Elisha Tyson (December 18, 1750 – February 16, 1824) was an American colonial millionaire and philanthropist who was active in the abolition movement, Underground Railroad, and African colonization movement. He helped African American's escape slavery by establishing safe houses, or Underground Railroad stations, on the route from Maryland to Pennsylvania. He purchased the freedom of African American's at slave auctions. He also initiated lawsuits for kidnapped African American's and created a group of vigilantes to prevent African American's from being kidnapped and enslaved. He also returned some kidnapped people from Liberia to their home country.
The Quaker meetings he attended based upon his residence. As a child, his family was with the Abington Friends Meeting House. After moving to Maryland, he attended the Little Falls Meetinghouse and when he moved to Baltimore, he attended the Baltimore Quaker Meeting.
When he died, thousands of people of color followed his casket to its final resting place at a Quaker burial ground. He had ten children. His son Nathan married Martha Ellicott, who wrote the first biography of Benjamin Banneker, the first African American astronomer, and was a founder of Swarthmore College.