Ohio! A fun, exciting state with plenty of things to do and never a dull day!
(This is the part where you say "come on, Irene", preferably to the tune of Dexy's Midnight Runners' "Come On Eileen")
Until recent generations, my paternal family has lived in the Cincinnati area for decades. Cincinnati is in the southwest corner of the state of Ohio near the Indiana and Kentucky borders. Many of my ancestors lived either there or in nearby Dearborn County, Indiana. Clearly, the region must have had something going for it besides Graeter's Ice Cream (the BEST ice cream in the world. Seriously. You can get it at Kroger, Whole Foods, Central Market, or Wegman's. #notanad).
Cincinnati was a bit of a boomtown in the 19th century, especially with an increase in Western migration and immigration. It was frequently listed as one of the top 10 cities in the U.S. in terms of population during this century. It makes up part of the German triangle, or an area in the Midwest where many German immigrants settled and brought their mechanic skills to aid in industrialization.
The Dearborn area was also home to many Quakers who migrated westward from Pennsylvania, including some ancestors on James Taylor's line. This made the Cincinnati area a hotbed of Underground Railroad activity. Its location served as a great advantage. It was far enough away from Northeastern metropolises where slavecatchers roamed. Despite not being as huge as cities like New York and Philadelphia, it was large enough to help stationmasters develop an expansive network of resources. It was far west enough to be accessible to slave states like Kentucky, Tennessee, and states even further south. Levi Coffin, a Quaker who was known as the Father of the Underground Railroad, operated in Cincinnati and helped about 2,000 runaway slaves on their journey to freedom. While I have not found any evidence that my Quaker ancestors were a part of the Underground Railroad, the fact that they lived in the same area and likely knew Levi Coffin makes me at least hope they were on the right side of history.
All of my paternal 2nd-great-grandparents (with the exception of Gertrude Eckhardt and her line) and almost all of 3rd-great-grandparents (excluding Jacob Koch and Charlotte Pohl) lived in the Cincinnati/Dearborn area. These included immigrants from Ireland, Germany, France, and the Netherlands, and even a line that has been in the U.S. since the colonial days. They were farmers, machinists, printers, strike-breakers, piano tuners, veterans, varnishers, schoolteachers, brewers, and more.