Elisha Tyson

Elisha Tyson (December 18, 1750 – February 16, 1824) was an American colonial millionaire and philanthropist who was active in the abolition movement, Underground Railroad, and African colonization movement. He helped black people escape slavery by establishing safe houses, or Underground Railroad stations, on the route from Maryland to Pennsylvania. He purchased the freedom of blacks at slave auctions. He also initiated lawsuits for kidnapped blacks and created a group of vigilantes to prevent blacks from being kidnapped and enslaved. He also returned some kidnapped people from Liberia to their home country.

The Quaker meetings he attended based upon his residence. As a child, his family was with the Abington Friends Meeting House. After moving to Maryland, he attended the Little Falls Meetinghouse and when he moved to Baltimore, he attended the Baltimore Quaker Meeting.

When he died, thousands of people of color followed his casket to its final resting place at a Quaker burial ground. He had ten children. His son Nathan married Martha Ellicott, who wrote the first biography of Benjamin Banneker, the first African American astronomer, and was a founder of Swarthmore College.

Early life Tyson was born in Upper Dublin Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, to Esther Shoemaker and Isaac Tyson (1718–1796). They were affiliated with the Abington Friends Meeting House in the same county. An obituary of Tyson in The United States Gazette stated that "the wrongs inflicted on Africa's children made a deep and indelible impression on his heart, till its last beat..." Before he died, Tyson wrote "A Farewell Address by Elisha Tyson of the City of Baltimore to the Colored People of the United States", which was published on April 6, 1824, by The United States Gazette .