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Research and Innovation

Miami University GIS students shed light on history, support Ohio communities

The Ohio Capital Journal highlights Robbyn Abbitt’s students’ work on the first comprehensive map of land in Ohio stolen from the Randolph Freedpeople

by Susan Meikle, University Communications and Marketing • Published
Robbyn Abbitt with students in Oxford cemetery
Miami's GIS coordinator Robbyn Abbitt (center, pointing at map) with students in the Oxford Cemetery (photo by Scott Kissell). Students in Abbitt's Advanced Geographic Information Systems (GIS) class mapped the cemetery and created a public website that includes maps and details such as headstone conditions, notable gravesites, and stories of former town residents interred there. Read more about that project below.
Research and Innovation

Miami University GIS students shed light on history, support Ohio communities

Miami's GIS coordinator Robbyn Abbitt (center, pointing at map) with students in the Oxford Cemetery (photo by Scott Kissell). Students in Abbitt's Advanced Geographic Information Systems (GIS) class mapped the cemetery and created a public website that includes maps and details such as headstone conditions, notable gravesites, and stories of former town residents interred there. Read more about that project below.
by Susan Meikle, University Communications and Marketing • Published

The work of Miami University students in Robbyn Abbitt’s Advanced Geographic Information Systems (GIS) class has been highlighted in the Ohio Capital Journal Feb. 17 story “Miami University students map the land in Ohio stolen from the Randolph Freedpeople.”  The story is the first in a two-part series on mapping land denied the Randolph Freedpeople and state efforts to make amends. 

Robbyn Abbitt, GIS Coordinator and associate director of Miami’s Geospatial Analysis Center, led her class last fall in a project to identify the land purchased for the Randolph Freedpeople in Mercer County more than 180 years ago. 

A group of almost 400 Freedpeople traveled to Ohio from the Virginia plantation where they’d been enslaved. “John Randolph, a lesser known but well-connected politician in the early United States, released them in his will, but Virginia law at the time demanded newly freed slaves leave the state. In addition to their freedom, Randolph’s will set aside money to purchase land for his former slaves,” Ohio Capital Journal reporter Nick Evans wrote. 

“Randolph’s executor, William Leigh, settled on Ohio’s Mercer County, and bought roughly 3,200 acres near a fledgling Black community in a town called Carthagena. But when the Freedpeople arrived, a white mob blocked their path and forced them at gunpoint to leave the area.”

The students' goal was to create online maps that document Freedpeople land ownership and displacement. Their story map examines the difficulties encountered by the Randolph Freedpeople during their move, as well as the legal battles and social struggles that followed, according to their project website. 

 

Map of Mercer County townships
Map of Mercer county near Grand Lake Saint Marys showing William Leigh deed purchases ca. 1846 in red, and deed sales, circa 1847-1850 in black hatch lines ( (image courtesy of Robbyn Abbitt and The Randolph Freedpeople Project)

Abbitt’s students combed through Mercer County property records to create the first comprehensive map of the land purchased for the Randolph Freedpeople.

They identified 3,140 of the 3,200 acres purchased on behalf of the Randolph Freedpeople, from nearly 200 parcels that sit near Carthagena, mostly south or southwest of Grand Lake St. Marys.  

"Despite the many challenges the Randolph Freedpeople faced, their story remains significant, as demonstrated by the continued efforts of their descendants to reclaim land and preserve their heritage. This project helps us understand their unique history and reminds us of the ongoing impacts of slavery, land ownership, and racial inequality in American history," wrote the students on the project website. 

Read part two of Evans’ series: “Ohio lawmakers wrestle with how to make amends for land denied the Randolph Freedpeople” 

GIS students continue to support Mercer County this spring 

This semester, Abbitt’s class of 27 students will continue working in Mercer county.

“Last semester's project introduced me to more people working at the County level who have GIS needs and not enough time or manpower,” Abbitt said. “The projects this semester will meet specific needs of Mercer County while also giving Miami students real-world experience while in the classroom."

Projects include:  

  • Mapping the history of Lake St. Mary's.  
  • Working with Mercer County Emergency Management Agency Office to do analyses necessary for planning and preparedness. 
  • Starting the process of mapping several small cemeteries. 
  • Working on some urban infrastructure data related to parcels, zoning, and road right-of-ways.
page view of Oxford Cemetery public map
A page from the Oxford Cemetery Public Map website

GIS students 'Connecting Past and Present' in Oxford Cemetery 

A project by Abbitt’s fall 2023 and spring 2024 Advanced GIS classes on mapping the Oxford cemetery was highlighted recently in Esri's Winter ARCUser publication “Connecting Past and Present in an Ohio Cemetery.”

Esri — a global leader in geographic information system software, location intelligence, and mapping — spotlighted how the students created a public website using ArcGIS Hub, "Oxford Cemetery Digital Resources."

It includes the students’ maps, apps, and stories created with ArcGIS StoryMaps, providing details such as headstone conditions, notable gravesites, and stories of former town residents interred in the cemetery. 

Now, the city of Oxford and Miami University have collaborated using ArcGIS Online so that the city can use the data collected by Abbitt and her students to actively manage and update records, according to ARCUser.

Learn more about Miami's online Geographic Information Science (GISci) certificate program. 
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College of Arts and Science Department of Geography MU News Academic Affairs