Stories of the Cuyahoga Valley
“For two hours I sat there by his bedside listening to his story. I saw the tears roll down his cheeks and heard him laugh. It was then that it occurred to me that perhaps there were other men and women who once were known and admired and loved but now are strangers in a strange world.”
John Botzum says of interviewing Josiah Brown of Cuyahoga Falls
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Stories of the Cuyahoga Valley
BEN was a fugitive slave who spent several months in Cleveland in 1806. In the spring of 1806, a small boat transporting a man named Hunter, his family, and Ben, was upset and driven ashore just east of Rocky River. Hunter, from Michigan, hoped to resettle in the WESTERN RESERVE. Ben was the only survivor; the others drowned or died of exposure. After three or four days, French trappers en route to Detroit rescued Ben, returning to Cleveland and leaving him in the care of Lorenzo Carter.
That October two men from Kentucky, one claiming to be Ben's owner, demanded to see Ben. Carter purportedly stipulated that Ben must consent to the meeting, which he did. As a precaution, Carter had Ben on one side of the CUYAHOGA RIVER and the two men on the other. The owner reportedly reminded Ben of his former good treatment and Ben consented to return to him. After the men, with Ben, left, they were confronted in INDEPENDENCE by two men carrying rifles who ordered Ben to flee into the woods, which he apparently did. John Thompson and James Geer were considered employees of Carter's, or at least frequenters of his tavern, so Carter was credited with arranging the affair. Unable to find Ben, the slave owners returned to Kentucky. It was believed that Ben lived in a hut, in either Independence or Brecksville for a while. He eventually made his way to Canada, and nothing more was known of him thereafter.
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