the slave catchers), the sick deacon, stationed themselves about three feet from us; and Chester, pointing to James, (her negro companion) said in a loaw, grum voice:  'We'll see you alone some time;' and turning to my son, 'You, too, young man.'  Then directing his volley of wrath to me, he roared out:  'But that lady there--you nigger stealer--you that's got my property and the avails of it--I'll show you, you nigger-thief;' and drawing a revolver from his pocket his son doing the same, they pointed them towards my face, Chester again bawling out, 'You see these tools, do you?  We have more of 'em here' (holding up a traveling bag), 'and we know how to use them.  We shall stay about here three weeks, and we will have that property which you have in your possession yet, you d----d nigger stealer."  Mrs. Haviland made proper retort to that.  And in the ensuing exchange of hot words, the conductor appeared and threatened the slave catchers:  "What are you doing here you villainous scoundrels?  We'll have you arrested in five minutes."  "At this they fled percipitately to the woods, and the last we saw of these tall and valiant representatives of the land of chivalry were their heels fast receding in the thicket."  The book says that Laura proceeded on to Adrian, but the news spread back in Sylvania and some forty men came down to the depot armed with hand spikes and iron bars to tear up the track in case the Hamilton family should be found on the in-bound train under some other ruse on the part of the slave catchers.
NOTE:  IT HAS BEEN SAID, AND WE BELIEVE THAT IF FORTY SYLVANIANS WOULD TAKE UP THE TRACK TO SAVE TWO NEGROES, CERTAINLY THERE MUST HAVE BEEN ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENT IN SYLVANIA.  AND IT IS SAID THAT THE HARROUNS AND THE LATHROPS WERE PART OF THIS ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENT.
ADDITIONAL NOTE:  WE DON'T KNOW WHAT YEAR THIS INCIDENT TOOK PLACE BUT THE CONDUCTOR ON THAT TRAIN THAT THREATENED TO ARREST THE SLAVE CATCHERS COULD HAVE EASILY BEEN MILES LATHROP, AND WHY, BECAUSE OF THE NEXT ITEM.

4.  History of the underground railroad recorded that the railroads became so effective in travel for the slaves that thousands of slaves hid in baggage compartments, etc., on trains and were helped, many times, by employees who worked for the railroad companies.  Miles Lathrop who lived in the home at 5362 S. Main Street and whose father lived there before him, served in the following capacities on the railroad:  Fireman on the M.S. & N.I. RR (1852-1854); Engineer on the L.S. & M.S. RR (1854 -1861); He then received a lieutenant's commission from Governor Brough with power to recruit a military company resulting in the formation of Co. B 189th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (1861 to 1865); Engineer dispatcher with headquarters in Adrian, Michigan (1865-1867) Conductor on the L.S. & M.S. RR (1867-1872); and he was in charge of the engine that drew the first passenger train out of the Union Depot in Toledo.  Underground Railroad histories written also record that the operators of a "safe home" called themselves "stationmasters", "breakmen",  "firemen", or "conductors" and their homes were called "stations".  These titles were given to the people who helped the slaves escape North because many of the people who helped the slaves escape were the employees of the railroads.  Miles Lathrop was a long-time employee of the railroads that passed through Sylvania and would have had many opportunities to help the slaves hide on the trains that traveled through Sylvania.

 5.  An article in the Sylvania Sentinel dated 4-8-1948 titled "Which is Sylvania's Oldest' Gets Many Answers" written by Mrs. Gordon Keller says in part:   "The house with the most fascinating history, perhaps, is the old Lathrop House now owned by the Bischoffs.  There is substantial evidence that this was a station on the Underground Railroad--the system by which slaves were smuggled from the South to the freedom of Canada.  The basement of this house was supposedly arranged so that slaves could sleep and cook here while in hiding during the day.  At night they would hurry on to the next station."

