Allen Chapel AME Church, Terre Haute
The Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church was founded in 1837 as the first African American church in Terre Haute and in western Indiana. It is named after Richard Allen, a former enslaved person who founded the AME Church in Philadelphia in 1787.[1] During slavery, Allen Chapel AME was part of the Underground Railroad, as its location near the Wabash River provided fugitive slaves food and shelter before moving further north.[2] ,[3] In 1845, before African American children were permitted to attend public schools, Allen Chapel was one of the oldest buildings used to educate African American children in Indiana. [4] Allen Chapel played an integral part in early civil rights and equal representation of African Americans. The minister who started the Allen Chapel school, Hiram Rhoads Revels, later served as the first U.S. African American senator, representing Mississippi. James Hinton, the first African American in the Indiana legislature, attended Allen Chapel school.[5] In 1886, abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass visited Terre Haute on two occasions to help raise funds for Allen Chapel. [6]
In 1913, lightning struck the church, causing a fire. Church members were able to rescue some pews and altar pieces, as well as save the entire lower level. Church services were conducted in a tent while the church underwent reconstruction. Allen Chapel was considered the leading African American church in Terre Haute through the 1960s. Many from the surrounding neighborhood attended the church, with a congregation reaching over 200. The church building provided the surrounding community a place to gather and meet. [7] Allen Chapel hosted baseball star Jackie Robinson, who spoke to the congregation about his experience as the first African American player in Major League Baseball. [8]
In recognition of its historical and cultural significance, Allen Chapel was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.[9] During the last half of the twentieth century, the number of congregants sharply declined, due mostly to the urban redevelopment of the surrounding neighborhood that began in the1960s. [10] The dwindling congregation could not keep up with the needed building repairs, and demolition of the historic building became likely. Various community members came together to save Allen Chapel, which was an irreplaceable symbol of the African American heritage of the community. In 1997, the Friends of Historic Allen Chapel AME formed to raise the necessary funds in order to preserve the building. [11] The Friends group was awarded a Historic Preservation Fund grant in 2017 from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation & Archaeology to help preserve the building. In 2019, the Friends received the Outstanding Grant-Assisted Rehabilitation award for their restoration work.[12] To this day, Allen Chapel remains an active place of worship and open to the public.
[1] Yaël Ksander, “Neighborhood Church, Living Monument,” Moment of Indiana History – Indiana Public Media, October 11, 2010, https://indianapublicmedia.org/momentofindianahistory/neighborhood-church-living-monument/.
[2] Sue Loughlin, “Allen Chapel AME Celebrates Milestone of 175 Years,” Tribune-Star, Updated January 11, 2015, https://www.tribstar.com/news/local_news/allen-chapel-ame-church-celebrates-milestone-of-175-years/article_2c83c8f7-bc7c-5299-8dbe-28ca7130868a.html.
[3] Yaël Ksander
[4] Sue Loughlin
[5] Yaël Ksander
[6] Sue Loughlin
[7] Sue Loughlin
[8] Yaël Ksander
[9] National Register of Historic Places, Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana, National Register #75000030. https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/75000030
[10] Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church in Wabash Valley Profiles, July 28, 2005. Indiana Memory Hosted Digital Collections. https://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/vchs/id/392
[11] Sue Loughlin
[12] Lisa Trigg, “Friends of Allen Chapel AME to Be Honored,” Tribune-Star, April 3, 2019, www.tribstar.com/news/local_news/friends-of-allen-chapel-ame-to-be-honored/article_3204c66d-8ad1-52a4-9b2f-60eb32112e75.html.
