United States Abolitionist and Anti-Slavery Organizations (Continued)

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The National Anti-Slavery Tract Society of Maryland, 1829 (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Jones, William R., President, The National Anti-Slavery Tract Society of Maryland, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Lundy, Benjamin, Corresponding Secretary, The National Anti-Slavery Tract Society of Maryland, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Morgan, William H., Recording Secretary, The National Anti-Slavery Tract Society of Maryland, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Brown, David, Manager, The National Anti-Slavery Tract Society of Maryland, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Kesly, William, Manager, The National Anti-Slavery Tract Society of Maryland, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Needles, John, Manager, The National Anti-Slavery Tract Society of Maryland, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Raymond, Daniel, Manager, The National Anti-Slavery Tract Society of Maryland, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Reese, John S., Manager, The National Anti-Slavery Tract Society of Maryland, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

West, Amos, Manager, The National Anti-Slavery Tract Society of Maryland, 1829.  (American Convention of Abolition Societies, December 8, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

National Kansas Aid Convention, organized in Buffalo, New York, on July 10, 1856. Organized to aid anti-slavery settlers in Kansas territory.  Consolidated with Women’s Kansas Aid Convention.

Smith, Gerrit, organizer

Weed, Thurlow, organizer

Cutler, Hannah Tracy, organizer

Gage, Francis, organizer

Griffing, Josephine, organizer

Dr. David Nelson’s Abolitionist Mission Institute, Quincy, Illinois (Rodriguez, 2007, p. 617)

New England Anti-Slavery Society (NEASS), founded January 1, 1832, Boston, Massachusetts, in the black Baptist church on Belknap Street.  Its principal founder was William Lloyd Garrison.  Garrison largely established the philosophy, goals and objectives orf the Society.  The Society advocated for immediate, uncompensated abolition of slavery.  It stated slavery was immoral.  It opposed the objectives of the American Colonization Society (ACS).  The ACS wanted to send freedmen to Africa.  The Society worked with the General Colored Association of Boston, which was founded earlier.  One of the Society’s initial campaigns was to submit a petition against slavery in the District of Colombia.  By 1834, the NEASS had obtained almost 2,000 members.  Garrison advocated for the idea of “moral suasion,” which was to inform the general public on the evils of slavery and racism.  Soon, almost 50 anti-slavery societies resembling the NEASS were established throughout New England.  The NEASS sponsored numerous lecturers, called “agents,” who toured through New England speaking at local groups and selling abolitionist documents and copies of Garrison’s The Liberator.  The NEASS also organized large yearly meetings, called anti-slavery conventions.  In January 1833, the New England Anti-Slavery Society merged with the Massachusetts General Colored Association.  Working together, they established anti-slavery conventions and sponsored agents throughout much of New England.  After 1833, African Americans became full members of the NEASS.  In 1833, Garrison and Arthur Tappan expanded the NEASS and successfully created the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS).  The NEASS became an auxiliary of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1834.  In 1835, the NEASS reorganized into the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society.  Many of the most prominent abolitionists of the day were among the 12 original members of the New England Anti-Slavery Society.  These included Arnold and Elizabeth Buffum, David Lee Child, Henry Grew, Moses Thatcher, Isaac Knapp, and others.

Click here for an extensive list of officers, members and supporters of the New England Anti-Slavery Society.  We have included a brief biography of each of these individuals.  Also included is a chapter about the New England Anti-Slavery Society: “New England and New York City Antislavery Societies,” by Henry Wilson, in History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, 1872.

New England Emigrant Aid Company (NEEAC), Boston, Massachusetts, founded 1854.  (Formerly Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society, founded 1854).  Founded by New England abolitionist to take immigrants to the Kansas Territory to prevent the territory from entering the Union as a slave state.  The NEEAC helped in the founding of Lawrence, Manhattan, and Osawatomie, Kansas.  The newspaper was the Lawrence Herald of Freedom.  (Filler, 1960, p. 237; Harrold, 1995, pp. 112, 118, 125, 204n24; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 56, 58, 201-202, 337)

Click here for an extensive list of officers, members and supporters of the New England Emigrant Aid Company.  We have included a brief biography of each of these individuals.

New England Yearly Meeting (Orthodox), Society of Friends, Quakers (Drake, 1950, pp. 184, 189n, 196)

New Hampshire State Anti-Slavery Society (Dumond, 1961, p. 189)

Foster, Steven Symonds, co-founder

New Jersey Anti-Slavery Society (Zilversmit, 1967, p. 217)

New Jersey Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, founded 1792 (Basker, 2005, pp. 223, 239; Dumond, 1961, p. 48; Locke, 1901, pp. 86, 99, 104n, 107-109, 124; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 27; Zilversmit, 1967, pp. 173-174, 184-185, 192-193, 215)

Bloomfield, Joseph (Basker, 2005, pp. 223-225, 239)

Coxe, William, Jr. (Basker, 2005, pp. 223-224, 227, 238)

Wistar, John (Basker, 2005, pp. 223-224, 227, 238)

Pearson, Robert (Basker, 2005, pp. 223-224)

Davenport, Franklin (Basker, 2005, pp. 223, 239)

New York Association of Friends for the Relief of Those Held in Slavery, founded Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1839.  Affiliated with the Society of Friends, Quakers. (Drake, 1950)

New York City Anti-Slavery Society, founded October 2, 1833, New York, New York. (Dumond, 1961, p. 189; Filler, 1960, pp. 63, 136; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 42, 363, 522; Sorin, 1971)

Chapter: “New England and New York City Antislavery Societies,” by Henry Wilson, in History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, 1872:

The organization of the New England Antislavery Society and its appeal to the conscience and reason of the country evoked responses in several of the free States. Antislavery societies were organized; and many earnest, humane, and just men and women entered upon the work of emancipation. Nearly all who engaged in the formation of such societies were members of Christian churches, and were taking, at the same time, an active part in the religious, missionary, and philanthropic enterprises of that day. Indeed, during the first five years of the antislavery agitation, its promoters, regarding the effort as their religious work, looked with hope and confident expectation to the churches and benevolent organizations for hearty sympathy and co-operation. Unlike the great contest on the Missouri Compromise, which had a few years before so profoundly stirred the country, this was moral rather than political. Consequently, they who became members of these associations were accustomed to consider the questions at issue in their moral rather than in their civil bearings, and to look for aid to Christians, churches, and benevolent organizations, rather than to politicians, parties, and legislative bodies. Unaccustomed to public affairs and sharing in the general distrust of party politics, they seldom sought help from political action, and usually failed when they did.

Although the churches generally failed to respond promptly to these Christian appeals for immediate action on behalf of the oppressed, the Abolitionists, though disappointed, were not disheartened. The work went on. Many antislavery societies were formed. Several antislavery newspapers were established, and a general system of antislavery agitation, having been inaugurated, was continued. Among the papers established was the “Emancipator," commenced in New York in March, 1833, by the pecuniary aid of Arthur Tappan, and edited by Rev. Charles W. Denison.  The establishment of that journal in the commercial metropolis, in which the principles and policy of the friends of emancipation were clearly and boldly set forth, together with other influences, caused much excitement and aroused feelings of resentment and hostility. This was signally manifested by the proceedings on the evening of the 2d of October, 1833, and subsequently. The friends of immediate abolition were summoned by the call of a committee, of which Joshua Leavitt was chairman, to meet at Clii1ton Hall to form a New York City Antislavery Society. On the afternoon of that day large placards were posted in the streets, calling upon all persons from the South and al1 persons disposed to manifest the true feelings of the State to meet at the same time and place. A hostile demonstration was of course anticipated.

The trustees of Clinton Hall refusing to fulfil their contract, and an unsuccessful application having been made for other rooms, a few antislavery men met in the street near the City Hall, and consulted upon the possibility of holding the proposed meeting. At the suggestion of Lewis Tappan, a trustee of Chatham Street Chapel, it was determined to hold the meeting in the lecture-room of that building. At the hour of meeting, about fifty determined Abolitionists, who had been personally notified, assembled. Arthur and Lewis Tappan passed unrecognized through an immense concourse of men assembled in front of Tammany Hall, preparatory to the premeditated attack upon the proposed meeting. The sexton of the church, locking the iron gates in front of the building, placed the keys in the hands of Lewis Tappan, who informed the meeting that it would probably be assaulted, and that soon; and that they should promptly despatch the business for which they were assembled.

John Rankin, a merchant of that city and a devoted Abolitionist, was made chairman. Amid those threatening demonstrations the blessing of God was invoked. A committee, appointed at a previous meeting, reported a constitution, which was quickly adopted. Arthur Tappan was chosen president; Elizur Wright, Jr., and Charles W. Denison were chosen corresponding and recording secretaries. The board of managers consisted of Joshua Leavitt, Isaac T. Hopper, Abraham L. Cox, Lewis Tappan, and William Goodell. The meeting was adjourned, the keys were delivered to the sexton, and the members retired through the main audience room of the chapel into a rear street. They were followed by a man having a light in one hand and a dagger in the other. He was, however, discovered by the sexton, his light extinguished, and he was left to grope his way in the darkness as he best could. Mr. Hopper, a sturdy Quaker, whose life had been consecrated to works of beneficence and the cause of the oppressed, refused to retire, and boldly faced the mob, as with shouts and threats they rushed into the chapel. In their disappointment they seized a negro, called him Arthur Tappan, placed him in the chair, and forced him to make a speech; which he did very creditably to himself, though not very satisfactorily to his auditors. He said: “Gentlemen, I am not used to making speeches, and don't pretend to be qualified to do so. But one or two things I do know: one is, God hath made of one blood all nations; and another is, all men are created equal, and' are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Now - '' “That will do,'' exclaimed his impatient hearers.

Joshua Leavitt and Lewis Tappan devoted the night to preparing an account of the proceedings, and furnishing copies for the city press, whose readers the next morning were not a little surprised to find in the same journals both the statement that " the agitators had been put· down," and an authorized report of the doings of the meeting and the organization of the society. This society soon issued an address to the people of the city in explanation and defence of immediate emancipation, and the principles and policy it proposed in its attempts to secure it by the American people. Nor were their doctrines and policy all that were calculated to attract attention; the personnel of the new organization was not unworthy of its noble sentiments and benignant purposes. Arthur Tappan, its president, was a native of Massachusetts. He early became a distinguished and successful merchant of New York. An earnest Christian and philanthropist, his name was associated with nearly every missionary and reformatory enterprise of his day. Modest, quiet, and unassuming, without much facility in the use of tongue or pen, his life will be remembered rather as one of deeds than words. Surrounded by ledgers and invoices, clerks and customers, his ear and hand were alike open to the appeals for personal charity, the claims of an oppressed race or of a ruined world. Munificent as unostentatious in his gifts, his range of benevolence was wide and catholic. His brother, Lewis Tappan, though unlike him in many particulars, was no less earnest and devoted to the cause of reform and Christian benevolence. Like his brother, with whom he was so long associated in trade and beneficence, he was a man of remarkable business capacity, great courage, and a large-hearted philanthropy. Unlike him, he spoke and wrote with fluency, pungency, and vigor. Of the many enterprises with which he has been connected his rare versatility and energy have made him the life and soul. " He would," says a fellow-laborer, "oversee their immense mercantile business, go on 'Change, write two editorials, attend a meeting of the American Antislavery Society's executive committee, step into the noon prayer-meeting and pray or deliver an exhortation, and wind up by sitting in the church session, and addressing a temperance meeting composed of negroes in the evening, all in the same day; all the time would be in a hurry, but never flurried, and would seem perfectly at home in each of these vocations." He infused much of his own energy and system into the new society, besides contributing largely to its funds.

Another member of that meeting and board was William Goodell, a lifelong friend of the Tappans and of the slave. Among the earliest in the field, fond of abstract reasoning, speculation, and fundamental principles, he was, perhaps, too prone to adopt extreme opinions and impracticable theories. Though apt to be diffuse and prolix, he often condensed his thoughts and gave them most clear, tense, and forcible expression. Eminently conscientious and of undaunted courage and untiring industry, he rendered invaluable service to an unpopular but righteous cause in the days of its feebleness. For half a century he developed and brought to light by his indefatigable labors a mass of facts and reasonings on the subject, which have afforded rich materials for the more effective use by other men of more popular tact and talent. His “History of Slavery and Antislavery" is a magazine from which the speakers and writers of a generation drew their weapons of attack and defence in the great conflict.

Another of the veterans who was present at that meeting was Joshua Leavitt, a man of varied intelligence and of acknowledged ability, logical in his mode of thought, clear and forcible in his style of expression. From his long connection with the press and frequent residence in Washington, where he was on terms of intimacy with Adams, Giddings, Slade, and other men of similar character, his information upon the political relations and bearings of slavery came to be comprehensive, varied, and minute, and therefore of great practical service to the antislavery cause. He was a fertile and voluminous writer, and by his editorials, tracts, and other papers, did much to enlighten the people and prepare them for political action. A strong free-trader, his sympathies were more with the Democratic Party than with the Whigs, whom he manifestly disliked, and by whom his dislike was cordially reciprocated.

Such was the origin, material, and purpose of the New York society. It was able in men and means, and did much in those early days to bring and keep before the public eye the great truths of human fraternity and man's political rights. And yet, though it embraced so much of intellectual and moral worth, with sentiments so humane and Christian, and purposes so carefully and guardedly enunciated, it was at once denounced by mob and press, by truckling partisanship and religious conservatism. The Colonizationists, deeming this organization and its doctrines antagonistic to their own, joined in the general denunciation. At a meeting held a few days after its organization, immediate emancipation was bitterly denounced and Abolitionists sternly rebuked. Chancellor Walworth, whose name was for many years associated with religious and benevolent organizations, flippantly styled such generous, humane and Christian men as had founded the new society “visionary enthusiasts" and “reckless demagogues." David B. Ogden, one of the leaders of the New York bar, branded them as “fanatics," and declared their doctrines “opposed to the Constitution," and their organization “the poetry of philanthropy." Even Theodore Frelinghuysen, eminent among the men of his age for the purity of his public and private character, and for his zeal and activity in the cause of religion and benevolence, characterized the antislavery movement as “the very wildness of fanaticism." Such language from such men, in the then feverish condition of the public mind, clearly tended to deepen the prejudices of those who had confidence in their integrity, piety, and wisdom, and to arouse the brutal passions of the rough and reckless.

How much such language, uttered at that time, contributed to arouse the spirit of violence which was so fearfully developed in that city during the next year will never be known. If such men could so violate the sanctities of Christian character and confidence, was it strange that, the mob should invade the sanctities, no more sacred, of private dwellings and the house of God? In the light of to-day, was it less censurable in Chancellors Walworth and Frelinghuysen thus to arraign the public character and conduct of such men, and that in regard to purposes and plans so pure and benign, than for the unnamed and lawless ruffianism of New York to rifle the houses of Lewis Tappan and Dr. Cox, or break into and disperse the meeting at Chatham Street Chapel?

Notwithstanding, however, this violent and systematic opposition, the cause of immediate emancipation made rapid progress during the year. No less than twenty five periodicals and newspapers gave it their support. One hundred and twenty-four clergymen, mostly in New England, united in an address to the public, setting forth similar sentiments. During the year John G. Whittier published his “Justice and Expediency," an earnest, tender, and eloquent appeal to his countrymen in behalf of oppressed millions who were perishing as the brute perished and whose blood was upon the nation. About the same time, Mrs. Lydia Maria Child issued her “APPEAL IN FAVOR OF THAT CLASS OF AMERICANS CALLED AFRICANS." This volume, of more than two hundred pages, was a work of rare merit, and exerted, perhaps more than any other, a powerful influence upon thoughtful and cultivated minds. At the beginning of the same year, Rev. Amos A. Phelps published his "Lectures upon Slavery and its Remedy," in a volume of nearly three hundred pages. Of this work Mr. Garrison, many years afterward, said " that it elucidated the nature of slavery, the sin of making property in man, and the duty of immediate· emancipation, in a manner so masterly as never to have been surpassed by any writer since that time. It was an encyclopedia of fact, argument, illustration, and logic."

Source:  Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 1.  Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 230-236.

Leavitt, Joshua, chairman, co-founder, Board of Managers

Rankin, John, chairman

Tappan, Arthur, president

Denison, Charles W., recording secretary

Wright, Elizur, Jr., recording secretary

Cox, Abraham L., Board of Managers

Goodell, William, Board of Managers

Hopper, Isaac T., Board of Managers

Tappan, Lewis, Board of Managers

New York Colonization Society (Sinha, 2016, pp. 203, 336)

New York Committee of Vigilance, officially founded November 20, 1835.  By 1853, aided an estimated 2,700 persons.  Operated until 1860.  (Sinha, 2016, pp. 383-385)

Ruggles, David, leader, Secretary

Ray, Charles, leader

Smith, Gerrit, President, 1847

Wright, Theodore, Reverend, President

Cornish, Samuel

Downing, George T.

Hopper, Isaac

Johnson, William

Powell, William, Colored Seaman’s Home

New York Manumission Society (NYMS), also known as the New York Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves, and Protecting Such of Them as Have Been, or May Be Liberated.  Founded 1785 to abolish slavery in the State of New York.  It is disbanded in 1849.  The organization fought to end the slave trade.  The Society included prominent founding fathers, like John Jay and Alexander Hamilton.  Founded the African Free School for Children of Slaves or Free People of Color in 1787.  Aided more than 400 slaves between 1792-1814.  In 1791, the Society, along with other abolitionist organizations, petitioned the U.S. Congress to limit the slave trade, without success.  In 1794, the Society organized the American Convention for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and Improving the Condition of the African Race.  This group met in Philadelphia.  Lobbied New York state legislature for complete abolition.  New York passed a law freeing all slaves on July 4, 1827. 

Click here for an extensive list of officers, members and supporters of the New York Manumission Society.  We have included a brief biography of each of these individuals.

New York Orthodox Meeting, Society of Friends.  Lobbied U.S. House of Representatives and Senate to end slavery.  (Drake, 1950, p. 189)

New York Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves, see New York Manumission Society (NYMS)

New York State Anti-Slavery Society (NYSASS), headquartered in Utica, New York, founded October 19, 1836, newspaper: Friend of Man.  (Blue, 2005, pp. 4, 18, 19-20, 23-25, 31; Dumond, 1961, p. 189; Mabee, 1970, pp. 48, 55, 146, 187; Sernett, 2002, pp. 41, 52-53, 73-75; Sorin, 1971, pp. 19, 21, 22, 27, 50, 59-60, 74, 87; Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Smith, Gerrit, Esq., 1797-1874, Peterboro, New York, large landowner, reformer, philanthropist, radical abolitionist.  Supporter of the American Colonization Society (ACS).  Served as a Vice President of the ACS, 1833-1836.  Also supported the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS).  Served as a Vice President of the AASS, 1836-1840, 1840-1841.  Vice President of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1840.  Active in the Underground Railroad.  Member of the Liberty Party.  Member of the Pennsylvania Free Produce Association.  Secretly supported radical abolitionist John Brown.  President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836.

(Blue, 2005, pp. 19, 20, 25, 26, 32-36, 50, 53, 54, 68, 101, 102, 105, 112, 132, 170; Dumond, 1961, pp. 200, 221, 231, 295, 301, 339, 352; Filler, 1960; Friedman, 1982; Frothingham, 1876; Harrold, 1995; Mabee, 1970, pp. 37, 47, 55, 56, 71, 72, 104, 106, 131, 135, 150, 154, 156, 187-189, 195, 202, 204, 219, 220, 226, 227, 237, 239, 246, 252, 253, 258, 307, 308, 315, 320, 321, 327, 342, 346; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 5, 8, 13, 16, 22, 29, 31, 36, 112, 117-121, 137, 163, 167, 199, 224-225, 243; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 46, 50, 51, 56, 138, 163, 206, 207, 327, 338, 452-454; Sernett, 2002, pp. 22, 36, 49-55, 122-126, 129-132, 143-146, 169, 171, 173-174, 205-206, 208-217, 219-230; Sorin, 1971, pp. 25-38, 47, 49, 52, 66, 95, 96, 102, 113-115, 126, 130-131; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 128, 129, 165, 189-190, 201, 213, 221, 224, 225, 230-231; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 583-584; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 1, p. 270; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 20; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, pp. 322-323; Harlow, Ralph Volney. Gerrit Smith: Philanthropist and Reformer. New York: Holt, 1939.)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

SMITH, Gerrit, philanthropist, b. in Utica, N. Y., 6 March, 1797; d. in New York city, 28 Dec., 1874, was graduated at Hamilton college in 1818, and devoted himself to the care of his father's estate, a large part of which was given to him when he attained his majority. At the age of fifty-six he studied law, and was admitted to the bar. He was elected to congress as an independent candidate in 1852, but resigned after serving through one session. During his boyhood slavery still existed in the state of New York, and his father was a slave-holder. One of the earliest forms of the philanthropy that marked his long life appeared in his opposition to the institution of slavery, and his friendship for the oppressed race. He acted for ten years with the American colonization society, contributing largely to its funds, until he became convinced that it was merely a scheme of the slave-holders for getting the free colored people out of the country. Thenceforth he gave his support to the Anti-slavery society, not only writing for the cause and contributing money, but taking part in conventions, and personally assisting fugitives. He was temperate in all the discussion, holding that the north was a partner in the guilt, and in the event of emancipation without war should bear a portion of the expense; but the attempt to force slavery upon Kansas convinced him that the day for peaceful emancipation was past, and he then advocated whatever measure of force might be necessary. He gave large sums of money to send free-soil settlers to Kansas, and was a personal friend of John Brown, to whom he had given a farm in Essex county, N.Y., that he might instruct a colony of colored people, to whom Mr. Smith had given farms in the same neighborhood. He was supposed to be implicated in the Harper's Ferry affair, but it was shown that he had only given pecuniary aid to Brown as he had to scores of other men, and so far as he knew Brown's plans had tried to dissuade him from them. Mr. Smith was deeply interested in the cause of temperance, and organized an anti-dramshop party in February, 1842. In the village of Peterboro, Madison co., where he had his home, he built a good hotel, and gave it rent-free to a tenant who agreed that no liquor should be sold there. This is believed to have been the first temperance hotel ever established. But it was not pecuniarily successful. He had been nominated for president by an industrial congress at Philadelphia in 1848, and by the land-reformers in 1856, but declined. In 1840, and again in 1858, he was nominated for governor of New York. The last nomination, on a platform of abolition and prohibition, he accepted, and canvassed the state. In the election he received 5,446 votes. Among the other reforms in which he was interested were those relating to the property-rights of married women and female suffrage and abstention from tobacco. In religion he was originally a Presbyterian, but became very liberal in his views, and built a non-sectarian church in Peterboro, in which he often occupied the pulpit himself. He could not conceive of religion as anything apart from the affairs of daily life, and in one of his published letters he wrote: “No man's religion is better than his politics; his religion is pure whose politics are pure; whilst his religion is rascally whose politics are rascally.” He disbelieved in the right of men to monopolize land, and gave away thousands of acres of that which he had inherited, some of it to colleges and charitable institutions, and some in the form of small farms to men who would settle upon them. He also gave away by far the greater part of his income, for charitable purposes, to institutions and individuals. In the financial crisis of 1837 he borrowed of John Jacob Astor a quarter of a million dollars, on his verbal agreement to give Mr. Astor mortgages to that amount on real estate. The mortgages were executed as soon as Mr. Smith reached his home, but through the carelessness of a clerk were not delivered, and Mr. Astor waited six months before inquiring for them. Mr. Smith had for many years anticipated that the system of slavery would be brought to an end only through violence, and when the civil war began he hastened to the support of the government with his money and his influence. At a war-meeting in April, 1861, he made a speech in which he said: “The end of American slavery is at hand. The first gun fired at Fort Sumter announced the fact that the last fugitive slave had been returned. . . . The armed men who go south should go more in sorrow than in anger. The sad necessity should be their only excuse for going. They must still love the south; we must all still love her. As her chiefs shall, one after another, fall into our hands, let us be restrained from dealing revengefully, and moved to deal tenderly with them, by our remembrance of the large share which the north has had in blinding them.” In accordance with this sentiment, two years after the war, he united with Horace Greeley and Cornelius Vanderbilt in signing the bail-bond of Jefferson Davis. At the outset he offered to equip a regiment of colored men, if the government would accept them. Mr. Smith left an estate of about $1,000,000, having given away eight times that amount during his life. He wrote a great deal for print, most of which appeared in the form of pamphlets and broadsides, printed on his own press in Peterboro. His publications in book-form were “Speeches in Congress” (1855); “Sermons and Speeches” (1861); “The Religion of Reason” (1864); “Speeches and Letters” (1865); “The Theologies” (2d ed., 1866); “Nature the Base of a Free Theology” (1867); and “Correspondence with Albert Barnes” (1868). His authorized biography has been written by Octavius B. Frothingham (New York, 1878).  Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 583-584.

Avery, George A., Monroe, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Beman, N. S. S., Rev. Dr., Renselaer, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Boardman, George S., Rev., Jefferson, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Corliss, Hiram, Dr., Washington, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Green, William, Jr., New York, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Griswold, Samuel, Rev., Steuben, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Haddock, Townsend, Ulster, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Harris, Thompson S., Rev., Chatauque, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Harrison, Marcus, Rev., Tompkins, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Keyes, Samuel, Essex, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Lansing, D. C., D.D., Cayuga, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Leavitt, David, Esq., Kings County, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Lent, David B., Dutchess County, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Lightbody, Samuel, Oneida, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Lord, Joshua, Esq., Columbia, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

McVickar, John, Onondaga, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Miller, George, Esq., Suffolk, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Northrup, Joseph A., Gen., Lewis, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Paterson, William, Genessee, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Peters, Rufus S., Esq., Otsego, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Phelps, Isaac, Hon., Erie, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Platt, Isaac, Delaware, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Robinson, Ralph, Rev., Oswego, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Roe, Peter, Orange, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Sleeper, Reuben, Col., Livingston, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Snyder, Henry, Rev., Chenango, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Spalding, L. A., Niagara, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Wescott, Oliver, Franklin, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

White, Henry, Dr., Westchester, New York, abolitionist leader, Vice President and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Goodell, William, 1792-1878, New York City, reformer, temperance activist, radical abolitionist, abolitionist leader.  Manager, 1833-1839, and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833.  Published anti-slavery newspaper, The Investigator, founded 1829 in Providence, Rhode Island; merged with the National Philanthropist the same year.  Wrote Slavery and Anti-Slavery, 1852. Corresponding Secretary and co-founder of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836.  Editor of The Emancipator, and The Friend of Man, in Utica, New York, the paper of the New York Anti-Slavery Society.  Co-founded the Anti-Slavery Liberty Party in 1840.  Was its nominee for President in 1852 and 1860.  In 1850, edited American Jubilee, later called The Radical Abolitionist.

(Blue, 2005, pp. 19, 20, 23, 25, 32, 34, 50, 53, 54, 101; Drake, 1950, p. 177; Dumond, 1961, pp. 167, 182, 264-265, 295; Goodell, 1852; Harrold, 1995; Mabee, 1970, pp. 48, 107, 187, 228, 246, 249, 252, 300, 333, 341, 387n11, 388n27; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 1, 7, 22, 29, 31, 35, 46, 63, 64, 71, 72, 162-163, 199, 225, 257n; Pease, 1965, pp. 411-417; Sorin, 1971, pp. 25, 57-62, 126, 130, 411-417; Van Broekhoven, 2001, pp. 30-31, 35-36, 87; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 4, Pt. 1, p. 384; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 9, p. 236; Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Wetmore, Oliver, Rev., Utica, New York, abolitionist leader, Recording Secretary and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Kellogg, Spencer, Utica, New York, abolitionist leader, Treasurer and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836.  Vice President, American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), 1834-1835.  (Sernett, 2002, p. 52; Sorin, 1971, p. 103n; Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Blair, Arba, Dr., Rome, New York, abolitionist leader, Executive Committee member and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Bradish, John, Esq., Utica, New York, abolitionist leader, Executive Committee member and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Brown, George, Utica, New York, abolitionist leader, Executive Committee member and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Clarke, Welcome A., Dr., Whitesboro, New York, abolitionist leader, Executive Committee member and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Delong, James C., Utica, New York abolitionist leader, Executive Committee member and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Sorin, 1971; Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Green, Beriah, 1795-1874, New York, reformer, clergyman, abolitionist leader.  President and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833.  Active supporter of the anti-slavery Liberty Party. Corresponding Secretary, Executive Committee member and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836.