6.  An article in the Sentinel-Herald dated 11-8-1956 titled:  Was This House Once A Haven For Fleeing Slaves? - South Main Residence Part of Legendary Sylvania - written by Mrs. Gordon Keller, it says in part:  There is actually reason for believing that there was Underground activity in Sylvania-and at the Lathrop House.  The article states:    If slave catchers were rumored staying in the Toledo hotels, he would be sent roundabout to Monroe by way of Sylvania.  Family traditions tell that the Lathrop and Harroun families could be relied on for protection.  The article also says "And so if forty Sylvanians would take up track to save two negroes, certainly there must have been one family, at least, which would have secreted fugitives in its home just as willingly.  Why could it not have been the Lathrops? or the Harrouns?  To be sure there are stories that once there were hatchways and bunks and a fireplace in the Lathrop House basement for the runaways."

7.  In an article in The Blade - Toledo Magazine - Sunday, February 16, 1997, written by Nara Schoenberg, it says:  "It was about 1955, and Toledo attorney Theodore Vogt was using an iron rod to test his backyard for soft spots that might stop a lawn mower.  Suddenly the rod, which normally stopped short a few inches into the ground, slipped down a full five feet through soft earth.  Mr. Vogt tried again, and again the rod went down fairly easily.  Over the years, the metal rod mapped an area of loosely packed earth leading from his 1839 home to a creek bed below-the same path a rumored Underground Railroad tunnel would have taken out of his basement.  And there was another discovery.  Thirty years ago, when Mr. Vogt and his wife, Marie, founder and artistic director emerita of the Toledo Ballet, were adding a back porch, they found a bricked-over doorway which suggested a "hidden room" to hide runaway slaves.  Did this mean that the Underground Railroad stories involving the Vogts' home were true?  Local historians take the possibility that the house was a station seriously, although most stress that the claim is based on oral tradition rather than official documents."

8.  On October 31, 2001 a telephone interview was conducted by Gaye E. Gindy and Helen (Fallis) Pomeranz.  She was born in 1915 and grew up in Sylvania.  Her uncle Harry D. Fallis purchased the home at 5362 S. Main Street in 1915 and rented/leased the home to his father and mother (James C. and Elizabeth Fallis).  They were Helen's grandparents and she spent a lot of time in the home.  She said that the basement room where the furnace was located also served as a coal bin and in that same room there were two round built-in ovens (built into the wall).  Her grandparents told her that the ovens were installed back before the Civil War and that one was used for cooking and heating and the other was never used, and was the access to an area behind the wall.  She said that the story was that before the Civil War, and when the Lathrops lived in the house, they were involved in helping slaves escape to Canada.  The slaves would climb through the oven to get access to an area behind it where they could hide.  She didn't know if it was actually a room or just earth moved away from the foundation.  The oven that was used served to heat the area behind and could be used for cooking.  The ovens in later years, when the Lathrops ran a hotel in the house were used for baking breads and cooking food to serve to the people who stayed in the hotel.  She said that there was also an outside access door to the basement.  It had a wide door.  That was where they would enter to store the wood to cook and coal to heat the house.  After her grandparents died her cousin Linton Fallis lived in the home and he found an old fireplace bricked up also in the basement.  She said that the Underground Railroad story had been told as long as she can remember.  Her grandparents were aware of the stories and were told these stories by long time residents of Sylvania.  She said that when she was last in the house, just before her cousin sold the house (1942) the ovens were still in the basement.  She said she didn't know when they removed the ovens or the outside door leading to the basement.

INTERESTING NOTES ABOUT THE LATHROPS:

1.  At the 1870 census Lucian Lathrop and his wife Larissa were living in the house at 5362 S. Main Street.  This was just six years after the Civil War ended.  Living next door was a black family.  Anderson Harper was the head of the household and he was 43 years old.  He was born in Mississippi.  His wife was listed as Matilda and she was 24 years old and born in Ohio.  A son Corren was 11 years old and born in Canada.  A daughter Henrietta was 7 years old and born in Michigan.  A son Augusta was 5 years old and born in Canada.  A son James was 4 years old and born in Ohio and a son Wallace was 1 year old and born in Ohio.  Did the Lathrop family at one time before the Civil War help Anderson Harper escape to Canada and then return to Sylvania to work for the Lathrops?  This was the only black family living within the Village of Sylvania and they just so happened to be living next to the Lathrop family.

