Fugitives seeking shelter was given a strong helping hand when Levi Bull Smith, owner and operator of Joanna Furnace, joined the ranks of the Abolitionists. Neither Still’s nor Smedley’s book mentions Mr. Smith, but then few “stock-holders,” as the financial sources were known, ever were identified, Montgomery does give a lead to stories prevalent in the Morgantown-Joanna area for generations. In his 1886 edition (page 1154) these significant words appear in Smith’s biography: “He was an outspoken and fearless Abolitionist, a warm friend of the colored people and sympathizer in their troubles.” in his 1909 edition (page 416) Montgomery says ‘In those troublesome times, Mr. Smith’s most ardent sympathies amid most ardent efforts were devoted to the triumph of his country’s cause and his vigilant attention to the thwarting of the opposition schemes of the enemies in the rear.
Levi B, Smith was no little opponent. He was the third generation to live at the Furnace mansion, along U. S. 122, now owned by Bethlehem Steel but unoccupied. He wielded wide influence and commanded handsome sums of money. He was highly popular: when he ran for Congress from Berks, he carried the district around his home with almost 90 percent of the vote. He was graduated by Princeton in 1824 and admitted to the Berks bar in 1827. He had a way of getting things done: he raised and personally equipped three companies when the war came.
Henry Segner, who built and lived in the house on Morgantown road (U. 5. 122), now the Kennel farm one mile south of Plow church, probably was brought into the clandestine network as a conductor (guide) by Levi Smith. An active raccoon hunter and part-time supervisor of charcoal burners, Segner’s knowledge of the forested hills extending from Honey Brook and Hopewell, around Plowville, to Hummel’s Store and west to Adamstown was second to none. It was reputed that, if necessary, he could send a fleeing party of slaves, guided by a charcoal burner, in one direction, then lure a group of slave hunters to follow him all night until they were so thoroughly lost in the mountains they could not find their way out for days. Segner’s descendants still live in the vicinity. He and his wife are buried at the abandoned Bethel Evangelical Church, a short distance from their old home.
Undoubtedly the planning and financing of Levi B. Smith and others like him stepped up the Underground’s operation in the whole tri-county border area around Morgantown after 1850. Through this area went hundreds of runaway Negroes in the decade preceding the war. Pennypacker, near Phoenixville, possibly handled more than anyone else. Those coming through Reading and the Joanna hills were only a portion of the many he directed to safety. Some went north through Norristown and Buckingham to Stroudsburg. These crossed the border at Port Ontario. Those who went west, along the slopes of the Welsh Mountains, headed for Harrisburg, then went north along the Susquehanna and crossed over at Buffalo or Niagara Falls, according to Seibert’s charts.
https://www.berkshistory.org/multimedia/articles/the-underground-railroad/
Built in 1791, Joanna Furnace was named after Joanna Holland Potts, the wife of principal owner Samuel Potts (Markiel 2005). A later owner, Levi “Bull” Smith, aided runaway slaves by sending them to the most remote areas of the woods surrounding the Furnace, staying with them until danger passed (Blockson 1981, 85). Smith, a 1824 Princeton graduate, was admitted to the bar in 1827 and later ran for Congress (Homan 1958, 118).
Smith may also have convinced a friend, Henry Segner, to become a conductor on the Underground Railroad because he knew the countryside so well: “It was reputed that, if necessary, he could send a fleeing party of slaves, guided by a charcoal burner, in one direction, then lure a group of slave hunters to follow him all night until they were so thoroughly lost in the mountains they could not find their way out for days” (Homan 1958, 118). S egner’s descendants still live in the vicinity. Joanna Furnace, just north of Joanna, Pennsylvania, off Route 10 north, is owned by Bethlehem Steel (Homan 1958, 118) and is currently under renovation (Markiel 2005).
https://sites.psu.edu/localhistories/woven-with-words/the-underground-railroad-in-the-19th-century/
Thomas Jackson, a Quaker who also lived in “The Forest”, near Joanna Furnace, operated a station prior to 1827. Joanna Furnace was owned and operated by Levi B. Smith, who although not a Quaker, was sympathetic to the Abolitionist cause. He hid fleeing slaves in the wooded furnace areas and in the charcoal huts. Henry Segner, a Joanna Furnace employee, used his knowledge of these woodlands to guide fleeing slaves. His home still stands along Route 10, one mile south of Plow Church.