(Blue, 2005, pp. 17, 34-35; Dumond, 1961, pp. 159, 295; Goodell, 1852, pp. 395-396, 556; Green, 1836; Harrold, 1995; Mabee, 1970, pp. 20, 21, 24, 25, 40, 45, 46, 109, 151, 152, 227, 252, 257, 363, 366, 369; Pease, 1965, pp. 182-191; Sernett, 2002, 36-39, 46, 52, 55, 72, 78, 93-94, 99, 105-106, 108, 113, 116, 122, 125; Sorin, 1971, pp. 25, 52-57, 60, 90-91, 96, 97, 126, 130; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 742; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 4, Pt. 1, p. 539; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 9, p. 480; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 326; Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

GREEN, Beriah, reformer, b. in New York state in 1794; d. in Whitestown, N. Y., 4 May, 1874. He was graduated at Middlebury college in 1819, and studied theology with the intention of becoming a Presbyterian minister, but formed a creed of his own, which did not admit of his joining any denomination. He removed to Kennebunk, Me., in 1820, and the following year to Ohio, and was professor of sacred literature in the Western Reserve college. His determined opposition to slavery shortened his stay in this community, and three years later he became president of the Oneida institute, Ohio. Throughout his life he was the earnest friend of Gerrit Smith and other abolitionists, and in 1834, having taken an active part in the formation of the American anti-slavery society, was chosen its president. Mr. Green was also a temperance advocate and promoter of public education. In 1845 he founded the Manual labor school in Whitestown, N. Y. He had just addressed the board of excise in the town-hall of Whitestown, urging the prohibition of intoxicating liquors, and was waiting at the head of a line of citizens to place his vote in the ballot-box, when he fell dead. He published “History of the Quakers” (Albany, 1823) and “Sermons and Discourses, with a Few Essays and Addresses” (Utica, N. Y., 1833). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 742.

Hough, Reuben, Whitesboro, New York, abolitionist leader, Executive Committee member and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Sorin, 1971; Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Loss, Lewis H., Rev., Whitesboro, New York, abolitionist leader, Executive Committee member and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Mitchell, Joseph S., Rev., Utica, New York, abolitionist leader, Executive Committee member and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Savage, Amos, Rev., Utica, New York, abolitionist leader, Executive Committee member and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Snyder, Jacob, New York, Executive Committee member and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836. (Sorin, 1971; Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Stewart, Alvan, 1790-1849, Utica, New York, reformer, educator, lawyer, abolitionist leader, temperance activist.  Member, American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS).  Vice President, 1834-1835, and Manager, 1837-1840, AASS.  Member of the Executive Committee, American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1844-149.  Founder, leader, Liberty Party.  Executive Committee member and founding officer of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 1836.  

(Blue, 2005, pp. xiii, 4-5, 9, 13, 15-36, 49, 50, 63, 68, 92-94, 98, 145, 266; Dumond, 1961, pp. 225-226, 293-295, 300; Filler, 1960, pp. 151, 177; Mabee, 1970, pp. 4, 39, 40, 41, 246, 293; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 4-5, 9, 13, 15-36, 49, 50, 63, 92, 98; Sernett, 2002, pp. 49, 52, 73, 112, 122; Sorin, 1971, pp. 25, 32, 33, 47-52, 60, 103n, 115, 132; Zilversmit, 1967, pp. 218-220; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 683; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 2, p. 5; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 768-769; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 20, p. 742; Minutes, First Annual Meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York, October 19, 1836)

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

STEWART, Alvan, reformer, b. in South Granville, Washington co., N. Y., 1 Sept., 1790; d. in New York city, 1 May, 1849. His parents removed when he was five months old to Crown Point, N.Y., and in 1795, losing their possessions through a defective title, to Westford, Chittenden co., Vt., where the lad was brought up on a farm. In 1808 he began to teach and to study anatomy and medicine. In 1809 he entered Burlington college, Vt., supporting himself by teaching in the winters, and, visiting Canada in 1811, he received a commission under Gov. Sir George Prevost as professor in the Royal school in the seigniory of St. Armand, but he returned to college in June, 1812. After, the declaration of war he went again to Canada, and was held as a prisoner. On his return he taught and studied law in Cherry Valley, N.Y., and then in Paris, Ky., making his home in the former place, where he practised his profession and won reputation. He was a persistent advocate of protective duties, of internal improvements, and of education. He removed to Utica in 1832, and, though he continued to try causes as counsel, the remainder of his life was given mainly to the temperance and anti-slavery causes. A volume of his speeches was published in 1860. Among the most conspicuous of these was an argument, in 1837, before the New York state anti-slavery convention, to prove that congress might constitutionally abolish slavery; on the “Right of Petition” at Pennsylvania hall, Philadelphia, and on the “Great Issues between Right and Wrong” at the same place in 1838; before the joint committee of the legislature of Vermont; and before the supreme court of New Jersey on a habeas corpus to determine the unconstitutionality of slavery under the new state constitution of 1844, which last occupied eleven hours in delivery. His first published speech against slavery was in 1835, under threats of a mob. He then drew a call for a state anti-slavery convention for 21 Oct., 1835, at Utica. As the clock struck the hour he called the convention to order and addressed it, and the programme of business was completed ere the threatened mob arrived, as it soon did and dispersed the convention by violence. That night the doors and windows of his house were barred with large timbers, and fifty loaded muskets were provided, with determined men to handle them, but the preparations kept off the menaced invasion. “He was the first,” says William Goodell, the historian of abolitionism, “to insist earnestly, in our consultations, in committee and elsewhere, on the necessity of forming a distinct political party to promote the abolition of slavery.” He gradually brought the leaders into it, was its candidate for governor, and this new party grew, year by year, till at last it held the balance of power between the Whigs and Democrats, when, uniting with the former, it constituted the Republican party. The characteristics of Mr. Stewart's eloquence and conversation were a strange and abounding humor, a memory that held large resources at command, readiness in emergency, a rich philosophy, strong powers of reasoning, and an exuberant imagination. A collection of his speeches, with a memoir, is in preparation by his son-in-law, Luther R. Marsh. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 683.

Jay, William, president (Blue, 2005, p. 21; Harrold, 1995; Sernett, 2002, p. 52; Sorin, 1971, pp. 51, 77-81, 96, 132) 1789-1858, Bedford, NY, jurist, anti-slavery activist, abolitionist leader, anti-slavery Liberty Party. Son of first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Jay. In 1819, he strongly opposed the Missouri Compromise, which allowed the extension of slavery into the new territories. Drafted the constitution of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS).  Corresponding Secretary, 1835-1838, Executive Committee, 1836-1837, AASS.  Vice President, American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (AFASS).  He was removed as a judge of Westchester County, in New York, due to his antislavery activities. Supported emancipation of slaves in the District of Columbia and the exclusion of slavery from new territories, although he did not advocate interfering with slave laws in the Southern states.

(Dumond, 1961, pp. 47, 159, 226, 286, 301; Mabee, 1970, pp. 73, 107, 199, 251, 253, 295; Sorin, 1971, pp. 51, 77-81, 96, 132; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 5, Pt. 2, p. 11; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 473-475; Jay, W., Life and Writings of John Jay, 1833; Jay, W., An Inquiry into the Character and Tendency of the American Colonization and American Anti-Slavery Societies, 1834; Jay, W., A View of the Action of the Federal Government in Behalf of Slavery, 1837; Jay, W., War and Peace, 1848; Jay, W., Review of the Causes and Consequences of the Mexican War, 1849)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

JAY, William, jurist, b. in New York city, 16 June; 1789; d. in Bedford, N. Y., 14 Oct., 1858, studied the classics at Albany with the Rev. Thomas Ellison, of Oxford, England. Among his classmates was James Fenimore Cooper, with whom he formed a life-long friendship, and who inscribed to Jay “Lionel Lincoln” and some of his “Letters from Europe.” Jay was graduated at Yale in 1808, and studied law with John B. Henry of Albany, but was compelled to relinquish the profession by weakness of the eyes. He retired to his father's home at Bedford, and in 1812 married Augusta, daughter of John McVickar, a lady “in whose character were blended all the Christian graces and virtues.” In 1815 he published a “Memoir on the Subject of a General Bible Society for the United States,” and in 1810 assisted Elias Boudinot and others in forming the American Bible society, of which he was for years an active and practical promoter, and its principal champion against the vigorous attacks of the high-churchmen led by Bishop Hobart. The interest in the controversy extended to England, and Jay's numerous letters and pamphlets on the subject have been commended as models of that sort of warfare. In 1818 Jay was appointed to the bench of Westchester county by Gov. DeWitt Clinton. His office as first judge was vacated by the adoption of the new constitution in 1821, but he was subsequently reappointed, without regard to politics, until he was superseded in 1843 by Gov. Bouck at the demand of a pro-slavery faction. In 1826, Jay, who in 1819, during the Missouri controversy, had written strongly against the extension of slavery, demanding that congress should “stand between the living and the dead, and stay the plague,” was instrumental in calling the attention of the New York legislature and of congress to the necessity of reforming the slave-laws of the District of Columbia. A free colored man, Gilbert Horton, of Somers, Westchester co., who had gone to Washington, was there arrested as a runaway and advertised by the sheriff to be sold as a fugitive slave, to pay his jail fees, unless previously claimed by his master. Jay called a public meeting, which demanded the interposition of Gov. DeWitt Clinton. This was promptly given, Horton was released, and a petition circulated for the abolition of slavery in the District. The New York assembly, by a vote of fifty-seven to thirty-nine, instructed their representatives in congress to vote for the measure. Pennsylvania passed a similar bill, and upon the memorial presented by Gen. Aaron Ward, the house of representatives, after a prolonged debate, referred the subject to a special committee. In 1828-'9 the debate was renewed in congress, and resolutions and petitions multiplied, from Maine to Tennessee.

Among Jay's writings at this time were essays on the Sabbath as a civil and divine institution, temperance, Sunday-schools, missionary and educational efforts, and an essay on duelling, to which, in 1830, while the authorship was unknown, a medal was awarded by the Anti-duelling association of Savannah, by a committee of which Judge James M. Wayne and Gov. Richard W. Habersham were members. In 1833 he published the “Life and Writings of John Jay.” Its careful sketch of the peace negotiations of 1782, and its exposition of the hostility of France to the American claims was questioned by Dr. Sparks, but their accuracy was certified by Lord St. Helens (Mr. Fitzherbert), and has since been confirmed by the Vergennes correspondence and the “Life of Shelburne.” In October, 1832, President Jackson appointed Judge Jay a commissioner to adjust all unsettled matters with the western Indians; but the appointment, which was unsolicited, was declined. Judge Jay contributed a paper on the anti-slavery movement to the first number of the “Emancipator,” published in New York, 1 May, 1833. In October of the same year the New York city anti-slavery society was formed, and in December an Anti-slavery convention met at Philadelphia to form the American anti-slavery society. Each of these bodies, at Judge Jay's suggestion, disclaimed the right of congress to interfere with slavery in the states, while claiming for congress power to suppress the domestic slave-trade and to abolish slavery in the territories under its exclusive jurisdiction. The significance of the principles and action of these societies is illustrated by the interesting historic facts: first, that nullification in South Carolina in 1832, when a medal was struck inscribed “John C. Calhoun, First President of the Southern Confederacy,” was the precursor of the secession of 1861, showing that the pro-slavery policy during the interval was a part of the secession scheme; and next, that the anti-slavery movement, organized in 1833 on strictly constitutional grounds, culminated in the Republican party, by which slavery was abolished and the republic preserved. The same year, 1833, was noted for the persecution and trial in Connecticut of Prudence Crandall (q. v.), and for the decision of Judge Daggett that colored persons could not be citizens. Judge Jay's review of that decision and his able enforcement of the opposite doctrine were approvingly quoted by Chancellor Kent in his “Commentaries.” The years 1834 and 1835 were memorable for the attempt to arrest, by threats and violence, the expression of anti-slavery sentiments. Judge Jay, in a charge to the grand jury, called their attention to the prevailing spirit of lawless violence, and charged them that any law that might be passed to abridge in the slightest degree the freedom of speech or the press, to shield any one subject from discussion, would be null and void. He prepared also, for the American anti-slavery society, an address to the public, restating their views and principles, which was widely published throughout America and Europe. In 1834 Judge Jay published his “Inquiry into the Character and Tendency of the American Colonization and American Anti-Slavery Societies,” which was read “by scholars and statesmen and exerted a powerful influence!” “The work,” wrote Prof. E. Wright, Jr., “sells faster than it can be printed,” and it was presently reprinted in London. In December, 1835, President Jackson, in his message, assailed the character and designs of the anti-slavery movement, accusing the Abolitionists of circulating through the mails “inflammatory appeals addressed to the passions of the slaves, and calculated to stimulate them to insurrection and all the horrors of civil war,” and the president suggested to congress a law forbidding the circulation through the mails of incendiary documents. On 28 Dec. the executive committee addressed to the president what Henry Wilson called “an elaborate and dignified protest from the polished and pungent pen of Judge Jay,” denying his accusations, and offering to submit their publications to the inspection of congress.

Judge Jay's next work, “A View of the Action of the Federal Government in Behalf of Slavery” (1837), made a deep impression, and had a rapid sale. This was followed in 1839 by a startling presentation of facts on “The Condition of the Free People of Color in the United States,” in 1840 by an address to the friends of constitutional liberty on the violation by the house of representatives of the right of petition, and a review from his pen of the case of the “Amistad” negroes (see CINQUE) was read by John Quincy Adams in congress as a part of his speech on the subject. In 1842 Judge Jay reviewed the argument by Mr. Webster on the slaves of the “Creole.” The two subjects to which Judge Jay's efforts were chiefly devoted were those of war and slavery. His writings on the first, both before and after he became president of the American peace society, had no little influence at home and abroad. In his volume entitled “War and Peace; the Evils of the First, with a Plan for securing the Last” (New York, 1848), he suggested stipulation by treaty referring international disputes to arbitration, as a plan based upon obvious principles of national policy, and adapted to the existing state of civilized society. The suggestion met with the warm approval of Joseph Sturge, the English philanthropist, who visited Judge Jay at Bedford while the work was still in manuscript, and it was embodied by Mr. Sturge in a volume published by him on his return to England. The plan was heartily approved by Mr. Cobden, who wrote to Judge Jay: “If your government is prepared to insert an arbitration clause in the pending treaties, I am persuaded it will be accepted by our government.” The main feature of the plan, arbitration, after approval by successive peace congresses in Europe (at Brussels in 1848, at Paris in 1849, at London in 1851) was virtually recommended by Protocol No. 23, of the Congress of Paris, held in 1856 after the Crimean war, which protocol was unanimously adopted by the plenipotentiaries of France, Austria, Great Britain, Prussia, Russia, Sardinia, and Turkey. These governments declared their wish that the states between which any serious misunderstanding might arise should, before appealing to arms, have recourse, as far as circumstances might allow, to the good offices of a friendly power. The honor of its introduction in the congress belongs to Lord Clarendon, whose services had been solicited by Joseph Sturge and Henry Richard, and it was supported by all of his colleagues in the congress. It was subsequently referred to by Lord Derby as worthy of immortal honor. Lord Malmsbury pronounced it an act “important to civilization and to the security of the peace, of Europe,” and it was somewhat later approved by all the other powers to whom it was referred, more than forty in number. Among Judge Jay's other writings on this subject are his letter on the “Kossuth Excitement” (1852); an address before the American peace society at Boston (1845), and a petition from the society to the U. S. senate in behalf of stipulated arbitration (1853). Perhaps under this head should be included his historic and searching “Causes and Consequences of the Mexican War” (Boston, 1849). In 1846 Judge Jay republished, with an elaborate preface, the concluding chapter of Bishop Wilber-force's “History of the Church in America,” which had been announced by two American publishers who relinquished the design when it was found to contain a reproof of the American church for its course on slavery. This was followed by a letter on the same subject to Bishop Ives, of North Carolina. “The Calvary Pastoral, a Tract for the Times,” rebuked the attempt to convert the Episcopal church into a popish church without a pope. In 1849 appeared “An Address to the Non-Slave-holders of the South, on the Social and Political Evils of Slavery.” This was in part embodied in an address to the people of California, which was effectively circulated on the Pacific coast in English and Spanish. In 1850 Judge Jay addressed a letter to William Nelson, on Clay's compromise measures; and this was followed by a review of Mr. Webster's declaration that slavery was excluded from California and New Mexico by the law of physical geography. Subsequent letters and addresses included one to Samuel A. Elliott, in reply to his apology for the fugitive-slave bill, an address to the anti-slavery Christians of the United States, and in 1853 several letters and reviews of the conduct of the American tract society in the interest of slavery. The same year a volume of Judge Jay's miscellaneous writings on slavery was published in Boston. In 1854 he had the satisfaction of seeing the Republican party founded on the anti-slavery principles that he had early advocated. Of his anti-slavery labors Horace Greeley said: “As to Chief-Justice Jay, the father, may be attributed, more than to any other man, the abolition of negro bondage in this state [New York], so to Judge William Jay, the son, the future give the credit of having been one of the earliest advocates of the modern anti-slavery movements, which at this moment influence so radically the religion and the philanthropy of the country, and of having guided by his writings, in a large measure, the direction which a cause so important and so conservative of the best and most precious rights of the people should take.” He left in manuscript a commentary on the Bible.—Peter Augustus's son, John Clarkson, physician, b. in New York city, 11 Sept., 1808; d. in Rye, N.Y., 15 Nov., 1891, was graduated at the College of physicians and surgeons in 1831. In addition to his practice of medicine he made a specialty of conchology, and acquired the most complete and valuable collection of shells in the United States. This and his costly library on this branch of science were purchased by Catherine Wolfe and presented, in memory of her father, to the American museum of natural history, where it is known as the Jay collection. In 1832 he became a member of the Lyceum of natural history (now New York academy of sciences), and was its treasurer in 1836-'43. He took an active part in the efforts that were made during that time to obtain subscriptions for the new building, and bore the principal burden in planning and superintending its construction. He was one of the founders of the New York yacht-club, and for some time its secretary. From 1859 till 1880 he was a trustee of Columbia college. The shells collected by the expedition of Com. Matthew C. Perry to Japan were submitted to him for examination, and he wrote the article on that subject in the government reports. Dr. Jay was the author of “Catalogue of Recent Shells” (New York, 1835); “Description of New and Rare Shells” (1836); and later editions of his catalogue, in which he enumerates about 11,000 well-marked varieties, and at 7,000 well-established species. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III.

Goodell, William, (Blue, 2005, p. 20; Harrold, 1995; Sorin, 1971, pp. 25, 57-62, 126, 130) 1792-1878, New York City, reformer, temperance activist, radical abolitionist.  Manager, 1833-1839, and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833.  Published anti-slavery newspaper, The Investigator, founded 1829 in Providence, Rhode Island; merged with the National Philanthropist the same year.  Wrote Slavery and Anti-Slavery, 1852. Co-founder of the New York Anti-Slavery Society, 1833.  Editor of The Emancipator, and The Friend of Man, in Utica, New York, the paper of the New York Anti-Slavery Society.  Co-founded the Anti-Slavery Liberty Party in 1840.  Was its nominee for President in 1852 and 1860.  In 1850, edited American Jubilee, later called The Radical Abolitionist.

(Blue, 2005, pp. 19, 20, 23, 25, 32, 34, 50, 53, 54, 101; Drake, 1950, p. 177; Dumond, 1961, pp. 167, 182, 264-265, 295; Goodell, 1852; Mabee, 1970, pp. 48, 107, 187, 228, 246, 249, 252, 300, 333, 341, 387n11, 388n27; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 1, 7, 22, 29, 31, 35, 46, 63, 64, 71, 72, 162-163, 199, 225, 257n; Pease, 1965, pp. 411-417; Sorin, 1971, pp. 411-417; Van Broekhoven, 2001, pp. 30-31, 35-36, 87; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 4, Pt. 1, p. 384; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 9, p. 236)

Holley, Myron, (Blue, 2005, p. 23; Sorin, 1971, pp. 47n) 1779-1841, Rochester, New York, abolitionist leader, political leader, reformer. Founder of the Liberty Party. Published the anti-slavery newspaper, Rochester Freeman.

(Blue, 2005, pp. 20, 23, 25, 26; Chadwick, 1899; Dumond, 1961, pp. 295-296, 404n16; Goodell, 1852, pp. 470, 474, 556; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 16-17, 21; Sernett, 2002, pp. 107-109, 112, 180, 305-306n17; Sorin, 1971; Wright, 1882; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, p. 236; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 5, Pt. 1, p. 150; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 11, p. 62)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

HOLLEY, Myron, reformer, b. in Salisbury, Conn., 29 April, 1779; d. in Rochester, N. Y., 4 March, 1841. He was graduated at Williams in 1799, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1802. He began practice in Salisbury, but in 1803 settled in Canandaigua, N. Y. Finding the law uncongenial, he purchased the stock of a local bookseller and became the literary purveyor of the town. In 1810-'14 he was county-clerk, and in 1816 was sent to Albany as an assemblyman. The project of the Erie canal was at that time the great subject of interest, and through the efforts of Mr. Holley a board of commissioners was appointed, of whom he was one. His work thenceforth, until its completion, was on the Erie canal. For eight years his practical wisdom, energy, and self-sacrifice made him the executive power, without which this great enterprise would probably have been a failure. On the expiration of his term of office, in 1824, as canal-commissioner and treasurer of the board, he retired to Lyons, where with his family he had previously removed. The anti-Masonic excitement of western New York, arising from the abduction of William Morgan, soon drove Mr. Holley into prominence again. This movement culminated in a national convention being held in Philadelphia in 1830, where Henry D. Ward, Francis Granger, William H. Seward, and Myron Holley were the representatives from New York. An “Address to the People of the United States,” written by Holley, was adopted and signed by 112 delegates. The anti-Masonic adherents presented a candidate in the next gubernatorial canvass of New York, and continued to do so for several years, until the Whigs, appreciating the advantages of their support, nominated candidates that were not Masons. This action resulted, in 1838, in the election of William H. Seward. Meanwhile, in 1831, Mr. Holley became editor of the Lyons “Countryman,” a journal devoted to the opposition and suppression of Masonry; but after three years, this enterprise not having been successful, he went to Hartford, and there conducted the “Free Elector” for one year. He then returned to Lyons, but soon disposed of his property and settled near Rochester, where for a time he lived in quiet, devoting his attention to horticulture. When the anti-slavery feeling began to manifest itself Mr. Holley became one of its adherents. At this time he was offered a nomination to congress by the Whig party, provided he would not agitate this question; but this proposition he declined. He participated in the meeting of the anti-slavery convention held in Cleveland in 1839, and was prominent in the call for a national convention to meet in Albany, to take into consideration the formation of a Liberty party. At this gathering the nomination of James G. Birney was made, and during the subsequent canvass Mr. Holley was active in support of the candidate, both by continual speaking and by his incessant labors as editor of the Rochester “Freeman.” Mr. Holley's remains rest in Mount Hope cemetery, at Rochester, and the grave is marked by an obelisk, with a fine medallion portrait in white marble, the whole having been paid for in one-cent contributions by members of the Liberty party, at the suggestion of Gerrit Smith. See “Myron Holley; and What he did for Liberty and True Religion,” by Elizur Wright (Boston, 1882). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, pp. 236.

Hough, Stanley, New York, abolitionist leader, editor, newsletter of the New York Anti-Slavery Society (NYASS), Friend of Man, after 1839.  (Sernett, 2002, p. 53; Sorin, 1971)

Lee, Luther, 1800-1889, clergyman, Methodist congregation, Utica, New York, abolitionist leader.  Began his abolitionist career in 1837.  Helped create Wesleyan anti-slavery societies.  In 1843, co-founded the anti-slavery Wesleyan Methodist Connection of America, of which he became president.  Lecturer for New York Anti-Slavery Society (NYASS) and agent for the American Anti-Slavery Society.  Member, Executive Committee of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1846-1852.  Luther was attacked on a number of occasions by pro-slavery advocates.  In 1840, Lee helped to co-found the Liberty Party. 

(Filler, 1960, p. 123; Sernett, 2002, pp. 57-58, 59, 80-83, 299n8, 300n16; Sorin, 1971; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, 603; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 6, Pt. 1, p. 115; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 13, p. 384)

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

LEE, Luther, clergyman, b. in Schoharie, N. Y., 30 Nov., 1800. He joined the Methodist Episcopal church in 1821, soon began to preach, and in 1827 entered the Genesee conference, becoming an itinerant missionary, preacher, and successful temperance lecturer. He began to preach against slavery in 1836, was mobbed several times, and in 1841 established and edited “The New England Christian Advocate,” an anti-slavery journal, at Lowell, Mass. He subsequently edited “The Sword of Truth,” and in 1842 seceded from the Methodist church, began a weekly journal, “The True Wesleyan,” and when the Wesleyan Methodist connection was organized, became pastor of that church in Syracuse, N. Y. He was the first president of the first general conference of the new church, was editor of the organ of that body, “The True Wesleyan,” till 1852, and after that date was successively pastor of churches in Syracuse and Fulton, N. Y. In 1854-'5 he edited a periodical entitled “The Evangelical Pulpit.” He became president and professor of theology in the Michigan union college at Leoni in 1856, resigning the next year to officiate in churches in Ohio. From 1864 till 1867 he was connected with Adrian college, Mich., and at the latter date returned to the Methodist Episcopal church, slavery, which was the cause of the organization of the Wesleyan connection, having ceased to exist. Since 1867 he has been a member of the Michigan conference, and is now (1887) superannuated. His publications include “Universalism Examined and Refuted” (New York, 1836); “The Immortality of the Soul” (1846); “Revival Manual” (1850); “Church Polity” (1850); “Slavery Examined in the Light of the Bible” (1855); and “Elements of Theology” (1856). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, pp. 603.

Officers of the New York Anti-Slavery Society, 1860:

Hart, Henry A., Dr., abolitionist, President, New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860 (Constitution of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860)

Gilbert, Edward W., abolitionist, Vice President, New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860 (Constitution of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860)

Hudson, Erasmus D., abolitionist, Vice President, New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860 (Constitution of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860)

Tilton, Theodore, abolitionist, Vice President, New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860 (Constitution of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860)

Johnson, Oliver, abolitionist, Corresponding Secretary, New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860 (Constitution of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860)

Richards, James B., abolitionist, Recording Secretary, New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860 (Constitution of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860)

Bramhill, Cornelius, abolitionist, Member of the Executive Committee, New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860 (Constitution of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860)

Cleveland, J. F., abolitionist, Member of the Executive Committee, New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860 (Constitution of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860)

Howard, Sidney, abolitionist, Member of the Executive Committee, New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860 (Constitution of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860)

Gay, S. H., abolitionist, Member of the Executive Committee, New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860 (Constitution of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860)

Gibbson, Abby H., abolitionist, Member of the Executive Committee, New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860 (Constitution of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860)

Smith, Elias, abolitionist, Member of the Executive Committee, New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860 (Constitution of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society, 1860)

New York State Vigilance Committee/New York Committee of Vigilance, aided by the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (AFASS; Sinha, 2016, pp. 385-387, 405, 455, 501-502)

Hopper, Isaac, head, New York Vigilance Committee, 1847 (Sinha, 2016, pp. 382-386)

Smith, Gerrit, head, New York Vigilance Committee, 1848 (Sinha, 2016, p. 285)

Ray, Charles B., Secretary, Executive Committee, New York Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 501-502)

Ruggles, David, Secretary, New York Vigilance Committee, 1835 (Sinha, 2016)

Johnson, William, Treasurer, New York Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016)

Tappan, Lewis, New York Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 284)

Cornish, Samuel, Executive Committee, New York Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 284)

Wright, Elizur, Executive Committee, New York Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 284)

Johnson, William, Executive Committee, New York Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 284)

Van Rensselaer, Thomas, Executive Committee, New York Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 284)

Higgins, J. W. , Executive Committee, New York Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 284-285)

Bell, Phillip, Executive Committee, New York Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 285)

Harned, William, New York Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 405)

Newport Anti-Slavery Society, Newport, Rhode Island (Van Broekhoven, 2002, pp. 90, 208, 213)

Newport Young Ladies’ Juvenal Anti-Slavery Society (Jeffrey, 1998, p. 248n90)

North Carolina Manumission Society (Filler, 1960, p. 273; Locke, 1901, p. 7n)

North Star Association, vigilance-style committee to protect and aid fugitive slaves.

Myers, Stephan, leader

Return to Abolitionist and Anti-Slavery Organizations (main page)

Oberlin College, Ohio, founded 1833, leading abolitionist institution in the United States (Blue, 2005, pp. 6, 66-67, 75, 79-84, 86, 226; Dumond, 1961, pp. 164-165; Filler, 1960, pp. 35, 69, 223; Fletcher, 1943; Mabee, 1970, pp. 3, 77, 104, 153, 154, 156, 157, 200, 212, 218, 219, 235, 238, 253, 394n4, 402n18, 403n25; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 41-42, 61-62, 208, 244, 465, 488-489, 511; Sorin, 1971, pp. 43, 75, 114)

Mahon, Asa, President, Oberlin College, 1835-1850, abolitionist

Finney, Charles Grandison, President, Oberlin College, 1851-1866, abolitionist

Fairchild, James, President, Oberlin College, 1866-1889, abolitionist

Ellis, John Milliot, Acting President of Oberlin College, abolitionist, minister

Blackwell, Antoinette Brown, Oberlin College, abolitionist

Cowles, Betsy Mix, Oberlin College, abolitionist

Dawes, William, Trustee, Oberlin College, abolitionist

Fairbank, Calvin, Oberlin College, abolitionist

Keep, John, Trustee, Oberlin College, abolitionist

Langston, John Mercer, Oberlin College, attorney, abolitionist

Stanton, Lucy, abolitionist, Oberlin College

Stone, Lucy, Oberlin College, feminist, abolitionist

Thome, James A., professor of rhetoric and belles-lettres, Oberlin College, abolitionist

Todd, John, Oberlin College, abolitionist, conspirator with John Brown

Walker, Amansa, Oberlin College, abolitionist

Whipple, George, professor of mathematics, principal of preparatory department, Oberlin College, abolitionist

Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee, Loraine County, Ohio, September 1858.  John Price fugitive slave case.  Thirty-seven individuals were indicted for violating the Fugitive Slave Law.  Only two went to trial in U.S. court.  (Bauman, 2003; Brandt, 1990; Shiperd, 1859)

Active participants in the rescue were:

Bushnell, Simon, student at Oberlin College, went to trial and was convicted, Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee

Copeland, John A., participant in John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry, Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee

Cowles, John, Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee

Evans, Henry, African American, Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee

Evans, Wilson Bruce, African American

Fairfield, James Harris, professor, Oberlin College (future President of Oberlin)

Fitch, James, Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee, Oberlin bookseller.  His home was a station on the Underground Railroad.

