H.G. Blake in the uniform of the 166th Regiment of the Union Army

Harrison Gray Blake (1819-1876) routinely ignored the Fugitive Slave Laws and hid runaway slaves in his handsome home home on East Washington Street. It was a terrible risk in those days to harbor slaves — the fines were prohibitive and could bankrupt a family.  Blake had a great deal to lose. He had come to Medina as a penniless orphan and, within a decade,  had become a wealthy and influential man: a lawyer,  Speaker of the Ohio Legislature, U.S. Congressman, founder of the Old Phoenix Bank.

H. G. Blake's house was a busy stop on the Underground Railroad.

The  older of his two daughters, Elizabeth Blake McDowell, told her descendants the story of how she discovered that the family was hiding slaves.  She noticed that her mother would occasionally cook very large amounts of food – far more than was needed for their family of four.  She began to ask questions, and finally her parents explained the situation to her –  that her father had undertaken an important mission and that  secrecy was essential

After that, when she saw a large ham disappear or heard strange noises in the attic over the kitchen, she was no longer surprised. To insure discretion, Elizabeth and her sister were kept out of school when slaves were in the house.

Elizabeth Blake McDowell

Another time Blake said to his two daughters, “Come with me, I want to show you something that will make you hate slavery forever.”  He took them to the attic and showed them a terror-stricken slave. The man’s back had been whipped and salt had been rubbed in his wounds as a disinfectant. It was a sight that neither daughter ever forgot.

A short time later Blake sent the slave on to Oberlin, the next stop on the Underground Railroad.  The next stop after that was Canada and freedom.

In 1848 Blake was elected president pro tem of the Ohio Legislature by a slim margin of one vote and led the effort to repeal the Black Laws. These were statutes in effect in Ohio which curtailed the civil rights of African-Americans, and had been  enacted to discourage them from moving to Ohio. To commemorate his role in the repeal of these onerous laws, he was awarded a silver cup by the Young Whigs of Ohio.

Blake  later served two terms in Congress — 1959-63. After that joined the Union Army and was appointed Colonel of the 166th Regiment, Ohio Infantry Volunteers.

In a brief biography written near the end of his life, he wrote, “I ardently supported President Lincoln and all measures to put down the rebellion.  I was always an ardent anti-slavery man and a friend of the slave.”

Presented to H.G. Blake to commemorate repeal of the Black Laws