Beyond the River: The Untold Story of the Heroes of the Underground

by Ann Hagedorn

Beyond the River brings to brilliant life the dramatic story of the forgotten heroes of the Ripley, Ohio, line of the Underground Railroad.

The decades preceding the Civil War were rife with fierce sectarian violence along the borders between slave and free states. The Ohio River was one such border. Here in the river towns of Ohio and Kentucky, abolitionists and slave chasers confronted each other during the "war before the war." Slave masters and bounty hunters chased runaway slaves from Kentucky into Ohio, hoping to catch their quarry before the slaves disappeared on the underground path to freedom. In the river town of Ripley, the slave hunters inevitably confronted John Rankin and his determined, courageous colleagues.

One of the early abolitionist leaders, Rankin began his career when he wrote a series of letters denouncing his brother's recent purchase of a slave in Virginia. The letters were collected and published as Letters on American Slavery and influenced William Lloyd Garrison, among others. Rankin, a Presbyterian minister and a farmer, bought property on a high hilltop overlooking Ripley and the Ohio River. His house was visible for miles into Kentucky, and he hung a lantern at night to help guide runaways. He and his fellow abolitionists, both black and white, formed the front line of freedom, and some of them paid a high price for it.

In 1838, abolitionist John B. Mahan, a colleague of Rankin's, was lured into a trap and transported to Kentucky for one of the most celebrated trials of the era. Charged with breaking Kentucky laws, even though he had not been in the state for nearly twenty years, he was imprisoned in a windowless cell for three months, shackled at his wrists and ankles. At his trial, slaveholders tried in vain to identify and break the Ripley line "conductors."

Another celebrated conductor on the Ripley line, John Parker, a former slave himself, was regarded as the most daring of the Ohio abolitionists. He made dozens of trips across the river into Kentucky to bring out slaves trying to escape, risking his life and his own freedom every time.

Ann Hagedorn moved to Ripley from her home in New York City to research and write this book. Ripley's historic area is little changed from antebellum days, and Rankin's house still stands high on the hill behind the town. With this enthralling and compelling book, she has restored John Rankin and the Ohio abolitionists to their proper place in American history as heroes of the Underground Railroad.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Civil War, Book Club, American History, Academic, Race

368 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Ann Hagedorn is the author of five books, including the recently released The Invisible Soldiers: How America Outsourced Our Security. She was born in Dayton, Ohio and grew up in Dayton, Kansas City and Cleveland. Since college, she has lived in Chicago, Ann Arbor, MI, Lawrence, KS, San Francisco, and New York City. Hagedorn earned a B.A. in history from Denison University, an M.S. in information science from the University of Michigan, and an M.S. in journalism from Columbia University.

Her first professional job was on the library faculty at the University of Kansas where she worked as a research librarian and later directed a grant-funded project to compile a reference book on the history of economics. In pursuit of a writing career, she moved to New York City, where she found both a job and a place to live via New York University: a position on the library faculty writing speeches, brochures, and grant proposals, and an NYU apartment on Washington Square Park. Two years later, she began her master's work at Columbia. She also holds a German language proficiency degree from the Goethe-Institut in Prien-am-Chiemsee, Germany, and studied at Yale University under the tutelage of Arna Bontemps, esteemed participant in the Harlem Renaissance, for the purpose of writing her college senior thesis on the Harlem Renaissance writers.

Hagedorn took her first newspaper job at the San Jose Mercury News where she wrote about crime and covered trials in San Francisco's East Bay region. Her next job was writing for the Wall Street Journal in New York City where she reported on a broad range of subjects, writing front page stories on violent crime in shopping malls, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the longest criminal trial in U.S. history (the McMartin child molestation case), issues of geriatric convicts in federal prisons, securities fraud and penny stock fraud on Wall Street, the travails of takeover artist Paul Bilzerian, the rise and fall of Sasson jeans king Paul Guez, and litigation against dogs, especially in canine court in Los Angeles, among others. She also wrote about legal issues, bankruptcy cases and numerous federal trials.