Fox, Jeremiah, fugitive slave, Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee

Gillet, Mathew, Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee

Griffin, Charles, abolitionist, Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee

Langston, Charles Henry, Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee, Ohio Anti-Slavery Society, went to trial and was convicted.

Langston, John Mercer, Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee, Ohio Anti-Slavery Society.

Leary, Lewis Sheridan, Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee, later participated in John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry in 1859 and was killed.

Lincoln, William, worked for American Missionary Association, Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee

Lyman, Anson, abolitionist, student at Oberlin College

Monroe, James, African American, abolitionist, professor, Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee

Patton, James L., African American, Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee

Peck, Henry, professor, Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee

Plumb, Ralph, Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee

Scott, John, former slave from North Carolina, Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee

Shipard, Jacob, Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee, published history of the Oberlin-Willington Rescue in 1859.

Wadsworth, Loring, Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee

Wall, Orindatus S. B., African American, Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee

Watson, John, African American community leader

Windsor, Richard, Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee

Attorneys for the defense of the Oberlin-Wellington Rescuers:

Andrews, Sherlock, anti-slavery Congressman, attorney for the defense of the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee

Backus, Franklin Thomas, attorney for the defense of the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee

Griswold, Seneca O., attorney for the defense of the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee

Riddle, Albert G., attorney for the defense of the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee

Spalding, Rufus P., attorney for the defense of the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Committee

Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS), founded June 7, 1842.  Affiliated with Garrison’s American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS).  Supported radical abolitionism.  Motto: “No union with slaveholders.”  Official newspaper was the Anti-Slavery Bugle, published in Salem, in Columbiana Cuonty, which was the society’s headquarters.  It was edited by J. Elizabeth Hitchcock and Benjamin Jones.  Changed its name to Western Anti-Slavery Society in June 1846.  It was active up to the Civl War.  (Filler, 1960, doctoral thesis)

See also Western Anti-Slavery Society (WASS)

Brook, Adam, Marlboro, Ohio, founder, abolitionist.  Founder of utopian community, Marlboro Association.

McNeely, Cyrus, President, member of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS).  Also a member of the Liberty Party.

Pettibone, Milo D., Delaware County, Ohio, abolitionist, President of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Hitchcock, J. Elizabeth, co-editor of the Anti-Slavery Bugle.

Jones, Benjamin S., co-editor of the Anti-Slavery Bugle.

Barrett, George, Delaware County, Ohio, Vice President of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Brooke, Hannah D., Starke County, Ohio, Vice President of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Brown, Cyrus, Morgan County, Ohio, Vice President of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Coates, Deborah, Richmond County, Ohio, Vice President of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Donaldson, Thomas, Clermont County, Ohio, Vice President of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Dugdale, Joseph A., Clark County, Ohio, Vice President of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Eastman, David C., Fayette County, Ohio, Vice President of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Fletcher, Robinson, Green County, Ohio, Vice President of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Galbreath, Nathan, Columbiana County, Ohio, Vice President of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Michener, Benjamin, Logan County, Ohio, Vice President of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Mott, Lydia, Hamilton County, Ohio, Vice President of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Nye, Horace, Muskingum County, Ohio, Vice President of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Robinson, Marius, Muskingum County, Ohio, Vice President of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Robinson, William, Jefferson County, Ohio, Vice President of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Wood, Joel, Belmont County, Ohio, Vice President of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Allen, Abram, Clinton County, Ohio, Executive Committee of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Brooke, A., Clinton County, Ohio, Executive Committee of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Brooke, Hannah D., Stark County, Ohio, Executive Committee of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Donaldson, Thomas, Clermont County, Ohio, Executive Committee of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Dugdale, Joseph A., Clark County, Ohio, Executive Committee of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Galbreath, Ruth, Columbiana County, Ohio, Executive Committee of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Gilbert, Barclay E., Clinton County, Ohio, Treasurer, Executive Committee of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Pettibone, Milo D., Delaware County, Ohio, Executive Committee of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Swayne, Thomas, Clark County, Ohio, Executive Committee of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Wattles, John O., Clinton County, Ohio, Recording Secretary, Executive Committee of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Wileman, Elizabeth, Stark County, Ohio, Executive Committee of the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS)

Brook, Samuel, General Agent for the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS).  Member of the Liberty Party.

Brown, William Wells, African American abolitionist, Agent for the Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society (OAASS).

Ohio Anti-Slavery Society, organized in Putnam, Ohio, April 22-24, 1835, later moved to Cleveland, Ohio.  The Society was originally founded as an auxiliary of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS).  Their constitution stated that their objective was “abolition of slavery throughout the United States and the elevation of our colored brethren to their proper rank as men.”  Newspaper was the Cincinnati Philanthropist, edited by Dr. Gamaliel Bailey.  At the first meeting, held in Putnam, Ohio, in 1835, the Society was represented by delegates from 25 counties in Ohio.  There were four corresponding members of the Society from other states.  They were William T. Allen, of Alabama, James G. Birney and James A. Thome, of Kentucky, and Ebenezer Martin, of New York.

Click here for an extensive list of officers, members and supporters of the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society.  We have included a brief biography of each of these individuals.  Also included is a chapter about the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society: “Activity of the Abolitionists. - Action of Northern Legislatures,” by Henry Wilson, in History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, 1872.

Ohio Vigilance Committee, Ohio.  (Mitchell, William M., The Underground Railroad: From Slavery to Freedom, London, 1860)

Mitchell, William M., Reverend  (Mitchell, William M., The Underground Railroad: From Slavery to Freedom, London, 1860)

Oneida County Anti-Slavery Association, Oneida County, New York, founded April 1835 (Sernett, 2002, p. 40)

Stuart, Charles, founder, abolitionist (Sernett, 2002, p. 40)

Oneida Institute, Oneida County, New York, founded as Oneida Academy, May 1827, in village of Whitesboro, near Utica, New York.  Founders were abolitionist leaders.  School supported the anti-slavery movement.  It closed due to financial problems in 1844.  One of the first colleges to admit white and black students equally.  Published newspaper, Friend of Man.  In 1833, students formed anti-slavery society, on of the state’s first.  Oneida Institute was a station on the Underground Rail Road, hiding fugitive slaves on the campus.

(Blue, 2005, pp. 17, 34-35; Mabee, 1970, pp. 3, 21, 59, 209, 151, 155, 227, 256, 363, 394n22, 395n40, 402n18; Sernett, 2002, pp. 28-32, 33, 37, 53, 88; Sorin, 1971, pp. 54, 86, 90)

Weld, Theodore Dwight, 1803-1895, Cincinnati, Ohio, New York, NY, reformer, abolitionist leader, anti-slavery lobbyist.  Founder, Oneida Institute, 1827.  Co-founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) in December 1833.  Manager, 1833-1835, and Corresponding Secretary, 1839-1840, of the Society.  Published American Slavery As It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses (1839).  Also wrote The Bible Against Slavery (1839) and Slavery and the Internal Slave Trace in the United States (London, 1841).  Married to abolitionist Angelina Grimké. 

(Barnes, 1933; Drake, 1950, pp. 138, 140, 158, 173; Dumond, 1961, pp. 161, 176, 180, 183, 185, 220, 240-241; Filler, 1960, pp. 32, 56, 67, 72, 102, 148, 156, 164, 172, 176, 206; Hammond, 2011, pp. 268, 273; Mabee, 1970, pp. 17, 33, 34, 38, 92, 93, 104, 146, 151, 152, 153, 187, 188, 191, 196, 348, 358; Pease, 1965, pp. 94-102; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 42, 46, 106, 321-323, 419, 486, 510-512; Sernett, 2002; Sorin, 1971, pp. 42-43, 53, 60, 64, 67, 70n; Thomas, 1950; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, p. 425; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 10, Pt. 1, p. 625; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 681-682; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 22, p. 928; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 318).

Gale, Reverend George Washington, 1789-1861, Galesburgh, Illinois, anti-slavery advocate, clergyman.  Presbyterian minister.  Founder, Oneida Institute, 1827.  Founder of Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, which was anti-slavery.  Founder Oneida Manuel Labor Institute.  American Anti-Slavery Society Manager, 1837-1840. 

(Dumond, 1961, p. 159; Filler, 1960, p. 32; Muelder, 1959; Sernett, 2002; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 574; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 4, Pt. 1, p. 99; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 8, p. 630)

Finney, Charles G., 1792-1875, clergyman, advocate of social reforms, author, publisher, president of Oberlin College, Ohio, 1851-1866, abolitionist.  Founder, Oneida Institute, 1827.  Manager, American Anti-Slavery Society, 1840-1841.  American Presbyterian Minister and leader in the “Second Great Awakening” in the United States.  Also considered one of the “fathers of modern revivalism,” 1825-1835, in upstate New York and Manhattan. 

(Dumond, 1961, pp. 154, 158-159, 163; Goodell, 1852, p. 492; Mabee, 1970, pp. 130, 151, 153, 218, 253, 291, 339, 403n25; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 511, 518; Sernett, 2002; Sorin, 1971, pp. 12, 55, 67, 69, 97, 111-112; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 461; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 3, Pt. 2, p. 394; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 290-292; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 7, p. 935)

Green, Reverend Beriah, 1795-1874, Whitesboro, New York, reformer, clergyman, abolitionist.  Leader, Oneida Institute, 1827, and President, 1833-1844.  President, 1833-1837, and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833.  Active supporter of the anti-slavery Liberty Party.

(Blue, 2005, pp. 17, 34-35; Dumond, 1961, pp. 159, 295; Goodell, 1852, pp. 395-396, 556; Green, 1836; Mabee, 1970, pp. 20, 21, 24, 25, 40, 45, 46, 109, 151, 152, 227, 252, 257, 363, 366, 369; Pease, 1965, pp. 182-191; Sernett, 2002, 36-39, 46, 55, 72, 78, 93-94, 99, 105-106, 108, 113, 116, 122, 125; Sorin, 1971, pp. 25, 60, 90, 96, 97, 130; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 742; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 4, Pt. 1, p. 539; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 9, p. 480; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 326)

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874, Peterboro, New York, large landowner, reformer, philanthropist, radical abolitionist, abolitionist leader.  Major financial supporter of the Oneida Institute.  Supporter of the American Colonization Society (ACS).  Served as a Vice President of the ACS, 1833-1836.  Also supported the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS).  Served as a Vice President of the AASS, 1836-1840, 1840-1841.  Vice President of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1840.  President and co-founder of the Liberty League in 1848.  Presidential candidate for the Liberty League in 1848.  Active in the Underground Railroad.  Member of the Liberty Party.  Member of the Pennsylvania Free Produce Association.  Secretly supported radical abolitionist John Brown. 

(Blue, 2005; Dumond, 1961, pp. 200, 221, 231, 295, 301, 339, 352; Filler, 1960; Friedman, 1982; Frothingham, 1876; Harrold, 1995; Mabee, 1970; Mitchell, 2007; Rodriguez, 2007; Sernett, 2002; Sorin, 1971, pp. 25-38, 47, 49, 52, 66, 95, 96, 102, 126, 130; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 128, 129, 165, 189-190, 201, 213, 221, 224, 225, 230-231; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 583-584; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 1, p. 270; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 20; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, pp. 322-323; Harlow, Ralph Volney. Gerrit Smith: Philanthropist and Reformer. New York: Holt, 1939.)

Crummell, Alexander, abolitionist, student

Forten, William, abolitionist, student

Freeman, Amos Noe, abolitionist, student

Garnet, Henry Highland, abolitionist leader, student

Loguen, Jermaine, abolitionist

Stanton, Henry B., 1805-1887, New York, New York, Cincinnati, Ohio, abolitionist leader, anti-slavery agent, journalist, author.  Student, Oneida Institute, 1827.  Worked with William T. Allan and Birney.  Financial Secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), Manager, 1834-1838, Corresponding Secretary, 1838-1840, and Executive Committee of the Society, 1838.  Secretary, 1840-1841, and Member of the Executive Committee, American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, 1840-1844.  Leader of the Liberty Party.  Wrote for abolitionist newspapers.  Worked against pro-slavery legislation at state level.  Later edited the New York Sun. 

(Dumond, 1961, pp. 164, 219, 238-240, 286; Filler, 1960, pp. 68, 72, 134, 137, 156, 189, 301; Mitchell, 2007, pp. 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 14016, 18, 28, 36, 45, 47, 101, 162, 223; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 162; Sernett, 2002; Sorin, 1971 p. 63-67, 97, 131, 132; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 649-650; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 1, p. 525)

Frost, John, trustee, pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Whitesboro, abolitionist, Whitesborough, New York, American Anti-Slavery Society, Vice-President, 1834-35. (Sernett, 2002)

Orthodox Philadelphia Meeting for Suffering, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Society of Friends, Quaker.  Abolitionist Quaker group lobbied Congress to abolish slavery and nullify the Fugitive Slave Laws in Pennsylvania.  (Drake, 1950)

Lewis, Enoch, Society of Friends, Quaker, chairman

Return to Abolitionist and Anti-Slavery Organizations (main page)

Paint Valley Abolitionist Society, Ohio

Crothers, Samuel, founder, vice president, founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society (Dumond, 1961, pp. 91-92, 135)

Palmyra Anti-Slavery Society, Palmyra, New York (Sernett, 2002, p. 41)

Pawtucket Juvenile Emancipation Society, Pawtucket, Rhode Island (Van Broekhoven, 2002, pp. 102-105)

Pawtucket Ladies Anti-Slavery Society, Pawtucket, Rhode Island (Van Broekhoven, 2002, pp. 102-105)

Pawtucket Anti-Slavery Society, Pawtucket, Rhode Island (Van Broekhoven, 2002, pp. 102-105)

Pennsylvania Abolition Society (PAS), Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, founded April 14, 1775, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  The first abolition society in America.  Also known as the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage.  The Society was enlarged April 1787.

Click here for an extensive list of officers, members and supporters of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society.  We have included a brief biography of each of these individuals.

See also Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage

Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society (PASS), founded 1838, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Blue, 2005, p. 45; Mabee, 1970, pp. 48, 106, 196, 202, 265, 275, 289, 299, 303, 305, 325, 342, 350, 410n41; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 204, 388, 464)

Mott, James, founder, 1778-1868, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, philanthropist, merchant, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist, husband of Lucretia Mott.  Manager and Vice President of the American Anti-Slavery Society.  Co-founder, Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Soceity.  Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania.  Association for Advocating the Cause of the Slave.  (Drake, 1950, pp. 118, 140, 154; Mabee, 1970, pp. 9, 131, 305, 345, 406n13; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 387-388, 464; Yellin, 1994, pp. 69, 82, 276-278, 287, 294-295, 306, 313, 318-319, 333; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 441; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 7, Pt. 1, p. 288; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 16, p. 19)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

MOTT, James, philanthropist, b. in North Hempstead, L. I., 20 June, 1788; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 26 Jan., 1868. At nineteen he became a teacher in a Friends' boarding-school in Dutchess county, N.Y. He removed to New York city, and in 1810 to Philadelphia, and became a partner of his wife's father in mercantile business, in which he continued more than forty years, retiring with a competency. He was a participant in the movement against slavery and one of the earliest friends of William L. Garrison. In 1833 he aided in organizing in Philadelphia the National anti-slavery society, and in 1840 was a delegate from the Pennsylvania society to attend the World's anti-slavery convention at London, where he was among those who ineffectually urged the admission of the female delegates from the Pennsylvania and other societies. In 1848 he presided over the first Woman's rights national convention, at Seneca Falls, N.Y. He was a member of the Society of Friends, and in later life aided in maturing the plans of government and instruction for the Friends' college at Swarthmore, near Philadelphia. He published “Three Months in Great Britain.” Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 441.

Mott, Lucretia, founder, 1793-1880, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Society of Friends, Quaker, radical abolitionist, reformer, suffragist, co-founder and first president of the Philadelphia Female American Anti-Slavery Society, member of the Association of Friends for Advocating the Cause of the Slave, member of the Hicksite Anti-Slavery Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wrote memoir, Life, 1884.  (Bacon, 1999; Drake, 1950, pp. 140, 149, 154, 156, 157, 172, 176; Mabee, 1970, pp. 3, 13, 31, 68, 77, 94, 186, 188, 189, 201, 204, 224, 225, 226, 241, 289, 314, 326, 350, 374, 378; Palmer, 2001; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 42, 47, 157, 387-388, 416, 464, 519; Yellin, 1994, pp. 18, 26, 43, 74, 159-162, 175-176, 286-287, 301-302, 327-328; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 441; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 7, Pt. 1, p. 288; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 595-597; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 16, p. 21; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, pp. 310-311; Cromwell, Otelia. Lucretia Mott. 1958.)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

MOTT, Lucretia, reformer, b. on the island of Nantucket, Mass., 3 Jan., 1793; d. near Philadelphia, Pa., 11 Nov., 1880, was descended through her father, Capt. Thomas Coffin, from one of the original purchasers of the island. When she was eleven years old her parents removed to Boston, Mass. She was educated in the school where Mr. Mott was teaching, and became a teacher there at the age of fifteen. In 1809 she joined her parents, who had removed to Philadelphia, where she married in 1811. In 1817 she took charge of a small school in Philadelphia, and in 1818 appeared in the ministry of the Friends, and soon became noted for the clearness, refinement, and eloquence of her discourses. In the division of the society, in 1827, she adhered to the Hicksite branch. She early became interested in the movement against slavery, and remained one of its most prominent and persistent advocates until the emancipation. In 1833 she assisted in the formation at Philadelphia of the American anti-slavery society, though, owing to the ideas then accepted as to the activities of women, she did not sign the declaration that was adopted. Later, for a time, she was active in the formation of female anti-slavery organizations. In 1840 she went to London as a delegate from the American anti-slavery society to the World's anti-slavery convention, but it was there decided to admit no women. She was received, however, with cordiality, formed acquaintance with those most active in the movement in Great Britain, and made various addresses. The action of the convention in excluding women excited indignation, and led to the establishment of woman's rights journals in England and France, and to the movement in the United States, in which Mrs. Mott took an active part. She was one of the four women that called the convention at Seneca Falls, N. Y., in 1848, and subsequently devoted part of her efforts to the agitation for improving the legal and political status of women. She held frequent meetings with the colored people, in whose welfare and advancement she felt deep interest, and was for several years president of the Pennsylvania peace society. In the exercise of her “gift” as a minister, she made journeys through New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and into Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana, where she did not refrain from denouncing slavery. She was actively interested in the Free religious associations formed in Boston about 1868, and in the Woman's medical college in Philadelphia. See her “Life,” with that of her husband, edited by her granddaughter, Anna Davis Hallowell (Boston, 1884).  Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 441.

Purvis, Robert, founder, African American, 1810-1898, Philadelphia, African American, benefactor, abolitionist leader, reformer, women’s rights activist, temperance activist.  Vice president and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), December 1833.  Served as a Manager, 1833-1840, 1840-1842, and as a Vice President, 1842-1864, of the AASS.  President, Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, 1845-1850.  Chairman of the General Vigilance Committee, 1852-1857.  Associated with William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips.  Active in the Underground Railroad, 1831-1861.  Aided thousands of escaped slaves.  His home was a station on the Underground Railroad.  Friend and supporter of Lucretia Mott and the women’s rights movement.  Author, wrote Appeal of Forty Thousand Citizens with Disenfranchisement to the People of Pennsylvania.  Brother of Joseph Purvis.  Husband of Harriet Davy Forten.  

(Dumond, 1961, p. 333; Mabee, 1970, pp. 21, 57, 58, 99, 106, 109, 111, 121, 181, 191, 265, 276, 294, 305, 321, 338, 414n11, 422n27; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 45, 161, 162, 464; Winch, 2002; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 137; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. I. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 413; Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2013, Vol. 9, p. 281)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

PURVIS, Robert, benefactor, b. in Charleston, S. C., 4 Aug., 1810. His father, William Purvis, was a native of Northumberland, England, and his mother was a free-born woman of Charleston, of Moorish descent. Robert was brought to the north in 1819. His father, though residing in a slave state, was never a slave-holder, but was an Abolitionist in principle. Before Robert attained the age of manhood he formed the acquaintance of Benjamin Lundy, and in conjunction with him was an early laborer in the anti-slavery cause. Mr. Purvis was a member of the Philadelphia convention of 1833 which formed the American anti-slavery society, was its vice-president for many years, and signed its declaration of sentiments. He was also an active member of the Pennsylvania society, and its president for many years. His house was a well-known station on the “Underground railroad,” and his horses, carriages, and his personal attendance were always at the service of fugitive slaves. His son, CHARLES BURLEIGH, is surgeon-in-chief of the Freedmen's hospital at Washington, D. C., and a professor in the medical department of Howard university. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 137.

Still, William, 1821-1902, African American, abolitionist, writer.  “Conductor” on the Underground Railroad in Philadelphia area, 1851-1861.  Member of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society.  Wrote fugitive slave narratives.  (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. V, p. 689; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 2, p. 22; Mabee, 1970, pp. 108, 270, 273, 275, 279, 287, 288, 289, 292, 338, 339, 414n3, 415n18; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 53, 74, 204, 307, 464, 482, 489; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 20, p. 775; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, pp. 313-314; Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2013, Vol. 10, p. 536)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

STILL, William, philanthropist, b. in Shamony, Burlington co., N. J., 7 Oct., 1821. He is of African descent, and was brought up on a farm. Coming to Philadelphia in 1844, he obtained a clerkship in 1847 in the office of the Pennsylvania Anti-slavery society. He was chairman and corresponding secretary of the Philadelphia branch of the “underground railroad” in 1851-'61, and busied himself in writing out the narratives of fugitive slaves. His writings constitute the only full account of the organization with which he was connected. Mr. Still sheltered the wife, daughter, and sons of John Brown while he was awaiting execution in Charlestown, Va. During the civil war he was commissioned post-sutler at Camp William Penn for colored troops, and was a member of the Freedmen's aid union and commission. He is vice-president and chairman of the board of managers of the Home for aged and infirm colored persons, a member of the board of trustees of the Soldiers' and sailors' orphans' home, and of other charitable institutions. In 1885 he was sent by the presbytery of Philadelphia as a commissioner to the general assembly at Cincinnati. He was one of the original stockholders of “The Nation,” and a member of the Board of trade of Philadelphia. His writings include “The Underground Rail-Road” (Philadelphia, 1878); “Voting and Laboring”; and “Struggle for the Rights of the Colored People of Philadelphia.” Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 689.

Williamson, Passmore, 1822-1895, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, businessman and abolitionist.  Secretary of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society and Vigilance Committee.  Aided escaped slaves Jane Johnson and her two sons in 1855.  He was subsequently jailed for his actions.  (Still, 1872).

Pennsylvania Colonization Society

Cresson, Elliot, Secretary of the Board of Directors

Vaux, Robert

The Pennsylvania Free Produce Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, founded 1827.  Organized by Society of Friends, Quakers, to encourage Quakers and others to refrain from purchasing goods produced by slave labor.

Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage, later known as the Pennsylvania Abolition Society (PAS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, re-established 1787.  Quaker abolitionist organization whose leaders were almost all Hicksites.  They promoted a moderate approach to ending slavery in the United States.  By the late 1830s, it supported education for Black children, hiring lawyers to prevent or thwart kidnapping by slave catchers, and to aid fugitive Blacks in the court system.  

Click here for an extensive list of officers, members and supporters of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage.  We have included a brief biography of each of these individuals.

See also Pennsylvania Abolition Society (PAS)

Pennsylvania State Anti-Slavery Society (Basker, 2005, pp. 78-103, 105, 108, 131, 133, 217-218, 223, 225, 239, 247, 248, 299, 316; Dumond, 1961, p. 189; Yellin, 1994, pp. 71, 76, 79, 79n, 81-84, 175, 307, 326, 330)

Rogers, William, (Basker, 2005, pp. 223, 224, 227, 232, 239; Locke, 1901, pp. 91, 168) 1751-1824, Pennsylvania, abolitionist leader, clergyman, educator, College of Philadelphia, Committee of Twenty-Four/Committee of Education, Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery (PAS), president of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, 1790, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  (Basker, 2005, pp. 223, 239n11; Locke, 1901, pp. 91, 168; Nash, 1991, p. 129).

Rawle, William, (Basker, 2005, pp. 92, 102, 223-225, 227, 239; Locke, 1901, pp. 92, 127) 1759-1836, lawyer, educator, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  President of the Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania, 1826.  President of the Pennsylvania Abolition society, founded 1775, 1787.  Appointed U.S. District Attorney in Pennsylvania in 1791. 

(Basker, 2005, pp. 92, 102, 223, 224-225, 227, 239; Bruns, 1977, p. 514; Drake, 1950, p. 118; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 189; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 400)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

RAWLE, William, lawyer, b. in Philadelphia, 28 April, 1759; d. there, 12 April, 1836, was educated at the Friends' academy, and was yet a student when the war for independence was begun. His immediate relatives and connections were loyalists. On the evacuation of Philadelphia by the British, young Rawle accompanied his step-father, Samuel Shoemaker, who had been one of the civil magistrates of the city under Howe, to New York, and there began the study of the law. Mr. Rawle completed his studies in the Middle Temple, London, and returned to Philadelphia, where, in 1783, be was admitted to the bar. In 1791 he was appointed by President Washington U. S. district attorney for Pennsylvania. By direction of the president, Mr. Rawle accompanied the U. S. district judge and the military on the western expedition in 1794, and it became his duty to prosecute the offenders after the insurrections in that year and in 1798 had been put down. In 1792 be was offered by the president the office of judge of the U. S. district court for Pennsvlvania, but declined it on account of his youth and professional prospects. He was for many years the attorney and counsel for the Bank of the United States. From 1786 till his death he was a member of the American philosophical society, and for twenty years he was one of its councillors. In 1789 he was chosen to the assembly. He was one of the original members of the Society for political inquiries, founded by Franklin, whieh held its weekly meetings at his house. From 1796 till his death he was a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania. He was the chancellor of the Associated members of the bar of Philadelphia, and when, in 1827, this in stitution was merged in the Law association of Philadelphia, he became chancellor of the latter in 1822, and held the office till his death. He was chosen the first vice-president of the Law academy, was one of the founders of the Historical society of Pennsylvania in 1824, and its first president. He was also a member of the Agricultural, Humane, Linnaean, and Abolition societies, and was long president of the latter. For many years he was secretary and afterward a director of the Library company of Philadelphia. In 1830 he was appointed, with Thomas I. Wharton and Joel Jones, to revise the civil code of Pennsylvania, and he was the principal author of the reports of the commission, the results of whose labors are embodied in statutes that still remain in force. Among his published writings are “An Address before the Philadelphia Society for promoting Agriculture” (Philadelphia, 1819); “Two Addresses to the Associated Members of the Bar of Philadelphia” (1824); “A View of the Constitution of the United States” (1825); and “The Study of the Law” (1832). To the literature of the Historical society he contributed a “Vindication of the Rev. Mr. Heckewelder’s ‘History of the Indian Nations,’” a “Biographical Sketch of Sir William Keith,” and “A Sketch of the Life of Thomas Mifflin.” He left various manuscripts on theological matters, among them an “Essay on Angelic Influences,” and an argument on the evidences of Christianity. He was a fine classical scholar. He translated from the Greek the “Phaedo” of Plato, adding thereto a commentary thereon. These “would in themselves alone,” according to David Paul Brown, “suffice to protect his name against oblivion.” He received the degree of LL. D. from Princeton in 1827, and from Dartmouth in 1828. See a sketch of him by Thomas I. Wharton (Philadelphia, 1840). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 189.

Griffitts, Samuel, Powell (Basker, 2005, pp. 223, 224, 227, 238-240) b. 1759, Pennsylvania, physician, director of U.S. Mint, abolitionist, member and delegate of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society (PAS), founded 1775, Committee of Twenty-Four. (Basker, 2005, pp. 223, 239n13; Nash, 1991, p. 129).