Student Author: Phillip Brooks
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Allen Chapel AME in Terre Haute, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Allen_Chapel_AME_in_Terre_Haute.jpg
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132005029">National Register of Historic Places</a>
Bethel AME Church, Indianapolis
In 1787, the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church was founded in Philadelphia by Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, after they left the Methodist Church due to racial prejudice. Allen and Jones retained some of the teachings and beliefs of the Methodist denomination, but the AME leaders were all African Americans. Through the AME Church, African Americans were able to form and lead their own congregations. In 1836, the first AME congregations in Indiana appeared in Richmond and Indianapolis. Revered William Paul Quinn, who settled in Richmond and served as the bishop of its AME church in 1844, established both churches. Richmond provided opportunities and a higher chance of equal treatment for African Americans because of the large Quaker population.[1] <br /><br />Bethel AME Church was founded in Indianapolis in 1836, at a time when nearly five percent of the city was African American. Augustus Turner, a local barber, came up with the idea to form an AME congregation while overhearing the conversations of his customers. The church began meeting in Turner’s log cabin, and after petitioning the Philadelphia AME Conference, the group was recognized as an AME church. Reverend Quinn from Richmond was sent as a circuit rider to what was known at the time as “Indianapolis Station.” A small frame house used as a church building was built five years later on Georgia Street, between the Canal and modern-day Senate Avenue.[2] In 1848, the church grew to 100 members. Indianapolis Station hosted the Annual AME Conference in 1854, and during the nine-day conference, the Constitution of the William Paul Quinn Missionary Society was adopted. Other benevolent societies and self-improvement groups were connected to Bethel AME Church, including several literary and temperance societies.[3] Three years later, the Bethel AME congregation bought the shuttered Christ Church building and physically moved it from the Indianapolis Circle area to Georgia Street as their new place of worship.[4] <br /><br />Beginning in 1858, Bethel AME Church organized the first school for African American children, as African Americans in Indianapolis were not allowed to attend public schools. This AME-sponsored school taught geography, grammar, history, physiology, reading, writing, and arithmetic. The African American community in Indianapolis was able to keep the school operating through donations and tuition.[5] The Bethel congregation was also active in the Underground Railroad, helping runaway slaves on their journey to Canada. Because of their involvement, some believed that slavery sympathizers started the fire which destroyed the church in the summer of 1862; others suggested that disgruntled African Americans, who had been cast out of the church, had set the fire.[6] The fire and the Civil War led to financial troubles, and unrest within the congregation led to several members leaving Bethel and forming their own church, Allen Chapel. After purchasing land on Vermont Street for $5,000, construction of a new Bethel AME Church building began in 1867. Two years later, the congregation occupied the partially completed building.[7] <br /><br />By the 1880’s, the church’s membership had grown to 600, and Sunday School pupils numbered 300.[8] However, the congregation had to sell the church building because of debt; the purchaser gave them one year to redeem the property or it would be lost to them forever. The African American community of Indianapolis helped Bethel to recover, and an increase in membership led to a remodeling of the building. In 1894, a pipe organ was installed, and electric lights, stained glass windows, and steam heat were added, and the parsonage was converted to a Parish House with a Prayer Chapel.[9] <br /><br />Church leadership changed throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and other renovations and additions took place. In the early 1900s, the Indianapolis Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs were organized at the church.[10] The Ethical Culture Society, an organization devoted to the enlightenment of young people, met at the church for over four decades. In 1957, Bethel AME became involved with feeding the hungry and offering counseling services to the community, and in 1973, a Human Resources Development Center was established to aid youth and senior citizens. Bethel AME Church, in partnership with the Riley-Lockerbie Association of Churches, maintains a food and clothing pantry.[11] The church has also had a credit union, a well-baby clinic, an adult daycare program, and other social programs. <br /><br />Bethel AME is known as the “Mother Church” of African Methodism in Indiana, as Allen Chapel, Coppin Chapel, Saint John, and Wallace (Providence) were all AME churches that were off-shoots of Bethel AME.[12] In 1991, the Bethel AME Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places.[13] Bethel AME Church continues not only to improve the lives of its members, but also to help to those in Indianapolis who are in need from its new location north of the city.[14] The Bethel AME Church building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009 and is commemorated by an Indiana Historical Bureau historical marker, installed in 2009.
