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119: Truth in Harmonia, MI · Common Mystics

• 0:01
  Speaker A: Hey, guys, it's Jill. Jen and I wanted to give you a heads up about the content on today's episode. It may be triggering for more sensitive audiences. Refer to the show notes for more specifics, and take care while you listen.
• 0:21
  Speaker B: On this episode of Common Mystics, we share a message of gratitude from a forgotten person in a forgotten place in southwest Michigan. I'm Jennifer James.
• 0:35
  Speaker A: I'm Jill Stanley.
• 0:37
  Speaker B: We're psychics. We're sisters. We are common mystics. We find extraordinary stories in ordinary places. And today's story comes to you from Bedford Township, Michigan.
• 0:51
  Speaker A: That's right, Jennifer. So this story happened upon us while we were doing day two of our mystical summer camp.
• 1:01
  Speaker B: You got it? That would be correct.
• 1:04
  Speaker A: We set our intention with our group. Which is.
• 1:09
  Speaker B: Which was, of course, to ask spirit to lead us to a verifiable story previously unknown to us that would allow us to give voice to the voiceless.
• 1:21
  Speaker A: Jennifer. That's correct, Jen. Please remind everyone. Because we were with a large group of people trying to do what we do, we developed a system for our mystics.
• 1:35
  Speaker B: Right.
• 1:36
  Speaker A: And how they were going to voice and navigate their hits and navigate where we're going.
• 1:41
  Speaker B: Right. We were trying to recreate what we do with only two of us.
• 1:46
  Speaker A: And.
• 1:46
  Speaker B: And so when you and I are alone or in the car, we take turns kind of navigating. Right. I might say I feel like we need to go here. You might say, I feel like I need to go here. And we just. We just go that way.
• 2:00
  Speaker A: And sometimes we say, I'm feeling or experiencing this, I'm getting or experiencing that. When we're in the car or at a location.
• 2:07
  Speaker B: Right. And you're driving. So I'm writing everything down. And you and I have gotten to the point where we write down everything. And if you're thinking something, you will tell me what you're thinking. So I will write it down. When an idea pops into my head, whether or not I think it's significant, I write it down. We write down everything. If I'm driving with you and my eye catches something, I'll say it and I'll write it down. So I try to write down everything.
• 2:35
  Speaker A: That's right.
• 2:36
  Speaker B: Okay. But we had. Oh, I don't know, was it six extra people packed into this suv?
• 2:42
  Speaker A: There was a lot of us.
• 2:43
  Speaker B: Yes, there were. There were a lot of us. And so the system was we were driving together, obviously, in this suv. You were actually behind the wheel.
• 2:53
  Speaker A: It was my rig.
• 2:54
  Speaker B: Yes. And there was. I don't know. That was a. A bag for tarot cards, it was.
• 3:01
  Speaker A: Like my tarot card bag.
• 3:03
  Speaker B: Your purple drawstring. Fancy bag.
• 3:06
  Speaker A: Milk bag.
• 3:07
  Speaker B: Yes. And inside, we put everybody's name. And, oh, about every 15 minutes, I would pull a name from the bag and I would ask that person to tell us where to go. Like, make a right up here or go straight or make a left. And in that way, we were able to involve everybody in the navigation. But the other thing that we were doing as well is, is because we were all taking our own notes. I wanted to make sure that the notes were correlated from one person's notebook to another. So we timestamped the notes. So I would call out the time about every 15 minutes, and we would write the time in the margin, or at least that's what was supposed to have happened.
• 3:56
  Speaker A: People followed the assignment. For the most part, they did.
• 3:59
  Speaker B: I do think, though, just looking over the notes in a precursory fashion, I think that people were more conservative than you and I usually are. We usually write down everything. Like, if you and I have a casual conversation, I don't assume that it doesn't have anything to do with the story. I will write it down and summarize the conversation that we had.
• 4:19
  Speaker A: True.
• 4:20
  Speaker B: Yeah. And I don't think people in the van with us or in the SUV did that.
• 4:26
  Speaker A: Well, I think it was interesting talking to them about the process when they were in it, because they described how they had absolutely no clue, how random. And how, like, we start fresh every time.
• 4:41
  Speaker B: Right. How hard it was. I remember. And these are. These are people, by the way, who we recognize as having significant psychic powers. Like, they use their spideys all the time. Just life. Like, these are our tier four peeps. So to have them say, wow, this is really hard, was validating for me personally, because I always feel like, wow, this is really hard. I must not be good at this.
• 5:04
  Speaker A: Stop it.
• 5:05
  Speaker B: But you know what I'm saying? But just to have that, like, oh, no, no, no. This is. This is hard.
• 5:11
  Speaker A: Yeah, this is. It's. Well, I say it's vulnerable. It's a very vulnerable thing being psychic because for obvious reasons, you're sensitive to energy, but it's also vulnerable to be, like, in a group of psychics, to have to perform and demonstrate, like, what. How psychic you are. And the thing is, with our. With us and what we recognized over the years is just because a hit may not be a part of our story doesn't mean it's not relevant to something else. Because there's layers of time, so.
• 5:40
  Speaker B: Right. Layers and layers. Of time and layers of energies too. It's like you're sitting behind the wheel with your eyes closed, driving by your spideys. That's literally what it's like. Just trying to feel your way towards the voice that's coming to you. And that is hard.
• 6:00
  Speaker A: I have to say that our group did not disappoint me at all.
• 6:06
  Speaker B: No, no, no. This is really exciting. I'm flabbergasted by what you've come up with here today.
• 6:13
  Speaker A: Mm. I'm so excited. Let's get into it. Okay. So we were heading south on Yoldick's road from Hickory Road because we had rented a a B and B off a fine lake on Hickory Road. So we're going south per the directions from the car.
• 6:31
  Speaker B: Right.
• 6:32
  Speaker A: Get me some first hits. You don't have to say the names if you don't want to, but I put them in there just in case.
• 6:37
  Speaker B: Yeah, well, there was a church connection. The church kept coming up in like three people's notes. A Baptist church, a church having a connection to a story.
