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Local historian spotlights Stone Academy, Joshua McCarter Simpson and ties to Frederick Douglass
Summary
At a Muskingum County history presentation, Peter Koltes outlined the Stone Academy’s 19th-century role in Ohio abolitionism and profiled Joshua McCarter Simpson, a self-educated abolitionist author whose writings connected him to Frederick Douglass.
Peter Koltes, president of Muskingum County history, said the Stone Academy — built in 1809 — later became the founding location of the Ohio State Anti Slavery Society in 1835 and remains significant for that reason. Koltes delivered the remarks during a public presentation on local historical figures.
Koltes said the Stone Academy “does not look like that today” and that its original purpose is unclear: some sources suggest it was built to compete with Zanesville to host the state capital, while others describe it simply as a school or meeting house. The building’s abolitionist connection is the reason Koltes said it matters today.
Koltes introduced Joshua McCarter (McCarter) Simpson, born about 1820 in what the presenter identified as Windsor in Morgan County, as a locally significant figure in Ohio’s antislavery movement. Koltes said Simpson was raised in extreme poverty, was bound out to a farmer as a child,…
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