In 1991, Hagedorn focused her knowledge of fraud and bankruptcy on probing the collapse of America's premier horseracing dynasty, Calumet Farm. The result was the highly acclaimed book Wild Ride: The Rise and Tragic Fall of Calumet Farm, Inc., a story of greed and intrigue in the 1980s that is now under option with Paramount Pictures.
The author left the WSJ in late 1993 to join the New York Daily News as Special Projects Editor. There, in addition to overseeing projects, she wrote multi-part series on geriatric inmates in New York prisons, New York lawyers who were laundering money for Colombian drug cartels, capital punishment, and a four-part series on George Steinbrenner and the bankruptcy of his shipbuilding empire ( which won an Associated Press award.) Next, she wrote a mini-sequel for the Wild Ride paperback edition and began researching and writing Ransom. After the release of Ransom, Hagedorn wrote a piece for The Washington Post and taught a narrative non-fiction writing course at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, where she had been giving lectures in various classes for several years. During that time, she discovered a stunning story in the Ohio River Valley that resulted in her third book Beyond the River, now under option with Clear Pictures Inc. After writing Beyond the River, she taught a writing course at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism in Evanston, Illinois and while in Chicago began the research for Savage Peace.

She has given lectures on writing at Vassar College, Berea College, Denison University, Wilmington College, Ohio State University, the Antioch Writer's Workshop, and the Mercantile Library in Cincinnati, among other venues.

Her latest book, The Invisible Soldier

Reviews

[Sam toer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating, carefully researched history lesson about slavery, the abolitionists movement and the Underground Rail Road (UGR) in Ohio that reads like a novel. It is centered on the Ohio River town of Ripley, its UGR networks and particularly on the Presbyterian minister John Rankin, and his passionately abolitionist family, who received and forwarded perhaps three thousand escaping slaves between the 1820s and the Civil War. The stories are fascinating, especially the famous one of Eliza that inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Contrary to what the name implied, the UGR operations were secret only to its pro-slavery enemies. Many of its activities took place in full public view, not “underground.” John Rankin, for example, erected a thirty-foot pole on his top-hill house where he or one of his sons would hoist a lantern each night, making his mission ever more obvious. Here, for all to see, his house was a beacon to runaways and a blunt, deliberate provocation to slave hunters, who more than once attacked it with armed force.

[Audrey Ashbrook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beyond the River by Ann Hagedorn is a non-fiction book about the Ripley line of the Underground Railroad and the Rankin family, led by abolitionist, educator, and minister John Rankin who first moved to the town of Ripley in 1822 and became a "conductor." Ripley, Ohio is situated on the Ohio River, where fugitive slaves would cross over from Kentucky to travel north into Canada, helped along by the abolitionists in Ripley.

What a fascinating book! The Rankin house is now a museum, which I would love to visit someday. I love reading about the activities of the Underground Railroad. The Rankin family and the other families in Ripley really made a difference. What a remarkable piece of Ohio history. 

[Jerusha Beebe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book took a while to ease into given the amount of people, places, and events going on. Once I got going it was captivating. I've been living in Kentucky for the past few years and that made this book hit a bit closer to home - I look at the river differently, I look at the trees differently, I look at our court system differently. This book is a reminder of the irreparable harm caused by the institution of slavery. It is also nice to know the names of several white people who were courageous and took action to stand against it. I highly suggest reading this - especially if you live in Kentucky!

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really good personal stories...a saga of the UR.

[Drick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the true and inspiring story of the people of Ripley, Ohio and environs who served as the first stop out of the South on the Underground Railroad. I visited Ripley,three years ago. It sits on the Ohio River and one can easily see how slaves escaping from Kentucky wold find thier way to Ripley. What is inspiring is that many of the residents of this town, including free blacks, risked their lives to shepherd hundreds of runaway slaves north to Canada and freedom.

The story centers around John Rankin, a Presbyterian pastor who was preaching about the end of slavery long before the abolitionist movement took off. Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin was said to have been inspired by the story of a young slave woman and child who crossed the Ohio River in the dead of winter. Rankin was a tireless advocate against slavery and involved in 13 children and many townspeople to also participate.

If found this story to be a reminder that sometimes we can not compromise with evil.