• 6:50
  Speaker A: It wasn't literally the church we're at, but it felt more symbolic, like a breadcrumb that they determined. And this is all conversation coming from the retreat goers and not from Jen and I. Jen and I. I'm just following direction. Jen's taking notes of what they're saying and they're conversing amongst each other in the car about what they were experiencing.
• 7:09
  Speaker B: Mm. Then when we get into Bedford Township, or were we in Bedford Township the whole time? Jill, this is your neck of the woods. I don't know where the F we were.
• 7:19
  Speaker A: We were not in Bedford Township the whole time. So.
• 7:21
  Speaker B: So we drive into Bedford Township and I only know that because it's in the notes. It's basically country. It's. We're basically on a country road.
• 7:29
  Speaker A: We're on a two lane country road.
• 7:31
  Speaker B: Yes. So not much to see. No offense, Jill, but not much to see. And people are coming up with racial tension. I guess I was seeing a sign that said all whites on it. It's weird. I don't remember that. African American energy was coming through. Big John, or John was a name that came through from one of our.
• 7:56
  Speaker A: Peeps that was connected to our voiceless, but not our voiceless, but there was a big John. A John connection.
• 8:02
  Speaker B: Okay, we're going to have to get back to that. That is very intriguing. Take me to the river. Is that a song?
• 8:09
  Speaker A: Yeah. Take me to the river. Put me in the water. It's the Billy Bass song. Remember the bass that sang, oh yeah.
• 8:17
  Speaker B: Grandma had that hanging on the wall. That was ridiculous.
• 8:20
  Speaker A: It's so ridiculous.
• 8:21
  Speaker B: So stupid, but fun. Take me to the river. Okay. Ooh. And then, and then someone whips out generational trauma and someone hears, if I am going to till this land, it's not going to be for free. KKK came up a fight for freedom. And then references to finding a cemetery. We have to find a cemetery. And then someone else on top of that said, it's on a hill. The cemetery is on a hill. And then that's when we were directed to Reese Cemetery Cemetery on Dickman and Helmer. And then we got out and walked around. Jill.
• 9:05
  Speaker A: That's right. So many of our partitioners were walking around re cemetery and they were looking for people of African American descent. They were feeling as if people with African American roots were buried. And so that's what they were focusing on in the area.
• 9:23
  Speaker B: Right. They were looking for like, is there a section, you know, like. Because it was such an old cemetery. So. But that was so interesting. I cannot get, wait to get into this story.
• 9:34
  Speaker A: Jennifer. It's so much more interesting. The whole. These are things like I lived here for about 18 years. Is it 18 years? Yeah.
• 9:41
  Speaker B: Right in this area.
• 9:42
  Speaker A: Right in this area. Like drive past. I've never been to the cemetery. Drive past it. Every time I go to the grocery store. If I'm going in and out of town, I'm driving past the cemetery. Never did I know anything about the cemetery or the township that I frequent to get to the grocery store. And I go to the grocery store a lot. Let me just be frank. So this was fascinating. Take me back. Take me to the roots of Bedford Township.
• 10:04
  Speaker B: Jill. Bedford Township. Bedford Township has roots all the way back to 1839. Really? People were living in Michigan. Cold ass Michigan in 1839. I don't know why. I don't know why they would do that. I don't.
• 10:18
  Speaker A: I don't know why I'm doing that today. Because it's cold as a mofo outside right now. It's like negative 10 blowing. And it's crazy. It's stupid to live here.
• 10:26
  Speaker B: It's right, right near Battle Creek. But it's a key part of the, of the history of the entire area.
• 10:32
  Speaker A: I didn't know that. I. What is coming next is going to shatter your mind.
• 10:41
  Speaker B: Are you ready? Are you ready for my mind to be shattered? This is nuts. This is so nuts. Okay, so in Bedford Township there once was a village, a village called Harmonia. Isn't that beautiful?
• 10:58
  Speaker A: I would name a dog or.
• 11:00
  Speaker B: I was singing the same thing.
• 11:02
  Speaker A: Harmonia.
• 11:03
  Speaker B: Harmonia. Oh, my gosh. There used to be a village there. It's not there anymore. More on that later.
• 11:09
  Speaker A: There's, like, no trace of it. So it's not like. Like you would never know it was there if you never knew it was there.
• 11:15
  Speaker B: Right. So there used to be this village of Harmonia, which was established by quaker pioneers in 1851. Can I just say I'm a fan of the Quakers. Harmonia unfortunately had some financial troubles. Who doesn't these days? Seriously.
• 11:34
  Speaker A: Natural eggs.
• 11:36
  Speaker B: Eggs are $8 a dozen.
• 11:38
  Speaker A: Are you going to Meijer? Because at Meijer, they're $5 a dozen. The Meijer large eggs continue $5. Anyway, so they had financial troubles. That's reason why the town is. Is wiped off the map. There was a series of natural disasters, like a tornado that hit in 1862. And then finally, what sealed the fate of Harmonia was the outbreak of World War I when Camp Custard was built, which we now call it Fort Custard. Custard Custer.
• 12:09
  Speaker B: Custard. No, Custard Custer.
• 12:11
  Speaker A: I like my way without the D. I like my way better.
• 12:14
  Speaker B: It's not a dessert.
• 12:15
  Speaker A: It's more delicious.
• 12:17
  Speaker B: It's named after General Custer. Yeah, Custer.
• 12:23
  Speaker A: Anyway. In 1917.
• 12:26
  Speaker B: Very good. During World War I. Jennifer. Yes, Jill.
• 12:31
  Speaker A: Why would they set up Fort Custer? Like, why was that significant to World War I? Because didn't we fight World War I, like, overseas?
• 12:41
  Speaker B: Yeah, but the. The soldiers that fought World War I came from everywhere, including places like Michigan and Wisconsin, and they needed somewhere to train the new recruits. They don't just sign you up and send you over to war. You need to train first.
• 12:54
  Speaker A: I didn't know that.
• 12:55
  Speaker B: Yeah. And so it was a training place. And today, actually, it's still a training place for the Michigan National Guard.
