About the author

Shannon Sullivan Hudson

<p>A science teacher by day, a history buff by night!&nbsp; I fell in love with both subjects in elementary school.&nbsp; My parents, also scientists and history buffs, encouraged me to learn more about both.&nbsp;</p> <p>My maternal first cousins traced our family history&nbsp;discovering we descended from a very long line of Quakers who settled on the eastern side of Indiana, right in the middle of Levi Coffin&rsquo;s operation near Richmond.&nbsp; Like many other groups, my ancestors faced a great dilemma when deciding what to do about the issue of slavery; should man&rsquo;s law or God&rsquo;s law be followed.&nbsp; No documentation of my ancestors&rsquo; decisions regarding slavery has surfaced, so I am left wondering which side of the issue they chose to acknowledge.&nbsp;</p> <p>When I was in high school, my parents and I visited Charleston, South Carolina, and I saw the Slave Market.&nbsp; I remember standing before this monument transfixed by what had transpired there. &nbsp;The memory indelibly etched in my mind; it is as clear today as it was when I was 16 years old.&nbsp; I knew then I had to know more, and so my journey to this book began.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>When I moved to Crawfordsville, Indiana, in 1990, the late Jan and Don Avery introduced me to the fascinating history of Montgomery County.&nbsp; In one day, we visited Lane Place, the Rotary Jail, the Lew Wallace Study, and the Speed Cabin that stood in Milligan Park.&nbsp; Soon after, fellow teacher and Underground Railroad enthusiast Pete Utterback and I met local expert historian Martha Cantrell, spending the afternoon listening to her stories of Montgomery County&rsquo;s Underground Railroad.&nbsp; Her passion, enthusiasm and vast resources renewed my interest.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>My research opportunities presented themselves in two Lilly Teacher Creativity Grants in 2003 and 2016.&nbsp; I began to study a&nbsp;broad&nbsp;set of information relating to&nbsp;the Underground Railroad, to expand on existing information, and to complete my journey by telling Montgomery County&rsquo;s piece of the Underground Railroad puzzle.&nbsp; This book is the culminating document of my findings from&nbsp;that very long journey.&nbsp;</p>