Descendants work to restore historical Oberlin home

OBERLIN — The walls of a quiet, unassuming house in Oberlin have stories to tell — and the ancestors are ready to have them be heard. Descendants of Wilson Bruce Evans, who ran part of The Underground Railroad in his basement, are working to restore his 33 E. Vine St. home built by him and his brother in the 1800s. The Evans' family home is filled with history. Despite the cobwebs and debris on the ground, pictures still hang on the walls and old books fill shelves. Structurally, the house is still sound. The stairs don't creak and much of the furniture, which Wilson Bruce Evans built, has escaped with little damage. It's still not the childhood house Melany Hughes was expecting to find. The home where she spent her summers looks much different. The ceilings are tearing and some sort of animal clearly made a little home for itself while the house sat empty. Debris litters the ground and sheet of dust clings to the furniture. The underground railroad Evans ran inside his home is still in the basement, with hidden chambers. Hughes is the great-great-great granddaughter of Wilson Bruce Evans. She and her cousins used to come to the home every summer and spend her time in Oberlin. She even considered staying in the city for college. But after her great-great aunt died, the house sat empty. It has remained that way for about 15 to 20 years. When Hughes visited the house on Thursday, she expected to be the same as she always remembered. But instead, she found no working electricity, a burst pipe and a lot of work to be done. Still, Hughes said she's willing to put in the work to restore the home to its former glory — not just for the family, but for the Oberlin community. Her relatives are steeped in a history of activism and education. Some went on to work and teach in Washington, D.C., where Hughes grew up. Her relatives continued to fight for the abolition of slavery and civil rights. Hughes herself became the vice chair of surgery at the hospital she works at in New York — becoming the first Black female to do so there. "It's hard to describe how my aunt pushed us with 'You are from a heritage that is important,' " Hughes said. "... We really have a proud family. Ever since we were little, they instill it in you, that you can do whatever you want or be whoever you want." Hughes said she's worked to instill the same idea in her own children — Henry and Dorothy, who are named after their relatives. Hughes grew up with the legend of Wilson Bruce Evans and the rest of the family tree. Born in North Carolina, Evans and his wife, Sarah Jane Leary Evans, arrived in Oberlin as free people in 1854. Hughes said her aunt ensured that she and her siblings and cousins all knew who they came from. She said she sometimes felt different from others as her ancestors were born free, but also fortunate to have the history she did. Her entire family, including the women, attended college. Hughes said she was handed down a sense of purpose and pride in who her family was. When Wilson Bruce and Sarah Jane Evans arrived in Oberlin, they joined a network of people in the city — including the Copelands, Langstons, Learys, Walls and Scotts — as activists committed to the abolition of slavery. In 1858, Evans was among the men arrested by federal authorities for forcibly preventing the return of local freedom seeker John Price. John Price was a slave who escaped to freedom and found refuge in Oberlin. Slave-catchers led by a U.S. marshal kidnapped him under the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and fled to Wellington to await a train. They hoped to return Price to his former owner in Kentucky, but on Sept. 13, 1858, residents of Oberlin — including Wilson Bruce Evans — marched south to free him by force. A filmmaking group is working on making a documentary about the historical moment. In 1859, Sarah Jane Evans' brother and Wilson Bruce Evans' nephew joined John Brown's raid on the arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Brown initiated the effort to have a slave revolt in Southern states by taking over the United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Hughes said she had relatives who died there, and two of her brothers are named after them. After a group of Oberlin history buffs, including the Oberlin Historical Society and two emeritus Oberlin College professors, reached out to Hughes about fixing up the home, she said she was stirred to do something with the empty house. Descendants of Wilson Bruce Evans and Sarah Jane Evans continued to live in the home into the 1970s. Under family ownership, the house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. It was recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1997. Hughes' aunt and granddaughter of Wilson Bruce Evans, Dorothy Inborden Miller, lived at the house for years. Hughes said her aunt would have wanted to see the house restored. The property was divided among the cousins and Hughes' mother. It will take some work to restore the house, mostly roof work and cleaning the inside. Hughes said it will be at least a year or more before it's ready to open, and they're at the beginning stages of the project. They'd like to open it as a museum, so the public can come in and hear about the heritage there. "We're super proud," Hughes said. Those interested in the organization now in formation may send inquiries to the Wilson Bruce Evans Home Historical Society, P.0. Box 284, Oberlin, OH 44074. Contact Laina Yost at (440) 329-7121 or lyost@chroniclet.com.