Underground Railroad

Henry Ballou Meagan was an active member of the Neil’s Creek Anti-Slavery Society in 1842. On February 25, 1843, Ballou was named treasurer of the NCASS; two months later, on April 25, he married Jane K. Mattley, daughter of English immigrants John and Elizabeth “Betsy” Key Mattley.

Born a free man in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1808, young Elijah Anderson worked on the steamships that sailed the Ohio River as a blacksmith, working on steam fittings and maintaining the engines that propelled the boats up and down the river. He eventually became a leading figure of the Underground Railroad.

The map gave no indicaion of its operations between Evansville, Indiana, and Cincinnati, Ohio.

In 1854, Julia Wilson, 14, traveled to Madison, Indiana, the seat of Jefferson County, from Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi, by way of what was known as a “Black Pass.”

Several years ago, I read a biography of Miss Delia Ann Webster, an amazingly strong woman who was born and raised in Vermont, but moved south to become involved in anti-slavery activities from the 1840s through Emancipation. Recently, I read the only other biography about Webster that I could find.