Patterson, Robert, (Basker, 2005, pp. 223, 224, 238, 240) 1743-1824, Pennsylvania, mathematician, educator, soldier, member and delegate of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, founded 1775 (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 672; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 7, Pt. 2, p. 303; Basker, 2005, pp. 223, 240n14; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 17, p. 139)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

PATTERSON, Robert, director of the mint, b. near Hillsborough, County Down, Ireland, 30 May, 1743; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 22 July, 1824. He emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1768, found employment as a teacher, and in 1774 became principal of the academy in Wilmington, Del. When the Revolution began, he volunteered in the patriot army was at first a military instructor, and subsequently adjutant, assistant surgeon, and brigade-major. He was elected professor of mathematics in the University of Pennsylvania in 1779, occupied that chair for thirty-five years, and in 1810-'13 was vice-provost of that institution. Chief-Justice William Tilghman says of him: “Arduous as were his duties in the university, he found time for other useful employments. He was elected a member of the select council of Philadelphia, and was chosen its president in 1799. In 1805 he received from President Jefferson, with whom he had been in habits friendship, the appointment of director of the mint. This office he filled with great success until his last illness.” Mr. Patterson took an active part in the proceedings of the American philosophical society, and was its president from 1819 until his death, being a constant contributor to its “Transactions.” The University of Pennsylvania gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1819. He published “The Newtonian System” (Philadelphia, 1808) and a treatise on “Arithmetic” (Pittsburg, Pa., 1819); and edited James Ferguson's “Lectures on Mechanics” (2 vols., 1806); his “Astronomy” (1809); John Webster's “Natural Philosophy” (1808); and Rev. John Ewing's “Natural Philosophy,” with a memoir of the author (1809). See “Records of the Family of Robert Patterson (the Elder)” (printed privately, Philadelphia, 1847). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 672.

Coates, Samuel, (Basker, 2005, pp. 223, 224, 238, 240) 1748-1830, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Society of Friends, Quaker, merchant, director of the First Bank of the United States, member and delegate of the Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society (PAS), Committee of Twenty-Four (Basker, 2005, pp. 223, 224, 238, 240n15; Nash, 1991, p. 129; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 2, Pt. 2, p. 238).

Rush, Benjamin, (Basker, 2005, pp. 33, 80, 81, 92, 101, 217, 223, 228, 240, 308, 316; Locke, 1901, pp. 48, 52, 54-56, 58-59, 62, 93, 189) 1746-1813, Pennsylvania, founding father of the United States, physician, author, humanitarian, educator, opponent of slavery.  Active in the Pennsylvania Society for the Promotion of the Abolition of Slavery (Pennsylvania Abolition Society).  Wrote “An Address to the Inhabitants of the British Settlements in America Upon Slave Keeping,” an anti-slavery pamphlet published in 1773.  Secretary and member of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, 1787.  Rush wrote: “Slavery is so foreign to the human mind, that the moral faculties, as well as those of the understanding are debased, and rendered torpid by it.  All of the vices which are charged upon the negroes in the southern colonies and West Indies… are the genuine offspring of slavery, and serve as an argument to prove they [African Americans] were not intended by Providence for it.”  

(Basker, 2005, pp. 33, 80, 81, 92, 101, 217, 223-228, 240, 308, 316; Brodsky, 2004; Bruns, 1977, pp. 79, 224-246, 269, 304-306, 325, 358, 376, 384, 491, 510, 514; Drake, 1950, pp. 85, 94, 115, 119; Dumond, 1961, pp. 20, 52-53, 87; Locke, 1901, pp. 48, 52, 55, 56, 58, 59, 62; Mabee, 1970, p. 270; Nash, 1990; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 21, 25-26, 156, 253, 456; Zilversmit, 1967, pp. 90, 94-95, 169, 224-225; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 349; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 2, p. 227; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 707-710; Annals of Congress; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 19, p. 72; Hinks, Peter P., & John R. McKivigan, Eds., Encyclopedia of Antislavery and Abolition.  Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood, 2007, Vol. 2, pp. 585-586)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

RUSH, Benjamin, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. in Byberry township, Pa., 24 Dec., 1745; d. in Philadelphia, 19 April, 1813. His ancestor, John, who was a captain of horse in Cromwell's army, emigrated to this country in 1683, and left a large number of descendants. Benjamin's father died when the son was six years old. His earliest instructor was his uncle, Rev. Samuel Finley, subsequently president of Princeton, who prepared him for that college. He was graduated in 1760, and subsequently in the medical department of the University of Edinburgh in 1768, after studying under Dr. John Redman, of Philadelphia. He also attended medical lectures in England and in Paris, where he enjoyed the friendship of Benjamin Franklin, who advanced the means of paying his expenses. In August, 1769, he retumed to the United States and settled in Philadelphia, where he was elected professor of chemistry in the City medical college. In 1771 he published essays on slavery, temperance, and health, and in 1774 he delivered the annual oration before the Philosophical society on the “Natural History of Medicine among the Indians of North America.” He early engaged in pre-Revolutionary movements, and wrote constantly for the press on colonial rights. He was a member of the provincial conference of Pennsylvania, and chairman of the committee that reported that it had become expedient for congress to declare independence, and surgeon to the Pennsylvania navy from 17 Sept., 1775, to 1 July, 1776. He was then elected to the latter body, and on 4 July, 1776, signed the declaration. He married Julia, a daughter of Richard Stockton, the same year, was appointed surgeon-general of the middle department in April, 1777, and in July became physician-general. Although in constant attendance on the wounded in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, the Brandy wine, Germantown, and in the sickness at Valley Forge, he found time to write four long public letters to the people of Pennsylvania, in which he commented severely on the articles of confederation of 1776, and urged a revision on the ground of the dangers of giving legislative powers to a single house. In February, 1778, he resigned his military office on account of wrongs that had been done to the soldiers in regard to the hospital stores, and a coldness between himself and Gen. Washington, but, though he was without means at that time, he refused all compensation for his service in the army. He then returned to Philadelphia, resumed his practice and duties as professor, and for twenty-nine years was surgeon to the Pennsylvania hospital, and port physician to Philadelphia in 1790-'3. He was a founder of Dickinson college and the Philadelphia dispensary, and was largely interested in the establishment of public schools, concerning which he published an address, and in the founding of the College of physicians, of which he was one of the first censors. He was a member of the State convention that ratified the constitution of the United States in 1787, and of that for forming a state constitution in the same year, in which he endeavored to procure the incorporation of his views on public schools, and a penal code on which he had previously written essays. After that service he retired from political life. While in occupation of the chair of chemistry in Philadelphia medical college, he was elected to that of the theory and practice of medicine, to which was added the professorship of the institutes and practice of medicine and clinical practice in 1791, and that of the practice of physic in 1797, all of which he held until his death. During the epidemic of yellow fever in 1793 he rendered good service, visiting from 100 to 120 patients daily, but his bold and original practice made him enemies, and a paper edited by William Cobbett, called “Peter Porcupine’s Gazette,” was so violent in its attacks upon him that it was prosecuted, and a jury rendered a verdict of $5,000 damages, which Dr. Rush distributed among the poor. His practice during the epidemic convinced him that yellow fever is not contagious, and he was the first to proclaim that the disease is indigenous. From 1799 till his death he was treasurer of the U. S. mint. “His name,” says Dr. Thomas Young, “was familiar to the medical world as the Sydenham of America. His accurate observations and correct discrimination of epidemic diseases well entitled him to this distinction, while in the original energy of his reasoning he far exceeded his prototype.” He was a member of nearly every medical, literary, and benevolent institution in this country, and of many foreign societies, and for his replies to their queries on the subject of yellow fever received a medal from the king of Prussia in 1805, and gifts medal from the king of Prussia in 1805, and gifts from other crowned heads. He succeeded Benjamin Franklin as president of the Pennsylvania society for the abolition of slavery, was president of the Philadelphia medical society, vice-president and a founder of the Philadelphia Bible society, advocating the use of the Scriptures as a textbook in the public schools, an originator of the American philosophical society, of which he was a vice-president in 1799-1800. He taught, more clearly than any other physician of his day, to distinguish diseases and their effects, gave great impulse to the study of medicine in this country, and made Philadelphia the centre of that scienec in the United States, more than 2,250 students having attended his lectures during his professorship in the Medical college of Philadelphia. Yale gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1812. His publications include “Medical Inquiries and Observations” (5 vols., Philadelphia, 1789-'98; 3d ed., 4 vols., 1809); “Essays, Literary, Moral, and Philosophical” (1798; 2d ed., 1806); “Sixteen Introductory Lectures” (1811); and “Diseases of the Mind” (1812; 5th ed., 1835). He also edited several medical works. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 349.

McKim, James Miller, (Yellin, 1994 pp. 76, 161-162, 162n, 168, 287) 1810-1874, reformer, abolitionist.  Founding member and anti-slavery agent for the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS).  Manager, AASS, 1843-1853.  Lectured on anti-slavery in Pennsylvania.  Publishing agent, Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society.  Editor, Pennsylvania Freeman. (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 136; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 6, Pt. 2, p. 103; Dumond, 1961, pp. 188, 393n26; Mabee, 1970, pp. 202, 269, 273, 289, 303, 305, 342, 421n14; Yellin, 1994, pp. 76, 161-162, 162n, 168, 287; Friend of Man, February 1, 1837; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 15, p. 115)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

McKIM, James Miller, reformer, b. in Carlisle, Pa., 14 Nov., 1810; d. in West Orange, N. J., 13 June, 1874. He studied at Dickinson and Princeton colleges, and in 1835 was ordained pastor of a Presbyterian church at Womelsdorf, Pa. A few years before this the perusal of a copy of Garrison's “Thoughts on Colonization” had made him an Abolitionist. He was a member of the convention that formed the American anti-slavery society, and in October, 1836, left the pulpit to accept a lecturing agency under its auspices. He delivered addresses throughout Pennsylvania, although often subjected to obloquy, and even danger from personal violence. In 1840 he removed to Philadelphia, and became the publishing agent of the Pennsylvania anti-slavery society. His office was subsequently changed to that of corresponding secretary, in which capacity he acted for a quarter of a century as general manager of the affairs of the society, taking an active part in national as well as local anti-slavery work. Mr. McKim's labors frequently brought him in contact with the operations of the “underground railroad,” and he was often connected with the slave cases that came before the courts, especially after the passage of the fugitive-slave law of 1850. In the winter of 1862, immediately after the capture of Port Royal, he was instrumental in calling a public meeting of the citizens of Philadelphia to consider and provide for the wants of the 10,000 slaves that had been suddenly liberated. One of the results of this meeting was the organization of the Philadelphia Port Royal relief committee. He afterward became an earnest advocate of the enlistment of colored troops, and as a member of the Union league aided in the establishment of Camp William Penn, and the recruiting of eleven regiments. In November, 1863, the Port Royal relief committee was enlarged into the Pennsylvania freedman's relief association, and Mr. McKim was made its corresponding secretary. In this capacity he travelled extensively, and labored diligently to establish schools at the south. He was connected from 1865 till 1869 with the American freedman's union commission, and used every effort to promote general and impartial education at the south. In July, 1869, the commission having accomplished all that seemed possible at the time, it decided unanimously, on Mr. McKim's motion, to disband. His health having meantime become greatly impaired, he soon afterward retired from public life. In 1865 he assisted in founding the New York “Nation.” Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 136.

Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS) (Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 321, 387, 388, 416; Yellin, 1994, pp. 26, 67-88, 73-74, 92, 97, 105, 175n, 176, 237-238, 285, 307; Annual Reports of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Mott, Lucretia, 1793-1880, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Society of Friends, Quaker, radical abolitionist, reformer, suffragist, co-founder and first president of the Philadelphia Female American Anti-Slavery Society, member of the Association of Friends for Advocating the Cause of the Slave, member of the Hicksite Anti-Slavery Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wrote memoir, Life, 1884. 

(Bacon, 1999; Drake, 1950, pp. 140, 149, 154, 156, 157, 172, 176; Mabee, 1970, pp. 3, 13, 31, 68, 77, 94, 186, 188, 189, 201, 204, 224, 225, 226, 241, 289, 314, 326, 350, 374, 378; Palmer, 2001; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 42, 47, 157, 387-388, 416, 464, 519; Yellin, 1994, pp. 18, 26, 43, 74, 159-162, 175-176, 286-287, 301-302, 327-328; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 441; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 7, Pt. 1, p. 288; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 595-597; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 16, p. 21; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, pp. 310-311; Cromwell, Otelia. Lucretia Mott. 1958; Annual Reports of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Grew, Mary, 1813-1896, abolitionist leader, Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society (BFASS), Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society.  Leader of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society.  Grew was an officer of the state branch of the American Anti-Slavery Society.  Co-editor of the Pennsylvania Freeman.  Was active in the Free Produce Association.  In 1840, Grew and other women were elected as delegates at the World Anti-Slavery Convention.  They were, however, excluded from the floor.  After 1840, she was involved in women’s rights and other reform activities.  Daughter of abolitionist Henry Grew.  She was a stronger supporter and friend of prominent abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison.  (Van Broekhoven, 2002, p. 206; Yellin, 1994, pp. 43, 71-72, 76, 84-85, 163, 176-177, 301-302, 326; Annual Reports of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Grew, Susan, abolitionist, leader of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, daughter of abolitionist Henry Grew. (Van Broekhoven, 2002, p. 206; Yellin, 1994, pp. 71, 80; Annual Reports of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Justice, Hulduh, vice president, charter member of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  (Yellin, 1994, pp. 71, 74-75).

Sidney, Ann Lewis, Vice President, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society.  (Annual Reports of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Buffum, Rebecca, (Yellin, 1994) abolitionist.  Member, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS).  Daughter of abolitionists Arnold and Rebecca Buffum.  Married abolitionist, philanthropist Marcus Spring. (Yellin, 1994, pp. 41, 76).

Burleigh, Gertrude, (Yellin, 1994) abolitionist, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Yellin, 1994, p. 73).

Cassey, Amy Matilda, (Yellin, 1994) abolitionist, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Yellin, 1994, pp. 75-76, 97, 116, 116n).

Douglass, Grace, 1782-1842, African American activist, abolitionist.  Co-founder of the Female Anti-Slavery Society.  Charter member of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society.  (Yellin, 1994, p. 11; Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2013, Vol. 4, p. 71).

Douglass, Sarah, (Yellin, 1994) African American, abolitionist leader.  Organizer, member and manager of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Participant and organizer of the Anti-Slavery Conventions of American Women in 1838-1839. (Yellin, 1994, pp. 10-11, 71, 76-77, 96-97, 116-117, 117n, 148, 156, 164-165, 169, 237-238; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 255-256; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 6, p. 821; Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2013, Vol. 4, p. 76).

Earle, Mary, (Yellin, 1994) abolitionist, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Yellin, 1994, pp. 80, 8n, 84).

Earle, Phoebe, (Yellin, 1994) abolitionist, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Yellin, 1994, p. 80).

Forten, Margaretta, 1808-1875, free African American, officer, Female Anti-Slavery Society of Philadelphia, daughter of James Forten.  Charter member, recording secretary, treasurer, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society.  (Rodriguez, 2007, p. 416; Winch, 2002; Yellin, 1994, pp. 7, 79, 75, 115-116, 164, 237; Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2013, Vol. 4, p. 447).

Forten, Sarah Louisa, free African American, charter member, Female Anti-Slavery Society of Philadelphia (Yellin, 1994, pp. 7, 98, 103-104, 114-116, 206).

Hart, Rebecca S., Board of Managers, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society.  (Annual Reports of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Hopper, Anna, (Yellin, 1994) daughter of Lucretia Mott, abolitionist, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Yellin, 1994, pp. 71, 75).

Hopper, Maria, (Yellin, 1994)

Lewis, Sarah, (Yellin, 1994) abolitionist, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Yellin, 1994, pp. 80, 84).

McKim Sarah J., (Yellin, 1994) abolitionist, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Yellin, 1994, pp. 73, 76).

Moore, Ester, Maryland native, abolitionist, original member of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society. (Yellin, 1994, pp. 69, 161; Annual Reports of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Mott, Anna Hopper, Quaker, daughter of Lucretia Mott, abolitionist, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Yellin, 1994, pp. 71, 75; Annual Reports of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Mott, Maria Davis, Quaker (Yellin, 1994; Annual Reports of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Neall, Elizabeth, executive committee (Yellin, 1994) abolitionist, Executive Committee of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Yellin, 1994, pp. 84, 301-302, 307, 316, 332-333).

Needles, Mary, (Yellin, 1994) abolitionist, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Yellin, 1994, pp. 74, 80).

Parris, Susan, (Yellin, 1994) abolitionist, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Yellin, 1994, p. 74).

Pennock, Mary C., (Yellin, 1994) abolitionist, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Yellin, 1994).

Pierce, Sarah H., Board of Managers, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society.  (Annual Reports of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Plumly, Rebecca, (Yellin, 1994) abolitionist, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Yellin, 1994, p. 73).

Pugh, Sarah, president (Yellin, 1994) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, abolitionist.  Served as a Manager, 1843-1844, and Member of the Executive Committee, 1844-1853, of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS).  Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, Eastern Branch, Philadelphia.  Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society. (Dumond, 1961, p. 286; Yellin, 1994, pp. 11, 74-76, 78, 80, 82, 84-85, 163, 163n, 175, 301-302, 307, 326).

Purvis, Harriet D. Forten, 1810-1884, African American, abolitionist leader, social reformer, active in Philadelphia area.  Charter member, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society.  Daughter of James Forten. (Yellin, 1994; Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2013, Vol. 9, p. 279).

Shoemaker, Ann, Treasurer, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society.  (Annual Reports of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Stickney, Hanna L., Board of Managers, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society.  (Annual Reports of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Thompson, Rosanna, Board of Managers, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society.  (Annual Reports of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

White, Lydia, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist.  Original founding member of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1834. (Drake, 1950, p. 140; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 416; Yellin, 1994, pp. 69, 161, 163, 278-279; Annual Reports of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Winslow, Emily, (Yellin, 1994) abolitionist.  Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, (Garrisonian) Anti-Slavery Society (Dumont, 1961, p. 286; Yellin, 1994, pp. 73, 301-302, 316, 332-333).

Wright, Paulina, (Yellin, 1994) abolitionist, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFASS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Yellin, 1994, p. 73).

Philadelphia Vigilance Committee (PVC), part of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society.  All-black members.  Aided fugitive slaves and handled court cases.  Sent groups to Canada.  Reorganized in December 1852 with a new General Vigilance Committee.  (Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 204, 307, 464, 489, 654; Sinha, 2016, pp. 387-388, 438, 447, 512, 513, 528, 536, 537, 539, 541))

Still, William, free Black, Secretary, General Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 513)

Garrett, Thomas, 1789-1877, abolitionist leader

Purvis, Robert, founder, Chairman, General Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 513)

McKim, J. Miller

Ayres, Robert, Secretary, Philadelphia Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 386)

Burr, John, Special Vigilance Committee, Philadelphia Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 386)

Bustil, Sarah, Female Vigilant Association, Philadelphia Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 386)

Coats, Edwin, Vice President, Philadelphia Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 386)

Depee, Nathaniel W., Special Vigilance Committee, General Vigilance Committee, Philadelphia Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 386, 513)

Forten, Robert, Philadelphia Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 386)

Forten, William, Special Vigilance Committee, Philadelphia Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 386)

Gardner, Charles, first President, Philadelphia Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 386)

Glouster, Stephen H., Committee, Philadelphia Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 386)

Hastings, Samuel, Committee, Philadelphia Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 386)

McCrummel, Sarah, Female Vigilant Association, Philadelphia Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 386)

Needham, James, Treasurer, Philadelphia Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 386)

Needles, Edward, Philadelphia Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 386)

Payne, Daniel, Philadelphia Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 386)

Reckless, Hetty, Female Vigilant Association, Philadelphia Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 386)

White, Elizabeth, Female Vigilant Association, Philadelphia Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 386)

White, Jacob C., Agent, General Vigilance Committee, Philadelphia Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 386, 513)

Williamson, Passamore, General Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 513)

Pittsburgh Vigilance Committee, aided fugitive slaves.  (Sinha, 2016, p. 388)

Brown, Francis, Pittsburgh Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 388)

Portage Female Anti-Slavery Society, Ohio (Jeffrey, 1998, p. 69)

Wright, Lucy, (Jeffrey, 1998, pp. 69-70)

Portland Anti-Slavery Society, Portland, Maine

Mellon, Prentiss, founder, first president

Fessenden, Samuel, founder, vice president

Cox, Reverend Gershom A., founder, vice president

Providence Abolition Society (Van Broekhoven, 2002, pp. 2-3, 17-18, 145)

Providence Baptist Anti-Slavery Society, Providence, Rhode Island, 1840.  (Constitution of the Providence Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

Officers:

Eddy, John S., abolitionist, President (Constitution of the Providence Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

Hudson, William H., abolitionist, Vice President (Constitution of the Providence Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

Bogman, Joseph, abolitionist, Vice President (Constitution of the Providence Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

Nottage, George L., abolitionist, Secretary (Constitution of the Providence Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

Oaks, Thomas, abolitionist, Treasurer (Constitution of the Providence Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

Clemmons, John, abolitionist, Committee (Constitution of the Providence Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

Keith, John, abolitionist, Committee (Constitution of the Providence Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

Luther, Thomas, abolitionist, Committee (Constitution of the Providence Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

Burr, George, abolitionist, Committee (Constitution of the Providence Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

Battey, Henry, abolitionist, Committee (Constitution of the Providence Anti-Slavery Society, 1840)

Providence (Rhode Island) Female Anti-Slavery Society (Yellin, 1994, pp. 182, 187, 187n, 190n; Van Broekhoven, 2002, pp. 17-18, 25, 52, 212)

Providence Ladies Anti-Slavery Society

Providence Society for the Abolition of Slavery (Providence Anti-Slavery Society). (Drake, 1950; Dumond, 1961, p. 188; Locke, 1901, p. 13; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 26; Van Broekhoven, 2002, pp. 17-18)

Return to Abolitionist and Anti-Slavery Organizations (main page)

Republican Party

Chapter: “Origin of the Republican Party,” by Henry Wilson, in History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, 1872.

The determined purpose of the Slave Power to make slavery the predominating national interest was never more clearly revealed than by the proposed repeal of the Missouri compromise. This was a deliberate and direct assault upon freedom. Many, indeed, under the pleas of fraternity and loyalty to the Union, palliated and apologized for this breach of faith ; but the numbers were increasing every hour, as the struggle progressed, who could no longer be deceived by the hollow pretences. They could not close their eyes to the dangers of the country, and they were compelled to disavow what was so manifestly wrong, and to disconnect themselves from men and parties who were making so little concealment of their nefarious purposes and of their utter profligacy of principle.

Pulpits and presses which had been dumb, or had spoken evasively and with slight fealty to truth, gave forth no uncertain sound. Calm argumentation, appeals to conscience, warnings, and dissuasions from the impending crime against liberty, were to be heard on every side. To the utterances of the sacred desk were added the action of ecclesiastical bodies, contributions to the press, and petitions to State legislature and to Congress. The antislavery and Free Soil journals entered earnestly upon the work of indoctrinating and impressing the popular mind and heart. In arousing the people, they strove to convince them that so long as a national party had a Southern wing it could never be trusted on any point in which the interests of slavery were involved, and concerning which the wishes of slaveholders had been clearly pronounced. The religious press, too, joined in the general pro test, and substituted a more earnest tone for the too languid and equivocal utterances hitherto deemed all that prudence or policy would allow. Foremost was the New York “Independent." Conducted with signal ability, it did much to disseminate right views, change the current of public sentiment, and place Christian men where they should always have been in active sympathy with those who were doing battle against the giant wrong of the nation.

The political press of the North still clung, very generally at least, to the parties of which its respective journals were the recognized organs; but there were some exceptions. The New York " Evening Post " had been an able advocate of the Free Soil cause of 1848, but had joined in the " Barnburner " defection and rendered important aid in the election of Franklin Pierce. But the Kansas-Nebraska act was more than it could accept, much less advocate. It therefore joined in the general protest against the measure, and became a very effective agent in the development of that popular sentiment which rendered the Republican Party a possibility. The New York "Tribune" took the lead, though at the outset Mr. Greeley was hopeless, and seemed disinclined to enter upon the contest. So often defeated by Northern defection therein, he distrusted Congress; nor had he faith that the people would reverse the verdict of their representatives. He told his associates he would not restrain them, but, as for himself, he had no heart for the strife. They were more hopeful; and Richard Hildreth, the historian, Charles A. Dana, a veteran journalist, James S. Pike, and other able writers, opened and continued an unrelenting and powerful opposition in its columns, and did very much to rally and reassure the friends of freedom and to nerve them for the fight. Even Mr. Greeley himself became inspired by the growing enthusiasm, and some of the most trenchant and telling articles were from his practiced and powerful pen.

These discussions from pulpit, platform, and press, all pointed to political action as the only adequate remedy. In the Northern States there were Abolitionists, Free-Soilers, antislavery Whigs, anti-Nebraska Democrats, and antislavery members of the American party, which had just come into existence. Many of these sought help, and thought they saw how help could be secured, through existing organizations, and they clung with tenacity to them; but, as the conflict progressed, large and increasing numbers saw that no help could be reasonably hoped for but through the formation of a new party that could act without the embarrassment of a Southern wing. But the formation of a national and successful party from materials afforded by the disintegration of hitherto hos tile organizations was a work of great delicacy and difficulty. Such a party could not be made; it must grow out of the elements already existing. It must be born of the nation's necessities and of its longings for relief from the weakness, or wickedness, of existing organizations.

The mode of organizing this new party of freedom varied according to the varying circumstances of different localities and the convictions of different men. In some sections a local election afforded the opportunity and the demand for inaugurating a movement that increasing numbers saw to be both necessary and impending. Such an opportunity and demand were furnished in New Hampshire by the death of Mr. Atherton, member of the United States Senate, which occurred in November, 1853. As his successor was to be chosen by the legislature to be elected in the following March, an active canvass sprang up during the month of February and the early weeks of the month in which the election occurred, in which the leading men of the State and of several of the neigh boring States took part. Strenuous efforts were made to com bine the Free-Soilers, Whigs, and anti-Nebraska Democrats in some common action; and these efforts were so far successful as to prevent the election of a Democrat, although they failed to elect their candidate. It was, however, the beginning of a process by the operation of which the majority of the State became Republican in fact and name, and sent John P. Hale to the Senate, in 1855, to fill Mr. Atherton's term, and James Bell for the full term. Mr. Wilson of Massachusetts canvassed the State for several weeks, advocating a fusion, into one organization, of the opponents of the repeal of the Missouri prohibition.

But one of the earliest, if not the earliest, of the movements that contemplated definite action and the formation of a new party, was made in Ripon, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, in the early months of 1854. In consequence of a very thorough canvass, conference, and general comparison of views, inaugurated by A. E. Bovey, a prominent member of the Whig party, among the Whigs, Free-Soilers, and Democrats of that town ship, a call was issued, signed by himself, representing the Whigs, Mr. Bowen, representing the Democrats, and Mr. Baker, representing the Free-Soilers, for a public meeting to consider the grave issues which were assuming an aspect of such alarming importance. The meeting was held on the last of February, in the Congregational church. It was largely at tended by persons of both sexes from the town and surrounding country. It was a meeting solely for the discussion of principles and comparison of views. Among the speakers was Professor Daniels, who subsequently, as a resident of Virginia and editor of the Richmond “State Journal," maintained and advocated with distinguished zeal the views and principles then enunciated. The burden and drift of the speeches were the hopeless subserviency of the national parties to the behests of the slaveholders, the necessity of abandoning them, and the proposed policy of constructing a party from the materials thus set at liberty, with such as could be persuaded to leave the Democratic Party for a similar purpose. A resolution was adopted that, if the Nebraska bill, then pending, should pass, they would “throw old party organizations to the winds, and organize a new party on the sole issue of the non-extension of slavery."

A second meeting was held on the 20th of March, for the purpose of organization and for the adoption of such preliminary measures as the inauguration of the new party required. By formal vote the town committees of the Whig and Free Soil parties were dissolved, and a committee of five, consisting of three Whigs, one Free-Soiler, and one Democrat, was chosen. “The work done on that evening," says Mr. Bovey, “was fully accepted by the Whig and Free Soil parties of all this section immediately; and very soon -- that is to say, in a few months -- by those parties throughout the entire State." A State convention was held in July, by which the organization of the party was perfected for the State, a majority of the delegation was secured for the next Congress, and a Free-Soiler, Charles Durkee, was elected to the Senate of the United States. At the meeting of the 20th of March, Mr. Bovey, though stating his belief that the party should and probably would take the name of “Republican," advised against such a christening at that time and by that small local body of men. He, however, wrote to the editor of the New York “Tribune," suggesting the name, giving his reasons therefor, and requesting him, if his views corresponded with his own, to call the attention of his readers to it in the columns of his paper. Thus early did the men of that frontier town inaugurate a movement which was destined to sweep and control the nation, and which did sweep the country, and change entirely the policy of the government. Whether there was or was not in this general uprising any local action which antedated it, few will question the propriety of his language who took the initiative when he says: " The actors in this remote little eddy of politics thought at the time that they were making a bit of history by that solitary tallow candle in the little white school-house on the prairie; and whether ever recognized and published or not, they think so still."

But that “little eddy “on that far-off margin was only one of many similar demonstrations, -- signs of a turn of the tide in the great sea of American politics. In Washington, on the morning after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, there was a meeting of some thirty members of the House at the rooms of Thomas D. Eliot and Edward Dickinson, of Massachusetts, called at the instance of Israel Washburn, of Maine, for consultation in regard to the course to be adopted in the exigencies of the case. The hopelessness of any further at tempts through existing organizations was generally admitted; though a few still counselled adherence to the Whig party, in the expectation of securing its aid for freedom. But most present had become convinced that in a new party alone lay any reasonable hope of successful resistance to the continued aggressions of the arrogant and triumphant Slave Power. The name “Republican " was suggested, discussed, and finally agreed upon as appropriate for the new organization.

