John P. Parker of Ripley Ohio Guides Hundreds to Freedom

John P. Parker, a formerly enslaved man who purchased his own freedom and became an iron foundry owner in Ripley, Ohio, regularly crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky at night to guide freedom-seekers north. He estimated he personally assisted over 400 people to freedom. He later received patents for improvements to soil pulverizers, becoming one of the few formerly enslaved men to hold multiple patents before 1870.