<p><span>[1]</span> National Register Nominations: Bethel A.M.E. Church, Marion County, 12-19-90, Elisabeta Goodall, Author, 7.<br /><span>[2]</span> B.R. Sulgrove, <em>History of Indianapolis and Marion County</em> (Philadelphia: L. H. Everts, 1884), 404-05.<br /><span>[3]</span> Earline Rae Ferguson, “In Pursuit of the Full Enjoyment of Liberty and Happiness: Blacks in Antebellum Indianapolis, 1820-1860,” <em>Black History News and Notes,</em> no. 32 (May 1988), 7.<br /><span>[4]</span> B.R. Sulgrove, History of Indianapolis and Marion County (Philadelphia: L. H. Everts, 1884), 404-05.<br /><span>[5]</span> Ferguson, “In Pursuit of the Full Enjoyment of Liberty and Happiness: Blacks in Antebellum Indianapolis, 1820-1860,” 6.<br /><span>[6]</span> Stanley Warren, “The Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church,” <em>Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History</em>, 19 no. 3 (2007), 33.<br /><span>[7]</span> Ibid, 34.<br /><span>[8]</span> Sulgrove, <em>History of Indianapolis and Marion County, </em>405.<br /><span>[9]</span> National Register Nominations: Bethel A.M.E. Church, Marion County, 12-19-90, Elisabeta Goodall, Author, 9.<br /><span>[10]</span> Aboard the Underground Railroad. “Bethel AME Church”. National Park Service.<br /><span>[11]</span> National Register Nominations: Bethel A.M.E. Church, 9-10.<br /><span>[12]</span> Warren, “The Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church,” 35.<br /><span>[13]</span> Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Indiana Historical Bureau. Accessed January 29, 2020. <br />[14] Warren, “The Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church,” 35.</p>
Student Authors: Melody Seberger and Robin Johnson
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:<br />Bethel A.M.E. Church Organizations and Clubs, Indiana Historical Society, M1270.<br /><br />
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<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/Bethel.htm">Indiana Historic Bureau: Historical Marker</a><br /><a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/00000925.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places</a>
John H. and Sarah Tibbets Home
John Henry Tibbets was born in Clermont County, Ohio, to Dr. Samuel and Susanna Combs Tibbets circa 1820. [1] He was the last son born in the staunchly abolitionist family. The Tibbets were motivated “to help fugitive slaves by personal religious conviction,” as part of their Baptist faith. [2] In the fall of 1838, John aided his “first fugitive from slavery,” riskily escorting the man on horseback at nighttime to a safe location about 15 miles away, with the help of his cousin Thomas Coombs. [3]
In 1843, John H. Tibbets moved to Jefferson County, Indiana, which already boasted a strong community of abolitionists. In 1839, 73 men and women, led by abolitionist Methodist minister Louis Hicklin, established the Neil’s Creek Anti-Slavery Society just north of Madison, Indiana. [4] One of the founding members of this society was Sarah Ann Nelson, who was just 19 at the time the group was formed. [5] In the fall of 1844, John H. Tibbets married Sarah Ann Nelson, and the couple moved to Neil’s Creek to reside with Sarah’s parents, who were also “strong Anti-slavery people” and fellow founders of the Neil’s Creek Anti-Slavery Society. [6] The couple worked together as conductors on the Underground Railroad from their advantageous location just north of the Ohio River. Other prominent conductors operating out of the free black Georgetown neighborhood in nearby Madison, such as George DeBaptiste, Elijah Anderson, and John Carter, were their colleagues in helping fugitive slaves escape northward toward freedom.
In 1853, John and Sarah Tibbets, along with their three young sons, James, Samuel, and Charles Francis, moved just miles northwest of Madison to Lancaster, Indiana where a “whole abolitionist community” of families was gathering. [7] The Tibbets, along with several other families involved in the Neil’s Creek Anti-Slavery Society, which later became Neil’s Creek Abolitionist Baptist Church, founded the Eleutherian College in Lancaster. [8] This institution provided higher education to students regardless of race or gender, and was one of just two schools “west of the Allegheny Mountains to offer its students college-level experience in an integrated atmosphere prior to the Civil War.” [9] Segregation in public schools was not legally prohibited in Indiana for nearly a century, until the Indiana General Assembly enacted a law doing so in 1949. [10] Though the enrollment at Eleutherian College was quite small, the school attracted black students from across the country, including some who had been born into slavery. [11]
In 1870, John, then 52, and his wife Sarah, then 50, moved their family to Labette County, Kansas. Here, he built a small Baptist Church, and set aside land for a cemetery. John and Sarah are buried in that cemetery on their homestead which was located four miles south of Mound Valley, Kansas. [12] The church and graves still stand today.
John H. Tibbets is remarkable in that he recorded significant evidence of his work as a conductor in the Underground Railroad in his 18 page memoir, Reminiscence of Slavery Times. Although the memoir was written in Kansas three decades after his work on the Underground Railroad, Tibbets recalls details of incidents spanning more than 20 years, from 1837 to 1858. [13] The “account overflows with names and places,” and specifications of “dozens of locations that can be traced today on the landscape of southern Ohio and southeastern Indiana,” along with details of each journey undertaken to help at least 37 people towards freedom. [14] Unlike other memoirs of Hoosier Underground Railroad conductors, such as Levi Coffin, Tibbets’ Reminiscence of Slavery Times recounts more than just his own efforts. He documents the network of people working together in Jefferson County to aid freedom seekers, and names 34 of his compatriots. [15] Tibbets’ memoir recalls harrowing situations on his journeys, vividly illustrating “the unexpected difficulties that members of the Underground Railroad faced and solved.” [16]
The Tibbets home still stands in Madison, Indiana today. In 2006, the Indiana Historical Bureau dedicated a Historical Marker in front of the house, honoring the family’s place in Hoosier history. [17] John H. and Sarah Tibbets dedicated their lives to the pursuit of not only the abolition of slavery, but also to providing equal treatment and opportunity to black people in Indiana.
