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.

In the 1910 census, taken in April, Grandpa was still a bachelor living in Monroeville, Indiana, boarding house while working as a telegraph

Growing up in Convoy could be idyllic. Everyone knew who you were, and it really did take the village to raise the child.