In pursuance of the same object and in harmony with these suggestions, Mr. Washburn addressed a public meeting in Bangor, in which he spoke of “this great consideration that now overrides all the old party divisions and effete organizations of the country." “Every true Republican," he said, " must take the place, if not the name, of that wise conservative party, whose aim and purpose were the welfare of the whole Union and the stainless honor of the American name." Alluding to this Washington meeting, on another occasion, he attributed much of the first and moving impulse that led to it to Dr. Bailey, editor of the " National Era," of whom he says that he " strove incessantly to bring members of different parties to act together in opposition to the Nebraska iniquity" ; and that, " after the purpose to form such a party had been arrived at, there was no one present who did not feel that the measure was only carrying out the policy of which Dr. Bailey had been the earliest, the ablest, and the most influential advocate."

On the 8th of June, 1854, there was held a State convention of the Whig party of Vermont. The spirit of the meeting was strongly antislavery, and the purpose to dissolve all connection with the slavery propagandists and the politicians and parties they controlled was unmistakable. The seventh and eighth resolutions of the platform, drawn by E. P. Walton, afterward member of Congress, invited " the freemen of Vermont " and " the people of all the other States who are dis posed to resist the encroachments and the extension of slavery "to co-operate for that purpose, and, "in case a national convention shall be called "for that purpose, "to send dele gates thereto." A State ticket in harmony with these sentiments was put in nomination.

On the 16th of the same month, a call was issued for a mass convention of "all persons who are in favor of resisting by all constitutional means the usurpations of the propagandists of slavery." This convention met on the 13th of July. Resolutions identical in spirit and aim with those of the June convention were adopted, one of which closed with these words: “We propose, and respectfully recommend to the friends of freedom in other States, to co-operate and be known as Re publicans." A delegation to a national convention, if one should be held, was appointed, consisting of one Free-Soiler, three Whigs, and one antislavery Democrat. A State ticket was nominated; but, the State committees of the parties being empowered "to fill vacancies," a fusion ticket was made up and chosen by little less than two thirds of all the votes cast at the election, and a legislature was elected which sent Jacob Collamer, an anti-slavery Whig, and Lawrence L. Brainard, a Free-Soiler, to the United States Senate.

But, whatever suggestions others may have made, or whatever action may have been taken elsewhere, to Michigan be longs the honor of being the first State to form and christen the Republican Party. More than three months before the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, the Free Soil convention had adopted a mixed ticket, made up of Free-Soilers and Whig in order that there might be a combination of the antislavery elements of the State. Immediately on the passage of the Nebraska bill, Joseph Warren, editor of the Detroit " Tribune," entered upon a course of measures that resulted in bringing the Whig and Free Soil parties together, not by a mere coalition of the two, but by a fusion of the elements of which the two were composed. In his own language, he “took ground in favor of disbanding the Whig and Free Soil parties, and oi the organization of a new party, composed of all the opponent of slavery extension. Among the first steps taken was withdrawal of the Free Soil ticket. This having been effected, a call for a mass convention was issued, signed by more than ten thousand names. This convention met on the 6th of July and was largely attended. A platform, drawn up by Jacob M. Howard, afterward United States Senator, was adopted, not only opposing the extension of slavery, but declaring for its abolition in the District of Columbia. The report also proposed the name of “Republican “for the new party, which was adopted by the convention. Kinsley S. Bingham was nominated for governor, and was triumphantly elected; and Michigan, thus early to enter the ranks of the Republican Party, has remained steadfast to its then publicly avowed principles and faith.

On the 13th of the same month, a convention was held at Columbus, Ohio. The call was addressed to those in favor of “breaking the chains now forging to bind the nation to the car of American slavery." It was largely attended, and its proceedings inaugurated a canvass of the State, which resulted in the election of an anti-Nebraska delegation to Congress by more than seventy thousand majority. On the same day, a similar convention was held in Indiana, at which speeches were made by Henry S. Lane, Henry L. Ellsworth, and Schuyler Colfax. Similar results followed. The elections of the following autumn were carried by the friends of freedom, and the permanent organization of the party was assured.

In New York, the Whigs held a convention early in the summer, under the lead of Mr. Seward and Thurlow Weed, adopted a series of resolutions, and also nominated a ticket in decided opposition to the Nebraska policy. On the 17th of August, an anti-Nebraska convention was held at Saratoga. Resolutions were introduced by Mr. Greeley indorsing the policy of those States which had already taken steps toward the formation of a new party; but without action thereon the convention adjourned, to meet on the 26th of September at Auburn. At this adjourned meeting a proposition to form a new party was introduced; but, though debated, it was not adopted. The Whigs having by their platform and ticket put themselves in substantial accord with the sentiments of the convention, it was deemed expedient to retain the Whig organization and to contest the election under its auspices. The ticket was successful, and Myron H. Clark and Henry J. Raymond were elected governor and lieutenant-governor.

Immediately after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, a large and enthusiastic State convention of the Free Soil party was held in Boston, at which addresses were made by Giddings, Hale, Andrew, and others. Its spirit and purpose were well expressed by Mr. Wilson. “If there is," he said,” a ' forlorn hope ' to be led, we will lead it, and others may take and wear the honors. But we go with none who do not wear our principles upon their foreheads, and have them engraved on their hearts."

During the subsequent weeks, there were many conferences and attempts to unite the leaders and members of the Whig and Democratic parties in the proposed combination against the Slave Power, but with indifferent success, the Whigs preferring to retain their organization intact, and professing to believe that slavery could be more effectively opposed by it than by that proposed. But a convention met in Worcester on the 20th of July. Judge Oliver B. Morris was made president, an organization was effected, the name “Republican " accepted, and a platform, reported by Seth Webb, Jr., was adopted. A State convention of delegates was held at Worcester on the 7th of September. The venerable Robert Rantoul presided. A series of resolutions was reported by John I. Baker, and an elaborate and eloquent address was made by Mr. Sumner. Mr. Wilson, who had been the Free Soil candidate the previous year, was nominated for governor ; and Increase Sumner, up to that time a member of the Democratic party, was nominated for lieutenant-governor. In these conventions no prominent Whigs or Democrats took part, and few members of those par ties were present. Being composed mainly of Free-Soilers, the Whig and Democratic presses naturally united in pronouncing “fusion “a failure. They referred to the fact that the leading men in one or both of the conventions were Jackson, Bird, Keyes, Andrew, Webb, Swift, Wilson, and Sumner, as evidence that the new party was only the old Free Soil party under another name. This failure of the attempted fusion, through the persistent purpose of leading Whigs to adhere to their organization, was recognized by thousands of antislavery men who saw that the demolition of the Whig and Democratic par ties by the American party might produce a political chaos out of which a new and better creation might soon spring. They therefore united or co-operated with that organization, and gave their support to- it, joined in the election of members of Congress and the legislature, and so impressed their policy on the legislation of the State as to draw from Theodore Parker the declaration that the legislature of that year was " the strong est antislavery legislative body that had ever assembled in the country."

Though the Republican Party was not immediately organized in all the free States, its spirit inspired and its ideas largely pervaded the North. Within one year eleven Republican Senators were elected and fifteen States had secured anti-Nebraska majorities. Out of one hundred and forty-two Northern members of the House, one hundred and twenty were opposed to the iniquitous measure. They were in sufficient numbers not only to control the election of Speaker, but they were able, by a majority of fifteen, to declare that, " in the opinion of this House, the repeal of the Missouri compromise of 1820, prohibiting slavery north of 36 30' was an example of useless and factious agitation of the slavery question, unwise and unjust to the American people."

Several States which had failed to organize a Republican party in 1854 did so in 1855. It was in that year that Ohio came into line, by completing a Republican organization and putting in nomination Salmon P. Chase and Thomas H. Ford for governor and lieutenant-governor. Conservative Whigs and proslavery “Americans” supported ex-Governor Trimble, and did what they could to defeat the Republican ticket; but it was carried by nearly fifteen thousand majority.

The Republicans of Pennsylvania held a convention at Pittsburg on the 5th of September. Judge William Jessup was president, and Alexander K. McClure was chairman of the committee on resolutions. Eloquent speeches were made by John A. Bingham, Mr. Giddings, and Lewis D. Campbell of Ohio, and by Allison and Howe of Pennsylvania. Letters were received from Wilmot, Hale, B. F. Butler of New York, and Wilson of Massachusetts. " Pennsylvania," wrote the latter, ",holds in her hand the result of the election of 1856; if she stands firm, that year will witness the complete overthrow of the Slave Power of the South and the servile power of the North." Passmore Williamson, then imprisoned by Judge Kane, was nominated as canal commissioner. Many Whigs and “Americans," however, refused to act with the Re publicans, and he was withdrawn, and another was nominated who received the support of Whigs, “Americans," and Republicans. But the change did not effect the result, for the Democracy carried the State by a decisive majority.

When the American National Council was disrupted in 1855, another effort was made in Massachusetts to attract to the Republican Party the men of antislavery tendencies of that broken organization and of other parties. On the 16th of August, a meeting without distinction of party was held at Chapman Hall in Boston. John Z. Goodrich presided. A committee, on motion of Samuel Bowles, was chosen to pre pare a plan of practical action. George Bliss, Moses Kimball, Franklin Dexter, William Bingham, members of the Whig party, and Dana, Adams, Park, Walker, Wilson, Keyes, Stephen C. Phillips, and John L. Swift, Republicans, made brief, conciliatory, and eloquent speeches. The aged, venerable, and venerated Lyman Beecher uttered a few words of hope, trust, and confidence. On the 30th of August, there was a meeting of conference committees in Boston. It represented the American party, the “Know Somethings," an antislavery organization which had held a national convention at Cleve land in June, and a committee representing the Chapman Hall meeting. A proposition made by Charles Allen was sent by the Chapman Hall committee to the other committees, proposing a call for a union convention to form a new political party. Robert B. Hall suggesting that they were not there to make conditions but to conclude arrangements, a resolution was returned to the Chapman Hall committee to the effect that they were ready to co-operate in calling a State convention without distinction of party, with “the view of placing Massachusetts in sympathy and connection with the great Republican movement now in progress." After debate this resolution was laid upon the table, and a simple resolve was passed, proposed by Mr. Bowles, inviting the committee to a conference. This invitation was accepted, the conference was held, and a committee of twenty-six was appointed to call a State convention, at the head of which was placed the venerable Samuel Hoar. In pursuance of a call made by this committee, indorsed by eminent citizens of all parties, a State convention was held at Worcester on the 20th of September. P. Emory Aldrich called the convention to order. Nathaniel P. Banks presided, and, on taking the chair, expressed “sympathy with its objects and fidelity to its acts." Richard H. Dana, Jr., chairman of the committee on the platform, reported an admirable address to the people of the State, and a series of resolutions. There was a sharp contest between the supporters of Governor Henry J. Gardner and the friends of a new candidate. After an excited and somewhat angry debate, Julius Rockwell, a member of the Whig party, was nominated for governor by the small majority of thirteen. Although the American supporters of Governor Gardner had joined in the call of the convention and had participated in its proceedings, they were not satisfied with the result. An American State convention was called, Governor Gardner was nominated and elected, and the Republicans of Massachusetts were a second time defeated.

In New York two conventions were held on the 26th of September at Syracuse, for the purpose of organizing a Republican party, which had not been done the previous year, on account of the action of the Whigs, and the plea that the people were not yet ready. Reuben E. Fenton presided, and Joseph Blunt was chairman of a committee of conference with the Whig convention. That convention, under the lead of John A. King and Edwin D. Morgan, afterward Republican governors, adopted antislavery resolutions, united with the Republican convention, and formed a union ticket at the head of which was placed the name of Preston King. But the conservative and “silver gray” Whigs refused their support. Many anti-Nebraska Democrats voted for what was known as the “soft " ticket, although the convention of that section of the party, composed largely of those who had voted for Van Buren in 1848, had failed to condemn in fitting terms the repeal of the Missouri compromise. Under these untoward circumstances the Republican ticket was defeated by the ticket headed by John T. Headley, and supported by the proslavery “Americans” and “silver gray " Whigs.

The sudden and simultaneous uprising and action of the people of the free States in 1854, in consequence of the repeal of the Missouri compromise, under the common designation of " anti-Nebraska," had, for the moment, rather the character of a temporary combination for a specific purpose than a permanent organization, based on a general agreement and looking forward to continued association, though it led, and was an important step, in that direction. It was a combination of Free-Soilers, Republicans, “Americans," old Whigs and Democrats, who were indignant at the removal of the ancient “landmarks of freedom." For the time they were united in their object to oppose and rebuke the administration for this breach of faith. In some of the States this battle was fought under the lead of the Whigs, in others under that of the rising American organization, and in others with those who had just assumed the name of Republicans. But in the next year, when the effort was made to define more clearly the principles and perfect more fully the organization of this new party of freedom, thousands who had voted in 1854 under these various names and organizations, and with different motives, for its principles, refused to follow its lead and to be called by its name. In consequence, there was a real or seeming reaction, and some States, which had thus condemned the faithless administration of Franklin Pierce, failed, that year, to give Republican majorities.

Source:  Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. 2.  Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872, 406-418.

Founders:

Adams, Charles Francis

Baker, Mr.

Baker, John I., Massachusetts

Banks, Nathaniel P., New York

Bell, James, Senator

Bingham, John A., New York

Bingham, Kinsley S.

Blunt, Joseph, New York

Bovey, A. E.

Bowen, Mr.

Brinkerhoff, Judge

Butler, Benjamin F., New York

Campbell, Lewis P., Ohio

Chase, Salmon P.

Dana, Charles A.

Dayton, William L., New Jersey

Ellsworth, Henry L., Ohio

Fenton, Reuben E., New York

Ford, Thomas H.

Frémont, John C.

Hale, John P., Senator

Gibson, W. H.

Giddings, Joshua, Pennsylvania

Greeley, Horace, New York

Hay

Howard, Jacob M.

Jessup, William, Pennsylvania, judge

Johnson, William F., Pennsylvania

Keyes

King, John A., New York

King, Preston

Lane, Henry S., Ohio

Lincoln, Abraham, Illinois

Lovejoy, Owen, Illinois

Mann, Horace, New York

McClure, Alexander

Morgan, Edwin D.

Morris, Oliver B., Massachusetts, judge

Park

Phillips, Stephen C.

Rantoul, Robert, Massachusetts

Remelin, Charles, Ohio

Schuyler, Colfax, Ohio

Seward, William, New York

Smith, Caleb B., Indiana

Spalding, Rufus P.

Stone, James W., Massachusetts

Sumner, Charles, Massachusetts

Swift, John L.

Vaughn, John C., Ohio

Walker

Walton, E. P., Vermont

Warren, Joseph, editor, Detroit Tribune

Washburn, Israel, Maine

Web, Seth, Massachusetts

Weed, Thurlow, New York

Wilmot, David

Wilson, Henry

Radical Republicans:

Bingham, John  H.

Brownlow, William Gannaway

Butler, Benjamin

Chandler, Zachariah

Creswell, John

Chase, Salmon P.

Davis, Henry Winter

Frémont, John C.

Garfield, James M.

Grant, Ulysses Simpson

Hamlin, Hannibal

Heckler, Fredrich

Joward, Jacob M.

Kelley, William D.

Lane, James H.

Morton, Oliver

Pomeroy, Samuel

Stevens, Thaddeus

Sumner, Charles

Upham, Daniel Phillips

Wade, Benjamin

Wilson, Henry

Rhode Island Anti-Slavery Society, founded February 2-4, 1836, in Providence, Rhode Island. (Dumond, 1961, p. 188; Van Broekhoven, 2002, pp. 4-5, 8, 18, 125)

Stanton, Henry B., founder

Potter, Ray, Pawtucket, Rhode Island, Baptist minister, co-founder, “Friend of Man,” October 13, 1836 (Dumond, 1961, p. 182; Friend of Man newspaper, October 13, 1836)

Rhode Island Society for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery (Rodriguez 2007, p. 218)

Rhode Island State Anti-Slavery Society (Dumond, 1961, p. 188)

Rochester (New York) Female Anti-Slavery Society (RFASS), Rochester, New York (Yellin, 1994, pp. 26-28)

Mott, Abigale Lydia, co-founder

Moore, Lindley Murray, co-founder

Porter, Susan Farley, president

Atkinson, Elizabeth, wife of Finney

Galusha, Mrs. Elon

Rochester (New York) Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society (RLASS), all-woman, all-White group founded to support the work of Black abolitionist Frederick Douglass (Sernett, 2002, pp. 58-60; Yellin 1994, pp. 28-30)

Porter, Susan Farley, president (Sernett, 2002, p. 58)

Return to Abolitionist and Anti-Slavery Organizations (main page)

Salem Anti-Slavery Society (Rodriguez, 2007, p. 288)

Sangamon County Anti-Slavery Society, Farmington, Illinois

Galt, Thomas, leader

Shadrach Minkins Rescue Activists, Boston, Massachusetts, 1851.  Shadrach Minkins was a runaway slave from Virginia.  He was rescued by African American persons in Boston in 1851.  The Boston Vigilance Committee formed a rescue committee, which acted on his behalf.  Prominent Boston abolitionsts were actively involved in defending Minkins from being returned to the slaveholders from whom he escaped.  This case received national press attention.  It aroused the ire of Southern political leaders and slaveholders.  (Sinha, 2016, pp. 506-508)

See also Boston Vigilance Committee.

Scott, James, led rescue (Sinha, 2016, p. 507)

Sewall, Samuel, lawyer, legal committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 505-508)

Loring, Ellis Gray, lawyer, legal committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 506)

Davis, Charles, lawyer, arrested for rescue, not tried.  (Sinha, 2016, p. 506)

Dana, Richard Henry, lawyer (Sinha, 2016, p. 506)

Morris, Robert, arrested and tried, not conviceted, in the case (Sinha, 2016, p. 506)

Walker, Edward Garrison, African American abolitionist

Riley, Elizabeth, hid Minkins (Sinha, 2016, p. 507)

Lovejoy, Joseph, hid Minkins (Sinha, 2016, p. 507)

Hayden, Lewis, African American abolitionist.  Arrested and tried, not convicted, in the case.  (Sinha, 2016, pp. 505, 507)

Smith, John J. (Sinha, 2016, p. 507)

Jackson, Francis (Sinha, 2016, pp. 505-506)

Edwin, Francis, hid Minkins (Sinha, 2016, p. 507)

Bigelow, Anne, hid Minkins, member of the Concord Female Anti-Slavery Society (CFASS).  (Sinha, 2016, p. 507)

Drake, Francis, Leominster, Massachusetts, hid Minkins.  (Sinha, 2016, p. 507)

Drake, Jonathan, Leominster, Massachusetts, hid Minkins (Sinha, 2016)

Hildreth, Richard, lawyer, defended rescuers.  (Sinha, 2016, p. 507)

Hale, John P., lawyer, defended rescuers.  (Sinha, 2016, p. 507)

Sherburne Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society, Chenango County, New York, founded March 1835 (Sernett, 2002, p. 42)

Sims Fugitive Slave Rescue Case Committee, Boston, Massachusetts.

See also Boston Vigilance Committee

Sims, Thomas, fugitive slave (Sinha, 2016, pp. 452, 508-509, 516-518, 522)

Colver, Nathaniel (Sinha, 2016, p. 509)

Dana, Richard Henry, Jr., lawyer, Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC; Sinha, 2016, pp. 508-509)

Higginson, Thomas, Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC; Sinha, 2016, p. 508)

Loring, Charles G., Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC; Sinha, 2016, pp. 508-509)

Parker, Theodore, Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC; (Sinha, 2016, p. 509)

Phillips, Wendell, Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC; Sinha, 2016, p. 509)

Rantoul, Robert, Jr., lawyer (Sinha, 2016, pp. 508-509)

Remond, Charles Lenox (Sinha, 2016, p. 509)

Sewall, Samuel E., Boston Vigilance Committee (BVC; Sinha, 2016, pp. 508-509)

Sumner, Charles (Sinha, 2016, pp. 508-509)

Smithfield Anti-Slavery Society, Munnsville, New York, founded 1834 (Sernett, 2002, p. 41)

Smithfield Society, Peterboro, New York, founded April 1834 (Sernett, 2002, pp. 32-34)

Society for the Abolition of Slave Trade (Rodriguez, 2007, p. 178)

Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage (Bruns, 1977, pp. 384-385, 510; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 18, 21, 455-456), see  Pennsylvania Abolition Society

Society of Friends, Quakers.  Here is a quote by a famous Quaker, U.S. Congressman Thomas Forrest: “Would to God we were all Quakers, in order that there might be less oppression, evil, and bloodshed in the land.”

(Basker, 2005, pp. 1-7, 15, 22, 31-33, 53-57, 68-70, 76, 79-84, 105, 107-109, 114-115, 120, 122-125, 131, 132, 170, 175, 179-181, 217-218, 239, 240, 241, 291, 295, 299, 316; Bruns, 1977, pp. 3, 10, 57, 58, 68, 125, 308, 446, 493; Drake, 1950; Filler, 1960, pp. 13, 19, 49, 66, 122, 123, 163; Hammond, 2011, pp. 19, 20, 34, 36, 50, 51, 53, 60, 64, 78; Mabee, 1970, pp. 1-3, 8, 9, 18, 20, 72, 73, 76, 204, 224, 225, 226, 230, 374-378; Zilversmit, 1967, pp. 25, 55-58, 61-83, 90-92, 101, 108, 124-125, 131, 138, 140, 147, 152, 157-158, 166-167, 178, 186, 203, 205)

Atlee, Edwin P., Quaker, abolitionist, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Society of Friends, Quaker. Vice president, 1833-1836, and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833.  Free Produce Society, Pennsylvania, abolitionist. (Drake, 1950, pp. 118, 140; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833).

Bates, Elisha, Mount Pleasant, Ohio, newspaper publisher, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist, aided fugitive slaves in Ohio.  (Drake, 1950, pp. 117, 128; Dumond, 1961, pp. 136-137).

Benezet, Anthony, 1713-1784, French-born American, Society of Friends, Quaker, philanthropist, author, reformer, educator, early and important abolitionist leader.  Founded Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage, in Philadelphia.  Also founded one of the first girls’ public schools that was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Worked with abolitionist John Woolman.  Wrote: A Caution and Warning to Great Britain and Her Colonies, in a Short Representation of the Calamitous State of the Enslaved Negroes in the British Dominions, 1766; Some Historical Account of Guinea, Its Situation, Produce, and the General Disposition of Its Inhabitants, with an Enquiry into the Rise and Progress of the Slave-Trade, Its Nature and Lamentable Effects, 1771; and Observations on the Inslaving, Importing and Purchasing Negroes, 1748.

(Basker, 2005; Bruns, 1977, pp. 108, 214, 221, 224, 246, 262-263, 269-270, 302; Drake, 1950, pp. 54-56, 62, 64, 70, 75, 83, 86, 90-94, 106-107, 112-113, 120-121, 155; Dumond, 1961, pp. 17, 19, 52, 87; Locke, 1901, pp. 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 34, 52, 54, 56, 78, 94; Nash, 1991; Pease, 1965, pp. xxiv, 1-5; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 17-20, 290, 331, 433, 458, 515; Soderlund, 1985, pp. 4, 10, 29-30, 43-45, 47, 78, 140, 151, 166, 170-171, 174, 175, 176, 186, 189, 198; Zilversmit, 1967, pp. 27, 72, 74-75, 85-93, 98, 125, 131; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 234; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 1, Pt. 2, pp. 177-178; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 2, p. 562; Vaux, Robert, Memoirs of the Life of Anthony Benezet, 1817.)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

BENEZET, Anthony, philanthropist, b. in St. Quentin, France, 31 Jan., 1713; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 3 May, 1784. He was descended from wealthy and noble French parents, who fled from France to Holland in 1685, after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, and thence to England in 1715. In London his relatives became Quakers, and in 1731 they settled in Philadelphia. He apprenticed himself to a cooper, but in 1742 became instructor in the Friends' English school, and continued to teach until near the end of his life. He devoted much attention to the abolition of the slave-trade, and advocated the emancipation and education of the colored population, opening for that purpose an evening school. During the revolutionary war and the occupation of Philadelphia by the British army, he was active in alleviating the sufferings of the prisoners. He published tracts, which were gratuitously distributed throughout the country, the most important being “A Caution to Great Britain and her Colonies, in a Short Representation of the Calamitous State of the Enslaved Negroes in the British Dominion” (Philadelphia, 1767); “Some Historical Account of Guinea, with an Inquiry into the Rise and Progress of the Slave Trade” (1772); “Observations on the Indian Natives of this Continent” (1784); “A Short Account of the Society of Friends” (1780); and “Dissertation on the Christian Religion” (1782). See “Memoir of Anthony Benezet,” by Roberts Vaux (New York, 1817). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 234.

Bradford, William, 1658-1752 (Soderlund, 1985, p. 194) 1663-1752, Leicester, England, Society of Friends, Quaker, printed first anti-slavery publication in the colony in 1693, titled “An Exhortation and Caution to Friends Concerning Buying or Keeping of Negroes” (Drake, 1950, p. 14; Soderlund, 1985, p. 194; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 350; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. I, Pt. 2, pp. 463).

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

BRADFORD, William, printer, b. in Leicester, England, in 1658; d. in New York, 23 May, 1752. He was one of the Quakers brought over by Penn in 1682, who founded in the midst of the forest the town of Philadelphia. In 1685 he set up his printing-press, the first one south of New England, and the third one in the colonies. The same year he issued the “Kalendarium Pennsilvaniense” for 1686. In 1690 he joined with two others in building a paper-mill on the Schuylkill. Among his earliest publications were Keith's polemical tracts against the New England churches. In 1691, having sided with Keith in his quarrel with the authorities, and printed his “Appeal to the People,” and other tracts on his side of the controversy, Bradford was arrested for seditious libel, and his press, forms, materials, and publications were confiscated. He was tried on the charge of having printed a paper tending to weaken the hands of the magistrates, but, conducting his own case with shrewdness and skill, escaped punishment through the disagreement of the jury. In his defence he contended, in opposition to the ruling of the court directing the jury to find only as to the facts of the printing, that the jurors were judges of the law as well as of the fact, and competent to determine whether the subject-matter was seditious, a point that, in after times, was much controverted in similar cases. Having incurred the displeasure of the dominant party in Philadelphia, and receiving an invitation to establish a printing-press in New York, he settled there in 1693, set up the first press in the province, and the same year printed the laws of the colony. He was appointed public printer with an allowance of £50 per annum, and also received the appointment of printer to the government of New Jersey. He retained an interest in the press in Philadelphia, which was managed by a Dutchman named Jansen until Bradford's eldest son, Andrew, took charge of it in 1712, and obtained the appointment of public printer. On 16 Oct., 1725, William Bradford began the publication of the “New York Gazette,” the fourth newspaper in the colonies, and in 1728 he established a paper-mill at Elizabethtown, N. J. He was the only printer in the colony for thirty years, and retained the office of public printer for more than fifty years. He is buried in Trinity church-yard. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 350.

Burling, William, b. 1678, Flushing, Long Island, Society of Friends, Quaker.  Tried to have fellow Quakers give up slaveholding.  He called it a sin.  Wrote tracts against slavery, circa 1718.  (Basker, 2005, p. 120; Drake, 1950, pp. 34, 36-37, 107).

Chandler, Elizabeth, 1807-1834, poet, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist.  Member of the Free Produce Society.  Co-founded the first anti-slavery society in Michigan, the Logan Female Anti-Slavery Society, in Lenawee County, Michigan Territory, October 8, 1832, with Laura Haviland.  Writer for Benjamin Lundy’s Genius of Universal Emancipation after 1829.  In 1836, Chandler’s anti-slavery writings were published.

(Dumond, 1961, pp. 279-281, 350-351; Van Broekhoven, 2002, pp. 90-91, 97, 111, 113, 120; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 573; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. II, Pt. 1, p. 613; Mason, Martha J. Heringa, ed. Remember the Distance That Divides Us. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 2004).

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

CHANDLER, Elizabeth Margaret, author, b. in Centre, near Wilmington, Del., 24 Dec., 1807; d. 22 Nov., 1834. She was the daughter of Thomas Chandler, a Quaker farmer, was educated at the Friends' school in Philadelphia, and began at an early age to write verses. Her poem “The Slave-Ship,” written when she was eighteen years old, gained the prize- offered by the “Casket,” a monthly magazine. She became a contributor to the “Genius of Universal Emancipation,” a Philadelphia periodical favoring the liberation of the slaves, and in it nearly all her subsequent writings appeared. In 1830, with her aunt and brother, she removed to a farm near Tecumseh, Lenawee co., Mich., and from there continued her contributions in prose and verse on the subject of slavery. A collection of her poems and essays was edited, with a memoir, by Benjamin Lundy (Philadelphia, 1836). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 573.

