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Wilberforce University, founded at Tawawa Springs in 1856 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, is the first private historically black college or university in America. The inspirations for Wilberforce were an unwavering faith in God, an acknowledgement of the contribution of the British abolitionist and Member of Parliament William Wilberforce, the leadership of AME Bishop Daniel Payne, and the belief in the potential of all women and men to learn and prosper. Wilberforce embraces the love of learning and the use of education as a tool of personal and community empowerment. Wilberforce seeks to cultivate and meet the historic hunger for freedom and liberty of all people. Today, Wilberforce is affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church and educates diverse students from across the nation and around the world. Wilberforce continues to serve as a beacon for learning and research.
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In 1820, Mark Evans, John Davis, and Jacob Waggoner acquired from Daniel Triplett an 18-rod-square parcel (approximately two acres) at this location on which to build the first school in Plain Township. Education was not publicly funded at the time and the first teacher, Jacob Smith, “kept” school for $1.50 per scholar. The fact that part of the school lot became a cemetery suggests that the log building was also used for church services, as was a log school a mile and a half east of here on Central College Road. (continued on other side)
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Born enslaved March 12, 1864, Charles Young was the highest-ranking African American line officer most of his career. He became the third Black graduate of West Point in 1889 and the last until 1936. Young served with the 9th and 10th Calvary “Buffalo Soldiers” and as Professor of Military Science at Wilberforce University. During the Spanish American War Young commanded the 9th Battalion Ohio Volunteer (Colored) Infantry and later led 9th Calvary troops in combat in the Philippines. The first African American national park superintendent, Young supervised the building of roads for public access to Sequoia and General Grant national parks and protected the natural wonders there. The first Black military attache, Young served in Haiti and Liberia. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People awarded Young its highest honor, the Spingarn Medal, for his accomplishments in Liberia. (continued on other side)
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Welsh Hills Cemetery was once part of the United States Military Tract given to veterans of the Revolutionary War. The land was owned by a Philadelphia Welshman named Samson Davis. On September 4, 1801, a portion of his land was purchased by the co-founders of the Welsh Hills community, Theophilus Rees and Thomas Philipps, who came from Carmarthenshire, Wales. On February 6, 1808, Theophilus Rees donated a portion of his land for the establishment of this cemetery. On that same day, Rees Thomas, the 8-year-old grandson of Theophilus Rees, became the first person interred. (Continued on other side)
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Katharine Kennedy Brown (1891-1986), born in Dayton, was a leading figure in local, state, and national Republican politics. Soon after the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920, she earned a seat on the Montgomery County Republican Executive Committee; moving up to the Ohio State Republican Central Committee in 1928 and the Republican National Committee in 1932 ─ serving on both until 1968. She founded the first Republican Women’s Club in the county. (Continued other side)
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In 1847, eight persons formed a mission parish of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (Sandusky Circuit). Reverend Henry J. Young, the minister, had come to Toledo through the Underground Railroad, as had some of his congregation. Richard Mott and Congressman James Mitchell Ashley helped the mission to rent a frame building on the southwest corner of Adams and Summit streets. The mission later became the Toledo Circuit of the A.M.E. Church.
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First Church was built by the Oberlin Community in 1842-44 for the great evangelist Charles Grandison Finney (1792-1875). He was its pastor, headed Oberlin College’s Theology Department, and later became College president. In the mid-19th century this Congregational church had one of the largest congregations and auditoriums west of the Alleghenies. Eminent speakers such as Margaret Atwood, Angela Davis, Frederick Douglass, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Mark Twain, and Woodrow Wilson have addressed the community in its Meeting House. Antoinette Brown graduated from the College’s Ladies’ Department in 1847 and then completed three years of study under Finney in the all male Theology Department. She worshipped and led women’s prayer meetings at First Church. The College denied her the Theology certificate since women were not deemed suitable to be ordained. (continued on other side)
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Near this site, in the War of 1812, stood the British encampment during the First Siege of Fort Meigs from May 1-9, 1813. This marker honors members of the 41st Regiment of Foot who died during the engagement. Killed in action on May 5, 1813 were Privates James Barkley, Richard Booth, William Carpmail, Samuel Cartledge, John Cox, Benjamin Dorman, John Dyer, Edward Graves, and Patrick Russell. Private Edward Billing died of wounds from battle May 6 and Private John Chamberlane expired May 20.
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