The Fee Brothers
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Images
Thomas Fee, Jr. House damaged after a tornado swept through Moscow, Ohio.
Moscow, Ohio circa 1913.
The damaged Fee House.
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
The Fee family were well-known abolitionists in Clermont County. The Ebersoles, Collins, and the Fees, all abolitionists, married into each other’s families, creating a strong network of Underground Railroad safe houses. The Fees were also related to John G. Fee, co-founder of Berea College. Robert Fee and his brother Thomas Fee, Jr., both antislavery Democrats, used a candlelit window sill as a symbol for runaway slaves seeking their freedom. Thomas Fee, Jr. used the basement of his waterfront home to hide runaway slaves. The Fee family worked with other abolitionists in the county to provide a network of Underground Railroad sites that led north to Quaker country. From there, runaway slaves could make it closer to Canada.
In 1842, a local woman, Fanny Wigglesworth, a runaway slave, and her children were kidnaped. “Around a dozen white men from Kentucky entered the home of Vincent and Fanny Wigglesworth, tying up Vincent to a chair and kidnapping Fanny and their four children.”1 The Moscow community was outraged by the kidnapping and sought justice from Governor Shannon. Robert E. Fee went to Missouri where he found the kidnaped Wigglesworth’s; however, he was unsuccessful in bringing the family back to Ohio. Governor Shannon tried to extradite the kidnappers from Missouri, but the Missourian governor did not comply. The Wigglesworth family, according to historical records, were never reunited. The Fees continued to work as conductors and abolitionists. Thomas Fee was known for feeding and clothing runaway slaves, aiding them on their journey to Felicity, the next stop on the Underground Railroad. In 1852, Robert Fee was indicted by a Pendleton County, Kentucky Grand Jury on the charges of slave stealing. The governor of Ohio refused to extradite Fee.