Connecting the Past to the Present

The Eleutherian College 

Fall arrived just in time this past weekend for the Eleutherian College Fall Festival, just north of the beautiful river town of Madison, Indiana. My husband and I were lucky enough to stay in Madison the day before the festival and enjoyed the local establishments. What a beautiful town to visit and the nicest people to boot! If you haven't visited Madison, make time to do so this fall. You'll fall in love with this small but bustling town!


I first became aware of the Eleutherian College when I was researching our home. I

Wehr Homestead current day. 

discovered a Wehr family member was married by an Elder Thomas Craven and when researching him, I quickly discovered what a trailblazer Craven was for his time during the height of the Underground Railroad.  Not only was he ambitious by moving west from Pennsylvania to Indiana and then Ohio, but he received his degree from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio around 50 years of age. In addition, Craven was helping to start baptist churches, preaching, raising a family, made his dream a reality by building the Eleutherian College and was an occasional conductor of the Underground Railroad.

During my research, I kept running into excerpts from Thomas Craven's autobiography. These excerpts mentioned his letters home about receiving a letter of recommendation from Harriet Beecher Stowe and her Husband Calvin. He also wrote to share about his time up East with staunch abolitionist such as Theodore Parker, William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips.  At this point I was on the hunt for the autobiography Thomas wrote. It was my hope if the autobiography still existed it could include information about our local Butler County, Ohio history and could be the insight needed to learn about his life, whereabouts, and connections.  

I checked for the autobiography with local historical societies in Indian/Ohio/Kansas, colleges in both Indiana and Ohio, experts, and our local regional history library. Nothing turned up. Then it hit me. I hadn't looked for the descendants of Thomas Craven to see if in fact the autobiography was still in their possession.  Having searched for the Wehr family members and being successful in connecting them with their ancestor's home, I tried the same approach in finding the appropriate Craven family and I was successful.  

After chatting online back and forth with various family members of Thomas Craven and sharing that I was presenting my findings on Thomas at the Eleutherian College's Fall Festival, I was so surprised when they said they were going to make the drive from Utah with their three daughters and the sisters were going to fly in. What a surprise!

This past Saturday, before going to the college, Aaron and I had the privilege of having breakfast with the Craven family-7 in total. We could not have had a better time getting to know one another and sharing family stories. I couldn't have asked for more.  After having breakfast we headed to explore the Eleutherian College that their family member

View more photos of the Eleutherian College here. 

built.  No different, from when I watched Wehr family members pass across the threshold of their ancestors home, I was in awe of seeing the Craven family connected to their ancestor's greatest labor of love.

Thomas Craven had to of had broad shoulders and a strong sense of self to lead such a charge towards ending the division between blacks and whites in regards to education. Having the vision alone was risky in the mid-1800's, but to participate in anti-slavery societies, churches, occasionally a conductor of the Underground Railroad and then acting on his vision of the Eleutherian College tells me he was someone with exceptional interpersonal skills and confidence. He knew how to connect to like-minded people while finding a way to co-exist with people less fond of his ideals.

Having the Craven family members visit the college about 170 years after being built, was amazing to witness. I can only imagine the pride the family must feel in regards to the mark their ancestor left on such a prominent time in history. I am so thankful Aaron and I had the opportunity to spend time with the Craven family and get to know them, because had I never reached out to them, I would have never met this lovely family from Utah. 

Connecting the past to the present is fulfilling in a way I never expected. I hope that as I continue to present at various sites, I will be able to help others connect to their local community in a way they haven't before. I'm looking forward to spending the winter diving in a bit more into other avenues of my research and preparing for the upcoming presentations. 

While we've only been in our new/old home for a year and a half, I must say that it has proven to be a period in which I will always be fond of because of all the families we have connected with.  I never thought this home would be able to give more to us than shelter, but it has truly found a way to lead us to connecting with people we would have never met otherwise. 

xo
Danielle