The National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, a National Park Service program, recently listed two additional Michigan sites, the Erastus and Sarah Hussey Store and House and Oak Hill Cemetery where Perry Sanford is buried. Both sites are in Battle Creek. The NPS announcement included a total of 14 new listings in 11 states.

The Network to Freedom lists sites, programs and facilities with a connection to the Underground Railroad and the history of resistance to enslavement. It includes more than 30 locations in Michigan. Explore the Network to Freedom nationwide map.

Partnership with the University of Michigan

The nominations were submitted as part of a summer internship partnership between the University of Michigan Department of History and the Michigan History Center, an agency of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Two undergraduate students, Sara DeSmet and Michael Delphia, selected by university faculty, worked with guidance from center staff and members of the Michigan Freedom Trail Commission to research and write the nominations.

Dr. Angela Dillard, a former Michigan Freedom Trail Commission member who now serves as the vice provost for undergraduate education at U-M, proposed the internship in 2023 to introduce young academics to public history.

“This partnership is exposing undergraduates to the many ways they can apply their skills and passion to history projects that both expand our knowledge of the past and reach the public,” said Sandra Clark, director of the Michigan History Center.

“The exceptional work of these two students is evident in the success of the applications they researched and wrote. Their work expands Battle Creek’s story, supports the work of the Michigan Freedom Trail Commission and brings national attention to Michigan’s role in the Underground Railroad,” said Clark. “We applaud and thank the University of Michigan Department of History for its leadership in making these paid internships available to its undergraduate students.”

The nominations

The nomination for the site of the Erastus and Sarah Hussey Store and House, written by DeSmet, explores the work of a family, including their daughter, that opened its house and store to freedom seekers, providing them food and shelter.

They were part of an organized network that helped freedom seekers in Battle Creek, Marshall and other communities along their journey to Canada.

While researching this nomination, DeSmet uncovered details about the Husseys’ very public dedication to the antislavery movement. In an interview published in the Battle Creek Sunday Morning Call in 1885, Erastus recalled learning about enslavers heading to Battle Creek, saying: “Once word came that thirty armed men were on their way here to capture the slaves in Battle Creek. Dr. Thayer and I printed 500 hand-bills, stating that we were prepared to meet them, and that they had better stay away from Battle Creek. Some persons condemned this very much. Dr. Moffitt said that it was treason against the government. I sent the bills along the road by an express messenger by the name of Nichols… He threw them off at every station. At Niles he met the party on the train coming east. The slave-catchers read the bills and turned back. They said that there was no use going to Battle Creek.”

A Michigan Historical Marker commemorating Erastus Hussey stands at the site of the Husseys’ house, now the headquarters of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Delphia’s nomination focused on the gravesite of Perry Sanford, who escaped slavery in Kentucky in 1847. He was involved in what later became known as the 1847 Kentucky Raid in Cass County, where enslavers from Kentucky tried to kidnap freedom seekers living and working on local farms and return them to slavery. From Battle Creek, Erastus Hussey attempted to warn the Cass County Quakers and freedom seekers, but it was too late, and the raid began in the early morning hours of Friday, Aug. 17.

During the raid, the enslavers kidnapped nine freedom seekers. However, Black and white local farmers intercepted the group, forcing the enslavers to take the matter to court. The enslavers and captured freedom seekers were taken to the county jail. The freedom seekers slowly “escaped,” and the Kentuckians went home unsuccessful. Sanford and other freedom seekers found shelter in Battle Creek, with the Hussey family and the town’s strong abolitionist community.

Sanford’s account of the raid, published in an Aug. 3, 1884, edition of the Battle Creek Sunday Morning Call titled “Out of Bondage: A Reminiscence of the Underground Railroad,” is well known, but his later life was not. Instead of continuing to Canada and further safety, as most in his group did, Sanford stayed in Battle Creek. Delphia’s research on Sanford’s later life revealed much about the 19th century Black community in Battle Creek.

Sanford worked at the Nichols, Shepard & Co. factory and was involved in civic life through the Battle Creek Workingmen’s Society and the Strother Lodge of Black Freemasons. In 1887, he helped arrange celebrations of the Emancipation Proclamation and the freeing of enslaved people in the British West Indies.

After decades of an active life in the community, Sanford passed away in 1905. The last remaining physical evidence of his life is his grave marker in Battle Creek’s Oak Hill Cemetery.

About the commission

The Michigan Freedom Trail Commission preserves and protects the history of the Underground Railroad and antislavery movement in Michigan.

The commissioners, who are appointed by the governor, help advise the students, and any others, who submit nominations to the Network to Freedom.

Accompanying photos are available below for download. Caption information follows.

Erastus and Sarah Hussey: The Hussey family was dedicated to assisting freedom seekers along the Underground Railroad. The family was open about their support for the antislavery movement. Their home provided shelter for many freedom seekers on the route to Canada. Photo taken from the book titled History of Calhoun County, 1877.

Erastus Hussey Historical Marker: Erastus Hussey was a known figure among the antislavery movement. A Michigan historical marker commemorating him now stands at the site of the Hussey’s house. Photo taken by Sara DeSmet.

Perry Sanford: Perry Sanford was a freedom seeker who escaped slavery in Kentucky. He was a part of what later became known as the 1847 Kentucky Raid in Cass County. After making his way along the Underground Railroad to Battle Creek, he chose to stay, while most others in his group moved on to Canada. Photo courtesy of the Willard Public Library in Battle Creek.