An ardent anti-slavery man

This article is the second in a three-part series on the life and story of influential Medina figure H.G. Blake.

The decades of the 1840s and ’50s, as well as the Civil War years, were tumultuous times in this country. H.G. Blake, fervently anti-slavery, plunged into battle with passionate intensity – both as a politician and as a participant in the Underground Railroad.

In 1846, Blake, as a member of the Whig Party, was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives and on his first day introduced a bill to repeal the Black Laws.

Ohio’s 1803 Constitution had outlawed slavery in the state, but lawmakers later passed the Black Laws to discourage free slaves from coming to Ohio and competing with white workers. African Americans who entered Ohio had to prove they were free and post a $500 bond. They also could not vote, serve on a jury or own a gun.

When Blake introduced a bill to repeal the Black Laws, strong pro-slavery factions existed in both the Whig and Democratic parties, and the bill failed.

In 1848, Blake was elected to the Ohio Senate. On the 301st ballot, he was elected speaker of the Senate – by one vote. Many members were unhappy with his outspoken opposition to slavery, and Blake admitted that he was often armed when he went into the chamber.

In 1849, the Ohio Senate passed a partial repeal of the Black Laws. It ended the bond requirement, opening the flow of free African Americans into Ohio. For his work, the Whig Party presented Blake with a silver chalice.

During this period, in 1848, Blake also sponsored a bill creating the Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Medina County, which today exists as Westfield Insurance.

Blake exercised his anti-slavery beliefs at home as well. As he grew increasingly successful in business, he purchased a large Greek Revival home on East Washington Street. There, he became a “station master” on the Underground Railroad, risking both his success and his family’s safety.

In 1850, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law. Any suspected runaway slave could be arrested, and those who aided them faced a six-month prison term and a $1,000 fine.

A “conductor” brought fugitives to the Blake barn in the dead of night. From there, they were led through a covered grape arbor to the house and up to a second-floor hiding spot. They were usually sheltered for two days before being transported to the next safe house, often in Oberlin.

The late Betsy Whitmore of Akron recounted a story told to her by her great-grandmother, Elizabeth Blake McDowell, Blake’s daughter.

“My great-grandmother remembered how she began to notice the large amount of bread that her mother baked and the large pieces of meat she cooked,” Whitmore said. “She couldn’t understand where it all went as there were only four in the family. She began to ask questions and finally her parents explained it all to her.”

After that, when Elizabeth saw a large ham disappear or heard strange noises in the attic over the kitchen, she was no longer surprised. Still, she and her sister, Helen, were kept home from school on those days.

It was during this era that Blake left the Whig Party because, he wrote, “it made slavery its god.” In 1854, he helped found the Republican Party and wrote, “I have ever since been one of its warmest supporters.”

As a Republican, Blake was elected in 1858 as congressman for Ohio’s 14th District.

“You have no idea of the bitterness of political feeling in those times,” his daughter Elizabeth said in a 1932 Plain Dealer interview. She accompanied her father to Washington and said he always went armed. “All the legislators carried pistols and often some came close to using them.”

Several congressmen, she added, “used to go down to the bank of the Potomac to practice pistol shooting.”

Soon after, Abraham Lincoln was elected president and the Civil War began.

Blake’s lasting legacy from his time in Congress was introducing a bill to create the Post Office money order system in 1862, which is still in use today. It allowed Union soldiers to safely send money home without risk of theft.

Blake’s second term ended in 1863, but he remained in Washington. He organized the 166th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which served as a guard unit in the Washington area, and became its colonel.