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Pleasant Litchford was born into slavery in Virginia in 1789. He purchased his freedom and moved his family to Ohio by 1831. A master blacksmith, Litchford bought a small farm four miles north of Columbus in 1833. By the time of his death in 1879, he was the fourth largest landowner in Perry Township. Described as “a man of iron constitution,” Litchford served as a lay-preacher, founding member, and deacon at Second Baptist Church. The church and James Poindexter, its pastor in 1847, provided an important voice during the anti-slavery movement. In 1869, Litchford sold, for $1, a parcel of land to establish a school for African American children. He was married three times and was survived by seven living children, twenty-five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. Pleasant Litchford was buried in the Litchford Family Cemetery.
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Benjamin Russel Hanby (1833-1867) enrolled at Otterbein University in 1849. To afford tuition and to aid his family, Hanby alternated college terms with teaching in nearby public schools. While a student in 1856, he was moved by the story of a slave and his sweetheart to compose the anti-slavery ballad “Darling Nelly Gray.” The song quickly proved popular in abolitionist circles. After graduation, Hanby worked as an Otterbein agent, educator, United Brethren minister, and compiler and publisher for Chicago’s Root & Cady music house. He composed “Up on the Housetop” in 1864 while leading a New Paris singing school. During his short life, Hanby composed 80 songs, including the internationally-known hymn “Who is He in Yonder Stall.” Benjamin Hanby died of tuberculosis on March 16, 1867. He is buried in Otterbein Cemetery.
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Here in 1963 congregants of Beth Israel-The West Temple, led by Louis Rosenblum, Herb Caron, and Rabbi Daniel Litt, founded the Cleveland Committee (later Council) on Soviet Anti-Semitism, the first American organization created to advocate for freedom for Soviet Jews. In 1970 this work led to the formation of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ) under the leadership of Louis Rosenblum. The UCSJ, whose national office was located here 1970-1973, became the largest independent Soviet Jewry organization in the world. By the turn of the 21st century, the efforts begun here helped 1.6 million Jews leave the former Soviet Union. (Continued on other side)