[1] “John H. and Sarah Tibbets,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed October 15, 2019, https://www.in.gov/history/markers/521.htm. <br />[2] Cox, Stephen F. “Twenty Years on the Underground Railroad: John H. Tibbets's ‘Reminiscence of Slavery Times’” The Hoosier Genealogist: Connections 46, no. 4 (2006): 164. <br />[3] “Reminiscences of Slavery Times,” Tibbets Family Antislavery History, accessed October 15, 2019, https://fordwebtech.com/tibbets-history/JohnTibbetsLetter.php. <br />[4] Cox, “Twenty Years on the Underground Railroad,” 164. <br />[5] Ibid. <br />[6] “Reminiscences of Slavery Times,” Tibbets Family Antislavery History, accessed October 15, 2019, https://fordwebtech.com/tibbets-history/JohnTibbetsLetter.php.; Cox, “Twenty Years on the Underground Railroad,” 164. <br />[7] Ibid., 166. <br />[8] Jeffrey D. Bennett, National Historic Landmark Nomination Eleutherian College Classroom and Chapel Building, Lancaster, IN, Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, 1996. <br />[9] Ibid. <br />[10] Dwight W. Culver, “Racial Desegregation in Education in Indiana,” The Journal of Negro Education 23, no. 3 (1954): 296. <br />[11] Emma Lou Thornbrough, The Negro in Indiana Before 1900 (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1993): 179. <br />[12] Cox, “Twenty Years on the Underground Railroad,” 168. <br />[13] Ibid., 166. <br />[14] Ibid. <br />[15] Ibid. <br />[16] Ibid., 165. <br />[17] “John H. and Sarah Tibbets,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed October 15, 2019, https://www.in.gov/history/markers/521.htm.
Student Author: Allison Hunt <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Eleutherian College, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eleutherian_College.jpg
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/5.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a><a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/521.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker for John H. and Sarah Tibbets</a><br /><a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/5.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker for Eleutherian College</a><br /><a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/521.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></a>
Georgetown Historic District
Located in Madison, Indiana, the Georgetown neighborhood, now known as the Georgetown District, became home to free African Americans as early as 1820. [1] Madison is situated directly on the Indiana-Kentucky border at the Ohio River, and Georgetown “became a place in which many freedom seekers found a community of safe houses and conductors willing to give them aid to reach the next station toward freedom.” [2] Eventually, the neighborhood would develop into the central hive of Madison’s bustling Underground Railroad activity, becoming an “important settlement of free Blacks who assisted hundreds of enslaved African Americans to freedom.” [3]
Across several decades, Georgetown’s African American community continued to grow. In the 1820 census, there were 48 free black families listed as living in Madison, and by 1850, the number had increased to 298. [4] Along with the population increase came the additions of several black-run institutions including schools, churches, and businesses. [5] Several free black Georgetown business owners rose to a place of prominence in the community during this time, and used their influence to aid freedom seekers north along the Underground Railroad.
One such prominent resident was George DeBaptiste, who settled in Madison in 1837. Immediately upon his arrival, he protested against racist legislation by contesting an 1831 Indiana act which required new black residents entering the state to pay 500 dollars as “a bond for good behavior and self-support.” [6] After successfully suing to reside in Indiana without paying the bond, DeBaptiste conducted a wholesale shipping business between Madison and Cincinnati. Through this venture, he met William Henry Harrison, who hired him to be “steward of the White House” during his presidency. [7] After Harrison’s death, DeBaptiste returned to Madison and operated a barbershop for six years on the corner of Walnut and Second Streets. During this time, the barbershop was the heart of Underground Railroad activities in Madison. [8] Through these brave efforts, “DeBaptiste estimated that he personally assisted 108 fugitives to freedom, and several times that number indirectly.” [9]
Despite the relative size and success of the free black community, life for residents of Georgetown was not easy. Free African Americans were harassed persistently, facing discrimination at every turn. [10] Furthermore, the Georgetown neighborhood’s connection to the Underground Railroad had long been suspected. In 1846, a mob of slave owners crossed the border from Kentucky and, joined by pro-slavery allies from Madison, violently raided the homes of several black families in Georgetown. [11] The mob “took it upon themselves to search the homes of free African Americans for fugitive slaves and weapons,” [12] and any who resisted were “nearly beat to death.” [13] Several prominent community members, including George DeBaptiste, fled northward to continue their work as conductors in the Underground Railroad under safer circumstances. Although the neighborhood faced white vigilante attacks and the loss of some key leaders, “the system that DeBaptiste and his collaborators built continued to flourish” in Georgetown. [14]
Madison’s Georgetown neighborhood is representative of African American-led Underground Railroad networks across the nation. While the overall population of Madison was overwhelmingly white, the residents of Georgetown had carved out a small, thriving community for themselves. This neighborhood, like in many other black-led nodes of Underground Railroad work, allowed those escaping from slavery a method of camouflage “by blending in with the people around them.” [15] Community leaders like George DeBaptiste in cities across the United States were able to use their wealth, connections, and prominence to help propel freedom seekers northward while hiding their enterprise in plain sight.
The Georgetown neighborhood continued on as a black community nestled within white Madison well into the twentieth century. Madison was heavily segregated, with its black residents restricted to their own residential section, their own school, and their own churches. [16] Madison’s black citizens were not allowed to eat in restaurants, sit with their white peers in theaters, or even be admitted into the main area of the town’s hospital; instead, there were “two rooms in the basement set aside for black patients; if they were filled, no blacks could be admitted.” [17] Only when residents of the Georgetown neighborhood conducted their own sit-in protests modeled after those conducted in the South by civil rights activists in the 1960s was the town finally desegregated. [18] While many of the historic landmarks like churches and the houses of Underground Railroad conductors still stand as a testament to the Georgetown neighborhood’s black history, the black families who remain in Madison have now expanded their community across the entire city, taking advantage of the equal access they finally achieved.
