[1] The next year, Peter and Hannah Denison were freed and went to work for Elijah Brush, who encouraged them to sue for the freedom of their children under the Northwest Ordinance, which prohibited slavery in the territory.

In 1807, the Michigan Supreme Court heard the case, but ruled that only the youngest of the children, born after the Northwest Ordinance took effect, could be freed.

[1] Soon afterward, Judge Augustus B. Woodward ruled that the Michigan Territory had no obligation to return enslaved people who had been freed by establishing residence in Canada to slavery.

[1] Following this legal precedent, Lisette and her brother crossed into Canada shortly afterward to establish residency and gain their freedom.

[5] William's brother James donated the land for the chapel,[5] and the two hired architect Gordon W. Lloyd to design the structure.

She had, for years, husbanded her earnings for this purpose, and, long before she was called away from her life of probation, had solemnly devoted them to the Church of Christ.

Providential circumstances having prevented the accomplishment of the wish of this person, it was faithfully carried out by two of her sons, who liberally supplied the funds required to complete the church; and it now stands, in all its simplicity and beauty, as the joint act of a Christian household, to provide a house of prayer for the rich and poor.