accompanied Benjamin White to Indiana. He stayed with the Whites for about a year. On returning to North Carolina, Coffin reported of the prosperity in Indiana. Convinced that Quakers and slaveholders could not coexist, Coffin decided to move to Indiana. Marriage and family On October 28, 1824, Coffin married his long-time friend, Catherine White at the Hopewell Friends Meetinghouse in North Carolina. Catherine's family probably also helped slaves escape, and it is likely she met Coffin because of this activity. The couple postponed their move to Indiana after Catherine became pregnant with Jesse, the first of their six children, who was born in 1825. Coffin's parents moved to Indiana in 1825; Levi, Catherine, and their infant son followed his parents to Indiana later that year. In 1826 they settled in Newport (now Fountain City), in Wayne County, Indiana. Like her husband, Catherine actively assisted fugitive slaves, including providing food, clothing, and a safe haven in the Coffin home. As Levi commented on his wife's humanitarian work, "Her sympathy for those in distress never tired, and her effort in their behalf never abated. Catherine White became known as Aunt Katie to slaves on the run." Career Indiana Coffin continued to farm after moving to Indiana and within a year of his arrival he opened the first dry-goods store in Newport. In later years Coffin credited the success of his business, which he expanded in the 1830s, with providing him the ability to become heavily involved in the costly enterprise of the Underground Railroad, a risky enterprise that provided a network of stopover sites for fugitive slaves as they traveled north into Canada. Although the term "Underground Railroad" did not come into use until the 1830s, the network was operating in Indiana by the early 1820s. According to Coffin, not long after moving to Newport his home became one of the Underground Railroad stops. A large community of free blacks also lived near Newport, where fugitive slaves would hide before continuing north, but they were frequently recaptured because their hiding places were well known to the slave catchers. Coffin made contact with the local black community and made them aware of his willingness to hide runaways in his home to better protect them. Coffin began sheltering fugitive slaves in his Indiana home during the winter of 1826–27. Word of his activities quickly spread throughout the community. Although many had previously been afraid