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.

On Tuesday, Jan. 6, 1880, the Indianapolis Journal, published 4,500-word essay on prominent Black citizens living in the Circle City. Almost all of them have something in common with Robert Jefferson. For example, this first sketch tells us that Robert's friend and employer, Dr. W.C. Thompson, and Thompson's partner, Dr. J.A. Woodburn, helped Samuel A. Elbert become a medical doctor.