The Barkshire and Hawkins Families of Rising Sun, Indiana; a Borderlands Story
Though the Ohio River served as a physical and political border between enslavement and freedom, citizens on opposite shores often had frequent contact with one another. It was common, in fact, for Boone County, Kentucky’s residents to worship, trade and court sweethearts in Rising Sun, Indiana, and vice versa. The close ties were most certainly complicated by the incongruence between each state’s legal position on slavery.
Slavery was neither fully embraced in Boone County nor fully shunned in Rising Sun, but the law was clearly defined. As the Underground Railroad network along the river began to grow, and Boone County slaveholders began to feel its effects, the differences in philosophy became more pronounced both within and between these communities. The cross-river relationships, however strained, continued to exist.
In 1833, Samuel Barkshire was manumitted in Boone County, Kentucky. Within a few years of gaining his freedom, he had established a business and was living across the Ohio River in Rising Sun, Indiana, along with his wife and six children. The Barkshire family became instrumental in helping many people to freedom, and they had an unusual partner: their own former slaveholder, Nancy Hawkins. Nancy and the Barkshires’ lives had ever been intertwined, and they maintained an oddly close
relationship. Nancy joined the family in Rising Sun upon the death of her husband, and assisted them in their Underground Railroad work on several known occasions, even hiding those who escaped from
her former neighbors in the Boone County borderlands.
Hillary Delaney has been researching Underground Railroad activity in and around Boone County, KY for the past four years, as part of her work at the Boone County Public Library's Local History department. A large part of the Underground Railroad research compiled was done so during the development of a tour narrative for the library. The "Underground Railroad in Boone County" bus tour has been accepted into the National Park Service's Network to Freedom. Hillary studied journalism at Virginia Commonwealth University, and publishes monthly articles with a local history perspective for the library and several regional print and online publications.
Slavery was neither fully embraced in Boone County nor fully shunned in Rising Sun, but the law was clearly defined. As the Underground Railroad network along the river began to grow, and Boone County slaveholders began to feel its effects, the differences in philosophy became more pronounced both within and between these communities. The cross-river relationships, however strained, continued to exist.
In 1833, Samuel Barkshire was manumitted in Boone County, Kentucky. Within a few years of gaining his freedom, he had established a business and was living across the Ohio River in Rising Sun, Indiana, along with his wife and six children. The Barkshire family became instrumental in helping many people to freedom, and they had an unusual partner: their own former slaveholder, Nancy Hawkins. Nancy and the Barkshires’ lives had ever been intertwined, and they maintained an oddly close
relationship. Nancy joined the family in Rising Sun upon the death of her husband, and assisted them in their Underground Railroad work on several known occasions, even hiding those who escaped from
her former neighbors in the Boone County borderlands.
Hillary Delaney has been researching Underground Railroad activity in and around Boone County, KY for the past four years, as part of her work at the Boone County Public Library's Local History department. A large part of the Underground Railroad research compiled was done so during the development of a tour narrative for the library. The "Underground Railroad in Boone County" bus tour has been accepted into the National Park Service's Network to Freedom. Hillary studied journalism at Virginia Commonwealth University, and publishes monthly articles with a local history perspective for the library and several regional print and online publications.