LENAWEE COUNTY A HARVEST OF PRIDE AND PROMISE By Charles N. Lindquist Copyright 1990  Photo: Page 30 In 1884 Laura Haviland (1808-1898) discovered these “iron arguments” used by slave owners to keep slaves under control. In Haviland’s hands are handcuffs and a knee stffener. The rough iron collar under her foot was worn by a slave as a torture devise. Haviland, a devout abolistionist, dedicated her entire adult life to helping others. Courtesy, Lenawee County Historical Museum. Page 31: In Lenawee, the Havilands and other antislavery Quakers were forced to leave their church because of their stand. This led to their joining a fervently antislavery group of Methodists called the Wesleyans, where they carried on their fight. In 1837 the Havilands, in one of their most significant antislavery activities, founded the Raisin Institute. The first integrated school in Michigan history, the Raisin Institute opened its doors to blacks, women, anyone who wanted to learn. The Woodstock Manual Labor Institute, another integrated school, was founded in 1846 by a black man from Ohio, Prior Foster. By the 1840s an illegal, though well organized movement called the Underground Railroad had been established in the North to help fugitive slaves find their way to Canada, where slavery was illegal. Lenawee had more than its share of people opening their homes to runaway slaves, even though they were breaking the law in doing so. . .. At least two Lenawee citizens acted as “conductors” ---undertaking the hazardous task of guiding fugitive slaves from one station to another along the “Freedom Trail.” Laura Haviland did this work in Ohio, while Warren Gilbert was active in Michigan. 
Photo: Page 40 The statue of Laura Haviland was dedicated in 1909. (The statue stood in front of the old Adrian City Hall that was built in 1885 and razed in 1970 to make way for a modern city hall. The city hall was between Dennis and S. Man streets just before they intersect with Church Street.) (Click for a larger image) Page 56: In Lenawee (Charles Croswell) is known for listening to Laura Haviland’s call for the state to attend to the care and education of young girls whose home life was non-existent or deplorable. The result was the establishment of the State Industrial Home for Girls at Adrian in 1881. "The Antislavery-Underground Railroad Movement", in Lenawee County, Michigan, 1830-1860 Return To The Museum |
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