Like many other Quakers, the Coffins found it more and more uncomfortable to live in a slave state like North Carolina. After emancipation, he devoted himself to assisting the freedmen. [25], The Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites operates the historic house. Due to his religious beliefs, he became a strong opponent of African American slavery. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Watch the orientation video and browse the exhibits that tell the story of the Underground Railroad, both from the community perspective and the national perspective. Levi Coffin was born in Guilford County, North Carolina in 1798, and married Catharine White in 1824. Catharine and Levi Coffin, the home's original owners, along with the first of their six children migrated from Guilford County, North Carolina, to Wayne County, Indiana, to join other members of the Coffin family. In their flight, slaves used three main routes to cross into freedom: Madison and Jeffersonville, Indiana and Cincinnati, Ohio. The home faces east with its main entrance along Main Cross Street (U.S. Route 27). It was the home of Levi and Catharine Coffin, Quaker activists on the Underground Railroad. The two-story, eight room, brick home was constructed circa 1838–39 in the Federal style. My father, Levi Coffin, was the youngest of eight sons and next to the youngest child. The Coffins’ second home, built in Newport in 1839, has been restored. Levi Coffin, from New Garden, N.C., was the only son among seven children. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. I visited the Levi Coffin House with his descendant Laurie I have a museum and the original I had seen was to fragile to handle consistently. Levi Coffin was the only son of Levi and Prudence (nee Williams) Coffin. Coffin was born to a Quaker farming family in New Garden, North Carolina. 2,000 slaves. He published his own abolitionist newspaper. Moreover, Catharine organized a sewing circle that met in the Coffins’ home and made clothing for the fugitive slaves. Coffin later became an agent for the Western Freedman's Aid Society, petitioned the U.S. government to create the Freedmen's Bureau, and in 1867 served as a delegate to the International Anti-Slavery Conference in Paris before retiring from public life. When he moved to Newport (now Fountain City), Indiana, in 1826, he discovered that he was on a route of the Underground Railroad, by which fugitive slaves made their way from the South to Canada. The whole of the tragic story of Margaret Garner, as related by Coffin, can be found in Levi Coffin's Reminiscences. He was born on the island of Nantucket, 10th month, 10th, 1763, and was about ten years old when the family moved to North Carolina. An active leader in the Underground Railroad in Indiana and Ohio, some unofficially called Coffin the "President of the Underground Railroad," estimating that three thousand fugitive slaves passed through his care. My visit to this house was a highlight of my trip to Wayne … [22][23][24] The restoration was done by Himelick Construction of Fountain City. He grew up on the family farm in North Carolina, and he was home-schooled. Reform was hard — Coffin identified with the cause of Abolition or it’s aftermath from age 7 to 70. [15][16], At the urging of friends in the anti-slavery movement, the Coffins left Newport and moved to the Cincinnati, Ohio, area in 1847 to take over management of a store and wholesale warehouse that supplied free-labor goods produced without slave labor. [18], The Coffin house was named a National Historic Landmark and in 1966 it became the first property in the state to be added to the National Register of Historic Places. Levi Coffin, a Quaker shopkeeper who lived in Newport (now Fountain City), Indiana, worked on the Underground Railroad for many years. [6][27] The main entrance opens into a central hallway that includes a room on each side and a staircase leading to the second floor. Illustration. It was after building their home in the little town of Fountain City, Indiana that their story really began – and where it is now told at the Levi and Catharine Coffin State Historic Site. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. It shows that what Levi Coffin and the rest of the Underground Railroad members were doing was illegal but they did it anyway. Stowe's book relates the tale of Eliza Harris, a slave girl from the South who escaped by crossing the frozen Ohio River with her baby on a winter night. Coffin later estimated that, on average, they helped one hundred slaves escape each year. [11][12][13] Although the Coffins did not keep records of their activities because it was illegal to assist runaway slaves, it is believed that they helped as many as 2,000 of them to freedom in the North and in Canada during the twenty years (1826 to 1847) that they lived in Indiana. After 1911 it was converted to apartments and passed through several owners before it was restored in the 1960s. His parents were Quakers, and the family was anti-slavery in their thinking. [18], The Coffin home's interior had several modifications that could have been used as hiding places for runaway slaves in case the house was searched. When touring the home with one of the site’s excellent guides, note that most of the rooms have more than one entrance, so people have a way to move to safety if needed. Wayne County and its neighboring Randolph County were formed as a result of a large migration of Quakers who left the Carolinas to flee the evils of slavery. Levi Coffin was an American Quaker, abolitionist, farmer, businessman and humanitarian. Both died in the year 1803, at the place where they first settled in North Carolina. He ran for governor of North Carolina. Catharine was the daughter of Stanton and Mary White. If you are from the area and visited the Coffin House on a school field trip years ago, you might want to take another look. Levi Coffin grew, married Catharine Coffin, and moved to Indiana from North Carolina in 1926. [18], The eight-room interior includes furnishings in the style of a Quaker family living in Indiana during the 1840s. Coffin was known as the President of the Underground Railroad. Corrections? He died on September 16, 1877 at around 2:30pm in his Avondale, Ohio home. As a child, Coffin was taught that slavery was wrong, and because he lived in North Carolina, he had many opportunities to see the brutalities of slavery at work. Levi was born in Guilford County, North Carolina in 1798. A few years after Margaret was returned to her owner, she jumped off a ferry with one of her children in her arms. He and his wife Catherine claimed to have helped some 3,000 men and women flee slavery. Coffin agreed to help them escape the city, and told Kite to take the Garner group further west of the city, where many free black people lived, and to wait until night. Their home essentially became the grand central station of the Underground Railroad, and every runaway slave who stayed at the house successfully reached freedom. Click to see full answer. His funeral ceremony was held in the Friends Meeting House of Cincinnati. HABS IND,89-FOUCI,1-. September 10, 1803 How did slaves know which way was north? One of the most notable Quakers in the Underground Railroad was Levi Coffin, who was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, but as a young man moved to Indiana and later to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he served in the unofficial capacity of “president” of … Nevertheless he was educated sufficiently well at home (with his six sisters) to be able to take up teaching. Updates? September 16, 1877 When was Catherine Coffin born? As a young man, Coffin had the opportunity to assist fugitive slaves. Levi and Catharine Coffin were devout Quakers who believed slavery was antithetical to their faith. He wrote that he inherited his antislavery principles from his parents and grandparents who never owned slaves and were all “friends of the oppressed.” After the crossing many of the escaping slaves were led to the Coffin House. It was the home of Levi and Catharine Coffin from 1839 to 1847. Marshals found the Garners barricaded inside Kite's house before he returned. Omissions? Wife of Levi Coffin. The two-story, modified Federal-style brick home is painted red and had a two-story rear wing on the northwest corner of the main structure. The upstairs rooms could accommodate extra visitors. The second floor contains three bedrooms. The Coffin home became known as the "Grand Central Station" of the Underground Railroad because of its location where three of the escape routes to the North converged and the number of fugitive slaves who passed through it. Indiana's state government acquired the house in 1967 and leased it to the Wayne County Historical Society. In 1966 the Coffin's Indiana home became the first property in the state to be added to the National Register of Historic Places. Coffin was born on October 28, 1798, in North Carolina. The south room on the main floor includes built-in bookcases that are original to the home. 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