Weems, her siblings and mother were the property of Adam Robb, who lived in Montgomery County, Maryland. In 1847, when Robb died, his slaves were divided between his two daughters, Jane Robb Beall, and Catherine Robb Harding. Weems was about seven years old at the time her owner died. Weems, her mother and siblings were sent to Catherine and her husband, Henry Harding. The couple was already heavily in debt and could not afford to maintain the slaves they received, so they sold Weems to plantation owners Caroline and Charles M. Price. Three of her brothers were sold off to another plantation owner, but her mother and one of her sisters were freed by purchase from the Weems Ransom Fund.  Another sister escaped to the North and was adopted by Henry Highland Garnett. The Prices had been offered $700 for Weems’ freedom, but refused the offer and other offers for the next six years.  By 1855 it was clear that her only way to obtain freedom was to escape.

On September 23, 1855, fifteen-year old Weems ran away from Montgomery County and made her way to Washington, D.C. where she spent time with relatives before arriving at Jacob Bigelow’s residence.  Bigelow was a Quaker whose house was a station on the Underground Railroad.  Because of a $500 reward for her capture, Weems was unable to step outside the Bigelow house for six weeks.

In 1847, he found a job as a clerk and janitor for the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery. He soon began aiding fugitive slaves, often sheltering them until they could find their way farther north. One fugitive was his older brother, Peter, who had been left behind when his mother escaped forty years earlier. These experiences led William to save careful records about the people he helped. Meanwhile, Still purchased real estate, opened a store selling stoves, and later founded a successful coal business.

Before the Civil War, Still had destroyed many of his records about aiding fugitives, because he feared they would be used to prosecute people. After the war, his children persuaded him to write the story of his exploits and the people he helped. Still's book, The Underground Railroad (1872), is one of the most important historical records we have. Although Still recognized the many contributions of white abolitionists, he portrayed the fugitives as courageous individuals who struggled for their own freedom. Still proudly exhibited his book at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876.

Samuel Alexander Smith in turn contacted James Miller McKim, a White abolitionist and seasoned member (along with William Still) of the Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society. Samuel Alexander Smith shipped Henry by Adams Express Company on March 23, 1849, in a box 3 feet long by 2 feet 8 inches deep by 2 feet wide, and sent the box as “dry goods.” Henry Brown traveled in the box lined with baize, a coarse woollen cloth, carrying with him only one bladder of water and a few biscuits. There was a hole cut in the box for air, and it was nailed and tied with straps; in large words, “This side up” was written on the box. Brown traveled by a variety of wagons, railroads, steamboats, ferries, and finally, for added safety, a delivery wagon that brought the box to the Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society before daybreak.

During the 27- hour journey, the box was turned upside down on several occasions and handled roughly. Henry wrote that he “was resolved to conquer or die, I felt my eyes swelling as if they would burst from their sockets; and the veins on my temples were dreadfully distended with pressure of blood upon my head.” At one point, Henry thought that he might die, but fortunately two men needed a place to sit down and, “so perceiving my box, standing on end, one of the men threw it down and the two sat upon it. I was thus relieved from a state of agony which may be more imagined than described.” The box with Brown in side was received by William Still, James Miller McKim, Professor C.D. Cleveland, and Lewis Thompson. Upon the box being opened, Brown said, “How do you do, Gentlemen?” then recited a psalm: “I waited patiently on the Lord and He heard my prayer.” He then began to sing the psalm to the delight of the four men present, and was christened Henry “Box” Brown.