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/228">Interview 1 with Allen Watson</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/229">Interview 2 with Allen Watson</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/230">Interview 3 with Allen Watson</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/231">Interview 4 with Allen Watson</a>
[1] “The Story of Georgetown District in Madison, Indiana.” UNDERGROUND NETWORK TO FREEDOM, Indiana DNR. Accessed March 1, 2019. <br />[2] Ibid. <br />[3] Ibid. <br />[4] National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Georgetown Historical Interpretive Walking Tour. Madison, IN: Historic Madison, 2018. <br />[5] “The Story of Georgetown District in Madison, Indiana.” UNDERGROUND NETWORK TO FREEDOM, Indiana DNR. Accessed March 1, 2019. <br />[6] Earl E. McDonald, “The Negro in Indiana Before 1881,” Indiana Magazine of History 27, no. 4 (1931): 297. <br />[7] “The Story of Georgetown District in Madison, Indiana.” UNDERGROUND NETWORK TO FREEDOM, Indiana DNR. Accessed March 1, 2019. <br />[8] John T. Windle. National Register of Historic Places Nomination Madison Historic District. Madison, IN. Historic Madison Inc, 1970 <br />[9] Fergus M. Bordewich, “Bound for Canaan: The Epic Story of the Underground Railroad, America’s First Civil Rights Movement (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 3. <br />[10] National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Georgetown Historical Interpretive Walking Tour. Madison, IN: Historic Madison, 2018. <br />[11] Fergus M. Bordewich, “Bound for Canaan: The Epic Story of the Underground Railroad, America’s First Civil Rights Movement (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 205. <br />[12] National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Georgetown Historical Interpretive Walking Tour. Madison, IN: Historic Madison, 2018. <br />[13] Fergus M. Bordewich, “Bound for Canaan: The Epic Story of the Underground Railroad, America’s First Civil Rights Movement (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 205. <br />[14] Fergus M. Bordewich, “Bound for Canaan: The Epic Story of the Underground Railroad, America’s First Civil Rights Movement (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 206. <br />[15] National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Georgetown Historical Interpretive Walking Tour. Madison, IN: Historic Madison, 2018. <br />[16] Don Wallis, All We Had Was Each Other: The Black Community of Madison, Indiana, (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1998), xi. <br />[17] Ibid. <br />[18] Don Wallis, “The Struggle Makes You Strong: The Black Community of Madison, Indiana,” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History 11, no. 3 (1999): 29.
Student Authors: Allison Hunt and Molly Hollcraft <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO
Sherman Minton Birthplace, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sherman_Minton_Birthplace.jpg
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/1.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
Levi Coffin House
The Levi and Catharine Coffin State Historic Site is located in Fountain City (formerly Newport), Indiana. It is a brick Federal-style eight-room house that was an important stop on the Underground Railroad. The Levi Coffin house is one of Indiana’s most prominent Underground Railroad locations, around 2,000 total runaway enslaved persons found sanctuary and nourishment at this site alone [1]. <br /><br />The Coffin house was built in 1839 and was home to the Coffin family until they moved to Cincinnati in 1847 [2]. During those eight years the Coffin house provided refuge and sanctuary for many different lives. One significant guest to find shelter in the Coffin house was Eliza Harris, of Uncle Tom’s Cabin fame. She had taken her baby and fled her captors by perilously crossing the frozen Ohio River. Making it safely, she was moved from station to station along the Underground Railroad, eventually arriving at the Coffin house. There she was sheltered and fed for several days before being sent on to the next station with several others, eventually making it to Canada [3]. <br /><br />It was not always as simple as moving a fugitive from one station to the next. The Coffin household often had to be prepared to hide and take action against slave hunters, especially since the house was known to be a depot on the Underground Railroad. In one such instance, two girls had fled Tennessee and were living with their free grandparents in Randolph County, Indiana. When their former enslaver came looking for them they were forced to flee further along the Underground Railroad, making it to the Coffin house. With the slave hunters following behind, Mrs. Coffin hid the girls in between the straw and hay linings of the beds. Additionally, the Coffins had a plan to ring a dinner bell if the slave hunters illegally entered their house, at which time neighbors would rush in and force the slave hunters out of the house and have them arrested for unlawful entry. Thankfully in this case that was unnecessary, for the reputation of the Coffin house and the unity of the community caused the slave hunters to leave [4]. <br /><br />Many individuals who came to the Coffin house by way of the Underground Railroad were employed by the Coffin family. Since the community was supportive of the Coffin house’s role as a station, the Coffins did not have to fear and allowed the former enslaved persons to work and be seen in public. One such individual was Rachel, referred to as Aunt Rachel in Levi Coffin’s Reminiscences [5]. Aunt Rachel fled Mississippi in chains and managed to make it north along the Underground Railroad. When she reached the Coffin house she was employed by the family as a housekeeper for roughly six months. When slave hunters came to Richmond, Indiana, Rachel became nervous, and the Coffins arranged for her safe passage to Canada [6]. <br /><br />The Coffin house is one of only a few places in Indiana that is a proven stop on the Underground Railroad in the nineteenth century and is registered as a historic landmark [7]. It still stands today as a beacon of hope and freedom, and a symbol for the power that a united community can have over the intolerant cruelty of wicked men.<br /><br />The Levi and Catharine Coffin House is now a State Historic Site, and the building has been converted into a museum. Guided tours are available Tuesday - Sunday from 10 AM - 5 PM. For more information, visit the <a href="http://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/72" target="_blank" rel="noopener">official website</a>.