• 13:03
  Speaker A: Yeah. And it plays a huge role in the local economy here.
• 13:06
  Speaker B: Sure, sure. Because people who are in the National Guard have to travel there, and when they're there, they stay there, they eat there, they go shopping there and everything.
• 13:15
  Speaker A: So, literally, few if any traces of Harmonia is there today. But even if they are there, even if you recognize a trace of Harmonia, it's on Fort Custer, Federal land. So you ain't getting there.
• 13:31
  Speaker B: Right. So if you go to this area, there is absolutely, like you said, no trace of the village of Harmonia. All you see is this massive military complex that you can't get into even. Because unless you're. You're a military part of the National Guard and have business there. Otherwise, it's just this big area that's closed off to people like us.
• 13:55
  Speaker A: Absolutely. Right. Crazy. What do we know about Harmonia?
• 14:01
  Speaker B: Well, we know, like I said, it was established by quaker pioneers in 1851. It was located on an area of high plain about 1 1/2 miles southeast of the Bedford Station of the Michigan Central Railroad. That's good for transportation purposes.
• 14:23
  Speaker A: What's interesting about that is that after we left the cemetery, we went to Claire's on the river, which was an old railroad station.
• 14:33
  Speaker B: That's where we had lunch.
• 14:35
  Speaker A: Yep. It just hit me right now.
• 14:38
  Speaker B: I know.
• 14:39
  Speaker A: Crazy. Okay, continue.
• 14:41
  Speaker B: Oh, wow. So we went to lunch that day at an old train station.
• 14:47
  Speaker A: Yeah, I'm not sure if it's Bedford Station or not.
• 14:49
  Speaker B: You'll have to look that up.
• 14:50
  Speaker A: I'm going to have to look it up because I remember we picked the team, picked Claire's on the river when we were giving them names. And I was like, it's like a mile away.
• 14:58
  Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, my gosh, that is wild. And not only that, but Harmonia had its own cemetery which was located near the summit of a nearby hill. It was initially named Bedford Cemetery and then later Bedford Harmonial Cemetery. Unfortunately, Jill, and this is so sad, records of the burials that occurred there have all been lost. And apparently most of the grave markers are completely gone as well.
• 15:33
  Speaker A: So how do we know anything about this community?
• 15:37
  Speaker B: There was a diary that was written between 1846 and 1848. It was written by an anonymous farmer who is just keeping notes about life in the community of Harmonia during those two years. And in case you're wondering, it discussed how the farmers were beginning to cultivate the land and the names of the neighbors in the area. And there was no formal village, however, so they were just kind of gathering in the location. But the village wasn't formed until 1850. Guy by a Quaker named Reynolds Cornell. And he apparently had some cash because he purchased 230 acres on the Bedford Plain just south of the Kalamazoo river for $924.
• 16:27
  Speaker A: That's a lot of money for me today.
• 16:29
  Speaker B: 100%. And it would later be known as the Village of Harmonia. Interesting.
• 16:36
  Speaker A: Very interesting. So what did Reynolds want with this property? Was he just going to get a farm? Because that's a lot of land to have to. Well, Reynolds, 30 acres. That's a lot.
• 16:47
  Speaker B: Reynolds Cornell established a school there, and it was overseen by his son, Hiram Cornell, which was his eldest son, who Just got out of college and he all wanted to be a teacher. This was back in the day when most teachers were mentioning.
• 17:03
  Speaker A: True.
• 17:04
  Speaker B: Interesting. Now most teachers are women, except when you get up into the high school, it's a little more. A little more balanced. It's interesting.
• 17:13
  Speaker A: We'll get into that later.
• 17:15
  Speaker B: No, maybe. Maybe we'll, maybe we won't. But the name Harmonia apparently originates from a Spiritualist belief. Spiritualists believed in fostering harmony between the physical realm and the spiritual realm. And so Harmonia wasn't just a place established by Quakers with a school, but from the very beginning it had a Spiritualist slant.
• 17:50
  Speaker A: Interesting. I would have settled there.
• 17:56
  Speaker B: You know what we're talking about when we're talking about Spiritualism and Spiritualism, right?
• 18:00
  Speaker A: I do. Do you?
• 18:01
  Speaker B: I do. Do you?
• 18:02
  Speaker A: I. I think I do.
• 18:04
  Speaker B: Well, why don't you explain it to the fine people if they're still listening.
• 18:07
  Speaker A: Oh, my God. You guys remember the Fox Sisters in New York? So, like, it was a big movement, especially after the Civil War, to try to connect with the dead on the other side. So the spiritualist movement was like holding seances and that belief that we can communicate and commune with the dead. So that is what I'm referring to. What are you referring to?
• 18:33
  Speaker B: Well, that's what. That's what was happening at this school called the Bedford Harmonial Seminary or Institute.
• 18:42
  Speaker A: Now, so let me get this straight.
• 18:44
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 18:45
  Speaker A: Quakers.
• 18:46
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 18:47
  Speaker A: Settle the area.
• 18:48
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 18:49
  Speaker A: They develop a little cluster, a little community.
• 18:54
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 18:55
  Speaker A: Based specifically on Spiritualism. And then they build a school to, I assume, help people learn how to communicate with the other side.
• 19:08
  Speaker B: The school didn't just teach about Spiritualism. It taught about a lot of broad liberal principles. But there was a lot of spiritualist practices like seances, table tipping and like the wrappings. You know what I mean by wrappings? Like sitting in a seance and listening to the tap, tap tappings and the knock, knock, knockings that are supposedly coming from spirits. Like that happened. I would go to this college personally.
• 19:34
  Speaker A: This sounds like 100%.
• 19:36
  Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. I wouldn't say Hogwarts. I'm sure they taught like Latin and other stuff, too.
• 19:46
  Speaker A: They absolutely did. Did you read this outline?
• 19:49
  Speaker B: No. The other thing that's interesting about Quakers and I don't know if you know this, is that Quakers are generally known to be abolitionists.
• 19:58
  Speaker A: I did know that.
