Tombstone Tuesday: Abner Strong

Abner Strong was born in Lee, Massachusetts on April 7, 1780. He married Sally Bassett in Homer, New York in 1801. In 1815, Mr. and Mrs. Abner Strong moved to Lyme Township in Huron County, Ohio. Abner had a farm in the area of Lyme Township known as "Strong's Ridge," named after the Strong family, pioneer residents of the region.(Major Joseph Strong, older brother of Abner, was the earliest family member to settle in Strong's Ridge.)

Rush Sloane, the grandson of Abner Strong, wrote of Abner in Volume V of the New Series, Firelands Pioneer, that he was a man of earnest principle, and was firm in his principles of temperance. "He was a strong abolitionist, a friend of the slave and never failed to aid them." Hewson Peeke wrote in his 1916 edition of A STANDARD HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY, OHIO: "Abner Strong of Strong's Ridge Lyme, Huron County, Ohio, was always ready to receive, care for and send to Sandusky, in good conveyance, the fugitives who reached that 'Strong' and safe station."

Abner Strong died at Bellevue on February 3, 1859. He was buried at the Strong's Ridge Cemetery, located just east of the intersection of State Route 113 and Route 4.His wife, Sally Bassett Strong, died in 1865. She is also buried at Strong's Ridge Cemetery.



The children of Abner and Sally Bassett Strong were: Cynthia, Eunice, Pelatiah, Alonzo, and Benjamin. Obituaries for Mr. and Mrs. Abner Strong are found in Volume V of the new series of the Firelands Pioneer, available fulltext at Google Books.

F. D. Parish, Sandusky Lawyer and Abolitionist

Below is an engraving of F. D. Parish from the July 1888 "Firelands Pioneer."



Francis Drake Parish was born in Ontario County, New York on December 20, 1796 to Elisha and Lois Wilder Parish. He moved to Ohio in 1820, and settled in Sandusky, Ohio in 1822. A publication from the Western Reserve Historical Society states that Parish was a "sound and able lawyer." Rush Sloane, another Sandusky abolitionist studied law under F. D. Parish.Mr. Parish took a deep interest in the history of the state of Ohio, and he helped to found the Firelands Historical Society. Mr. Parish had strong ties to Oberlin, Ohio. He served as acting president of Oberlin College when President James Fairchild was abroad. The Oberlin College Digital Collections features a portrait of F. D. Parish.

F. D. Parish was a well known abolitionist. The Ohio Historical Society's online exhibit "The African American Experience in Ohio" gives the following account of Parish's experience aiding fugitive slaves:

Two fugitive slaves from Kentucky were cared for at Parish's home and protected from arrest by their benefactor in February 1845. Parish subsequently helped the fugitives on their journey. In 1849, the Circuit Court of the U.S. for the District of Ohio fined Parish for the estimated value of the slaves at the time. This sum, together with court costs and legal expenses ($1,250) was paid by friends of Parish, who raised the necessary amount by subscriptions of one dollar each.

By the 1870's F.D. Parish had moved with his family to Oberlin. He died in 1886, and is buried with his wife and daughter in Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery. For more information about Underground Railroad activities in Sandusky, see the Sandusky History web site.