[1] "Aboard the Underground Railroad- Levi Coffin House." National Parks Service. Accessed March 21, 2019. https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground/in2.htm.<br />[2] Ibid.<br />[3] Coffin, Levi. Reminiscences of Levi Coffin: The Reputed President of the Underground Railroad: Being a Brief History of the Labors of a Lifetime in Behalf of the Slave: With the Stories of Numerous Fugitives, Who Gained Their Freedom through His Instrumentality. Cincinnati: Clarke, 1976.<br />[4] Ibid.<br />[5] Ibid.<br />[6] Ibid.<br />[7] "Levi Coffin and the Underground Railroad." Indiana Landmarks. August 11, 2016. Accessed March 17, 2019. https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2016/06/levi-coffin-and-the-underground-railroad/.<br />[8] “Levi and Catherine Coffin.” Indiana State Museum. Accessed March 29, 2019. https://www.indianamuseum.org/levi-and-catharine-coffin-state-historic-site.
Student Author: Emma Brauer <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:<br />Levi Coffin House, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Levi_Coffin_House,_front_and_southern_side.jpg
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/437.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a><br /><a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132002431" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places</a>
Levi Coffin
Levi Coffin was a prominent abolitionist and member of the Underground Railroad in both Indiana and Ohio. Levi Coffin came from a Quaker family and was born on October 28, 1798 on a farm in New Garden, North Carolina to Levi and Prudence Coffin.[1] As the only son of seven children, Levi spent his childhood helping his family on the farm rather than attending school; his education came largely from his father, however it was sufficient for him to become a teacher later on. Coffin states in his book Reminiscences which was published in 1876, “Both my parents and grandparents were opposed to slavery, and none of either of the families ever owned slaves; and all were friends of the oppressed, so I claim that I inherited my anti-slavery principles.”[2] Growing up a Quaker, Levi Coffin possessed the Quaker belief that all human beings are equal, a belief he lived through his active role in abolition. <br /><br />Although Coffin was raised as an abolitionist, there were several instances where he reaffirmed his abolitionist beliefs after witnessing the treatment of enslaved people in the American South. The first occurrence was when Coffin was just seven years old. In his book, Coffin recounts a time when he and his father came across a group of enslaved people walking by in chains. His father asked them why they were chained, and one man responded that “They have taken us away from our wives and children, and they chain us lest we should make our escape and go back to them.”[3] Coffin describes this situation as his awakening to the horrors of slavery and he affirmed the abolitionist views of his family. In 1821, Levi Coffin opened a Sunday school in his hometown of New Garden, and became a teacher for enslaved people in the area in an effort to teach them how to read. However, many slaves were forbidden from being educated by their owners. Coffin spent his entire life fighting for abolition. <br /><br />Coffin moved to Indiana in 1826. The house he and his wife built in 1839 in Fountain City, Indiana (formerly Newport) became known as the “Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad” because approximately 2,000 enslaved people were aided there in 20 years.[4] When he arrived in Indiana, Coffin opened a dry goods store in Newport. The store later grew to include manufacturing linseed oil and cutting pork. He was such a successful business man and his prominent role in the community led to his election to the director of the Richmond branch of the State Bank.[5] His prominence in the community and his thriving store helped to deflect attention from his role in the Underground Railroad. Coffin moved to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1847 and opened a wholesale warehouse, which also helped to fund his part in the Underground Railroad. The amazing thing about this warehouse is that he only sold goods that had been produced by free labor. Fast forward to the Civil War, where Coffin no longer only aided enslaved people through the Underground Railroad, but also, “served as a leading figure in Western Freedmen's Aid Society, which helped educate and provide in other ways for former slaves.”[6] In 1876, just a year before he died, Coffin wrote his book Reminiscences after his friends urged him to tell his story in the hopes of inspiring the next generation. He opens this book by framing his life’s work with these words: “What I had done I believed was simply a Christian duty and not for the purpose of being seen of men, or for notoriety, which I have never sought.”[7] Levi Coffin was a Quaker man who believed that everybody should be free and he made it his life’s mission to aid as many enslaved people as possible, despite the risk he faced.<br /><br />During his lifetime, Levi Coffin experienced several changes both nationally and in Indiana. When Indiana was admitted as a state in 1816, the Indiana Constitution prohibited slavery, similar to the Northwest Ordinance which had formerly governed Indiana as a territory. Although slavery was banned per the Constitution, there were 32 enslaved people recorded living in Vincennes in an 1830 census.[8] Just one year after Coffin moved to Indiana, New York completed its process of abolition. This provided hope for Coffin and abolitionists across the country that abolition would in fact succeed nationally. The 1851 Indiana Constitution added Article 13, which prohibited freed blacks from living in Indiana. “Section 1. No negro or mulatto shall come into or settle in the State, after the adoption of this Constitution.”