Chase, Elizabeth Buffam, 1806-1899, Society of Friends, Quaker, women’s suffrage leader, penal reform leader, abolitionist leader.  Co-founder of the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Fall River, Massachusetts, 1836.  Member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, founded by her father, Arnold Buffum, in 1832.  Contributed articles for abolitionist newspaper, Liberator.  Her home was a station on the Underground Railroad.  She resigned from the Society of Friends in 1843 as a result of its continuing pro-slavery position.  At the end of the Civil War, she was elected Vice President of the American Anti-Slavery Society.  She published her memoirs in 1891, Anti-Slavery Reminiscences. Her grandfather, parents, husband, two sisters, and two brothers-in-law were all abolitionists. 

(Drake, 1950, p. 158; Mabee, 1970, pp. 225, 280, 290, 424n54; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 44, 218; Van Broekhoven, 2002, pp. 22, 37, 49-52, 58, 67, 69-71, 73, 159, 171, 191-192, 208-209, 219-221, 232n5; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 2, Pt. 1, p. 584; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 158-159; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 4, p. 609).

Clothier, Caleb, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist, member of the Association of Friends for Advocating the Cause of the Slave, and Hicksite Anti-Slavery Association (Drake, 1950, pp. 154, 156, 172).

Coates, Lindley, 1794-1856, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Society of Friends, Quaker.  Manager, 1833-1840, and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833.  Ardent abolitionist who helped escaped slaves.  Member of the Underground Railroad.  Petitioned Congress on November 19, 1835, to “Secure the rights of freedom to every human being residing within the constitutional jurisdiction of Congress, and [to] prohibit every species of traffic in the persons of men [i.e., the internal slave trade], which is as inconsistent in principle and inhuman in practice as the foreign slave trade.” (Drake, 1950, pp. 146, 149; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833).

Coates, Samuel, 1748-1830, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Society of Friends, Quaker, merchant, director of the First Bank of the United States, member and delegate of the Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society (PAS), Committee of Twenty-Four (Basker, 2005, pp. 223, 224, 238, 240n15; Nash, 1991, p. 129; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 2, Pt. 2, p. 238).

Coffin, Addison, Indiana, North Carolina, Society of Friends, Quaker, radical abolitionist, manager of North Carolina Underground Railroad, 1836-1852 (Drake, 1950, pp. 162, 185).

Coffin, Alfred, Indiana, North Carolina, Society of Friends, Quaker, radical abolitionist, manager of North Carolina Underground Railroad, 1836-1852 (Drake, 1950, p. 185).

Coffin, Levi, 1798-1877, Newport, Indiana, philanthropist, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist, conductor Underground Railroad, established Indiana Yearly Meeting of Anti-Slavery Friends.  Active in Free Labor Movement, which encouraged people not to trade in goods produced by slave labor.  Helped start the Western Freedman’s Aid Commission.  Wrote Reminiscences of Levi Coffin, Reputed President of the Underground Railroad, Cincinnati, OH: Western Tract Society.  Helped three thousands slaves to freedom.  Coffin was a manager of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS). 

(Drake, 1950, pp. 162, 165, 186, 187, 197; Dumond, 1961, pp. 90, 92; Mabee, 1970, pp. 141, 225, 273, 280, 283; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 75, 231-232, 488, 489; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, p. 675; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 177-178; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 5, p. 148)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

COFFIN, Levi, philanthropist, b. near New Garden, N. C., 28 Oct., 1798; d. in Avondale, Ohio, 16 Sept., 1877. His ancestors were natives of Nantucket. He assisted on his father's farm and had but little schooling, yet he became a teacher. The cruel treatment of the negroes, and the Quakers principles under which he was reared, enlisted his sympathies in favor of the oppressed race, and at the age of fifteen he began to aid in the escape of slaves. Subsequently he organized a Sunday-school for negroes, and in 1822 opened his first school. In 1826 he settled in Wayne county, Ind., where he kept a country store. Being prosperous in this undertaking, he soon enlarged his business in various lines, including also the curing of pork. In 1836 he built an oil-mill and began the manufacture of linseed-oil. Meanwhile his interest in the slaves continued, and he was active in the “underground railroad,” a secret organization, whose purpose was the transportation of slaves from member to member until a place was reached where the negro was free. Thousands of escaping slaves were aided on their way to Canada by him, including Eliza Harris, who subsequently became known through “Uncle Tom's Cabin.” The question of using only “free-labor goods” had been for some time agitated throughout the United States, and in 1846 a convention was held in Salem, Ind., at which Mr. Coffin was chosen to open such a store in Cincinnati. Accordingly he moved to that city in April, 1847. The undertaking proved successful, and he continued to be so occupied for many years. His relations with the “underground railroad” were also continued, and he became its president. In 1863 he was associated in the establishment of the freedmen's bureau, and during the following year was sent to Europe as agent for the Western freedmen's aid commission. He held meetings in all of the prominent cities in Great Britain, enlisted much sympathy, and secured funds. Again in 1867 he visited Europe in the same capacity. When the colored people of Cincinnati celebrated the adoption of the fifteenth amendment to the United States constitution, he formally resigned his office of president of the “underground railroad,” which he had held for more than thirty years. The story of his life is told in “Reminiscences of Levi Coffin, the Reputed President of the Underground Railroad” (Cincinnati, 1876). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 675.

Coffin, Vestal, Society of Friends, Quaker, Guilford, established station of the Underground Railroad (Drake, 1950, p. 119).

Coleman, Elihu, d. 1789, Nantucket, carpenter, Society of Friends, Quaker.  Early Quaker opponent of slavery.  Wrote pamphlet, “A Testimony Against that Anti-Christian Practice of Making Slaves of Men.”  Cole believed that slavery was un-Christian and against the precepts of the Golden Rule. (Bruns, 1977, pp. 39-45; Drake, 1950, pp. 34, 37-39, 49, 63; Locke, 1901, pp. 24, 25, 33; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 12).

Collins, Isaac, 1746-1817, born Delaware, Society of Friends, Quaker, printer, published anti-slavery literature in 1770s (Basker, 2005, pp. 55-56; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 691-692).

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

COLLINS, Isaac, publisher, b. in Delaware, 16 Feb., 1746; d. in Burlington, N. J., 21 March, 1817. He was the son of an immigrant from Bristol, England, learned the printer's trade, went to Philadelphia at the age of twenty-one, where he worked as a journeyman, in 1770 was appointed public printer in New Jersey, and removed to Burlington. In 1771 he began the publication of an almanac, which he issued annually for more than twenty years. In 1778 he removed to Trenton, and there printed 5,000 copies of a family Bible that was remarkably free from typographical errors. To secure accuracy, the proofs were read eleven times. In 1796 he went to New York city, but returned to Burlington in 1808. His sons also followed the business of their father; and the house of Charles Collins is now the oldest publishing firm in the United States. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. I. pp. 691-692.

Cooper, David, New Jersey, farmer, abolitionist, Society of Friends, pamphleteer, wrote, A Mite Cast into the Treasury: or, Observations on Slave Keeping, published 1772, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Petitioned Congress three times to abolish slavery, even lobbied President George Washington. Also wrote, A Serious Address to the Rulers of America, on the Inconsistency of their Conduct Respecting Slavery, Trenton, 1783.  (Basker, 2005, pp. ix, 31-77; Bruns, 1977, pp. 184-191, 440, 475; Dumond, 1961, pp. 24, 76; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 372; Zilversmit, 1967, pp. 94, 152, 159).

Cresson, Elliot, 1796-1854, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Society of Friends, Quaker, philanthropist, supported American Colonization Society. (Staudenraus, 1961, pp. 125, 128, 193, 240, 189-190, 216-218, 224, 234, 238-239; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 7-8; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 2, Pt. 2, p. 540).

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

CRESSON, Elliott, philanthropist, b. in Philadelphia, 2 March, 1796; d. there, 20 Feb., 1854. He was a member of the Society of Friends, became a successful merchant in Philadelphia, and devoted his attention to benevolent objects, especially the promotion of the welfare of the Indians and negroes in the United States. He conceived the intention of becoming a missionary among the Seminoles of Florida, but afterward gave his mind to the scheme of colonizing American negroes in Africa, engaged in establishing the first colony of liberated slaves at Bassa Cove, on the Grain coast, became president of the Colonization society, and labored as its agent in New England in the winter of 1838-'9, in the southern states in 1839-'40, and in Great Britain in 1840-'2 and 1850-'3. He left in his will $122,000 to various benevolent institutions, and a lot, valued at $30,000, for a home for superannuated merchants and gentlemen. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 7-8.

Cuffee (Cuffe), Paul, 1759-1818, free Black, sea captain, author, A Brief Account of the Settlement and Present Situation of the Colony of Sierra Leone, 1812, Society of Friends from Massachusetts, Quaker, abolitionist, among the first Americans to colonize free Blacks in Africa (Drake, 1950, pp. 123-125; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 23, 24, 32, 164, 192, 568; Staudenraus, 1961, pp. 9-11, 19, 34; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 26; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 2, Pt. 2, p. 585).

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

CUFFEE, Paul, philanthropist, b. on one of the Elizabeth isles, near New Bedford, Mass., in 1759; d. 7 Sept., 1818. His father was a negro, born in Africa, who had been a slave, and his mother an Indian. He followed a seafaring life, became owner of a vessel, which he manned entirely with negroes, and acquired a large fortune. He was an influential member of the Society of Friends. In his later years he interested himself in the scheme of colonizing American freedmen on the western coast of Africa, corresponded with friends of the enterprise in England and Africa, visited the colony in his own ship in 1811 to study its advantages, and in 1815 carried out thirty-eight colored emigrants and provided means for establishing them in Africa. He applied to the British government for leave to land other companies of colored people in Sierra Leone, but died before the permission came. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, Pt. 2, pp. 585.

Dillwyn, William, New Jersey, Society of Friends, Quaker.  Petitioned New Jersey Assembly in Trenton to emancipate all slaves in province. (Bruns, 1977, pp. 270-278, 314, 486, 488; Drake, 1950, pp. 87, 91; Zilversmit, 1967, p. 96).

Earle, Thomas, 1796-1848, Mississippi, 1796-1849, Worcester, Massachusetts, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist leader, journalist, lawyer, political leader, Philadelphia, PA.  Edited Pennsylvania Freeman.  Petitioned Congress to amend U.S. Constitution to compensate slaveholders in the South who freed their slaves.  Vice presidential candidate for abolitionist Liberty Party. Manager, American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), 1839-1840.

(Bonner, 1948; Drake, 1950, p. 149; Dumond, 1961, p. 297; Goodell, 1852, p. 471; Pennsylvania Freeman, April 23, 1840; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 288-289; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 3, Pt. 1, p. 597; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 7, p. 231).

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

EARLE, Thomas, lawyer, b. in Leicester, Mass., 21 April, 1796; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 14 July, 1849, was educated at Leicester academy, In 1817 he removed to Philadelphia, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits for a few years, but subsequently studied law and practised his profession. He became distinguished also as a journalist, editing in succession the “Columbian Observer,” “Standard,” “Pennsylvanian,” and “Mechanics’ Free Press and Reform Advocate.” In 1837 he took an active part in calling the Constitutional convention of Pennsylvania, of which he was a prominent member, and it is supposed that he made the original draft of the new constitution. He lost his popularity with the Democratic party by advocating the extension of the right of suffrage to negroes. He was the candidate of the liberty party for vice-president in 1840, but the nomination was repudiated by the abolitionists, whom that party was supposed to represent. Mr. Earle subsequently took little part in political affairs. He devoted his time principally to literary work, and published an “Essay on Penal Law”; an “Essay on the Rights of States to Alter and to Annul their Charters”; “Treatise on Railroads and Internal Communications” (1830); and a “Life of Benjamin Lundy.” At the time of his death he was engaged in a translation of Sismondi's “Italian Republics,” and in the compilation of a “Grammatical Dictionary of the French and the English Languages.” Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 288-289.

Edmundson, William, Society of Friends, Quaker, Germantown, Pennsylvania, early Quaker opponent of slavery (Drake, 1950, pp. 8-10, 14-15, 37, 51; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 7, 432).

Farmer, John, Society of Friends, Quaker, radical abolitionist reformer. Farmer was disowned by Quakers for his stand against slavery (Drake, 1950, pp. 29-32, 34, 36-38, 40, 47, 51, 136, 159; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 433; Soderlund, 1985, pp. 22, 35, 249).

Fuller, James Canning, Skaneateles, New York, abolitionist, Society of Friends, Quaker, operated station on the Underground Railroad.  American Anti-Slavery Society, Manager, 1839-1840.  (Sernett, 2002, p. 57).

Fussell, Bartholomew, Kennett, Pennsylvania, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist.  Manager, 1833-1837, and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833. (Drake, 1950, p. 140; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833).

Gibbons, James Sloan, 1810-1892, Philadelphia, PA, New York, NY, Society of Friends, Quaker, merchant, abolitionist, philanthropist.  Member of the Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1839-1840, 1840-1844.  Married to abolitionist Abigale Hooper.  (Drake, 1950, pp. 160, 162, 198; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 636; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 4, Pt. 1, p. 242).

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

GIBBONS, James Sloan, merchant, b. in Wilmington, Del., 1 July, 1810, was educated in private schools in his native city, and in early life removed to Philadelphia, where he became a merchant. He came to New York in 1835, and has since been connected with banks and finance in that city. He has contributed to various literary and financial periodicals, and has published “The Banks of New York, their Dealers, the Clearing-House, and the Panic of 1857” (New York, 1858), and “The Public Debt of the United States” (1867). His song, “We are coming, Father Abraham,” was very popular during the civil war. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 636.

Grew, Henry, 1781-1862, Society of Friends, Quaker, clergyman, religious writer, reformer, abolitionist.  Daughters were Mary and Susan Grew, both abolitionists.  Active in abolition movements.  Member of the New England Anti-Slavery Soceity.  Attended the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, England, in June 1840.  (Yellin, 1994, pp. 71, 312, 333).

Grimké, Angelina Emily, (Soderlund, 1985, p. 13) Society of Friends, Quaker, reformer, radical abolitionist leader, feminist, author, orator; wrote An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South, 1836, member Anti-Slavery Society of New York.  Sister of abolitionist leader Sarah Moore Grimké.  Married to noted abolitionist Theodore Weld. 

(Barnes & Dumond, 1934; Ceplair, 1989; Drake, 1950, pp. 157-158, 173n; Dumond, 1961, pp. 90, 93, 185, 190-193, 195-196, 278-279; Lerner, 1967; Lumkin, 1974; Mabee, 1970, pp. 13, 28, 35, 36, 93, 129, 140, 188, 190, 191, 194, 213, 241, 266, 347, 348, 358, 376; Perry, 2001; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 44, 162, 173-174, 199, 289, 290, 308, 321-322, 416, 465, 511; Soderlund, 1985, p. 13; Van Broekhoven, 2002, pp. 26-31, 36, 63, 70, 80, 97, 99, 100, 114, 122, 148; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 768; Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, p. 425; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 4, Pt. 1, p. 634; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 379-382; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 9, p. 621; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 325; Barnes, Gilbert H., ed. Letters of Theodore Dwight Weld, Angelina Grimké Weld, and Sara Grimké, 1822-1844, 2 Vols. 1934.)

Grimké, Sarah Moore, 1792-1873 (Soderlund, 1985, p. 13) 1792-1873, Society of Friends, Quaker, reformer, radical abolitionist, feminist, orator, author, women’s rights advocate, political activist.  Wrote An Epistle to the Clergy of the Southern States, 1836.  Member of the Anti-Slavery Society of New York.  Sister of abolitionist leader Angelina Emily Grimké. 

(Birney, 1885; Ceplair, 1989; Drake, 1950, pp. 157-158; Dumond, 1961, pp. 190, 275; Lerner, 1967; Mabee, 1970, pp. 47, 92, 129, 141, 194, 266, 342; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 44, 162, 199, 290, 308, 322-323, 362, 416, 433, 465, 519; Soderlund, 1985, p. 13; Van Broekhoven, 2002, pp. 26-31, 36, 63, 70, 80, 97, 99, 100, 114, 122, 148; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, p. 768; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 4, Pt. 1, p. 635; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 379-382; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 9, p. 627; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 325; Barnes, Gilbert H., ed. Letters of Theodore Dwight Weld, Angelina Grimké Weld, and Sara Grimké, 1822-1844, 2 Vols. 1934.)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

GRIMKÉ, Sarah Moore, reformer, b. in Charleston, S. C., 6 Nov., 1792; d. in Hyde Park, N. Y., 23 Dec., 1873. After the death of her father, she and her sister Angelina, afterward Mrs. Theodore D. Weld (q. v.), having long been convinced of the evils of slavery, emancipated their negroes and left their home. In her own account of the event, Miss Grimké says: “As I left my native state on account of slavery, deserted the home of my fathers to escape the sound of the driver's lash and the shrieks of the tortured victims, I would gladly bury in oblivion the recollections of those scenes with which I have been familiar. But it may not, can not be; they come over my memory like gory spectres, and implore me with resistless power in the name of humanity, for the sake of the slave-holder as well as the slave, to bear witness to the horrors of the southern prison-house.” Miss Grimké went to Philadelphia in 1821, and became one of the most active members of the Anti-slavery society, also advocating women's rights. She lectured in New England, and afterward made her home with the Weld family, teaching in their school, which was established in Belleville, N. J., in 1840. She published in 1827 an “Epistle to the Clergy of the Southern States”—an effective anti-slavery document—and afterward wrote “Letters on the Condition of Woman and the Equality of the Sexes” (Boston, 1838). She also translated Lamartine's “Joan of Arc” (1867). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II, pp. 768.

Haviland, Laura, 1808-1898, New York, Society of Friends, Quaker, anti-slavery activist.  October 8, 1832, co-founded the Logan Female Anti-Slavery Society in Lenawee County, Michigan Territory, with Elizabeth Chandler.  Founded the Raisin Institute.  Helped fugitive slaves.  (Dumond, 1961, pp. 279, 401n18, 32; Haviland, 1882).

Hazard, Thomas, (“College Tom”), 1720-1798, Rhode Island, Society of Friends, Quaker, early abolitionist leader (Drake, 1950, pp. 50, 89, 97, 191; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, p. 149; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 4, Pt. 2, p. 472; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 419-420).

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

HAZARD, Thomas Robinson, author, b. in South Kingston, R. I., in 1784; d. in New York in March, 1876. He was educated at the Friends' school in Westtown, Chester co., Pa., and subsequently engaged in farming, and assisted his father in the woollen business. He then established a woollen mill at Peacedale, R. I., and acquired a fortune. In 1836 he purchased an estate at Vaucluse, R. I., and in 1840 retired from his manufacturing business. He caused many reforms to be introduced in the management of insane asylums and poor-houses in Rhode Island. He was, for years preceding his death, an enthusiastic spiritualist, and wrote much in support of their views. He is the author of “Facts for the Laboring Man” (1840); “Capital Punishment” (1850); “Report on the Poor and Insane” (1850); “Handbook of the National American Party” (1856); “Appeal to the People of Rhode Island” (1857); and “Ordeal of Life” (Boston, 1870). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, pp. 149.

Hepburn, John, Society of Friends, Quaker, early anti-slavery activist, promoted colonization project as early as 1715.  Wrote that slavery was “anti-Christian and vile.”  Wrote The American Defense of the Golden Rule, or An Essay to Prove the Unlawfulness of Making Slaves of Men, 1715.  (Bruns, 1977, pp. 16-31; Drake, 1950, pp. 34-36, 38, 121; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 12, 94; Zilversmit, 1967, p. 66).

Hicks, Elias, 1748-1830, clergyman, abolitionist leader.  Long Island farmer.  Society of Friends, Quaker minister. Founder of Hicksite sect of Quakerism, which believed in a radical form of abolitionism.  (Drake, 1950, pp. 116-118, 120, 155, 160; Hicks, 1861; Pease, 1965, pp. 143-148; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, pp. 195-196; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 5, Pt. 1, p. 6; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 430-431; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 10, p. 744)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

HICKS, Elias, minister of the Society of Friends, b. in Hempstead, N. Y., 19 March, 1748; d. in Jericho, N. Y., 27 Feb., 1830. His youth was passed in carelessness and indifference to religious subjects, but not without frequent checks of conscience for his neglect of duty. At the age of about twenty years the subject of religion deeply affected his mind, and wrought a thorough change in his conduct. He became interested in the principles and testimonies of the society of which he was a member, and when about twenty-seven years of age he began his ministry, soon became an acknowledged minister of the society, and for more than fifty years labored with unwearied diligence. He travelled through almost every state in the Union, and also through Canada several times, and, notwithstanding the fact that his circumstances were not affluent, he never received the least compensation for his services. When not engaged in religious service, he was diligently occupied with his own hands upon his farm. He was in early life deeply impressed with the injustice and cruelty of keeping slaves, and was among the first that brought the subject frequently and forcibly before his religious society. Not only in his public discourses, but also by his pen, his views on this subject widely diffused themselves throughout the community, and through his exertions, conjoined with those of other philanthropists, the state of New York was induced to pass the act that on 4 July, 1827, gave freedom to every slave within its limits. As a preacher he was lucid and powerful, and wielded an influence that has been scarcely attained by any other member of his society. The prominent theme of his ministry was “obedience to the light within,” which he considered as the foundation of true Quakerism. In the latter years of his life he gave ground for uneasiness to some of the society by his views concerning the dogmatic opinions of theologians concerning the pre-existence, deity, incarnation, and vicarious atonement of Christ. He considered that the personality of the meek, wise, majestic prophet of Galilee was overlaid with theological verbiage and technicality, which greatly impaired its practical value and authority as an example to mankind. Hicks's ministry was marked by much dignity and power. Notwithstanding his pure, blameless, and upright walk among men, his doctrinal views became the cause of dissatisfaction, which led to a separation in all, or nearly all, the yearly meetings on the continent, his friends and supporters in most of the yearly meetings being largely in the majority. The contest was conducted with much acrimony, which, to the credit of all concerned, is rapidly passing away. Those members of the society that adhere to the teachings of Elias Hicks are commonly known as “Hicksites,” a name that was originally given in derision, but they recognize no other name than that of “Friends.” Mr. Hicks published “Observations on Slavery” (New York, 1811); “Sermons” (1828); “Elias Hicks's Journal of his Life and Labors” (Philadelphia, 1828); and “The Letters of Elias Hicks” (1834). See also Samuel M. Janney's “History of the Religious Society of the Friends” (1859). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, pp. 195-196.

Hopper, Isaac Tattem, Quaker, abolitionist, 1771-1852, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Society of Friends, Quaker, prison reformer, philanthropist, radical abolitionist leader, member Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Abolition Society, Treasurer of the Anti-Slavery Society, operator of the Underground Railroad, helped 3,000 Black fugitive slaves to Canada.  (Drake, 1950, pp. 118, 148, 160, 162, 187; Mabee, 1970, pp. 27, 29, 30, 100, 105, 111, 225, 273, 276, 277, 374; Nash, 1991, p. 131; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, p. 261; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 5, Pt. 1, p. 224; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 445-446; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 11, p. 202).

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

HOPPER, Isaac Tatem, philanthropist, b. in Deptford township, Gloucester co., N. J., 3 Dec., 1771; d. in New York city, 7 May, 1852. He learned the tailor's trade of an uncle in Philadelphia. He early joined the Quakers, and afterward became a believer in the doctrines taught by Elias Hicks, whose followers were subsequently known as Hicksites. When he was young, Philadelphia was infested by slave kidnappers, who committed many outrages. Under these circumstances the Pennsylvania abolition society, of which Mr. Hopper became an active and leading member, was frequently called upon to protect the rights of colored people, and in time he became known to every one in Philadelphia as the friend and adviser of the oppressed race in all emergencies. He was one of the founders and the secretary of a society for the employment of the poor; overseer of the Benezet school for colored children; teacher, without recompense, in a free school for colored adults; inspector of the prison, without a salary; member of a fire company, and guardian of abused apprentices. When pestilence was raging, he was devoted to the sick, and the poor were continually calling upon him to plead with importunate landlords and creditors. He was not unfrequently employed to settle estates involved in difficulties, which others were disinclined to undertake, and he had occasional applications to exert his influence over the insane, for which he had a peculiar tact. Although he was a poor man with a large family, his house was for many years a home for impoverished Quakers, and he transacted much business for the Society of Friends. In 1829 he removed to New York to take charge of a book-store established by the Hicksite Quakers. In the autumn of 1830, being called to Ireland on business connected with his wife's estate, he availed himself of the opportunity to visit England. In both countries he was at first treated somewhat cavalierly by the orthodox Quakers, and pointed out as the one “who has given Friends so much trouble in America.” His candor and amiability, however, soon removed these unfavorable impressions, and he had no occasion ultimately to complain of his reception. On his return to New York, he threw himself heart and soul into the work of the Prison association, whose aims and plans of action were entirely in accordance with his views. To render such practical aid as would enable the repentant to return to society, by engaging in some honest calling, he devoted the greater part of his time and attention. No disposition was too perverse for his efforts at reform; no heart so hard that he did not try to soften; no relapses could exhaust his patience, which, without weak waste of means, continued “hoping all things” while even a dying spark of good feeling remained. In the spring of 1841, the demand for Hicksite books having greatly diminished, Friend Hopper became treasurer and book-agent for the Anti-slavery society. Although he had reached the age of seventy, he was as vigorous as a man of fifty. In 1845 he relinquished these offices, and devoted the rest of his life entirely to the work of the Prison association. In his labors he was greatly assisted by a married daughter, Abby H. Gibbons, who was as vigilant and active in behalf of women discharged from prison as was her father in behalf of men. Through her exertions, an asylum was founded for these unfortunates, which was called the “Isaac T. Hopper Home. The aged philanthropist frequently had occasion to visit Albany, N. Y., to represent the association and to address the legislature. Judge Edmonds thus refers to one of these occasions: “His eloquence was simple and direct, but most effective. If he was humorous, his audience were full of laughter; if solemn, a death-like stillness reigned; if pathetic, tears flowed all around him.” He had often to plead for the pardon of prisoners, and Gov. John Young, of New York, once said to him: “Friend Hopper, I will pardon any convict whom you say you conscientiously believe I ought to pardon.” The career of this untiring benefactor is best summed up in the words of one of his own sect: “The Bible requires us to love our neighbors as well as ourselves; and Friend Hopper has loved them better!” His life was written by Lydia Maria Child (Boston, 1853).  Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, pp. 261.

Howland, Emily, 1827-1929, Sherwood, Cayuga County, New York, opponent of slavery, philanthropist, educator.  Society of Friends, Quaker.  Worked with freed slaves and on Underground Railroad.  Teacher at the Normal School for Colored Girls in Washington, DC, 1857-1859.  (Breault, 1981; Sernett, 2002, pp. 264-265, 338-339n29).

Hubbard, Jeremiah, North Carolina, clergyman. Society of Friends, Quaker minister. Advocated colonization of Blacks to Africa, as a solution to slavery. (Drake, 1950, pp. 141-142, 162).

Humphreys, Richard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Society of Friends, Quaker, anti-slavery supporter (Drake, 1950, p. 139n).

Julian, George Washington, 1817-1899, Society of Friends, Quaker, statesman, lawyer, radical abolitionist leader from Indiana, vice president of the Free Soil Party, 1852.  Member of U.S. Congress from Indiana, 1850-1851.  Was against the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act.  Fought in court to prevent fugitive slaves from being returned to their owners.  Joined and supported early Republican Party.  Re-elected to Congress, 1861-1871.  Supported emancipation of slaves.  Husband of Ann Elizabeth Finch, who was likewise opposed to slavery.  After her death in 1860, he married Laura Giddings, daughter of radical abolitionist Joshua Giddings. 

(Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, p. 486; Blue, 2005, pp. ix, 9, 10, 11, 13, 161-183, 210, 225-229, 259-260, 265-270; Riddleberger, 1966; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 54, 354-355; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 5, Pt. 2, p. 245; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 486-487; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 12, p. 315)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

JULIAN, George Washington, statesman, b. near Centreville, Ind., 5 May, 1817; d. in Irvington, Ind., 7 July, 1899. He taught for three years, studied law, and was admitted to practice in 1840. He was elected to the Indiana house of representatives in 1845 as a member of the Whig party; but becoming warmly interested in the slavery question through his Quaker training, severed his party relations in 1848, became one of the founders and leaders of the Free-soil party, was a delegate to the Buffalo convention, and was then elected to congress, serving from 3 Dec., 1849, to 3 March, 1851. In 1852 he was a candidate for the vice-presidency on the Free-soil ticket. He was a delegate to the Pittsburg convention of 1856, the first National convention of the Republican party, and was its vice-president, and chairman of the committee on organization. In 1860 he was elected as a Republican to congress, and served on the joint committee on the conduct of the war. He was four times re-elected, and served on the committee on reconstruction, and for eight years as chairman of the committee on public lands. He espoused the cause of woman suffrage as early as 1847, and in 1868 proposed in congress a constitutional amendment conferring the right to vote on women. During the discussions on reconstruction he was zealous in demanding the electoral franchise for the negro. In 1872 he joined the Liberal Republicans, and supported Horace Greeley for president. His most strenuous efforts in congress were directed to the championship of the homestead policy and the preservation of the public lands for the people. In May, 1885, he was appointed surveyor-general of New Mexico. He had published “Speeches on Political Questions,” containing a sketch of his life by Lydia Maria Child (Boston, 1872), and “Political Recollections” (Chicago, 1884), and had contributed to magazines and reviews articles dealing with political reforms.—His brother, Isaac Hoover, journalist, b. in Wayne county, Ind., 19 June, 1823, removed to Iowa in 1846, resided there till 1850, and returning to Indiana settled in Centreville and edited the “Indiana True Republican,” which he afterward published in Richmond, Ind., under the title of “The Indiana Radical.” He occupied several local offices in that town, removed to San Marco, Texas, in 1873, and since that date has edited the “San Marco Free Press.” He has published, besides numerous poems, pamphlets, and essays, a “Memoir of David Hoover” (Richmond, Ind., 1857). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III.

