Erastus Hussey

Erastus Hussey (1800–1889) was a leading abolitionist, a stationmaster on the Underground Railroad, and one of the founders of the Republican Party. He supported himself and his family as a farmer, teacher, businessman, legislator, and editor.

Personal life Erastus Hussey was born in Scipio, Cayuga County, New York on December 5, 1800. He grew up on a farm located on the eastern shore of Cayuga Lake. He augmented his school education from books in an extensive library and became a schoolteacher. He saved his earnings to travel west, he first walked to Buffalo, New York, then took a boat to Detroit. Sarah died March 22, 1899, in Battle Creek.

Career Hussey settled in Plymouth with a 160-acre farm, where he was a wheat farmer from 1827 to 1836. In September 1838, he moved to Battle Creek, In 1867, he was elected mayor of Battle Creek. Strong Quakers, the Husseys were outspoken opponents of slavery and by 1840 they began hiding escaping slaves in their home. Soon the Hussey home had become one of the main stations on the Underground Railroad.

A station master on the Underground Railroad, he helped more than 1,000

He once heard that there was a group of slaveowners who were traveling through Michigan. He printed a warning on newspaper broadsides that they should not enter Battle Creek. He traveled west within the state to Niles, where he met up with the slaveowners and delivered the handbills to them. They did not visit Battle Creek.

Legacy A historical marker was placed at the site of their house, from which they operated an Underground Railroad station. Erastus Hussey, his wife Sarah, and Harriet Tubman are represented in a bronze statue designed by Ed Dwight. It is located in Battle Creek's Linear Park. Commissioned by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, it is the largest tribute to the Underground Railroad, high and wide. It memorializes all the people of the Underground Railroad who helped enslaved people become free at the risk of imprisonment, injury, or death.