Built in 1805 along Zane’s Trace—the historic “Gateway to the West”—the Gov. Thomas Kirker Homestead in Adams County, Ohio, stands as one of the earliest verified Underground Railroad sites in southern Ohio. Home to Ohio’s second governor, Thomas Kirker (1760–1837), his wife Sarah, and their thirteen children, the stone residence became a place of quiet resistance and refuge, sheltering freedom seekers on their journey north through the Appalachian foothills.
Portrait of Gov. Thomas Kirker.
Born in Ireland and raised in the Presbyterian tradition, Thomas Kirker immigrated to America as an infant. After settling for a time in Kentucky, he moved his family to the Northwest Territory to “escape the evils of slavery.” As Adams County’s first permanent settler, Kirker became a leader in the emerging anti-slavery movement, rooted in the faith communities of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. These early settlers—most of them from slaveholding states—formed a network of conductors whose actions, according to later historians, helped over a thousand individuals reach freedom by 1817.
Though Kirker is best known for his public service—presiding over Ohio’s first constitutional convention, acting as governor in 1807, and serving in both the state legislature and as a presidential elector—his private life was shaped by moral convictions that found expression in abolitionist action. His home became a well-known stop along what Calvin Rankin later described as Ripley, Ohio’s “Eastern Route,” a corridor that connected crossing points along the Ohio River to safe houses in Adams, Brown, and Highland Counties. Freedom seekers traveling east through Decatur or along Eagle Creek could find shelter at the Kirker Homestead before continuing along Zane’s Trace to destinations further north.
While Thomas Kirker’s political legacy is documented in state records, the family’s abolitionist activities are preserved in oral traditions, correspondence, and published recollections. William Birney, the abolitionist and historian, wrote in 1890 that Kirker and his sons were “ever ready to give food, shelter and aid to fugitive slaves.” Other contemporary accounts, including that of former Adams County prosecutor Cyrus Franklin Wikoff, confirmed that the homestead was often the first safe place for freedom seekers after crossing the Ohio River. According to oral tradition, the house cellar and stone kitchen (now demolished) concealed secret hiding places used for many years to harbor those “following the North Star to freedom.”
A slave collar found in the Kirker Homestead during renovations in the early 1970s.
Though often overshadowed in official histories, Sarah Kirker played an essential role in the family’s Underground Railroad work. Managing a household of thirteen children, she coordinated the care and concealment of guests fleeing enslavement. The legacy of that hospitality lived on in later generations. In 1972, during a renovation, a brass slave collar and padlock—dated to the 1850s—was discovered in the house by a Kirker descendant. The collar, believed to have been removed and hidden by a member of the family, remains a rare and visceral artifact of slavery’s brutality and the Kirker family’s efforts to oppose it.
Portrait of Capt. George S. Kirker
The family’s involvement extended beyond their home. Several Kirker daughters—Sarah, Jane, Margaret, and Martha—married into prominent anti-slavery families in Ripley, Ohio, including the Poages, Evanses, and Beasleys, further intertwining the Kirker legacy with the region’s Underground Railroad network. Sarah Kirker married Robert Poage, who is remembered for assisting “Eliza Harris,” the freedom seeker whose story helped inspire Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Jane Kirker married Daniel B. Evans, and both were active in the Ripley Anti-Slavery Society. Margaret and Martha Kirker married Dr. Alfred Beasley and Dr. Franklin (Benjamin) Beasley, respectively—both known for their abolitionist efforts. In Adams County, the Kirker sons—including William, Thomas Jr., and George—carried forward the family’s work. George S. Kirker inherited the homestead after his father’s death in 1837 and continued operating it as a station through the Civil War era.
Historical plaque at the Kirker Homestead, installed in 1975 by the Ohio Society of the National Society United States Daughters of 1812.
The Kirker family’s activism was shaped not only by personal conviction but also by their leadership within the West Union Presbyterian Church. Thomas and Sarah Kirker helped establish the congregation, with the Governor serving as an elder from 1808 until his death. Under his leadership, the church became a platform for abolitionist preaching, hosting the Chillicothe Presbytery’s pivotal 1829 meeting that formally denounced slavery. The Presbytery’s resolution declared slaveholding a “heinous sin,” urging churches to exclude slaveholders from communion—a radical stance for its time.
From their stone house on the old Zane’s Trace to their roles in state government and regional Presbyterian leadership, the Kirker family wove together religious faith, moral courage, and civic duty. The Kirker Homestead remains a powerful testament to Ohio’s fight for freedom and a lasting reminder of Appalachian Ohio’s resistance to slavery.
This site is part of the Appalachian Freedom Heritage Tour, funded by an ARC POWER Grant and developed by the Lawrence Economic Development Corp.
