Levity Brewing Company has partnered once again with the Blairsville Underground Railroad History Center to bring to you the Freedom Seekers Series.

The Freedom Seekers Series shines a light on the extraordinary people and rich history of Indiana County within the broader Underground Railroad story.

The 2023 series will honor the memory of Freedom Seekers, Braxton Jackson, who fled his bondage in Richmond, VA during the Civil War and settled in Blairsville, PA, and Jacob Green, whose abduction in Hollidaysburg, PA nearly led to war between Virginia and Pennsylvania.

As well as conductors, Dr. Robert Mitchell, abolitionist, station master, and Indiana, PA physician, and Alexander “AT” Moorhead, teenage conductor and, later, a newspaper editor who preserved the stories of Indiana County’s involvement in the UGRR. (See below for more details on each of them.)

This year, the Freedom Seekers and Conductors are paired with a 4.7% Vanilla Cream Ale and a 5% ESB. These beers have been released as of June 20th, and both Levity Brewing taprooms will be featuring the four beers created for this series.

Freedom Seekers

Braxton Jackson

Born into slavery in Richmond, Virginia. Braxton Jackson drove the carriage for the family who enslaved him. One day, he found his sister hanging from the whipping post and knew that he needed to be free. The Civil War had just begun and he and a fellow slave were sent to dig trenches to protect the capital. Instead of digging, the men dropped their shovels and ran. Not knowing how to find Union troops, they knocked on a plantation house door and told the young woman who answered that they were spies for the Confederacy. They told him they needed the location of the Union troops to take back to Richmond. After receiving the information, they followed the directions to the nearest regiment. Jackson stayed with the regiment and after his service, and went north with his commander, eventually settling in Blairsville, PA.

Jacob Green

Jacob Green was enslaved in Hampshire, County, Virginia. In 1855, he escaped his bondage and returned to help neighboring slaves to escape. Green’s enslavers, Isaac and James Parsons, pursued him to Pennsylvania. In Hollidaysburg, James Parsons spotted Green boarding a train, which he then boarded. Green spotted Parsons, and he jumped from the slowly moving train. Parsons did the same and recaptured Green. Green was able to slip away and shouted to the helpful Hollidaysburg citizens that he was being kidnapped. Green escaped and Parsons was arrested as a kidnapper. When Virginia demanded his release, Pennsylvania refused. Virginia authorized war over the incident, but Parsons was found not guilty. Green was never heard from again.

Conductors

Dr. Robert Mitchell

A resident of Virginia, Dr. Mitchell saw first hand the horror of slavery, witnessing men yoked to plows and an injured slave discarded in a field to die. As an adult he would do all in his power to fight slavery. Following his move to Indiana, PA, he opened a medical practice and joined a local anti-slavery society. In 1845, he sheltered freedom seekers Anthony Hollingsworth, Jared Harris, and Charlie Brown in his cabin near Clymer. Despite his efforts to ensure the freedom of the three men, the cabin was raided by 11 slave-catchers. All but two were captures. Mitchell was sued in federal court for helping the men and fined nearly $10,000. When asked about the hefty fine, he said he would do it all again.

Alexander “AT” Moorhead

Alexander “A.T.” Moorhead was the 12-year-old grandson and apprentice of an abolitionist newspaper editor when he became active in the underground railroad. While escorting a group of runaways through the woods of Indiana County, he was tasked with finding shoes for a young mother carrying her child to freedom. Her shoes had worn out and she was leaving bloody tracks in the snow. He stopped at the cabin of a fellow conductor whose wife gave the mother the only pair the couple owned that weren’t on their feet. She then took the quilt from her own bed for the baby. When Moorhead asked what the couple would do without the shoes and blanket, the women replied that God would provide.

Back in 2021, Levity Brewing released 4 different beers in the Freedom Seeker Beer series which were sold as a 4-pack and available on tap.

The initial offering featured the Hollingsworth Hefeweizen, Catharine Black Hazy IPA, Atcheson IPA, and Johnston Scotch Ale. Each can featured an image and story of a freedom seeker or conductor. A portion of the proceeds benefit the Blairsville Underground Railroad History Center.