Underground Railroad

From Slave Owners and Slaves to Abolitionists

The Ballows History:

According to oral tradition, William Ballow and a few black slaves, who all had assumed the last name Ballow, were the first residents of Daviess County, Indiana. The known group of slaves consisted of: William Buck Ballow, Isaac Ballow, Ralph Ballow, and Mary Ballow. The Ballows were an affluent family in the Daviess County region of Indiana during the 1800s. George Ballow, the son of William Ballow, along with his father’s freed slave, William Buck Ballow, are thought to have been two of the courageous people who fought against slavery in their day. The oral traditions of the Daviess County region have it that the Ballows’ farm, which George and Buck ran together, was a station on the Underground Railroad. It is rumored that Buck and George (and possibly William Ballow) had hiding nooks built into some of the walls of the house to hide fleeing slaves. Of course, there is no way to verify the rumors of hiding places in the Ballow house- it has long since burned down. We don’t know what persuaded William to free Buck or what motivated Buck and George to collaborate in their Underground Railroad work. What is known is that Buck Ballow had befriended George when they were both fairly young. Possibly William Ballow was moved to free Buck because of Buck’s friendship with William’s son. It is known that between 1815 and 1840 William moved elsewhere while George and Buck stayed and ran the farm. From this we know that George held egalitarian views. In addition, the whole Ballow family is buried in the same cemetery, blacks and whites alike. Compassionate and brave people like the black and white members of the Ballow family who fought slavery at their own risk are cause to be proud of our area’s heritage and preserve their memory and principles.

The Ballow Cemetery

The cemetery had fallen into neglect over time. All of the grave markers were either gone or no longer by the graves, and the land had been overgrown until recent years when the cemetery was mowed and a large marble plaque was placed there engraved with the Ballow family lineage and history. All of the remaining tombstones are scattered at the foot of an old tree where they have lain for over a century. As testament to the antiquity of this site, one of the stones that had leaned against the tree so long ago is now embedded in its trunk—the tree is even today in the process of swallowing the marker.