At today’s regular meeting, President Chip introduced Robert Haviland Jr. who was a former classmate of his at Hillsdale High School who he hadn’t seen in over 40 years, who was accompanied by his Father, Robert, Sr. to speak about the work that their great aunt 4 and 5 times removed respectively did in this area in the early 1800’s.
Robert Jr. said he was proud to be a Haviland. While a tiny woman, she was a giant in changing peoples’ lives, he said, and a real hero not only because of who she was but what she stood for – and that was “for always what was right”. She wrote her autobiography at age 72 in 1881 titled “A Woman’s Life-Work” and Robert read many excerpts for her book throughout the presentation today.
Laura was born in Ontario, Canada in 1808 to an American couple (The Smith’s) who were Quakers in the Township of Elizabethtown-Kitley, Canada. At age seven her family moved to Niagara County in western New York. Growing up, Laura had an satiable thirst for college and for reading. She came upon a book about the history of slave trade and the trip slaves made from Africa on crowded slave ships only to be “swallowed by sharks along the way” which had an enormous impact on her life growing up. She was moved by the cruel and reckless acts of whites against innocent black people.
These and many other visuals as they were recounted horrified Laura and made an indelible impression on her. From these events, Robert said, she learned the attribute of “compassion”. Robert said Laura struggled with her faith doctrine and the cruelty of God by permitting people to suffer like they did. The biggest decision in her life however, he said, was to become a Christian at age 13 after much struggle but did announce “I am saved. Oh, what a fountain, opened for cleansing”!
Another characteristic of hers was that she was “committed”. Before her 17th birthday she married Charles Haviland, Jr. and it was a happy marriage. Shortly thereafter they moved their family closer to her parents in Lenawee County. They started their pioneer life in a log cabin. They would have 7 children. She chose a life of social reform in 1832 when she met Laura Chandler - the first woman writer in American to make the “abolition of slavery” her principal theme who also formed the first abolitionist society in Michigan which met with much opposition.
It was in the 1830’s that Laura and her husband began hiding slaves on their farm which became the first underground railroad in Michigan which became very dangerous for them as they were by armed slave catchers and bounty hunters. After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 passed, things only got worse and more dangerous.
Laura also took on the responsibility of instructing orphans in Lenawee County which gave rise to the Raisin Institute of 1836 they founded which was open to all orphans regardless of race, gender or creed. The Haviland’s became even more active in anti-slavery work as years went by. They soon left the Quaker church and joined the Wesleyan Methodist Church which was a rare and radical move for them.
Then crisis struck in 1845 – a deadly skin epidemic spread throughout the region. She was 36 at the time and it claimed the lives of her husband, Mother, Father, sister, and a child. Laura, very ill herself, did recover. Her 7 other children survived but she was now a widow and it took a toll on her financially as well.
Her other legacy-building attribute, Robert said, was “courage”. She was both bold and confident and played those cards everywhere, he said. People against the cause she worked so hard at would post her picture and her questionable “abolitionist deeds” so they could stop her efforts. They even put a bounty on her head back then of $70,000 “dead or alive, he said.
She would soon travel to the south always putting her life in danger to help the slave population where she was able to avoid many traps by unsuspecting individuals. Undaunted by threats in the south, she disguised herself as a black woman so she could sneak onto a Kentucky plantation. She told one plantation owner that she found her abolitionist principles between the “lids of the Bible!” “God created one blood”, she said, and “Jesus shed His blood for all of humanity”. The slave owner she was speaking to had no reply, Robert said!
In 1861 the Civil War broke out, and Laura became a battlefront nurse. She was named the Inspector of Hospitals due to her valiant work. She toured refugee camps, established camps, established schools, worked as a teacher and gave public lectures.
While in Washington DC she met Sojourner Truth and one day rode a street car together in defiance of the city’s segregation laws! She secured the release of over 3,000 Union soldiers for being unjustly imprisoned on the gulf islands. In 1877 she served in a mission in Hells Half Acre in Kansas City. She purchased 240 acres of land in Kansas for refugees so they could live on, farm and set up schools for the slaves that fled the south. Laura, Robert said, was also involved in Woman’s Suffrage and the Temperance Union in Michigan.
Robert said in closing that Laura entered her eternal rest 125 years ago today – April 20, 1898! She displayed great courage in the face of hopelessness. What a legacy she left in Lenawee Country and this great country of ours!! Following Robert's presentation, District Governor, Traci, presented the Haviland's with a Paul Harris Fellow in honor of their relative, Laura Smith Haviland.
PHOTO - (L to R) - Robert Haviland Jr., DG Traci Sincock, Robert Haviland, Sr., President Chip.
Adrian Morning Rotary currently focuses on three initiatives Impacting youth: 1) Literacy Support – providing books for 26 Little Free Libraries throughout the Adrian area; 2) Hunger - through the Weekend Snack Sacks program that provides weekly snacks to over 400 elementary school kids; and Education – by providing scholarships to local students for their higher education needs. We will hear from a scholarship recipient or two and from those school professionals who work directly with the Snack Sack recipients. 
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