2.  At the 1880 census Miles Lathrop and his family were living in the house at 5362 S. Main Street and were operating a hotel in their home.  This was sixteen years after the Civil War.  Living right next door to the Lathrops was a black family.  The head of household was S. Manuel, he was 62 years old.  He was born in North Carolina.  The next line lists his wife Rosanna who was 26 years old.  She was born in Canada. Then there was Robert Smith who was 15 years old and was listed as a son, and he was born in Canada.  Then there was Isaac Smith who was 11 years old and was listed as a son and born in Michigan, and then there was Francis, 7 years old who was listed as a daughter and born in Ohio.  It is interesting to note that they were the only black family living in the Village of Sylvania at this census and it just so happens that they are living next to Miles Lathrop.  Did the Lathrop family help S. Manuel escape the south before the Civil War and then return to look up the Lathrop family?

3.  Lucian Lathrop who lived in the home at 5362 S. Main Street was ordained as a Universalist Minister/Preacher.  Lucian's obituary notice appeared in the Toledo Blade on 5-10-1873 and said that he died at his residence in Sylvania.  He was born on 7-18-1800 in Royalton, Vermont and came to Lucas County in 1834.  The notice says in part:  "Col. Lathrop was a man of more than ordinary ability and influence.  Being ordained as a preacher by the Universalist Church, he labored in that capacity for about ten years."  Did you know that the Universalist religion took a stand against slavery before the Civil War?

4.  In 1870 R.E. Richards wrote a Historical Sketch of Early Masonry in North-Western Ohio.  In this sketch he reported that the Sylvania Lodge No. 287 was organized in 1856.  He said that Lucian B. Lathrop was the first Worshipful Master in 1856 and served as the Worshipful Master through 1869, with the exception of three terms.  He also said that Brother Lathrop had been a regular attendent on the sessions of Grand Lodge, for many years, and had figured creditably on various standing committees of that body, especially the one on "grievances."  Mr. Richards wrote that Mr. Lathrop had been an active and zealous Mason-one who has always endeavored to govern his conduct by the principles of the order.  It said that he was now quietly spending the evening of this days at his residence in the suburbs of the village of Sylvania.

In 1956 The Sylvania Masonic Lodge celebrated their 100th year as a lodge in Sylvania.  The following was copied from their Centennial program of October 6, 1956:  "Sylvania, Ohio prides itself in being a settlement before Toledo existed.  It was a stage coach stop on the road from Maumee to points north into Michigan.  Several old buildings of that time still stand and are still in use; one is the site of a large residence just across from St. Joseph's Church that was used to hide runaway slaves on the underground railway."

Writer's note:  Since Lucian B. Lathrop was a very active member in the lodge from its beginning in 1856 until his death in 1873 I am sure that the story of Mr. Lathrop's home on S. Main Street, where he lived until his death, about hiding slaves was passed down through the years and is the reason this information appeared in their Centennial program in 1956.

5.  One more indication that Lucian B. Lathrop may have been involved in Underground Railroad activities and anti-slavery activities:

By 1848 Lucian B. Lathrop and his second wife Larissa and his family had moved to Sylvania and into the home at 5362 S. Main Street.  As mentioned, records indicate that members of the Lathrop family were involved with the Underground Railroad and the home at 5362 S. Main Street is said to have been a "station."

The following information was found in the History of the City of Toledo and Lucas County written by Clark Waggoner in 1888 (The additions in parenthesis were added by the writer):

The Free Soil Party organized in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1848.  The party opposed the extension of slavery into the territories and the admission of new slave states to the Union.  Martin VanBuren became the Free Soilers' candidate for President in 1848.  Their campaign slogan was "Free Soil, Free, Speech, Free Labor, and Free Men."  Lucian B. Lathrop was involved with the Free Soil Party at this time.  VanBuren lost this election but took so many New York votes from Lewis Cass that the Whig candidate Zachary Taylor was elected.  (Records indicate that Zachary Taylor was a large slaveowner of the South.  He died on 7-9-1850 and Millard Fillmore was appointed.  Fillmore was in office when the Fugitive Slave Act was approved.  It was said that he did not approve of slavery, but faithfully enforced the compromise including the return of runaway slaves).