• 19:59
  Speaker B: Yeah. They were big on the abolitionist movement in the United States pre Civil War and during the Civil War. So. So that is another philosophical slant that Cornell and his Quaker friends brought to Harmonia. Mm.
• 20:13
  Speaker A: It's very interesting. So everyone around Harmonia was, like, digging it?
• 20:18
  Speaker B: No, actually, some of the neighbors, like Parker Pillsbury, expressed frustration with the school's spiritualist tendencies and was like, yeah, you're not really advertising that you're a spiritualist school. And, like, all this, like, don't pretend you're. You're not. You know what I mean?
• 20:37
  Speaker A: But what a little bitch.
• 20:38
  Speaker B: Parker Pillsbury. He was married to Betty Crocker. Did they have Little Debbie? Was that.
• 20:45
  Speaker A: Oh, my God. It was ridiculous. That's my soul family literally running through my veins right now.
• 20:55
  Speaker B: The funny thing that is. That's probably not his name. You. Probably because you're so bad at spelling. It's like I'm reading hieroglyphics half the time when I'm reading your outlines. I love you, but I'm sure his name is not Pillsbury. That's really funny.
• 21:11
  Speaker A: I have to make sure, but I really think it is.
• 21:14
  Speaker B: Okay, let's keep going.
• 21:16
  Speaker A: But if it's not, just tickle my Fato belly for me. Just. You know what I mean? Just go with it.
• 21:25
  Speaker B: Oh, my God. Yeah. So apparently, this was a big institution. It was four stories tall, but sadly, it didn't last. It was. It was damaged, but a fire. Yeah. And here's another interesting thing. Tell me what you think of this. Students didn't have to pay with cash or with money for their education, for their tuition. They could instead. Well, they could instead do manual labor. They could farm, which is very interesting.
• 22:02
  Speaker A: I think that's kind of cool, but a lot of work.
• 22:07
  Speaker B: I mean, I. I did student work training when I was. I did student work when I was in college.
• 22:15
  Speaker A: Did they take some. Did they take some off the top, then? Yes. Oh, that's really cool.
• 22:19
  Speaker B: Yeah, I think so. I think that was the deal. They. I got paid a little bit, but.
• 22:24
  Speaker A: But manual labor kind of sucks.
• 22:26
  Speaker B: Yeah. I would rather work as a docent at a museum than do farming. Mm.
• 22:32
  Speaker A: So the school, while it was rooted in the spiritualist community and philosophy, it drew a lot of students from diverse backgrounds from the area.
• 22:44
  Speaker B: And here we go. Here's the list of what they taught. Latin, Greek, French, mathematics, natural and moral sciences, and English. So it wasn't just spiritualism that they.
• 22:53
  Speaker A: Were teaching, but what a nice blend to add. The spiritualism.
• 22:58
  Speaker B: I know. I love it. They wanted. They wanted a progressive education, and spiritualism was up and coming in the latter half of the 1800s, so. I can see that.
• 23:10
  Speaker A: Okay. Very cool. Well, thank you. The Cornells is There anything else we should know about this amazing little community of Harmonia?
• 23:21
  Speaker B: Well, like you said, it attracted a lot of progressive individuals, and one of them happens to be one of the most famous freedom fighters of all time.
• 23:33
  Speaker A: Who would that be?
• 23:34
  Speaker B: That would be Sojourner Truth. She purchased a house and a lot in Harmonia in 1857. In fact, she bought property right next door to the Institute. She lived right next to them.
• 23:53
  Speaker A: So her neighbors were. Were the Cornells, were the kids.
• 23:57
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And were the students, and her neighbors were the Cornell family. Yes, absolutely.
• 24:03
  Speaker A: And according to census records, Truth's own grandson attended the school there.
• 24:09
  Speaker B: How do you like that?
• 24:11
  Speaker A: That's crazy.
• 24:12
  Speaker B: That is crazy.
• 24:14
  Speaker A: Well, okay, can I be honest about something?
• 24:16
  Speaker B: You don't. You didn't know who Sojourner Truth was?
• 24:18
  Speaker A: Not until I moved to. To Battle Creek, because there is so Junior Truth statues like downtown. But Sor. Juna Truth, to me was like a Harriet Tubman with some flack. So can you tell our listeners who exactly Sojourner Truth is?
• 24:37
  Speaker B: Yes. Sojourner Truth was born 1797 into slavery. Her name was Isabella Bomfrey, and she was born into slavery in Dutch Spain, speaking Ulster County, New York. So Journey Truth was sold four times during her lifetime. Oh, my God. Enduring harsh physical labor, brutal punishment, and trigger alert, horrific sexual assaults by her owners. Her final owner was a man named John Dumont who operated a farm in West Park, New York. Isabella. Isabella. We're not calling her Sojourner Truth right now. Isabella had given birth to five children while enslaved.
• 25:34
  Speaker A: Oh, God.
• 25:36
  Speaker B: Now, one year before New York's law abolishing slavery was set to take effect, she, Isabella, inspired by her conversations with God, which she held alone in the woods, escaped. She escaped her enslavement with her infant daughter, Sophia. Okay. Conversations with God. Harriet Tubman also had conversations with God.
• 26:05
  Speaker A: That's so true. That's so true.
• 26:09
  Speaker B: I love this story because it's, to me, more evidence how God and spirit works through us here on earth. How scary, how courageous to do that, and how scary. And yet God's like, yeah, no, this. You have to do this.
• 26:30
  Speaker A: Not only that, but she has four other kids. You know what I'm saying? So God was like, you need to get gone and trust that your kids are going to be okay. Can you even believe it? So, I mean, that would have been a conversation with God. And I would go into the woods and I'll be like, really, God? Because this seems a little messed up. Like, are you sure, God? Because I don't want to do this shit.
• 26:55
  Speaker B: Uh huh.
• 26:56
  Speaker A: Mm.
• 26:58
  Speaker B: Oh. So Isabella found refuge with a local abolitionist family, the Van Wagenens. Isaac and Maria Van Wagenen. Again, they were Quakers and they were abolitionists. And Isabella's former enslaver, Mr. Dumont, John Dumont, attempted to reclaim her. He's like, that's my property.
