John Crenshaw

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John Hart Crenshaw (November 19, 1797- December 4, 1871) was an American landowner and slave trader based out of Gallatin County, Illinois. Although Illinois was a free state, Crenshaw leased the salt works in nearby Equality, Illinois from the government, which permitted the use of slaves for the arduous labor of hauling and boiling brackish water to produce salt. Crenshaw was twice indicted for kidnapping blacks from Illinois, a free state, and selling them in nearby slave states as part of the Reverse Underground Railroad.

Crenshaw built a mansion, known as Hickory Hill or the Old Slave House, near Junction, Illinois. It included twelve prison cells in the attic and a carriage door in the rear to allow wagons to carry in kidnapped slaves unobserved. The house is said to be haunted and was a tourist attraction until it closed in 1996.

[edit] External links

• "History comes out of hiding on Hickory Hill" by John Musgrave, Springhouse Magazine
• A timeline of the Crenshaw House (pdf)
• "Researchers discover truth about Old Slave House" by Kendra Thorson, 'Daily Egyptian'.

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