LANSING, Mich. (AP) – A 170-year-old document belonging to a man who bought his freedom from slavery is being displayed in Lansing. The Lansing State Journal reports that the freedom paper, known as “manumission,” was set to go on display Monday at the Archives of Michigan, located inside the Michigan Historical Center. The legal document was donated by Benjamin Hall of Eaton Rapids, the great-great-great-grandson of Frank Demas, also known as Thomas Willis. Willis bought his freedom in Kentucky in 1846. He eventually moved to Mason, Michigan, around the time of the Civil War. Willis was married to Mary Willis, who ran away from a Louisiana plantation around 1850, and escaped slavery via the Underground Railroad. He changed his name to prevent his wife from being recaptured.