• 27:21
  Speaker A: And the van wagon up, man. To be like, hey, you got my person. That's like literally, hey, that's my person you have. It's up.
• 27:33
  Speaker B: Can you even imagine?
• 27:35
  Speaker A: No.
• 27:35
  Speaker B: So the Van Wagenens bought Isabella's freedom for $20, and Dumont reluctantly agreed. So $20 doesn't sound like a lot, but it's only money for a year.
• 27:50
  Speaker A: It was only for a year because the slavery. Doesn't say that the slavery law was going to take effect the following year. So there was just $20 for the year. Continue. How much is $20?
• 28:04
  Speaker B: Between 6 and 700, which is still nothing.
• 28:08
  Speaker A: That's. That's still nothing for a life.
• 28:12
  Speaker B: Even for a year of life.
• 28:14
  Speaker A: It's nothing.
• 28:15
  Speaker B: Nothing. Then in 1827, New York's anti slavery law officially abolished slavery only in New York State.
• 28:24
  Speaker A: See, that's what I was trying to tell you. And you're like, doesn't say it. Doesn't say it. It says it says it right there.
• 28:34
  Speaker B: All right, I'm not going to argue this with you, but there would be no way to know that in a year's time that law would pass and go into effect. So to say that it's like $20 for one year isn't. I'm sure that wasn't the deal they would have forced.
• 28:50
  Speaker A: Yay.
• 28:51
  Speaker B: It wasn't like, I'll give you one year for 20 bucks.
• 28:54
  Speaker A: So that $20 was supposed to be for the lifetime of her and her child.
• 28:59
  Speaker B: I. I would imagine that's more messed up. Exactly. Exactly.
• 29:05
  Speaker A: See, that's all you needed to say. Why didn't you say that?
• 29:09
  Speaker B: Because sometimes it's just not worth it.
• 29:13
  Speaker A: I learned something today, Jennifer. I learned.
• 29:16
  Speaker B: I'm glad I can. I'm here to teach. Here to teach you. Okay. 1827, New York is like, nana, we can't do this anymore. This is messed up. Now, officially, slavery is abolished in this lovely state of New York.
• 29:29
  Speaker A: Thank you, New York, for being the first.
• 29:31
  Speaker B: It was. It was the first US State to fully end slavery.
• 29:36
  Speaker A: So what happened to Isabella's children that were still living with Dumont?
• 29:43
  Speaker B: They were still on the farm. And of course, she couldn't just go get them.
• 29:48
  Speaker A: Be like, hi, I had left my children with you right so it.
• 29:56
  Speaker B: It still wasn't safe for her to go get them. Right? And Dumont illegally sold her five year old son Peter to a man in another state.
• 30:07
  Speaker A: Now, wouldn't you be mad at God? Wouldn't you be like, God, you. Like you told me to do this. Now where's Peter? Now where's Peter?
• 30:14
  Speaker B: I would be mad at God. Determined to reunite with her son, Isabella, with the support of the Van Wagenens. God bless the Van Wagenens. They were angels. They're angels from God. See, the Van Wagenens filed a lawsuit and challenged the illegal sale of Peter. And after months of legal battles, Isabella prevailed and regained custody of her son.
• 30:39
  Speaker A: Yes, she did. Yes, she did, Jill.
• 30:42
  Speaker B: This court victory made Isabella the first black woman in the United States to successfully sue a white man in court. Badass. Right there.
• 30:55
  Speaker A: Mike drop.
• 30:57
  Speaker B: And thank God for the Van Wagners, because, you know, they funded that, but still, it doesn't matter. But she wasn't alone. That's my point. Like, she had. She had her angels helping her.
• 31:07
  Speaker A: We always have angels helping.
• 31:09
  Speaker B: We always do.
• 31:10
  Speaker A: And it's just us needing to recognize them and being okay with receiving from them. Because I don't know if. If I would be comfortable living, like, with all that the Van Wagons have done. Like, I would be like, oh, my God, should I accept this? You know what I mean?
• 31:24
  Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, right.
• 31:26
  Speaker A: But they were really deeply religious people. And being surrounded by them and engulfed with their love, it only strengthened Isabella's faith in Go even when Peter was gone. Because that's when I would have been like, motherfucker, God. I knew it. You know?
• 31:41
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 31:41
  Speaker A: That's when I would have lost my shit.
• 31:43
  Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I hear you. She became so religious through her interaction with the Van Wagenens that that's when, in 1843, she just decided to change her name to Sojourner Truth and set out on a mission to share her beliefs and inspire. Inspire others to join her, preaching the gospel and fight against slavery and against oppression.
• 32:11
  Speaker A: What an amazing woman.
• 32:15
  Speaker B: Even her name is a nod not only to the Bible, but to the help that the Wagonens gave her. Because I looked this up. Sojourner. In the Bible, that name refers to someone who lives in a community that is not their own and depends on that community for goodwill, for their existence.
• 32:37
  Speaker A: Oh, my God.
• 32:39
  Speaker B: Isn't that beautiful?
• 32:40
  Speaker A: That is so beautiful.
• 32:42
  Speaker B: So it's almost like she's recognizing God. She was a real.
• 32:46
  Speaker A: She was a recipient.
• 32:48
  Speaker B: Yes. Of goodwill and was stronger for it.
• 32:53
  Speaker A: What a woman.
• 32:54
  Speaker B: I know that's Crazy.
• 32:55
  Speaker A: Oh, my.
• 32:57
  Speaker B: She wrote a memoir, which is hard.
• 33:00
  Speaker A: To do just in general.
• 33:03
  Speaker B: It is. It was called the Narrative of Sojourner Truth. A Northern Slave. A Northern slave. And that. I. I read that, and it blew my mind because we talk about this all the time. Like, you think North. Oh, we didn't have slavery in the North.
• 33:19
  Speaker A: Like, we were cool. No, we sucked, too.
• 33:23
  Speaker B: No, they did. I say we. I wasn't alive. Was not alive.
• 33:26
  Speaker A: I know I have to stop projecting.
