Elijah Staunton Fish (1794-1861)

Portrait of Elijah Staunton Fish
Elijah Fish portrait facsimile created from a composite of images of his son and brother. (Birmingham Museum)

Elijah Fish was a pioneer settler of Birmingham who held strong abolitionist views and who founded (and became Deacon of) Birmingham’s First Presbyterian Church. He supported the abolitionist movement from early on, co-founding the Oakland County Anti-Slavery and Discussion Society in 1836 with fellow abolitionists George Wisner of Pontiac and Nathan Power of Farmington. Fish brought anti-slavery lecturers to Birmingham, provided funds and supplies to the UGRR, and worked with Black abolitionist Henry Bibb to purchase property in Ontario for resettlement of freedom seekers. His burial site at Greenwood Cemetery in Birmingham is listed on the UGRR Network to Freedom.

For More Information

Casaceli, Donna. “Birmingham’s Connection to the Underground Railroad: Deacon Elijah Staunton Fish—Abolitionist,” Birmingham Museum, 2021. Biography of Elijah Fish with images of news clippings of his abolitionist activities during the 1830s-1850s. Complete bibliography.

Elijah Fish and the Underground Railroad article by Donna Casaceli, Birmingham Museum

Acknowledgements

Primary research on Elijah Staunton Fish contributed by:
Donna Casaceli, Birmingham Museum

News clipping
Clipping from Voice of the Fugitive published in Ontario by freedom seeker and abolitionist Henry Bibb, acknowleding support from Elijah Fish (23 Apr 1851- p.2).
Photo of grave marker
Elijah S. Fish’s burial site at Birmingham’s Greenwood Cemetery was listed on the National Park Service’s Underground Railroad Network to Freedom and Michigan’s Freedom Trail in 2022.