[Judy Gerlach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well researched and informative. The network of people secretly working so closely together and risking their lives to keep the Underground Railroad running smoothly is astounding. I have visited the Rankin home and the John Parker home in Ripley and found the book to be a thoroughly enjoyable read.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of those books that captivates your attention. Like, I'm not doing anything in my personal life until I finish reading it. That type. The writing style was descriptive without being flowery, engaging without being cerebral. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in American history, local Ohio history, as well as the Underground Railroad.

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best history book I've ever read. The narrative was so engaging. History doesn't necessarily repeat but it rhymes: there are so many parallels between the abolitionists' fight during the "War before the War" and now. It is strangely comforting to know we have been here before.

[Amy Spiegel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I could leave more than 5 stars. Inspiring stories of courage and perseverance told with riveting excellence.

[Bill Smoot · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite kind of history book--one that explores an era by telling the stories of the people who lived and made a difference. Thoroughly researched a clearly written, this book had special meaning for me because it is set in a place where I grew up and where my paternal ancestors lived (and some of them owned slaves).

[liv · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty interesting + well researched. focused on a different landscape of the civil war than most history books. covers significant players that are often glazed over. HIST 3433

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite the fact it took me six months to finish this book, I enjoyed it and it is an excellent resource on the Underground Railroad. It’s heartbreaking and inspiring and I repeatedly found myself saying “wow” out loud. At times I would get lost in all of the names but the stories of sacrifice and heroism draw you back in. Never have I read so many true slave stories. The authors research was painstaking. Reminded me of reading a David McCullough history book…so much detail and quotes from various sources. As a Cincinnatian and someone who has visited the Rankin home in Ripley I especially appreciated the fascinating local history. If you have ever thought “I wonder what it was really like to be a slave or to live during that time?” this book takes you there. Everyone should read this book!

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up in Northern Kentucky and in Ripley, Ohio, where my grandmother and my aunt lived. As long as I can remember, Rankin’s life fascinated me. I would (and still do) search out his grave marker as I drive 52 into town, and I occasionally visit. When the guide at Rankin House told me about the book, I grabbed it. I know the places Hagedorn writes about, but as i read, I also saw some parallels between those days of abolition vs. slavery and our polarized country today. The heroes of their time overcame great prejudice and lawless proceedings to carry their mission to completion. I found the book to be well-researched and fascinating.

[John]

I'm not giving this book a rating because I know the author. It's a really good book, well written and I enjoyed reading it. Most importantly, I learned a few things about the underground railroad, notwithstanding that I recently visited the National Underground Railroad Museum in Cincinnati (which is awesome---go see it). Ann gives you a great sense of just how turbulent the two decades immediately preceding the Civil War were. Quite amazing. I highly recommend this book.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book about the underground railroad in Ripley, OH. Highly recommended.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for research purposes, but the stories in it are truly amazing. Every resident of Cincinnati should read this!

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ann is a good friend and this is her best book---about Ripley and the UGRR.

[T.L. Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beyond the River: The Untold Story of the Heroes of the Underground Railroad by Ann Hagedorn explores the role of the people of Ripley, Ohio in the Underground Railroad. Hagedorn brings the Ohio River, Ripley and the surrounding area, the people on both sides of the river, and the war between abolitionists and slave owners/slave catchers to life in a way that immersed me in an area I thought I knew well. I grew up on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River but close enough to Ripley to have heard stories growing up that always intrigued me but seemed slightly surreal. Hagedorn's well researched book transported me right back to the 1800s and the people fighting slavery. I kept thinking about how humans always want to romanticize their cruelty, but Beyond the River cuts through the efforts to romanticize history straight to the dirty truth. Hagedorn doesn't try to make the struggle look admirable. She doesn't even paint the heroes as infallible as so often happens in the telling of history. Beyond the River tells the struggle not only between slave owners/slave catchers and the abolitionists/runaways but between the states themselves. Beyond the River is a well researched, well written story that has the power to provoke thought that could potentially lead to a better understanding of the history of the United States and how that history still affects us today.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 ish stars - the book gets a little busy sometimes, with a lot of people doing a lot of things, then takes a deep dive into one particular event/person. Hagedorn does a great job, though, overall, of making history feel alive and relevant, full of real, complicated, feeling and thinking people. This book shows the toll of slavery on all the states, especially Northern border states, and the physical and psychological damage the system inflicted on the entire society, and does this by focusing on relatively rural Brown County, Ohio, east of Cincinnati. This book brings vitality and clarity to the issues of slavery and abolitionism as they were lived by the people at the time.