Keith, George, c. 1639-1716 (Soderlund, 1985, pp. 18-19, 22) circa 1639-1716, b. Aberdeen, Scotland, Society of Friends, Quaker.  Early Quaker opponent of slavery. As a result, he was declared an apostate and disowned by the Philadelphia church in 1692.  Wrote early protest of slavery and owning slaves, An Exhortation and Caution to Friends Concerning Buying or Keeping of Negroes, in 1693.  Exhorted Quakers to free their slaves.  (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. III, p. 502; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 5, Pt. 2, p. 289; Bruns, 1977, pp. 5-9, 17, 31, 39; Drake, 1950, pp. 14-15, 20; Dumond, 1961, p. 17; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 8, 93; Zilversmit, 1967, p. 57; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 12, p. 460).

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

KEITH, George, clergyman, b. in Aberdeen, Scotland, about 1639; d. in Sussex, England, in 1716. He was educated in the schools of the Church of Scotland and at the University of Aberdeen. Becoming a Quaker in 1664, he suffered confiscation and imprisonment, and in 1675 was engaged with Robert Barclay in a discussion before the students of Aberdeen university concerning Quaker doctrines. A continuance of persecutions induced Keith to emigrate to the United States in 1684. He became a surveyor in New Jersey, and was engaged to determine the boundary-line between the eastern and western parts of the state. He removed to Philadelphia in 1689, and took charge of a Friends' school, but left it to travel in New England, where he engaged in controversy with John Cotton and Increase Mather. On his return to Philadelphia he became involved in disputes with his own sect. He then went to London and met William Penn in controversy, who pronounced him an apostate and dismissed him from the society. Keith responded in an able argument, and formed a society of his own known as the Christian or Baptist Quakers, or Keithians. Becoming again dissatisfied, he was ordained in the Church of England, and in 1702 was sent by the Society for propagating the gospel on a mission to Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He was signally successful in this work, 700 Quakers under his influence receiving baptism in the Episcopal church. He subsequently returned to England, and became rector of Edburton, Sussex. Bishop Burnet, who was his fellow-student at Aberdeen, says of him in his “History of My Own Times”: “Keith was the most learned man ever in the Quaker sect, well versed both in the Oriental tongues and in philosophy and mathematics.” Besides theological works, he published “Journal of Travels from New Hampshire to Caratuck” (London, 1706); “Standard of the Quakers” (1702; republished in Janney's “History of Friends,” Philadelphia, 1867); and “New Theory of Longitude” (1709). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, pp. 502.

Kelley, Abby (Foster), 1811-1887, Pelham, Massachusetts, Society of Friends, Quaker, radical abolitionist leader, women’s rights activist, radical social reformer, orator, lecturer.  Active supporter of the American Anti-Slavery Society, doing lectures, fundraising, and participating in anti-slavery conferences and distributing petitions.  Married abolitionist Stephan S. Foster.  Member of the Underground Railroad, Worcester, Massachusetts. (Bacon, 1974; Drake, 1950, pp. 14, 158, 176-177; Dumond, 1961, pp. 191, 275-276, 286; Mayer, 1998; Morin, 1994; Sterling, 1991; Yellin, 1994).

Kimber, Emmor, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Society of Friends, Quaker, member of the Association of Friends for Advocating the Cause of the Slave (Drake, 1950, p. 154).

Ladd, Benjamin, Smithfield, Ohio, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist, tried to bring 400 Southern Blacks to Ohio, near Sandusky, in July 1821 (Drake, 1950; Dumond, 1961, p. 137).

Lay, Benjamin, (Drake, 1950; Nash, 1991; Rodrigues, 2007; Soderlund, 1985; Zilversmit, 1967) 1682-1759, Colchester, EnglLand, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Society of Friends, Quaker leader, anti-slavery activist, temperance activist, and opponent of the death penalty.  Lay promoted colonization projects.  He published “Apostates!” and “All Slave Keepers, That Keep the Innocent in Bondage…”  At a Society of Friends meeting in Philadelphia in 1758, he encouraged Quakers who were slaveholders to “set them at liberty, making a Christian provision for them.”  He was excommunicated by the Quakers twice for his anti-slavery activities.  He lobbied governors of neighboring provinces against the evils of slavery.  Poet John Greenleaf Whittier said of Lay that he was an “irrepressible prophet who troubled the Israel of slaveholding Quakerism, clinging like a rough chestnut to the skirts of its respectability and settling like a pertinacious gadfly on the sore places of its conscience.”  He was lifelong friends with Benjamin Franklin. 

(Bruns, 1977, pp. 46-64; Drake, 1950, pp. 34, 37, 43-48, 51, 55, 107, 115-116, 121, 136, 177; Nash, 1991, pp. x, 48-49, 50, 52-53, 57, 63, 202; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 15, 94, 433; Soderlund, 1985, pp. 4, 15-17, 23n, 32, 35, 78, 149, 166-167, 173-175, 186-187; Zilversmit, 1967, pp. 67-69, 72, 75; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, p. 643; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 6, Pt. 1, p. 63; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 514-515; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 13; Vaux, R., Memoirs of the Lives of Benjamin Lay and Ralph Sandford, 1815; Rowntree, C. B., 1936, “Benjamin Lay (1681-1759),” The Journal of the Friends’ Historical Society, 33.)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

LAY, Benjamin, philanthropist, b. in Colchester, England, in 1677; d. in Abington, Pa., in 1759. In 1710 he settled in Barbadoes as a merchant, but, becoming obnoxious to the people by his abolition principles, he removed to the British colonies and settled at Abington, Pa., where he was one of the earliest and most zealous opponents of slavery. He was originally a member of the Society of Friends, but left it in 1717, because slave-holding was permitted to its members. Afterward he returned to the society when it assumed an attitude that was similar to his own. Mr. Lay was little over four feet in height, wore clothes of his own manufacture, and was distinguished scarcely less for his eccentricities than for his philanthropy. At one time he attempted to fast for forty days, but long before the expiration of that time his abstinence nearly proved fatal. To show his indignation against slave-holders he carried a bladder filled with blood into a meeting, and in the presence of the congregation thrust a sword, which he had concealed under his coat, into the bladder, and sprinkling the blood on several Friends exclaimed, “Thus shall God shed the blood of those who enslave their fellow-creatures.” Upon the introduction of tea into Pennsylvania he delivered a lecture against its use   

Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, pp. 643.

Leggett, Isaac, Society of Friends, Quaker, operated station of the Underground Railroad in his home.

Lettsom, Dr. John Coakley, physician, London, England, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist (Drake, 1950, pp. 123-124).

Lewis, Enoch, 1776-1856, mathematician, educator, publisher, African Observer, Society of Friends, Quaker, Wilmington, Delaware, moderate abolitionist, editor, anti-slavery monthly, the African Observer. Organized Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania. (Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. III, p. 703; Drake, 1950, pp. 118, 132, 145, 171-173; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 6, Pt. 1, p. 211).

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

LEWIS, Enoch, mathematician, b. in Radnor, Delaware co., Pa., 29 Jan., 1776; d. in Philadelphia, 14 June, 1856. He belonged to the Society of Friends. He early exhibited a talent for mathematics, at the age of fourteen was usher in a country school, and at fifteen became principal. In the autumn of 1792 he removed to Philadelphia, studied mathematics, teaching half of each day to earn his support, and in 1795 was engaged as a surveyor in laying out towns in western Pennsylvania. He was in charge of the mathematical department in the Friends' academy in Philadelphia, in 1796-'9, subsequently was mathematical tutor at the Westtown, Pa., school, and in 1808 opened a private school for mathematical students, which he successfully taught for several years. He edited several mathematical works, with notes, and about 1819 published a treatise on arithmetic that was followed by one on algebra, and by a work on plane and spherical trigonometry. In 1827 he became editor of a monthly called “The African Observer,” which continued only one year, and from 1847 till his death he was in charge of “The Friends' Review.” His publications include a “Life of Penn” in the “Friends' Library,” treatises on “Oaths” and on “Baptism,” and a “Vindication of the Society of Friends,” in answer to Dr. Samuel H. Cox's “Quakerism not Christianity.” Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. II.

Lewis, Evan, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Wilmington, Society of Friends, Quaker, radical abolitionist.  Vice president, 1833-1835, and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, president of the Anti-Slavery Convention of 1833 (Drake, 1950, pp. 130, 140, 145; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833).

Lundy, Benjamin, 1789-1839, philanthropist, American Anti-Slavery Society, organized Union Humane Society, St. Clairsville, Ohio, in 1815, New Jersey newspaper publisher, Genius of Universal Emancipation.

1789-1839, Pennsylvania, philanthropist, Society of Friends, Quaker, radical abolitionist leader, anti-slavery author and editor.  American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), Manager, 1833-1834, 1837-1838, 1838-1840, Vice President, 1834-1835.  Organized the anti-slavery Union Humane Society, St. Clairsville, Ohio, in 1816.  In 1821, he founded and published the newspaper, Genius of Universal Emancipation, in Greenville, Tennessee.  It was circulated in more than 21 states and territories, including slave states.  He was a member of the Tennessee Manumission Society.  In August 1825, he founded the Maryland Anti-Slavery Society, which advocated for direct political action to end slavery.  He lectu4red extensively and helped organize numerous anti-slavery groups in the Northeast.  Supported establishing colonies of freed slaves in Mexico.  In 1836, published The National Enquirer and Constitutional Advocate of Universal Liberty, a weekly paper.  In 1837, co-founded the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. 

(Adams, 1908; Dillon, 1966; Drake, 1950, pp. 118, 128, 130-131, 136, 156; Dumond, 1961, pp. 95, 136-137, 166; Earle, 1847; Filler, 1960, pp. 5, 26, 55, 57, 60, 99, 101, 105, 128, 130; Mabee, 1970, pp. 11-13, 18, 42, 186, 190, 192, 193, 199, 276, 376, 387n11, 390n21; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 33, 36, 39, 45, 105, 110, 310-311; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 54; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 6, Pt. 1, p. 506; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 546-548; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 14, p. 137; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 308).

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

LUNDY, Benjamin, philanthropist, b. in Hardwick, Warren co., N.J., 4 Jan., 1789; d. in Lowell, La Salle co., Ill., 22 Aug., 1839. His parents were members of the Society of Friends. When he was about nineteen years of age he removed to Wheeling, Va., where he remained for four years, working the first eighteen months as an apprentice to a saddler. While there his attention was first directed to the evils of slavery, and determined his future course as an Abolitionist. On leaving Wheeling he went to Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, and then to St. Clairsville in that state, where, in 1815, he originated an anti-slavery association, called the “Union humane society,” and wrote an appeal on the subject of slavery. Soon afterward he became a contributor of anti-slavery articles to the “Philanthropist” newspaper, published at Mt. Pleasant. In the autumn of 1819 he removed to St. Louis, Mo., at the time that the Missouri question was attracting universal attention, and devoted himself to an exposition of the evils of slavery in the newspapers of that state and Illinois. Returning to Mt. Pleasant, he began in January, 1812, the publication of the “Genius of Universal Emancipation,” a monthly, the office of which was soon removed to Jonesborough, Tenn., and thence to Baltimore in 1824, when it became a weekly. In the latter part of 1825 Mr. Lundy visited Hayti to make arrangements with the government of that island for the settlement of such freed slaves as might be sent thither. In 1828 he visited the eastern states, where he lectured and formed the acquaintance of William Lloyd Garrison, with whom he afterward became associated in editing his journal. In the winter of 1828-'9 he was assaulted for an alleged libel and nearly killed in Baltimore by a slave-dealer named Austin Woolfolk. Lundy was indirectly censured by the court and compelled to remove his paper to Washington, and finally to Philadelphia, where he gave it the name of “The National Inquirer,” and finally it merged into “The Pennsylvania Freeman.” In 1829 he went a second time to Hayti, and took with him several slaves that had been emancipated for that purpose. In the winter of 1830 he visited the Wilberforce colony of fugitive slaves in Canada, and then went to Texas to provide a similar asylum under the Mexican flag, renewing his visit in 1833, but was baffled by the events that led to the annexation of Texas. In 1838 his property was burned by the pro-slavery mob that fired Pennsylvania Hall, Philadelphia. In the winter of 1838-'9 he removed to Lowell, La Salle co., Ill., with the intention of publishing the '”Genius” there, but his design was frustrated by his death. He was the first to establish anti-slavery periodicals and to deliver anti-slavery lectures, and probably the first to induce the formation of societies for the encouragement of the produce of free labor. See “The Life, Travels, and Opinions of Benjamin Lundy.” By Thomas Earl (Philadelphia, 1847).  Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 54.

Marriot, Charles, Athens, New York, Society of Friends, Quaker, radical abolitionist. Member of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), member of the Executive Committee, 1840-1842, Manager, 1834-1838. (Drake, 1950, pp. 160, 162; Mabee, 1970, pp. 186, 387n11; Abolitionist).

Mifflin, Warner, 1745-1798, Virginia, Elder of the Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist leader.  Delegate of the Delaware Abolition Society.  Lobbied to pass 1782 Virginia law for private manumission of slaves.  Wrote A Serious Expostulation with the Members of the House of Representatives of the United States.  (Basker, 2005; Bruns, 1977; Drake, 1950, pp. 75-76, 93, 95, 105, 107-108, 112-113; Dumond, 1961, pp. 20, 76; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 319-320; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 6, Pt. 2, p. 608)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

MIFFLIN, Warner, reformer, b. in Accomac county, Va., 21 Oct., 1745; d. near Camden, Del., 16 Oct., 1798, was the son of Daniel Mifflin, a planter and slave-owner, and the only Quaker within sixty miles of his plantation. The son early cherished an interest in behalf of the slaves. .In giving an account of his conversion to anti-slavery views, he writes of himself: “About the fourteenth year of my age a circumstance occurred that tended to open the way for the reception of those impressions which have since been sealed with indelible clearness on my understanding. Being in the field with my father's slaves, a young man among them questioned me whether I thought it could be right that they should be toiling in order to raise me, and that I might be sent to school, and by and by their children must do so for mine. Some little irritation at first took place in my feelings, but his reasoning so impressed me as never to be erased from my mind. Before I arrived at the age of manhood I determined never to be a slave-owner.” Nevertheless, he did become the owner of slaves—some on his marriage through his wife's inheritance, and others from among his father's, who followed him to his plantation in Delaware, whither the son had removed and settled. Finally, determining that he would “be excluded from happiness if he continued in this breach of the divine law,” he freed all his slaves in 1774 and 1775, and his father followed the example. The son, on the day fixed for the emancipation of his slaves, called them one after another into his room and informed them of his purpose to give them their freedom, and this is the conversation that passed with one of them: “Well, my friend James,” said he, “how old art thou?” “I am twenty-nine and a half years, master.” “Thou should’st have been free, as thy white brethren are, at twenty-one. Religion and humanity enjoin me this day to give thee thy liberty; and justice requires me to pay thee for eight years and a half service, at the rate of ninety-one pounds, twelve shillings, and sixpence, owing to thee; but thou art young and healthy; thou had’st better work for thy living; my intention is to give thee a bond for it, bearing interest at seven and a half per cent. Thou hast now no master but God and the laws.” From this time until his death his efforts to bring about emancipation were untiring. Through his labors most of the members of his society liberated their slaves. He was an elder of the Society of Friends, and travelled from state to state preaching his anti-slavery doctrines among his people, and in the course of his life visited all the yearly meetings on the continent. He was much encouraged in his work by the words of the preamble of the Declaration of Independence. Referring to these, he writes: “Seeing this was the very substance of the doctrine I had been concerned to promulgate for years, I became animated with hope that if the representatives were men, and inculcated these views among the people generally, a blessing to this nation would accompany these endeavors.” In l782 he appeared before the legislature of Virginia, and was instrumental in having a law enacted that admitted of emancipation, to which law may be attributed the liberation of several thousand negroes. In 1783 he presented a memorial to congress respecting the African slave-trade, and he subsequently visited, in the furtherance of his work, the legislatures of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware. In 1791 he presented his noted “Memorial to the President, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the United States” on the subject of slavery, and, on account of some reflections that were cast on him, he published a short time afterward his serious expostulations with the house of representatives in relation to the principles of liberty and the inconsistency and cruelty of the slave-trade and slavery. These essays show the undaunted firmness and zeal of the writer, his cogent reasoning and powerful appeals to the understanding and the heart. From conviction he was against war, and on principle opposed the Revolution. On the day of the battle of Germantown he was attending the yearly meeting of the Quakers at Philadelphia, and the room in which they were assembled was darkened by the smoke of the battle. At this meeting the Friends renewed their “testimony” against the spirit of war, and chose Mifflin to undertake the service of communicating it to Gen. Washington and Gen. Howe. To perform this duty, he had to walk in blood and among the dead bodies of those that had fallen in the fight. In his conversation with Washington he said: “I am opposed to the Revolution and to all changes of government which occasion war and bloodshed.” After Washington was elected president, Mifflin visited him in New York, and in the course of the interview the president, recollecting an assertion of Mifflin’s at Germantown, said: “Mr. Mifflin, will you please tell me on what principle you were opposed to the Revolution?” “Yes, Friend Washington, upon the principle that I should be opposed to a change in the present government. All that was ever gained by revolution is not an adequate compensation for the poor mangled soldiers, for the loss of life or limb.” To which Washington replied: “I honor your sentiments; there is more in that than mankind have generally considered.” With reference to Mifflin, Brissot, in his '”New Travels in the United States of America” (London, 1792), says: “I was sick, and Warner Mifflin came to me. It is he that first freed all his slaves; it is he who, without a passport, traversed the British army and spoke to Gen. Howe with so much firmness and dignity; it is he who, fearing not the effects of the general hatred against the Quakers, went, at the risk of being treated as a spy, to present himself to Gen. Washington, to justify to him the conduct of the Quakers; it is he that, amid the furies of war, equally a friend to the French, the English, and the Americans, carried succor to those who were suffering. Well! this angel of peace came to see me.” Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 319-320.

Miller, Daniel, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist, member of the Association of Friends for Advocating the Cause of the Slave (Drake, 1950, p. 154).

Mott, James, 1778-1868, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, philanthropist, merchant, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist, husband of Lucretia Mott.  Manager and Vice President of the American Anti-Slavery Society.  Co-founder, Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Soceity.  Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania.  Association for Advocating the Cause of the Slave. 

(Drake, 1950, pp. 118, 140, 154; Mabee, 1970, pp. 9, 131, 305, 345, 406n13; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 387-388, 464; Yellin, 1994, pp. 69, 82, 276-278, 287, 294-295, 306, 313, 318-319, 333; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 441; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 7, Pt. 1, p. 288; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 16, p. 19)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

MOTT, James, philanthropist, b. in North Hempstead, L. I., 20 June, 1788; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 26 Jan., 1868. At nineteen he became a teacher in a Friends' boarding-school in Dutchess county, N.Y. He removed to New York city, and in 1810 to Philadelphia, and became a partner of his wife's father in mercantile business, in which he continued more than forty years, retiring with a competency. He was a participant in the movement against slavery and one of the earliest friends of William L. Garrison. In 1833 he aided in organizing in Philadelphia the National anti-slavery society, and in 1840 was a delegate from the Pennsylvania society to attend the World's anti-slavery convention at London, where he was among those who ineffectually urged the admission of the female delegates from the Pennsylvania and other societies. In 1848 he presided over the first Woman's rights national convention, at Seneca Falls, N.Y. He was a member of the Society of Friends, and in later life aided in maturing the plans of government and instruction for the Friends' college at Swarthmore, near Philadelphia. He published “Three Months in Great Britain.” Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 441.

Mott, Lucretia Coffin, 1793-1880, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Society of Friends, Quaker, radical abolitionist, reformer, suffragist, co-founder and first president of the Philadelphia Female American Anti-Slavery Society, member of the Association of Friends for Advocating the Cause of the Slave, member of the Hicksite Anti-Slavery Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wrote memoir, Life, 1884. 

(Bacon, 1999; Drake, 1950, pp. 140, 149, 154, 156, 157, 172, 176; Mabee, 1970, pp. 3, 13, 31, 68, 77, 94, 186, 188, 189, 201, 204, 224, 225, 226, 241, 289, 314, 326, 350, 374, 378; Palmer, 2001; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 42, 47, 157, 387-388, 416, 464, 519; Yellin, 1994, pp. 18, 26, 43, 74, 159-162, 175-176, 286-287, 301-302, 327-328; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 441; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 7, Pt. 1, p. 288; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 595-597; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 16, p. 21; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. II. New York: James T. White, 1892, pp. 310-311; Cromwell, Otelia. Lucretia Mott. 1958.)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

MOTT, Lucretia, reformer, b. on the island of Nantucket, Mass., 3 Jan., 1793; d. near Philadelphia, Pa., 11 Nov., 1880, was descended through her father, Capt. Thomas Coffin, from one of the original purchasers of the island. When she was eleven years old her parents removed to Boston, Mass. She was educated in the school where Mr. Mott was teaching, and became a teacher there at the age of fifteen. In 1809 she joined her parents, who had removed to Philadelphia, where she married in 1811. In 1817 she took charge of a small school in Philadelphia, and in 1818 appeared in the ministry of the Friends, and soon became noted for the clearness, refinement, and eloquence of her discourses. In the division of the society, in 1827, she adhered to the Hicksite branch. She early became interested in the movement against slavery, and remained one of its most prominent and persistent advocates until the emancipation. In 1833 she assisted in the formation at Philadelphia of the American anti-slavery society, though, owing to the ideas then accepted as to the activities of women, she did not sign the declaration that was adopted. Later, for a time, she was active in the formation of female anti-slavery organizations. In 1840 she went to London as a delegate from the American anti-slavery society to the World's anti-slavery convention, but it was there decided to admit no women. She was received, however, with cordiality, formed acquaintance with those most active in the movement in Great Britain, and made various addresses. The action of the convention in excluding women excited indignation, and led to the establishment of woman's rights journals in England and France, and to the movement in the United States, in which Mrs. Mott took an active part. She was one of the four women that called the convention at Seneca Falls, N. Y., in 1848, and subsequently devoted part of her efforts to the agitation for improving the legal and political status of women. She held frequent meetings with the colored people, in whose welfare and advancement she felt deep interest, and was for several years president of the Pennsylvania peace society. In the exercise of her “gift” as a minister, she made journeys through New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and into Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana, where she did not refrain from denouncing slavery. She was actively interested in the Free religious associations formed in Boston about 1868, and in the Woman's medical college in Philadelphia. See her “Life,” with that of her husband, edited by her granddaughter, Anna Davis Hallowell (Boston, 1884).  Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 441.

Murray, John Jr., New York, Society of Friends, Quaker, member of the New York Manumission Society (Zilversmit, 1967, pp. 160, 166).

Neall, Daniel, Quaker, abolitionist, Society of Friends, Quaker, member of the Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania, member of the Association of Friends for Advocating the Cause of the Slave.  (Drake, 1950, pp. 118, 154, 156).

Neal, Daniel Jr., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, abolitionist, Society of Friends, Quaker.  Member of the Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania.  Member of the Association of Friends for Advocating the Cause of the Slave.  Manager, American Anti-Slavery Society.  (Drake, 1950, pp. 118, 154, 156; Yellin, 1994, pp. 286, 292-293).

Needles, Edward, Pennsylvania, Society of Friends, Quaker, president of the Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. (Drake, 1950, p. 153).

Newbold, William, Trenton, New Jersey, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist. (Drake, 1950, p. 129).

Osborn, Charles, 1775-1850, Kentucky and Mt. Pleasant, Ripley, Ohio, farmer, Society of Friends, Quaker, radical abolitionist, opponent of colonization.  Publisher of The Philanthropist, founded 1817.  With John Rankin, organized the Manumission Society of Tennessee in 1815.  Founder of anti-slavery newspaper, Manumission Intelligencer, in 1819.   (Drake, 1950, pp. 128, 162, 165; Dumond, 1961, pp. 95, 136; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 7, Pt. 2, p. 66; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 621-623).

Parrish, Dillwyn, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Society of Friends, Quaker, member of the Association of Friends for Advocating the Cause of the Slave. (Drake, 1950, p. 154).

Parrish, John, 1729-1807, preacher, Society of Friends, Quaker, anti-slavery activist.  Wrote Remarks on the Slavery of Black People (1806), in which he said:  “I am no politician, but it is clear that the fundamentals of all good governments, being equal liberty and impartial justice, the constitution and laws ought to be expressed in such unequivocal terms as not to be misunderstood, or admit of double meaning…  A house divided against itself cannot stand; neither can a government or constitution.”  (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 659; Bruns, 1977, p. 470; Dumond, 1961; Locke, 1901, pp. 65, 132, 173, 175-177).

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

PARRISH, John, preacher, b. in Baltimore county, Md., 7 Nov., 1729; d. in Baltimore, Md., 21 Oct., 1807. He was a member of the Society of Friends, and followed Anthony Benezet in pleading the cause of the African race. He published “Remarks on the Slavery of the Black People” (Philadelphia, 1806).     Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 659.

Parrish, Joseph, Quaker, abolitionist, 1779-1840, abolitionist, Society of Friends, Hicksite Quaker, Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania, leader and president of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society (Drake, 1950, p. 113; Appletons’, 1888, Vol. IV, p. 659).

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

PARRISH, Joseph, physician, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 2 Sept., 1779; d. there, 18 March, 1840, followed the business of a hatter until he was of age, when, yielding to his own inclinations, he became a student under Dr. Caspar Wistar, and was graduated at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1805. He was appointed resident physician of the yellow-fever hospital in the autumn of that year, and in 1806 one of the physicians of the Philadelphia dispensary, which post he held until 1812. He was also surgeon to the Philadelphia almshouse from 1806 until 1822, of the Pennsylvania hospital in 1816-'29, and consulting physician to the Philadelphia dispensary in 1835-'40. Dr. Parrish achieved reputation by his scientific attainments, which were somewhat unusual in that time. Among his experiments were a series that led to a proof of the harmlessness of the “poplar worm,” supposed at that time to be exceedingly venomous. In 1807 he began the delivery of a popular course of lectures on chemistry, which he subsequently repeated at various times. Notwithstanding his large practice, he also received medical students, and at one time had thirty under his instruction. Dr. Parrish was associated in the organization and subsequent management of the Wills hospital for the lame and blind, and was president of the board of managers in that institution from its beginning until his death. He was active in the proceedings of the College of physicians and in the medical society of Philadelphia. He contributed largely to the medical journals, and was one of the editors of “The North American Medical and Surgical Journal.” His books include “Practical Observations on Strangulated Hernia and some of the Diseases of the Urinary Organs” (Philadelphia, 1836), and an edition of William Lawrence's “Treatise on Hernia,” with an appendix. Says Dr. George B. Wood in his “Memoir of the Life and Character of Joseph Parrish” (Philadelphia, 1840): “Perhaps no one was personally known more extensively in the city, or had connected himself by a greater variety of beneficent services with every ramification of society.” Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 659.

Pemberton, James, 1723-1808, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Soderlund, 1985, pp. 44, 140, 151, 166, 170, 171, 191)

Pemberton, John, 1727-1795, Delaware (Soderlund, 1985, pp. 29, 30n, 44, 140, 150, 166, 170, 171, 190) 1727-1795, Delaware, abolitionist leader, Society of Friends, Quaker, leader and delegate of the Delaware Abolition Society, founded 1788, vice president of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting Abolition of Slavery, 1787 (Appletons’, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 706-707; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 7, Pt. 2, p. 413; Basker, 2005, pp. 225, 240n19; Nash, 1991, pp. 49, 56, 65, 163; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 17, p. 269)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

PEMBERTON, John, Quaker preacher, b. in Philadelphia, 27 Nov., 1727; d. in Pyrmont, Westphalia, Germany, 31 Jan., 1795, received a good education, and engaged in business as a merchant. In 1750 he made a voyage to Europe for his health and the prosecution of some business matters. Shortly after his arrival in London, Pemberton accompanied his friend, John Churchman, on a religious tour. He subsequently travelled with Churchman, preaching the doctrines of the Friends, through England, Ireland, Scotland, and Holland, and after three years returned to this country. He took a deep interest in the Indians, and was active in his efforts to maintain peaceful relations between them and the whites. In 1777 he was among those Quakers who were arrested in Philadelphia and sent in exile to Virginia. His journal, containing an account of the same, is printed in “Friends' Miscellany” (vol. viii.). In 1782 he made another religious visit to Great Britain and Ireland which continued until 1789, his meetings being frequently held in barns and in the open air, because other places could not be had. “An Account of the Last Journey of John Pemberton to the Highlands and other Places in Scotland in the Year 1787,” written by his companion, Thomas Wilkinson, is printed in “Friends' Miscellany.” Pemberton returned to Philadelphia in 1789, and in 1794 again went abroad on a missionary tour into Holland and Germany, in which countries he labored until his death. On quitting Amsterdam, he issued an address to the inhabitants of that city, entitled “Tender Caution and Advice to the Inhabitants of Amsterdam.” See his journal of travels in Holland and Germany in “Friends' Miscellany” (vol. viii.). He left a large estate, much of which he gave by his will to the several charitable, benevolent, and religious organizations with which he had been associated, and for the purpose of aiding in the formation of like organizations. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. IV, pp. 706-707.