(INTERESTING NOTE:  DID YOU KNOW THAT MARTIN VANBUREN WAS FROM KINDERHOOK, NEW YORK AND SO WAS ELKANAH BRIGGS WHO BUILT AND LIVED IN THE HOME AT 5362 S. MAIN STREET).

It is interesting to note that Lucian B. Lathrop attended the "Free Democratic" and the "Democratic" Lucas County Convention in Swanton, Ohio held on August 15, 1849.  At this convention a County ticket was nominated and a platform was adopted.  The platform that was adopted by both groups of men, who attended this convention, declared Slavery to be "a moral, social and political evil;" and asserted that, without the slightest interference with the independence and sovereignty of the several states, Congress ought to use its constitutional power to prevent the increase, to mitigate, and finally eradicate the evils of Slavery.

At this convention Lucian B. Lathrop was nominated the Democratic candidate for the Representative in the Ohio State Legislature.

The following individuals were candidates for this seat:

M.R. Waite - the Whig candidate.
L.B. Lathrop - the Democratic candidate.
F. Potter -  the Free Democratic candidate.
M.R. Waite was elected to the position.

 In 1850 the Democratic County Convention was held at Maumee City on January 2, 1850.  At this convention nominations were made for Governor, Congress, Senator, Representative, Recorder, Commissioner and Infirmary Directors.

A protest against the Fugitive Slave law, which had recently been enacted by Congress, was held.  Lucian B. Lathrop attended this protest.  (The Fugitive Slave laws of 1850 provided for the return of runaway slaves who escaped from one state to another).

(And regarding citizens of Sylvania and their anti-slavery sentiment):  In the 1852 Presidential campaign the candidates were:  Whig - General Winfield Scott and William A. Graham.  Democratic - Frank Pierce and William R. King.  Anti-Slavery - John P. Hale and George W. Julian.

Delegates were chosen from Lucas County to the "National Democratic Convention" at Pittsburg.  The delegates nominated George W. Julian of the Anti-Slavery ticket. The delegates chosen were John Lambert, William M. White, John U. Pease, James Love, W.E. Parmelee, Dr. Oscar White, Mavor Brigham, C.R. Miller, Philo Hall, Decius Wadsworth, Dr. J.L. Chase, J. Jessup, Two Stickney, J. Lundy, J.V. Straight, E. Newland Morely, Lewis Lambert, J.P. Freeman. (Of the delegates chosen, William M. White, John U. Pease and J. Jessup were from Sylvania).

The main topic of the campaign of 1854 was the attempt to repeal the "Missouri Compromise line," of 1820, which divided slave from free territory belonging to the United States.  The Anti-Slavery sentiment existed in both the Whig and Democratic parties in Lucas County.  It is said that the first step in the Anti-Slavery movement in Lucas County, consisted of a mass convention held at Toledo on September 2, 1854, which David Harroun, of Sylvania, was named as temporary President.  (Remember that recorded family histories told by Harroun family members said that David Harroun was involved in the Underground Railroad in Sylvania and that the Lathrop were as well).

At the 1855 Democratic County Convention held in Toledo on September 5, 1855, Lucian B. Lathrop was appointed as a Senatorial delegate and as a Central Committee delegate.  (Once again the Anti-Slavery sentiment existed in the Democratic party and Lucian B. Lathrop was involed with that organization).

In 1856 the Republican party was organized which was composed mainly from the Whig party and large numbers of the (Free Soil) Anti-Slavery Democrats.  There was the American party, the Republican party and the Democratic party.  The main issue of the Republican party and the Democratic party related to the Slavery question, as raised in the Kansas-Nebraska bill.

Researched and Prepared by Gaye E. Gindy