Levi Coffin was born on October 28, 1789 in New Garden, North Carolina. Coffin was the youngest of seven children and he was the only son. His parents, Levi Coffin and Prudence (Williams) Coffin, were Quakers. Levi Coffin was a descendant of Tristram Coffyn who came to New England in 1642 and was one of the nine original purchasers of the Indians and the Island of Nantucket. He moved to Newport, Indiana after he married Catharine White, who was also a Quaker. When he moved to Newport (now known as Fountain City, Indiana), he discovered that his house was along the route of the Underground Railroad when slaves passed often. Although Coffin was from a Southern family, he was a self-proclaimed abolitionist. As a result, he became an operation leader of the railroad and encouraged escaping slaves to come to his station. Eventually, more and more slaves began passing through the area and Coffin's house became known as "Grand Central Station" and Levi became known as the "unofficial president" of the Underground Railroad. Through his work on the Underground Railroad, Levi became close friends with several important abolitionists such as Harriet Tubman and Harriet Beecher Stowe. In fact, Levi Coffin played a huge role in the writing of Harriet Beecher Stowe's book, Uncle Tom's Cabin; Levi gave Harriet the idea for the main character, Eliza, and her child by telling her about a slave that had passed through his farm with a little baby. He also inspired his neighbors and those around him, so they helped him by providing clothes for the slaves; however, they did not want to house any slaves because they were afraid of getting caught and thrown in jail. Levi was always ready for slaves to pass through his station by always having a team and a wagon handy if a slave should stop by. In 1876, Levi was selected delegate to the International Anti-Slavery Conference in Paris. Unfortunately, on September 6, 1877, Levi died in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1891, Charles T. Webber painted a painting of Levi Coffin, his wife Catharine, and a friend unloading a wagon; the painting became very famous and it was displayed at the Colombian Exposition in 1893. The exact number of slaves that Levi and his wife Catharine helped is unknown but many estimate it was as high as 3,000.