[9] Although this Constitution was adopted in 1851, 4 years after Coffin moved to Ohio, this attitude had existed in Indiana before the new constitution, and would have affected Levi Coffin and the Underground Railroad. This amendment illustrates the changing attitudes in Indiana towards the growing free black settlements, such as the Roberts settlement and Lyles Station, which developed their own schools and churches as they were excluded from white schools and churches. <br /><br />Although slavery was abolished in Indiana, the anti-slavery and pro-slavery tensions in the nation resulted in prejudice against blacks, which culminated with Article 13 of the Indiana Constitution of 1851.[10] Article 13 was passed with tremendous support from the white people living in Indiana at the time, which included the Quaker populations in Indiana. Although many Quakers believed in abolition, that does not mean that they necessarily believed in equal rights. The Civil War and the 13th Amendment brought to fruition what the abolitionists, including Coffin, were fighting achieve. With the passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865, all enslaved people were legally free; this meant that the work of the abolitionists was accomplished, and Levi Coffin essentially retired and wrote about his experience.<br /><br />The Levi Coffin House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. In 2002, the Indiana Historical Bureau and Levi Coffin House Association, Inc. installed a historical marker at the Levi Coffin House.
[1] Ray Boomhower, “Destination Indiana: Levi Coffin: President of the Underground Railroad,” Traces, Summer 1997, 14. <br />[2] Levi Coffin, Reminiscences (New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1968), 11. <br />[3] Levi Coffin, Reminiscences (New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1968), 13. <br />[4] “Levi Coffin.” National Park Service. last modified September 14, 2017. accessed March 3. 2019. https://www.nps.gov/people/levi-coffin.htm. <br />[5] Ray Boomhower, “Destination Indiana: Levi Coffin: President of the Underground Railroad,” Traces, Summer 1997, 15. <br />[6] Ibid. <br />[7] Levi Coffin, Reminiscences (New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1968), i. <br />[8] l Finkelman. "Almost a Free State: The Indiana Constitution of 1816 and the Problem of Slavery." Indiana Magazine of History 111, no. 1 (2015): 64-95. doi:10.5378/indimagahist.111.1.0064. <br />[9] Charles Kettleborough and John A. Bremer, Constitution making in Indiana (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Bureau, 1961), 385. <br />[10] “Levi Coffin,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed April 3, 2019, https://www.in.gov/history/markers/437.htm.
Student Author: Jordan Girard <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:<br />Levi Coffin, via wikicommons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Levi_coffin.JPG
<a href="http://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/items/show/25" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Digital Civil Rights Museum - Levi Coffin House</a><br /><a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/437.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a><br /><a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132002431" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places</a>
Rhodes Family Incident,
Hamilton County
<span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">I</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">n</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span>183</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">6</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">,<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">Missouri</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">an</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span>Singleton Vaugh</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">a</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">n, a<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">white<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">plantation owner</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">,</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span>held an African American family —Sam Burk, his wife Maria</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">h</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">, and their baby daughter Lydia--in chattel slavery</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">.[1]</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span>Prior to<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">coming to be owned by<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">Vaugh</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">a</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">n</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">,</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">the Burk<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">family had<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">been illegally</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span>retained in slaver</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">y</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span>in<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">the free<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">state of<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">Illinois</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">.<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">According to the letter of the law, Burk and his family should not have been allowed to be held in bondage</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">. Prior to</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">the Dred Scott decision in the Supreme Court</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">, slaves living in a free territory<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">for a period of six months or longer </span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">were entitled to declare their freedom</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">.</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0"><span> </span>However,<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">the reality of the situation was much different.