Southern Ohio has been historically recognized as a destination of slaves and free people of color as a result of it being on the Underground Railroad path. That is how my maternal ancestors ended up in the southern counties of Ohio from Virginia.
But southern Ohio was also known to a much lesser degree for its sundown towns. A sundown town is a town, city, or neighborhood that was intentionally all-white; blacks were not allowed to live there. Signs were actually posted instructing people of color to leave town before dark. And if caught, people of color were subject to harassment, threats, or violent acts.
Waverly, the county seat of Pike County Ohio, was a sundown town. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) guide to Pike county had a footnote about the Waverly’s origins: The Downings, one of the founding families of Waverly, had written into the agreement that the land he donated to serve as the public square would revert to them if a Negro was ever allowed to live in the town.
My ancestors settled in southern, Ohio, just not in Waverly. My great-great-great-great-grandfather, born January 19, 1805, was a skillfully trained carpenter from Virginia; he moved to Ohio in 1836.
"When I was fourteen years old I was put to the carpenter trade under the charge of John Hemings, the youngest son of my grandmother." (from the memoirs of Madison Hemings (1873)).
Madison helped build some of the long-standing structures in Waverly. The Emmitt House was built in 1861 by the town's first entrepreneur, James Emmitt who hired Madison Hemings to construct a hotel/restaurant along the bank of the newly built Ohio-Erie Canal.
"We settled in Pebble Township, Pike County. We lived there four or five years and during my stay in the county I worked at my trade on and off for about four years. Joseph Sewell was my first employer. I built for him what is now known as Rizzleport No. 2 in Waverly. I afterwards worked for George Wolf Senior. And I did the carpenter work for the brick building now owned by John J. Kellison in which the Pike County Republican is printed. I worked for and with Micajab Hinson. I found him to be a very clever man. I also reconstructed the building on the corner of Market and Water Streets from a store to a hotel for the late Judge Jacob Row."
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When I learned of my 4x great-grandfather's handiwork in 2013, I planned to visit the Emmitt House on my next visit to southern Ohio. I really wanted that connection to my past...something about my ancestor that I could see and touch.
The Emmitt House started to burn around 9 pm January 6, 1914. Sadly the heroic efforts of the fire department could not save the old structure. It was destroyed! We had lost the only tangible link the descendants of Madison had: the staircase.
When I learned of the destruction caused by the fire, I was devastated that I had not visited the Emmitt House sooner. I thought I had lost my chance to see my 4x great-grandfather's handiwork.
In September 2014 there was news of the discovery of another staircase built by Madison Hemings; this one at 104 East Emmitt Avenue in Waverly. It had been known that Madison had reconstructed part of the old Grand Hotel, but that fact had been lost as the building had set empty for a long time. It had recently been renovated as the Grand Tavern & Restaurant when the staircase was discovered and researched.
In January 2015 I had the opportunity to go to Waverly and visit the Grand Tavern & Restaurant. But the staircase had been closed off to prevent heat loss from the first floor. I asked the new owner if there was anyway I could just see and take a photograph of the staircase. After learning I was a granddaughter of the carpenter who built the staircase he happily reopened the staircase and even let me go up to the second floor to see other wood features constructed by my 4x great-grandfather!!! And I got my photographs, too. I am so very grateful for the opportunity.