In the many years since this book was published, the John Parker House and the John Rankin House have both received major refurbishment and make for excellent visits to learn more hands-on history. The wooden stairs portion of the hike up the hill to Rankin’s house are new and greatly improved as well (you can also drive up there). Ripley, Ohio is a small, scenic town great for a weekend visit to enjoy the beautiful river and the surprisingly intense and rich history. Reading this book after my recent visit there really rounded out the whole experience nicely.

[Lisa Hedger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beyond the River tells many untold stories about the town of Ripley and the incredible abolitionists in Ripley Ohio. As a resident of nearly four years in Ohio, it was so interesting to read about how these towns were so polarized 200 years ago.

Ann does an incredible job of offering up so many incredible details of case after case after case of people treated horridly. My only concern is that this book is so chock-full of these many details that it could be hard to digest for many readers.

It took me time to keep track of the many names, dates, and information. I hope that this book becomes part of more book clubs, high school and college literature and history classes.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well written book concerning Rev. John Rankin and other conductors on the Underground Railroad. Even though law seemed to go against helping the suffering slaves, he appealed to a higher law. He believed that "we ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). He and others suffered tremendously. However, they persevered and determined to be a "light" in a dark time. Indeed, his home was "a light on a hill that cannot be hid."
Having grown up not too far from Ripley, Ohio and being a minister also, the life of he and his family has inspired me to continue to hold to the principles of Scripture that motivated him to stand firm against the evils of his day.

[O-Goodreads P · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic book! Highly recommend it to anyone interested in the Underground Railroad. I am in awe at the love the heroes mentioned in the book had for helping complete strangers win their freedom. They knew what was right and were willing to sacrifice everything to act on their convictions. Planning on visiting Ripley in the near future to explore. Also planning to run rabbit trails based on Ms. Hagedorn's extensive bibliography.

[Melissa Metcalf · Rating 5 out of 5]

A amazing vignette into the heroic efforts of a small group of abolitionists and their unrelenting resolve to abolish slavery. As a descendent of John Rankin (great-great-great-great grandaughter) it was uplifting and inspiring to read about his lifelong dedication to rebuking the institution of slavery in America and an inspiration for those who desire to bring about change in the world. Rankin's uncompromising dedication to his cause is one we can all aspire to in this day and age.

[Marlo · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a slow start for me, but I really appreciated the account of this piece of the abolitionist movement. As a Hoosier living not far from Levi Cotton’s home I appreciated the connections to the Indiana Underground. As a Christian, it was of special significance that John Rankin’s passion for ALL to have freedom was firmly rooted in his biblical view of mankind. It was inspiring to witness through these pages the bravery of so many in securing the rights of others.

[Paula Shotwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beyond the River is a very detailed depiction of the Underground Railroad route through Ripley, Ohio. Well researched, it still has threads of narrative and character development. If you are looking for a traditional novel on this subject, this is not for you. However, it is not a dry treatise on the subject either. Very pertinent for today as it depicts how everyday people grappled with the subject of slavery and how government, religion and small-town life conflicted.

[Kelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly loved this book! The historical figures came to life in this true account of the Underground Railroad in the Ripley, Ohio area. I was especially intrigued because I live in Ohio, and now plan to take a road trip to visit and see the houses of the families who risked their lives to help free hundreds (maybe thousands ) of slaves. Highly recommended!

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of the community of Ripley, Ohio, just across the river from Kentucky, and the Underground Railroad, during the years preceding the Civil War. So many heroes here, primarily John Rankin and his family, as well as John Parker . Great read. I would not have had the courage to do what so many did to help fleeing slaves from Kentucky.

[John Civardi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I have ever read. The Underground Railroad was a mystery to me before I read this book. John Rankin is an American hero and knowledge of his life and the struggles of America can help us now

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dramatic and moving! Tells how Ripley, Ohio and its environs were a hotbed of anti-slavery activism during the War Before the War (1830-1864). Highly recommended.

[Anne Augusta · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book. Page-turning nonfiction that brings to light stories about the fight against slavery that have been too-long hidden. I can't recommend this book highly enough!