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, and received only about three months of formal schooling in his youth. By age 20, Koltes said, Simpson had taught himself to read and write and later attended a preparatory division of the Oberlin Institute.

Koltes described Simpson as “demonically possessed with learning” and said he published The Emancipation Car, a collection of abolitionist ballads first issued in the 1850s, as well as individual poems that appeared in abolitionist papers such as the North Star. Koltes quoted Simpson’s advice to young people: “If you have 2 coats and have not had an education, sell 1 and go to school.”

The presentation linked Simpson to broader statewide antislavery organizing. Koltes said Simpson attended State Conventions of Colored Citizens of Ohio (he cited attendance in 1851 and 1858) and was sometimes identified as “Reverend J. McCarter Simpson” in convention materials. Koltes said archival records are incomplete — he noted missing minutes for some meetings and the loss of church records in a fire — and that researchers rely on published materials and convention minutes where available.

Koltes said Simpson knew Frederick Douglass and that the two appear together in accounts from 1866; he added that Douglass lectured in Zanesville and in 1867 lectured to benefit Zion Baptist Church, which Koltes said earned $25.44 from Douglass’s $125 fee. Koltes said Simpson was an elder at Zion Baptist Church when he died in 1876 and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery.

Koltes emphasized education and faith as central themes in Simpson’s life. He contrasted Simpson’s path with Douglass’s: both men were largely self-educated and active in antislavery work, Koltes said, but Douglass traveled and lectured widely while Simpson wrote and spoke primarily in Ohio. Koltes noted Simpson’s published work includes 13 antislavery songs and ballads and singled out one poem published in the North Star.

Koltes also warned readers about factual precision when researching 19th-century figures, noting differences between attendance at the Oberlin Institute (a preparatory division) and Oberlin College proper, and pointing to inconsistent name spellings in sources for Simpson. He said some roles — for example, whether Simpson served as a conductor on the Underground Railroad — remain unconfirmed by primary documents.

Koltes concluded that Simpson’s life illustrates how self-education and perseverance shaped local actors in the antislavery movement and said communities should preserve and examine such histories.

Koltes’s remarks were followed by at least one audience question about Simpson’s later work; Koltes said there is no clear evidence Simpson worked as a classroom teacher but that he likely taught Sunday school and earned some income as an herbalist and as an elder of his church.