<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">When the Burks’ owner left the state of Illinois for Missouri, he took the Burk family along with him – denying their right to manumission. He then approached </span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">Singleton Vaugh</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">a</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">n</span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">, who </span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">purchased the family<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">as<span> </span></span></span><span data-contrast="auto" class="TextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0" xml:lang="EN-US" lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262956486 BCX0">laborers for his Missouri plantation. </span></span>In 1837, with the fear of separation urging them on, Burk and his family ran away from Missouri, attempting to escape to freedom in Illinois. After reaching Illinois, the Burk family was captured as a result of Vaughan’s fugitive slave notices. The Burk family was broken out of jail by members of the Underground Railroad, and they headed into Indiana, with the ultimate goal of reaching Canada. However, when they reached Hamilton County, Indiana, they were too exhausted to continue.[2] The Burk family decided to stay in Hamilton County, which was a stronghold for abolitionism.[3] They settled in, changing their names to John and Louann Rhodes. <br /><br />In 1844 the United States was in the middle of a controversial presidential election. The presidential election of 1844 centered on the annexation of Texas, which added to concerns about the expansion of the institution of slavery.[4] Singleton Vaughan had not forgotten about the Rhodes (Burk) family, and seven years after their escape in the midst of the national debate about the reach of chattel slavery in the United States, he discovered where they were. He arrived in Hamilton County with two men and obtained a warrant from a local judge. Court records state that John and his family avoided recapture by claiming that a neighbor owed them a 50-dollar debt. Legally, payment for the debt would belong to Vaughan when he regained ownership of the Rhodes, so he allowed John and his family to go to the neighbor’s house to retrieve payment at once. In reality, no debt existed; the neighbor was a member of the Underground Railroad.[5] The Underground Railroad, which assisted the Rhodes family, was quite active in Hamilton County. Addison Coffin, a transporter on the line, stated that in 1844, “the Wabash line was in good running order and passengers very frequent."[6]<br />When other neighbors arrived on scene, the Rhodes’ Underground Railroad neighbors were able to convince all involved that the best course of action was to verify the legitimacy of Vaughan’s claim with a judge. The Rhodes family, Vaughan’s party, and some of their neighbors headed south towards Westfield to resolve the matter in court. However, knowing Westfield to be a location with heavy abolitionist sympathy, Vaughan insisted on a hearing in Noblesville instead. <br /><br />During the commotion, a man by the name of Daniel Jones, jumped onto the wagon and he and the Rhodes family sped away while Vaughan and his men were immobilized by the crowd. In the end, Vaughan attempted to sue members of the community for loss of property, since they had helped the Rhodes family escape. The local Quakers created a defense fund to pay for the trial. During trial the fact that the Rhodes family had lived in a free state prior to Vaughan’s unlawful purchase led the judge to rule in favor of the Rhodes family. Vaughan returned to Missouri empty handed.[7] <br /><br />The Vaughan v. Williams decision occurred prior to the Fugitive Slave Act and Dred Scott decision. According to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, fugitive slaves in any territory or state, could be reclaimed by their master, even from free territories. Finally, the Dred Scott decision in 1857 cemented the rights of slave owners to recapture their unfree laborer, stating “that a slave (Dred Scott) who had resided in a free state and territory (where slavery was prohibited) was not thereby entitled to his freedom.”[8] According to this court ruling, since slaves were considered property regardless of their removal to a free state, the Missouri Compromise of 1850 was ruled unconstitutional. Had the Rhodes Family escaped after 1850, defending their right to freedom would have been impossible.<br /><br />This event is documented in a Indiana Historical Bureau historical marker, installed in 2008, in Asa Bales Park in Westfield, Hamilton County. The park is named after Asa Bales, whose home was part of the Underground Railroad and provided a safe haven for runaway slaves escaping to Canda.
[1] Vaughan v. Williams, 16,903 (D. Indiana Cir. 1845)<br />[2] Heighway, David. “The Law in Black and White,” accessed February 6, 2019. www.westfield.in.gov/egov/documents/1376663863_54293.pdf, 1. <br />[3]Ibid <br />[4] Pecquet, Gary M., and Clifford F. Thies. 2006. “Texas Treasury Notes and the Election of 1844.” Independent Review 11 (2): 237–60. http://proxy.bsu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=510657895&site=ehost-live&scope=site. <br />[5] Thornbrough, Emma Lou. The Negro in Indiana before 1900: A Study of a Minority. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993. <br />[6]“The Underground Railroad,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed February 7, 2019, https://www.in.gov/history/3119.htm. <br />[7]Vaughan v. Williams, 16,903 (D. Indiana Cir. 1845). <br />[8] United States Supreme Court, Roger Brooke Taney, John H Van Evrie, and Samuel A Cartwright. The Dred Scott decision: opinion of Chief Justice Taney. New York: Van Evrie, Horton & Co., 1860, 1860. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/17001543/.
Student Author: Jordan Girard <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Fugitive Slaves Escaping to Union Lines, attributed to NonCommercial 4.0 International, Public domain, via Slavery Images
http://104.200.20.178/s/slaveryimages/item/794
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/554.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>