• 33:28
  Speaker B: But in. A year later, in 1850. 1851, she delivered her legendary Ain't I a woman speech at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention.
• 33:39
  Speaker A: I want to know more about that.
• 33:40
  Speaker B: Speech, cementing her place in history as a powerful advocate for equality. We should look that up.
• 33:48
  Speaker A: Yeah, I want to read it.
• 33:50
  Speaker B: It's a good title.
• 33:51
  Speaker A: It's. I want to put that on a shirt.
• 33:54
  Speaker B: In 1856. Truth. Sojourner Truth had been invited by the Battle Creek Quakers to participate in a Friends of Human Progress meeting, further expanding her influence. And she liked it. She liked it in the Battle Creek area. And so in 1857, that's when she purchased the property in Harmonia that we mentioned and lived there for many years.
• 34:22
  Speaker A: You know, she did that before she experienced the lake effect snow.
• 34:27
  Speaker B: I believe you are correct.
• 34:29
  Speaker A: Because if I would have known. It just won't.
• 34:32
  Speaker B: And they didn't have snowblowers.
• 34:34
  Speaker A: No. And it's sloppy and it sucks. And I was walking bug and I fell.
• 34:40
  Speaker B: Are you okay?
• 34:41
  Speaker A: Yeah, it was last week, but I still think about it.
• 34:45
  Speaker B: So after 10 years of living in Harmonia, Sojourner Truth moved just to the next town. She moved into Battle Creek. But she left her home in Harmonia to her daughter Sophia. Remember Sophia, the little baby that she escaped slavery with, she fled with? Yes. Sophia and her husband, Thomas Schuyler, and their four sons all lived in the home in Harmonia, and the family kept that property for three decades. It's insane.
• 35:17
  Speaker A: That is insane.
• 35:18
  Speaker B: Truth died at home on November 26, 1883. Records list her age as 86, but her tombstone says 105.
• 35:30
  Speaker A: Usually I lie about being younger, right?
• 35:33
  Speaker B: I mean, it doesn't matter. Although when you start getting over a hundred, you start thinking, like, biblical times. You know how in the Bible everybody lives to, like, 500, 600 years old.
• 35:45
  Speaker A: And they wander the desert for 40 nights and 40 days?
• 35:48
  Speaker B: Exactly. Her memorial is engraved with the words, is God dead? A question she once asked Frederick Douglass to encourage him to keep the faith.
• 35:59
  Speaker A: Oof.
• 36:01
  Speaker B: Wow, Jill. What an amazing woman. And to have her have such a significant part of her life right in your backyard and, like, not know. That blows my mind.
• 36:11
  Speaker A: It blows my mind. I didn't know that she, like, spoke to Fred. Frederick Douglass, like, whoa. He was a big deal too.
• 36:18
  Speaker B: He was a big deal too, but apparently he was more about black men, like getting rights and not so much black women, but. So, Jill, why are we talking about Sojourner? Do you think she's our voiceless? No. Like, she had a fricking voice.
• 36:35
  Speaker A: She had a frigging voice and she used it, boo.
• 36:37
  Speaker B: She used it. She wrote a memoir. She was a speaker.
• 36:41
  Speaker A: Even when she was living in Battle Creek, after leaving Harmonia, she would be traveling, giving speeches about. Yeah, she's amazing.
• 36:48
  Speaker B: So clearly she has a voice.
• 36:49
  Speaker A: She has a voice. She's not a Voicess, but. But one of her children is.
• 36:55
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 36:58
  Speaker A: Now I just want to remind you that Sojourner Truth, this amazing woman who has 12ft statues, who've met President Abraham Lincoln. Yes. Don't cry. Don't cry. The voiceless that we speak of today is her very child, Sophia. The one that she fled slavery with so long ago.
• 37:27
  Speaker B: Okay, okay. Why Sophia? So we know she was a baby. We know her mama carried her out of slavery, settled in Harmonia. We also know that Sophia grew up and married a man named Thomas Schuyler. Right.
• 37:42
  Speaker A: She kept Truth, her middle name, as her middle name. That's just like, I'm so proud of my mama. You know what I mean?
• 37:50
  Speaker B: Her husband Thomas was a laborer. Okay, so they were working class.
• 37:56
  Speaker A: She was a housekeeper.
• 37:58
  Speaker B: Okay, how many children did they have?
• 38:01
  Speaker A: You know, this is really, over the years, debatable, but from what I was able to gather through the census records, it seemed like she had five children. She had James, Hiram, Hyrum. Hyrum Sojourner, Edward and Franny.
• 38:20
  Speaker B: And Franny was the only girl.
• 38:22
  Speaker A: Franny was the only girl.
• 38:23
  Speaker B: Okay. Franny was Sojourner Truth's only granddaughter. Franny McLeachy. Ah, so Franny would grow up and marry a man named McLeachee.
• 38:37
  Speaker A: Correct.
• 38:37
  Speaker B: And so the descendants of Sojourner Truth have aligned through her in the current battle Krigeria.
• 38:47
  Speaker A: Yes, ma'am.
• 38:48
  Speaker B: So she's still. Sojourner Truth still has descendants living in. In Battle Creek area.
• 38:53
  Speaker A: Her spirit and her descendants are still living here. One of them is a author, written multiple children's books about her inspirational ancestor.
• 39:04
  Speaker B: Wow.
• 39:06
  Speaker A: Friggin amazing.
• 39:07
  Speaker B: Wow. So Sophia and Thomas, we know that they lived in Harmonia for 30 years, in fact, and in 1900, Sophia was sent to the Calhoun county poor house after her husband died. That's so sad.
• 39:25
  Speaker A: They couldn't take care of her. She didn't have any money. There was no pension. There was no insurance.
• 39:30
  Speaker B: She died in 1901 at the age of 80. And she was buried, Jill, in an unmarked grave in the Harmonia Cemetery.
• 39:41
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 39:41
  Speaker B: Wow. Okay. All right. So why do you think Sophia needs a voice now?
