sentences:  By 1850, Woodford County was well settled; county's population topped the 5,000 mark.Illinois settlers were overwhelmingly opposed to the institution of slavery, and with the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, popular discontent grew and opponents began to engage in acts of resistance, hiding escaped slaves seeking escape to Canada.One branch of the so-called underground railroad along which escaped slaves furtively avoided their potential captors ran directly through Woodford County.