According to the book The Mysteries of Ohio s Underground Railroads, a number of well-known Wayne County citizens were involved in helping slaves escape from the South before the Civil War. The book was written in 1891 by Wilbur H. Seibert, a young history teacher at Ohio State University.
Much of the information assembled can be found in an article written by E.H. Hauenstein and published in The Daily Record on Feb. 9, 1952.
One Wayne County story that has come down through the years is that a group of slaves was hiding in the barn at the Henry Snure farm near Fredericksburg when slave hunters appeared and demanded to search the premises. A calm Mr. Snure informed them it was the ‘hour for family worship’ and invited the men inside to join in the service.