Family History

Captain Jabez Burrell moved with his family in 1816 from Sheffield, Massachusetts to Sheffield, Ohio a year after claiming a plot there. For their first few years in Ohio, the Burrell family lived in a log cabin near what is now the French Creek Reservation. In 1820, they moved to one of the first brick houses in Lorain County which was built by Burrell himself. Captain Burrell passed away in 1833, leaving the home to his son Robbins who then opened The Sheffield Manual Labor Institute. The Institute was a branch of Oberlin College that operated with the belief that all people should have the right to an education. The State of Ohio would not charter the school unless it agreed to ban African American students. Both Oberlin College and the Burrells disagreed with this rule so after only eighteen months, the school closed. In the years following, Robbins used his home as the final stop on the Underground Railroad. Burrell descendants Eleanor, Virginia, and Doris were the last to call the Burrell place home. Eleanor resided there until she passed away in 2001, at which time the Lorain County Metroparks took over ownership.



Role in the Underground Railroad

The Burrell homestead was the last stop along a freedom route in Lorain County. The Burrell homestead along the Black River was many slaves’ final stop before reaching freedom in Canada. The Burrell Homestead was stop 100 in the Ohio portion of the Underground Railroad (A Brief History). Specifically, the Burrells would hide the runaway slaves in a barn behind their home. Robbins Burrell would take the slaves in a hollow-bottomed cart to the Black River at night and would sail them down the river to Charleston (Lorain). After sailing 20 miles out (north) into Lake Erie, the slaves were considered free. The slaves ran away to Canada in response to a revised Fugitive Slave Law in 1850 which declared that citizens were required to assist in the capture of runaway slaves (A Brief History). The northern states were no longer considered safe for slaves, so they escaped to Canada. The Burrell homestead was the last stop for a slave before reaching freedom into Canada (A Brief History). This stop is one of the most important stops because it was the one that gave the slaves their freedom. The Underground Railroad stop 100 at the Burrell homestead was active for over 20 years, and throughout that time there were no slaves caught residing there (French Creek Reservation).



Lorain Station 100

Lorain Station 100 (or Underground Railroad stop 100) was a port on the Black River where Burrell would transfer slaves from a wagon to boats on the port. His cousin, Captain Aaron Root, aided him by providing the boats that would take the slaves from Lake Erie to Canada. This location was declared an historical landmark on September 9, 2006 by the Ohio Historical Society. This site also has a large bronze sculpture of a slave family making their journey to freedom on Lorain Station 100 which was created by artist, George Danhires, in 2007 (The Chronicle).





Branch of Oberlin College

In 1836 there were no options for young African Americans to get a college education unless they went to Oberlin College which was very active in the movement for equality for all individuals (Gorman).  However, with so many students at this college, Oberlin College opened four other branches. One of these branches was the Sheffield Manual Labor Institute which was at the Burrell homestead. This institute educated blacks and whites but closed a year later because the school could not get its charter from Ohio Legislature unless it refused to educate black students. Oberlin College was certainly not going to deny education to anyone so the school at the Burrell House was closed down in 1837(Gorman).  Some students continued their education in Oberlin but many were not able to and were dispersed after the school closed. Although the school was not successful the fact that the school would not continue to operate if women and African Americans were excluded, shows that this kind of discrimination would not be tolerated by the Sheffield Manual Labor Institute (Herdendorf). It is also an important part of the history of the Burrell Homestead because they were actively trying to abolish discrimination against the oppressed. Even though this part of the Burrell house history ended in failure, it still made a statement for us to reflect on today about standing up against beliefs and practices that are more favored than others. Even though the school could have been more successful if they denied education to African Americans, they were not willing to compromise what they knew was right which is why the history of this homestead still has valuable lessons that everyone can learn from.