• 39:49
  Speaker A: I have to tell you, she was the. Her and her husband and I believe one of her kids are the only ones buried in Harmonious Cemetery in the unmarked graves. The other. The other people in the family were buried in the prestigious historic Oak Hill Cemetery, which you can still visit today.
• 40:12
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 40:13
  Speaker A: But her husband, her, and I think one of her children are buried in these unmarked graves in Harmonia that you can't get to anymore.
• 40:22
  Speaker B: However, you wouldn't even know that they're there.
• 40:25
  Speaker A: Exactly. However, in 2014, Thomas McLeachy, a descendant of, purchased a marker for Sophia's grave.
• 40:37
  Speaker B: That reads, Sophia Schuyler, 1821-1901, daughter of Sojourner Truth.
• 40:47
  Speaker A: So I believe that she is reaching out to us to say she knows what Thomas did and she's grateful. And the reason why, not only from the hits in the car, but also the fact. The day before, we created a headstone.
• 41:07
  Speaker B: For Gertie's child, Gertrude Bay, from Nashville, Michigan. Wow.
• 41:13
  Speaker A: Who is laying in a grave with her mother in an unmarked way.
• 41:19
  Speaker B: Wow. I just got chills. That is not a coincidence, right? That is not a coincidence. So in other words, the day before, we were driving around looking for a story and stumbled upon Sophia. The day before, we had stumbled upon another story from our very first spirit who ever reached out to us, Gertrude Bay, who asked us to put a stone memorializing her baby's life and death. And we did that. We placed a stone on her unmarked grave. And now the next day, Sophie comes through saying, I, too, had an unmarked grave that someone was kind enough to mark, tell my story as well. That's nuts. That is so nuts, I can't even. My mind is being blown right now.
• 42:15
  Speaker A: So I want you to read, if you can, once your mind gets back together, the quotes I had taken from the Battle Creek Inquirer from February 2019, authored by Nate. I can't read his last name. Shoot.
• 42:31
  Speaker B: Shoot. So Thomas McLeachy learned of his connection to Sojourner Truth by attending a family funeral. Like, he didn't even know. He didn't grow up with this as part of his family's legacy. But he goes to a funeral. He's like, what? I'm related to Sojourner Truth? And so then he started studying and trying to find out everything he could. And so he reached out to a local historian, Michael Martich, and he was told that his great grandmother Sophia was buried in an unmarked grave at Harmonious Cemetery just outside of Battle Creek, Michigan. And here's the quote. Every time I hear about Sojourner Truth, what I learned about her when she left and walked away that morning. She left with her daughter. McLeachy said, there's always been two people who walked away to freedom that day. I often wondered why they never mentioned her daughter. And after locating her grave, he purchased a $260 marker in 2014, which reads, Sophia Schuyler, daughter of Sojourner Truth.
• 43:35
  Speaker A: It's beautiful.
• 43:37
  Speaker B: So there's another thing, though, that occurs to me about coincidences that day.
• 43:45
  Speaker A: What?
• 43:46
  Speaker B: Well, the other is that whole spiritualist institute that we were driving around right. Right near where this school was with these progressive spiritualist ideas where they were teaching people how to connect with spirits while you and I are driving in a car teaching people how to connect with spirits.
• 44:08
  Speaker A: I know.
• 44:09
  Speaker B: It's like the spirits were like, yeah, there they go. It. You know, this area is still. Still has this spirit about it.
• 44:18
  Speaker A: Isn't that absolutely nuts? Yeah, it doesn't even like.
• 44:23
  Speaker B: It doesn't.
• 44:25
  Speaker A: I don't know if this is as impactful for just random people listening as it was when I was reading about the school. And you're like, jill, do you know what this means? And I was like, no, I have no idea what you're saying right now. And you're like, it's a spiritual school.
• 44:40
  Speaker B: They're teaching how to communicate with the dead.
• 44:42
  Speaker A: We were teaching that. And I was like, okay, that's funny.
• 44:45
  Speaker B: I had to. I had to remind you what. What that was saying.
• 44:48
  Speaker A: I was reading it, but I didn't, like, you know, when I'm reading something, I'm not, like, absorbing it. I'm just, like, reading it to you. And you're like, do you know what this means? I was like, holy shit. What? Doc Brown, tell me what it means.
• 45:02
  Speaker B: Hey, can we go through the hits really fast? Like, don't read them all, dude.
• 45:06
  Speaker A: How impressive. Church connection.
• 45:08
  Speaker B: Well, that's obvious because of the Mc Wagonins. Van Van Wagonens.
• 45:14
  Speaker A: Take me to the river. And the Quakers. The Quakers.
• 45:20
  Speaker B: Quakers, too. Take me to the river.
• 45:22
  Speaker A: The cemetery was located on a hill right next to the river. The Kalamazoo River.
• 45:27
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 45:28
  Speaker A: Generational trauma oh, that's easy.
• 45:31
  Speaker B: Let the Sojourner Truth, the generations.
• 45:34
  Speaker A: This is a quote. You will see what your granddaddy saw. That is a quote from one of the people in the car. And literally.
• 45:43
  Speaker B: My goodness. Literally What?
• 45:47
  Speaker A: Literally? Thomas went to the area where his grandmama and granddaddy saw and found their graves and then marked them.
• 45:56
  Speaker B: Wow. And then racial tensions and fight for freedom. That all goes with Sojourner Truth and her legacy. But I cannot believe the cemetery on a hill.
• 46:06
  Speaker A: The cemetery. We had to find the cemetery on.
• 46:08
  Speaker B: The hill, which we couldn't find because we couldn't just drive onto the fort.
• 46:12
  Speaker A: But we did go to Rhys Cemetery on Denman and Helmer where people were walking around looking for someone of African American descent was buried.
• 46:22
  Speaker B: Right again, good thinking, but wrong cemetery. It was an analogy. It was an analogy for what we needed to do.
• 46:29
  Speaker A: This is my favorite hit of them all. Tell me, Big John.
• 46:35
  Speaker B: Okay, explain that.
• 46:36
  Speaker A: Okay, so Riis Cemetery, Rhys is. Or the origin of the word Rhys is a German word meaning the word big.
