page_title: Levi Coffin
section_title: Marriage and family
hierarchical_section_title: Levi Coffin / Marriage and family
caption_attribution_description: English: Catherine White Coffin, the wife of Levi Coffin, and a member of the abolitionist movement and underground railroad
context_page_description: Levi Coffin was an American Quaker, Republican, abolitionist, farmer, businessman and humanitarian. An active leader in the Underground Railroad in Indiana and Ohio, some unofficially called Coffin the "President of the Underground Railroad," estimating that three thousand fugitive slaves passed through his care. The Coffin home in Fountain City, Wayne County, Indiana, is now a museum, sometimes called the Underground Railroad's "Grand Central Station".
  Born near what became Greensboro, North Carolina, Coffin was exposed to and came to oppose slavery as a child. His family immigrated to Indiana in 1826, avoiding slaveholders' increasing persecution of Quakers, whose faith did not permit them to own slaves and who assisted fugitives. In Indiana, Coffin settled near the National Road with other Quakers in Wayne County, Indiana, near the Ohio border. He farmed, as well as became a local merchant and business leader. Coffin grew wealthy from his various businesses assisting neighbors and travelers in the important transit corridor.
context_section_description: On October 28, 1824, Coffin married his long-time friend, Catherine White at the Hopewell Friends Meetinghouse in North Carolina. Catherine's family probably also helped slaves escape, and it is likely she met Coffin because of this activity.
  The couple postponed their move to Indiana after Catherine became pregnant with Jesse, the first of their six children, who was born in 1825. Coffin's parents moved to Indiana in 1825; Levi, Catherine, and their infant son followed his parents to Indiana later that year. In 1826 they settled in Newport (now Fountain City), in Wayne County, Indiana.
  Like her husband, Catherine actively assisted fugitive slaves, including providing food, clothing, and a safe haven in the Coffin home. As Levi commented on his wife's humanitarian work, "Her sympathy for those in distress never tired, and her effort in their behalf never abated. Catherine White became known as Aunt Katie to slaves on the run."
caption: Catherine White Coffin, 1879
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