Side A: 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.
Side B: William Hanby (1808-1880) was a saddle and harness-maker, Underground Railroad operative, circuit rider, co-founder of Otterbein University, and father of composer Benjamin Hanby. In 1817, his widowed mother bound the 9-year-old Hanby to 6 years service with a Quaker farmer. In 1823, the newly freed teenager indentured himself to a Pennsylvania saddle-maker only to escape his cruel master in 1828. Grateful to those who helped him to freedom in Ohio, Hanby vowed to reciprocate. An ardent abolitionist, he opened his Ohio homes to freedom-seekers fleeing slavery. Hanby served the United Brethren Church as an editor, a supply pastor, and as bishop from 1845 until his death. William Hanby moved his family to Westerville in 1853. Their house, relocated to 160 W. Main Street in 1937, was added to the National Register in 1970.