• 46:45
  Speaker B: Okay, just.
• 46:46
  Speaker A: And historians believe that Sophia's father was John Dumont, the slave owner.
• 46:55
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 46:56
  Speaker A: Of her mother. So you think that Big John is Sophia's father?
• 47:03
  Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh.
• 47:09
  Speaker A: The things the woman Sojourner Truth endured is un. It's like it. It doesn't even. To have so much pain, violence in your life, but then have the awareness to seek the Lord and have a relationship and trust him after your life is, like, enslaved and beaten and horrifically raped. Like, you know what I mean? Like, my God, woman.
• 47:43
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 47:44
  Speaker A: I don't think I'd be talking to God at all. I would be like, what God? And I think that that's why it's so poignant that she reminds, like, she reminded her, Frederick Douglass is God dead. Because if she can go through all that and still look up and see the Lord and still receive because she was open to it. That I hear about. Incredible.
• 48:06
  Speaker B: I hear about people like Sojourner Truth and other people who have lived through such atrocities, such injustice, such inequality. And I, I. I think, what am I complaining about?
• 48:19
  Speaker A: Like, I lose my shit today. I lost a good and plenty in the car. You know what I mean? And I'm like, I'm never gonna get the good and get it back because it was, like, all wet on the floor of the car. So, you know, like, seriously, what an amazing, amazing story. And women.
• 48:37
  Speaker B: Wow.
• 48:37
  Speaker A: And what an amazing retreat.
• 48:39
  Speaker B: I know. What an amazing group.
• 48:40
  Speaker A: Oh, my God.
• 48:41
  Speaker B: I could not get over it.
• 48:43
  Speaker A: I cannot. I can't wait for them to listen to this. Your minds are gonna be blown. It works.
• 48:48
  Speaker B: It works. It does work.
• 48:51
  Speaker A: So I wanna say a huge thank you to everyone who joined us on our retreat. What an incredible time. It felt like a family reunion.
• 49:01
  Speaker B: It did.
• 49:02
  Speaker A: And I want you all to know that we recognize today there are so much things for you to listen to. There are so many things for you to listen to. Every celebrity has a podcast now. Every talk show host has an after podcast show now. But you guys still tune in and spend time with us. So thank you for listening, supporting us, and to cheer us on. We are endlessly grateful. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
• 49:33
  Speaker B: What else do you want to do?
• 49:35
  Speaker A: I. I want to do a lot. I want to give a special shout out to our amazing, amazing patrons who.
• 49:43
  Speaker B: Support us on Instagram.
• 49:45
  Speaker A: Dude, you are the heart and soul of the show. And your contributions literally keep us going. You keep us going. I don't know if. If we would have survived 2024 without Patreon, like, literally, thank you so much. I feel like saying thank you doesn't give. Doesn't give the sense of gratitude I feel in my heart to be like, you guys don't even understand what it means to us.
• 50:13
  Speaker B: Yeah, we wouldn't be doing this. We literally could not afford to do this.
• 50:18
  Speaker A: Literally. We would be packing up and being like, it's been fun spirits and friends. But we're gone now, so thank you. So, looking ahead, looking into the future and what lays beyond. We are excited for what's coming up. More episode. More online classes and retreats are on the horizon, and we're gonna make that happen because we love you and we love your interaction with us. So please follow us on social media and subscribe. Stay in the loop. Spread the word. Share our podcast with your friends or anyone that loves history, ghost stories, and mystical adventures. Because the more people that we can come to the show and to interact with us, the more we're seen and the more it grows. And lastly, and I know it is a struggle out there. Trust. We know. We're feeling it too. But join us on Patreon if you haven't yet. We have four tiers to choose from and you'll unlock bonus episodes. Vit access to exclusive content, monthly calls, and retreat opportunities. Connect with us and become part of our community because we love it and we're learning so much from you. Thank you. And I know you're learning from us. What do you want to say? What do you want to say, Jennifer?
• 51:32
  Speaker B: I would like to say that I'm working on a another class. It's going to be a partner class because building your psychic awareness, your psychic intuition, your psychic abilities is very vulnerable. And it's sometimes hard in a group setting where you don't, don't know people on a zoom to be vulnerable. So I'm going to do a partner class so you and a friend can do the exercises together and then we'll come back to the big group. It's exercise based, just building your Claire's, learning about your energy and you know, hopefully by the end gain some confidence with using your psychic abilities. That will start in late April. If you're interested, grab a friend and email us@common mysticsmail.com and the other thing I wanted to say is we are willing to do more small retreats. We do want to keep them small because I feel like that's the best way to really work in the way that we work. Do you know what I mean? Like, this is not a sit and get. We don't lecture you. It is literally we go out and we do activities together, we do rituals, we do, you know, we do what we do. We find voiceless spirits and, and talk about them. So is there anything else you'd like to add?
• 52:50
  Speaker A: I would want to add that the spiritual class that you are doing that's coming up in April was inspired by one of our community members. So thank you for that.
• 53:00
  Speaker B: Yeah, she literally asked for it and I was like, I can do that. So if you, if you're asking for a retreat, let us know. Maybe we can do a retreat for you and your friends.
• 53:09
  Speaker A: Yeah. And either we're open for different areas. I think we covered the Bedford Township quite well this go around.
• 53:16
  Speaker B: We did.
• 53:16
  Speaker A: But you guys, we love you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for sticking with us. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Please check out our website, commonmystics.net, find us at all the socials at Common Mystics Podcast. Please, please leave us a positive review on Apple or wherever you're listening because that's going to help people find us. And I love reading them because I'm a crazy narcissist.
• 53:38
  Speaker B: Wow. If you haven't followed us, isn't that what it is? Yeah. Follow, Follow everywhere. Everywhere.
• 53:46
  Speaker A: Follow us everywhere. We love it.
• 53:48
  Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you so much. Love you.
• 53:51
  Speaker A: Love you.
• 53:52
  Speaker B: Bye.
• 53:53
  Speaker A: This has been a common mystic Media Production editing done by Yokai Audio, Kalamazoo, Michigan.