Pennock, Abraham, Philadelphia, Society of Friends, Quaker, Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania, abolitionist, editor Non Slaveholder (Drake, 1950, pp., 130, 172-173; Mabee, 1970, p. 389n7).

Pleasants, Robert, 1723-1801, Richmond, Virginia, abolitionist, educator, abolitionist, plantation owner, Society of Friends, Quaker.  Founder and President of the Virginia Abolition Society in 1790.  A slave-holder, he freed his slaves in 1782.  Pleasants petitioned the State of Virginia and U.S. Congress to end slave trade.  Wrote numerous letters to leaders regarding the morality of slavery.  (Basker, 2005, pp. 225, 241n26; Bruns, 1977, pp. 221, 310, 348-349, 389, 466, 470; Dumond, 1961, pp. 20, 34).

Post, Amy Kirby, 1802-1889, Rochester, New York, reformer, American Society of Friends, Radical Hicksite, Quaker, abolitionist leader.  Active participant in the Underground Railroad.  Women’s rights activist.  Co-founder of the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society (WNYASS).  Helped form the Yearly Meeting of Congregational Friends (YMCF).  (Drake, 1950; Sernett, 2002, pp. xiv, 60, 61, 181, 340n50; Yellin, 1994, pp. 27-30, 149).

Post, Isaac, 1798-1872, Rochester, New York, philanthropist, abolitionist leader, reformer, American Society of Friends, Radical Hicksite, Quaker, women’s rights activist.  Co-founder of the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society (WNYASS).  Served on the Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS), 1842-1843.  Helped form the Yearly Meeting of Congregational Friends (YMCF), which opposed slavery.  Helped establish African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass in Rochester, New York.  (Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 84; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, p. 117; Sernett, 2002, pp. 60, 180-181, 266, 340n50).

Bigography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

POST, Isaac, philanthropist, b. in Westbury, Queens co., N. Y., 26 Feb., 1798; d. in Rochester, N. Y., 9 May, 1872. Being the son of Quaker parents, he was educated at the Westbury Friends’ school. He engaaed in the drug business, and removed to Scipio, N. Y., in 1823, and to Rochester, N. Y., in 1836, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was a warm adherent of William Lloyd Garrison, and one of the earliest laborers in the anti-slavery cause. His door was ever open to those who had escaped from bondage, and his hostility to the fugitive-slave law was bitter and uncompromising. He was a member of the Hicksite branch of the Quakers, but left that body because, in his opinion, it showed itself subservient to the slave power. Mr. Post resided in Rochester when public attention was first attracted to the manifestations by the Fox sisters, and became one of the earliest converts to Spiritualism. He was the author of “Voices from the Spirit World, being Communications from Many Spirits, by the Hand of Isaac Post, Medium” (Rochester, 1852). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 84.

Pyle, Robert, Concord, Society of Friends, Quaker, early Colonial Quaker opposed to slavery on moral grounds, advocated liberation of slaves (Drake, 1950, pp. 20-21, 34).

Rhodes, Samuel, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Society of Friends (Orthodox), Quakers, supported Free Labor cause, in 1844, founded the Free Produce Association of Friends of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (Drake, 1950, pp. 172-173, 181; Mabee, 1970, pp. 142, 202, 239, 355, 363).

Rogers, Timothy, Society of Friends, Quaker, Ferrisburg, Vermont, operated a station of the Underground Railroad in his home (Drake, 1950, p. 119).

Rotch, William, Nantucket, Society of Friends, Quaker, ship owner (Drake, 1950, pp. 88, 97, 102).

Sandiford, Ralph, (Soderlund, 1985, pp. 23, 25, 35, 166-167, 174, 186) 1693-1733, Society of Friends, Quaker, radical abolitionist, reformer, called for immediate end to slavery, printed anti-slavery book, A Brief Examination of the Practice of the Times, by Foregoing and the Present Dispensation, 1729. For this action, he was excommunicated by the Society of Friends. 

(Basker, 2005, pp. 122-123; Bruns, 1977, pp. 31-38, 39, 46, 50-51; Drake, 1950, pp. 34, 37, 39-43, 48, 51, 55, 136, 160; Locke, 1901, pp. 24, 25, 27, 29, 33, 173; Soderlund, 1985, pp. 23, 25, 35, 166-167, 174, 186; Zilversmit, 1967, pp. 67, 72; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, p. 387).

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

SANDIFORD, Ralph, author, b. in Liverpool, England, about 1693; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 28 May, 1733. H e was the son of John Sandiford, of Liverpool, and in early life was a sailor. He emigrated to Pennsylvania, where he settled on a farm and became a Quaker preacher. Sandiford was one of the earliest public advocates of the emancipation of negro slaves, and in support of his views published “A Brief Examination of the Practice of the Times, by the Foregoing and Present Dispensation, etc.” (Philadelphia, 1729; 2d ed., enlarged, 1730). These were printed by Franklin and Meredith. Franklin says, in a letter dated 4 Nov., 1789: “I printed a book for Ralph Sandiford against keeping negroes in slavery, two editions of which he distributed gratis.” Sandiford's doctrines met with but little favor, except among the poor, who were brought into competition with slave labor. The chief magistrate of the province threatened Sandiford with punishment if he permitted his writings to be circulated, but, notwithstanding, he distributed the work wherever he thought it would be read. Sandiford was buried in a field, on his own farm, near the house where he died. The executors of his will had the grave enclosed with a balustrade fence, and caused a stone to be placed at the head of it, inscribed: “In Memory of Ralph Sandiford, Son of John Sandiford, of Liverpool. He Bore a Testimony against the Negroe Trade and Dyed ye 28th of ye 3rd Month, 1733, Aged 40 Years.” See “Memoir of Benjamin Lay and Ralph Sandiford,” by Robert Vaux (Philadelphia, 1815; London, 1816). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. V, pp. 387.

Sansom, Joseph, 1767-1826, poet, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist.  Wrote anti-slavery poem, “A Poetical Epistle to the Enslaved Africans, in the Character of an Ancient Negro, Born a Slave in Pennsylvania,” published in 1790. (Drake, 1950, pp. 106-107, 127).

Shipley, Thomas, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist.  Manager, 1833-1835, and founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society, December 1833.  Member of the Free Produce Society of Pennsylvania. (Drake, 1950, pp. 118, 130, 140; Mabee, 1970, pp. 24, 30, 275, 278; Abolitionist, Vol. I, No. XII, December, 1833).

Southeby, William A., (Soderlund, 1985, pp. 4, 19, 22, 32, 35, 149, 186, 187) Pennsylvania, Society of Friends, Quaker.  As early as 1696, Southeby condemned the institution of slavery.  In 1712, he petitioned Quaker officials to reject and abolish slavery.  Wrote a paper opposing slavery and was censured by fellow Quakers in Philadelphia. (Drake, 1950, pp. 19, 28-29, 34, 36, 40, 47, 51, 55; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 9, 11, 93, 94; Soderlund, 1985, pp. 4, 19, 22, 32, 35, 49, 174, 186, 187; Zilversmit, 1967, pp. 62-66).

Thompson, Edwin, 1809-1888, Lynn, Massachusetts, reformer, orator, clergyman, temperance reformer, abolitionist, Society of Friends, Quaker, traveling anti-slavery lecturer.  (Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, p. 89)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

THOMPSON, Edwin, reformer, b. in Lynn, Mass., in July, 1809; d. in East Walpole, Mass., 22 May, 1888. He was of Quaker descent, and early interested himself in the anti-slavery movement. At the suggestion of Wendell Phillips, he became a public speaker in its furtherance, travelling through the state, often on foot, lecturing in churches and school-houses, and winning a reputation as an orator by his fluency and great fund of anecdotes. While speaking in New Bedford, he roused Frederick Douglass to take up active work in behalf of his race. He was also interested from an early period in the temperance reform, which he did much to promote. Mr. Thompson was ordained as a Universalist clergyman in 1840, and afterward resided at East Walpole. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, pp. 89.

Thornton, William, 1761-1828, from West Indian island of Tortola, physician, architect, inventor, public official, humanitarian, reformer, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist.  Founding member and Board of Managers, American Colonization Society.  Early advocate of Black colonization, active in colonization activities; a former slave holder, he returned his slaves to Africa.

(Burin, 2005, p. 9; Drake, 1950, pp. 123-124; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, pp. 104-105; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 9, Pt. 2, p. 504; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 21, p. 609; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 5-13, 26, 66; Staudenraus, P. J. The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 5-8, 7-13, 66, 91)

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

THORNTON, William, superintendent of the patent-office, b. in Tortola, W. I.; d. in Washington, D. C., in 1827. He was educated as a physician, and lived for many years in Philadelphia, where he was well known in the circle of scientific men, being chosen a member of the American philosophical society on 19 Jan., 1787. He was a skilled architect, and designed the Philadelphia library building, which was completed in 1790. He removed to Washington, D. C., when the seat of government was transferred to that place, and drew the plans and superintended the erection of the first capitol building in its early stages. He was one of the first to act as commissioner of public buildings, and was the first head of the patent-office, being appointed superintendent in 1802, and serving till the time of his death. He published “Cadmus, or the Elements of Written Language” (Philadelphia, 1793).  Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, pp. 104-105.

Tyson, Elisha, Baltimore, 1749-1824, Maryland, Acting Committee, Maryland Abolition Society, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist, provided legal aid and care for fugitive slaves, active in helping between 1790-1824  (Drake, 1950, pp. 118-121, 129; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, p. 204).

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

TYSON, Elisha, philanthropist, b. in Montgomery county, Pa., in 1749; d. in Baltimore, Md., 16 Feb., 1824. He was a member of the Society of Friends, and an early member of the Maryland society for the abolition of Slavery, appeared frequently before the judicial tribunals in behalf of negroes, and procured the passage of several laws to ameliorate their condition. In 1818 he retired from business to devote his attention to the abolition movement, and established the Protection society of Maryland, to insure the colored population of the state the enjoyment of their legal privileges. See his “Life,” by a citizen of Baltimore (Baltimore, 1825). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, pp. 204.

Way, Henry H., Indiana, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist, editor of the Free Labor Advocate newspaper of the Friends Anti-Slavery Society (Drake, 1950, p. 165).

Weeks, Refine, poet, New York, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist (Drake, 1950, p. 127).

White, Lydia, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist.  Original founding member of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1834. (Drake, 1950, p. 140; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 416; Yellin, 1994, pp. 69, 161, 163, 278-279).

Whittier, John Greenleaf, 1807-1892, Haverhill, Massachusetts, poet, journalist, newspaper publisher and editor, Society of Friends, Quaker, radical abolitionist.  Wrote antislavery poetry.  Publisher and editor of the Pennsylvania Freeman.  Founding member, Manager, and Secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society.  Member of the Executive Committee, American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society.  Leader and active with the Liberty Party.  Member, Free Soil Party.  Called for immediate abolition of slavery in the United States. 

(Blue, 2005, pp. 5, 37-64; Drake, 1950, pp. 113, 127, 137, 140-142, 158-159, 176, 181, 195; Dumond, 1961, pp. 167, 245, 286, 301; Filler, 1960, pp. 56, 66, 90, 105, 134, 148, 151, 194; Mabee, 1970, pp. 2, 4, 9, 11-13, 18, 21-22, 25-26, 29-30, 35-36, 48, 51, 65, 194, 211, 309, 326, 329, 359, 368, 373, 378; Pease, 1965, pp. 65, 102-104, 123-128; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 161, 433, 641, 723; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, pp. 493-494; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 10, Pt. 2, p. 173; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 23, p. 350; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. I. New York: James T. White, 1892, p. 407).

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

WHITTIER, John Greenleaf, poet, b. in Haverhill, Mass., 17 Dec., 1807. His parents were members of the Society of Friends, and to the principles and practices of this sect he always remained faithful, conforming even to its peculiarities of speech and garb in a community where such observance, by being singular, must often have been trying to a temperament so shy and sensitive as his. His first American ancestor came to Massachusetts in 1638, and the conversion to Quakerism took place in the second generation of the family, after the settlement of the Bay Colony, at a time when that sect was sternly persecuted. There may therefore be something of heredity in the unswerving constancy of Whittier to unpopular opinions. At the date of his birth Haverhill was still a farming village, one of the prettiest among the many pretty hamlets which then gave a peaceful charm to the rural scenery of Massachusetts. Born on a farm, Whittier's first occupations were those of a farmer's boy, driving the kine to and from pasture, riding to mill, fetching in wood for the undying kitchen-fire, and helping in the lighter labors of haying and harvest. He was thus early brought into that intimate communion with Mother Earth and with Nature which cames not by mere observation, and which gives such a peculiar charm of picturesque truth to so many of his poems. How much he thus learned and to how good profit he put it are visible in many of his poems, but especially in his “Snow-Bound,” which, in addition to its other merits, has now also a historical value as a vivid picture of modes of life even then obsolescent and now almost as far away as those pictured by Homer. And not only will the scenery of New England, both outward and domestic, live in his verse, but it is worth remark that the nobler qualities of the Puritans have nowhere found such adequate literary expression since Milton as in this member of a sect which they did their utmost to suppress. Almost alone among American poets, he has revived the legends of his neighborhood in verse, and his “Floyd Ireson” is among the best of modern ballads, surpassed by none save Scott, if even by him. His schooling in other respects must have been scanty enough, since his only opportumty during boyhood would be the nearest district school (taught commonly by a college student younger than some of his rustic pupils), where he got such training in the simpler rudiments of knowledge as was possible under the conditions then existing. And this training, as usually in the country, was limited to the winter months, when farm-work was necessarily suspended. He has recorded his indebtedness during boyhood to Dr. Elms Weld, of Haverhill, who gave him the freedom of his library.

A farm-hand taught him shoemaking, the common occupation during winter in the fishing and farmmg villages along the coast, and by this means he earned enough to warrant his attending Haverhill academy during six months of 1827. He was now sufficiently learned, according to the simpler notions of those days, to be himself a teacher, and taught in the district school of West Amesbury during the following winter. This supplied the means for another six months at the academy. In Whittier's case, as in that of so many other New Englanders, nothing is more characteristic or more touching than the persistent resolve to get the best education within their reach at whatever sacrifice.

The literary impulse in him must have been strong, for while yet in his nineteenth year he contributed anonymous verse to the poet's corner of the “Free Press,” a journal edited by W. L. Garrison in Newburyport, and enjoyed the furtive bliss of print. Garrison saw signs of promise in these immature experiments, sought out the author, and gave him the precious encouragement of praise and sympathy. This led to a lasting friendship, and, with the traditions of his sect, may have had some influence in preparing Whittier to enlist in the anti-slavery crusade which began with the establishment of the “Liberator” in 1831, and afterward caught so much of its inspiration from his fervid lyrics. The ambition to become a poet was awakened in him appropriately enough by a copy of Robert Burns's poems, which fell into his hands in his fourteenth year.

His father dying, he carried on the farm for the next five years, and in 1835 was sent to the general court from Haverhill. During all these years he had been an industrious writer, seeking an outlet in all directions and contributing poems to John Neal's “Yankee” and to the “New England Magazine,” where the “Autocrat” began his admirable discourses. In 1829 he undertook the editorship of the “American Manufacturer” in Boston, and in 1830 succeeded George D. Prentice as editor of the “Haverhill Gazette” during the first six months of the year, and then of the “New England Weekly Review” in Hartford, Conn. This office he resigned in 1832 on account of failing health and returned home. In 1836 he became secretary of the American anti-slavery society, and afterward removed to Philadelphia, where for a year (1838-'9) he edited the “Pennsylvania Freeman.” This he did with such sincerity that its printing-office was sacked and burned by a mob. At that time it required the courage of passionate conviction to maintain principles the noisier profession of which was to become profitable a few years later. Delicate as his organization was, Whittier faced many a brutal mob with unflinching composure. He was never a mere fanatic, but always quick to recognize and celebrate high qualities even in an adversary, as many of his poems show. He refused to follow Garrison in the renunciation of political action as one means of reform. In 1840 he took up his abode in Amesbury, a quiet village near his birthplace, and there (with the exception of six months spent at Lowell as editor of the “Middlesex Standard”), in the simple dignity of a frugal independence, the fruit of his own literary labors, he has lived ever since, and happily still lives, known and loved wherever our tongue is spoken. From 1847 to 1859 he contributed editorially to the “National Era,” an anti-slavery newspaper published at Washington, in which '”Uncle Tom's Cabin” was first printed.

In his seclusion Whittier was never idle, nor did he neglect his duties as a citizen while confirming his quality as a poet. Whenever occasion offered, some burning lyric of his flew across the country, like the fiery cross, to warn and rally. Never mingling in active politics (unless filling the office of presidential elector may be called so), he probably did more than anybody in preparing the material out of which the Republican party was made. When the civil war was impending he would have evaded it if possible by any concession short of surrender, as his “Word for the Hour” (January, 1861) shows. While the war continued he wrote little with direct reference to it, and never anything that showed any bitterness toward the authors of it. After it was over he would have made the terms of settlement liberal and conciliatory. He was too wise and too humane to stir the still living embers of passion and resentment for any political end however dear to him.

Of all American poets, with the single exception of Longfellow, Whittier has been the most popular, and in his case more than in that of any other the popularity has been warmed through with affection. This has been due in part to the nobly simple character of the man, transparent through his verse, in part to the fact that his poetry, concerning itself chiefly with the obvious aspects of life and speculation, has kept close to the highest levels of the average thought and sentiment. His themes have been mainly chosen from his own time and country—from his own neighborhood even—he deals with simple motives and with experiences common to all, and accordingly his scenery (whether of the outward or the inward eye) is domestically welcome to all his countrymen. He is never complex in thought or obscure in expression, and if sometimes his diction might gain in quality by a more deliberate choice, yet the pellucid simplicity of his phrase and the instant aptness of his epithet as often secure a more winning felicity through his frankness of confidence in the vernacular. His provincialisms of word or accent have an endearing property to the native ear, though even that will consent to a few of his more licentious rhymes. One feels that it is a neighbor who is speaking. Nor should the genial piety of his habitual thought and the faith that seeks no securer foothold than the Rock of Ages, on which the fathers stood so firmly, be overlooked among the qualities that give him a privilege of familiar entrance to a multitude of hearts and minds which would be barred against many higher, though not more genuine, forms of poetry. His religion has the sincerity of Cowper's without those insane terrors that made its very sincerity a torture. There are many points of spiritual likeness between the English and the American poet, especially in their unmetaphysicized love of outward natures, their austerity tempered with playful humor, and in that humanity of tone which establishes a tie of affectionate companionship between them and their readers. Whittier has done as much for the scenery of New England as Scott for that of Scotland. Many of his poems (such, for example, as “Telling the Bees”), in which description and sentiment mutually inspire each other, are as fine as any in the language.

Whittier, as many of his poems show, and as, indeed, would be inevitable, has had his moments of doubt and distrust, but never of despair. He has encountered everywhere the moral of his inscription on a sun-dial, convinced that “there's light above me by the shade below.” He, like others, has found it hard to reconcile the creed held by inheritance with the subtle logic of more modern modes of thought. As he himself has said:

“He reconciled as best he could

 Old faith and fancies new.”

But his days have been “bound each to each with natural piety”; he has clung fast to what has been the wholesome and instructive kernel of all creeds; he has found consolation in the ever-recurring miracles, whether of soul or sense, that daily confront us, and in the expression of his own delight and wonder and gratitude for them has conveyed that solace to the minds and hearts of all his readers. One quality above all others in Whittier—his innate and unstudied Americanism—has rendered him alike acceptable to his countrymen and to his kindred beyond the sea. His first volume was “Legends of New England,” in prose and verse (Hartford, 1831), which has been followed by “Moll Pitcher” (1832); “Mogg Megone” (Boston, 1836); “Ballads” (1838); “Lays of My Home, and other Poems” (1843); “Miscellaneous Poems” (1844); the first English edition of his poetry, entitled “Ballads, and other Poems,” with an introduction by Elizur Wright (London, 1844); “The Stranger in Lowell” (1845); “Supernaturalism in New England” (New York and London, 1847); “Leaves from Margaret Smith's Journal” (Boston, 1849); “Voices of Freedom” (Philadelphia, 1849); a larger English collection of his “Poetical Works” (London, 1850); “Old Portraits and Modern Sketches” (Boston, 1850); “Songs of Labor, and other Poems,” and “The Chapel of the Hermits, and other Poems” (1853); “A Sabbath Scene: a Sketch of Slavery in Verse” (1853); “Literary Recreations and Miscellanies” (1854); “The Panorama, and other Poems” (1856); “Complete Poetical Works” (2 vols., 1857); “Home Ballads and Poems” (1860); “Snow-Bound” (1862); a new edition of his “Complete Poetical Works” (1863); “In War Time, and other Poems” (1863); “National Lyrics” (1865); a collection of his “Prose Works” (2 vols., 1866); “The Tent on the Beach” (1867); “Among the Hills” (1868); an illustrated edition of his “Complete Poetical Works” (1868); one corresponding in typography with the “Prose Works” (1869); a volume of his “Ballads of New England” contains sixty illustrations by various artists (1869); “Miriam, and other Poems” (1870); “The Pennsylvania Pilgrim, and other Poems”  (1872); “Hazel Blossoms” (1874); “Mabel Martin” (1875); a new collected edition of his “Poetical Works” comprising poems that he had written till the date of publication (1875); “Centennial Hymn” (1876); “The Vision of Echard, and other Poems” (1878); “The King's Missive, and other Poems” (1881); “Bay of Seven Islands, and other Poems” (1883); “Poems of Nature” (1885); and “St. Gregory's Guest, and Recent Poems” (1886). A final edition of his poetical and prose works has been supervised by himself, and includes his sister's poems (7 vols., 1888-'9). See a “Biography,” by Francis H. Underwood (Boston, 1875; new ed., 1883), and “John G. Whittier: his Life, Genius, and Writings,” by W. Sloane Kennedy (1882). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI. pp. 493-494.

Wittson, Thomas, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist.

Wood, Samuel, 1825-1891, New York, newspaper publisher, lawyer, politician, Society of Friends, Quaker, abolitionist.  His home was a station on the Underground Railroad.  Active in the anti-slavery Liberty Party.  Served as an officer in the Union Army, attaining the rank of Brigadier General in 1864.  (Drake, 1950, p. 125; Moon, William Prairie Earth, 1998).

Woolman, John, 1720-1772, Mount Holly, New Jersey, Society of Friends, Quaker leader, Free Labor Movement, radical abolitionist leader.  Encouraged merchants and consumers not to purchase goods made by slave labor.  Traveled extensively among Quakers, speaking out against slavery.  He wrote and published Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes: Recommended to the Professor of Christianity of Every Denominations, 1754.  In a letter to his fellow Quaker, Woolman said, “Now dear Friends if we continually bear in mind the royal law of doing to others as we would be done by, we shall never think of bereaving our fellow creatures of that valuable blessing, liberty, nor to grow rich by their bondage.” 

(Bruns, 1977, pp. 16, 68-78, 223, 246-247, 383; Cady, 1965; Drake, 1950, pp. 51-64, 68-71, 107, 115, 155, 189, 200; Dumond, 1961, pp. 17-19, 22, 87; Locke, 1901, pp. 27-31, 34, 94; Pease, 1965, pp. 5-14; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 16, 18, 232, 433, 457-458, 519-520, 551-553; Soderlund, 1985, pp. 4, 9, 10, 13, 17, 26-27, 29, 30, 43, 44n, 45, 47, 49, 52, 78, 94, 96, 97, 136, 140, 166, 171, 175, 176, 186, 199; Sox, 1999; Woolman, 1922; Zilversmit, 1967, pp. 70-72, 75, 77, 106, 169, 227; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, pp. 609-610; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 10, Pt. 2, p. 516; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 23, p. 854).

Biography from Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

WOOLMAN, John, Quaker preacher, b. in Northampton, Burlington co., N. J., in August, 1720; d. in York, England, 7 Oct., 1772. He worked on a farm with his father till he was twenty- one years of age, when he became clerk to a storekeeper at Mount Holly, where he opened a school for poor children, and first began to speak at the meetings of the sect. Wishing to visit the various societies of Friends throughout the colonies, and to preach to them, he first learned the trade of a tailor, as best adapted for supporting him in the itinerant life that he had resolved to lead. In 1746 he set out on a tour, with Isaac Andrews, to visit the Friends in the back settlements of Virginia, and he spent a great part of his life in such journeys, for the purpose of preaching. He spoke and wrote much against slavery. In 1763 he visited the Indians on Susquehanna river. Early in 1772 he went to England, and, while attending the quarterly meeting at York, he was smitten with small-pox, and died, after a few days' illness. Woolman's writings have been much admired, and were highly praised by Charles Lamb. Perhaps the most interesting of his works is the posthumous “Journal of John Woolman's Life and Travels in the Service of the Gospel” (Philadelphia, 1775, edited, with an introduction, by John G. Whittier, 1871). Woolman also published “Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes” (Philadelphia, 1753; 2d part, 1762); “Considerations on Pure Wisdom and Human Policy, on Labor, on Schools, and on the Right Use of the Lord's Outward Gifts” (1768); “Considerations on the True Harmony of Mankind, and How it is to be Maintained” (1770); and “An Epistle to the Quarterly and Monthly Meetings of Friends” (1772). His “Serious Considerations, with Some of his Dying Expressions,” appeared after his death (London, 1773). Various manuscripts that he left were included in an edition of his works (2 parts, Philadelphia, 1774-'5). Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI. pp. 609-610.

South Scituate Anti-Slavery Society, Plymouth County (Newman, 2002, pp. 158-159, 218n50)

Syracuse Vigilance Committee (SVC), founded in Syracuse, New York, in 1839 by abolitionists to aid fugitive slaves. (Sinha, 2016, pp. 388, 513-514)

See also Jerry Rescue Committee.

Hout, Hiram, MD, Syracuse Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 514)

Loguen, Jermaine, Reverend, co-founder, Syracuse Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 513-514)

May, Samuel, Syracuse Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 513-514)

Smith, James McCune, Syracuse Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 513-514)

Ward, Samuel Ringgold, Syracuse Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, pp. 513-514)

Wheaton, Charles, Syracuse Vigilance Committee (Sinha, 2016, p. 513)

Return to Abolitionist and Anti-Slavery Organizations (main page)

Tennessee Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves (TMS), Jefferson County, Tennessee, founded in 1815.  Newspaper, Manumission Intelligencer (1819), successor, Emancipator (1820).  By 1823, it had 29 branches, with 600 members. (Dumond, 1961, p. 136; Rodriguez, 2007, p. 37; Sinha, 2016, p. 175)

Jones, James, President, Tennessee Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves (Sinha, 2016, p. 175)

Embree, Elihu, Quaker, iron manufacturer, publisher, Jonesboro, published TMS newspapers. (Sinha, 2016, p. 175)

Osborne, Charles, farmer, publisher of The Philanthropist (in Ohio) in 1817, co-founder in 1815 of Tennessee Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves (Sinha, 2016, p. 175)

Transcendentalism, Transcendental Abolitionists (Sinha, 2016, pp. 488-489)

Noted members of the transcendental movement who were active in the abolition movement:

Channing, William F. (Sinha, 2016)

Channing, William Henry (Sinha, 2016)

Conway, Moncure (Sinha, 2016)

Clarke, James Freeman (Sinha, 2016)

Dall, Caroline Healy, writer (Sinha, 2016)

Emerson, Ralph Waldo (Sinha, 2016)

Furness, William (Sinha, 2016)

Fuller, Margaret (Sinha, 2016)

Higginson, Thomas Wentworth (Sinha, 2016)

Nell, William Cooper, founder of the Adelphic Club (Sinha, 2016)

Parker, Theodore (Sinha, 2016)

Thoreau, Henry David (Sinha, 2016)

Trenton Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, New Jersey, 1812.  (Minutes of the Proceedings of the American Convention for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1812, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Colman, Samuel, Trenton Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, New Jersey, 1812.  (Minutes of the Proceedings of the American Convention for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1812, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Newbold, Joshua, Trenton Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, New Jersey, 1812.  (Minutes of the Proceedings of the American Convention for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1812, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Paxton, Sam, Trenton Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, New Jersey, 1812.  (Minutes of the Proceedings of the American Convention for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1812, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Wilson, James, Trenton Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, New Jersey, 1812.  (Minutes of the Proceedings of the American Convention for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1812, Oberlin Anti-Slavery Collection)

Troy Vigilance Committee (TVC), Troy, New York.  Assisted fugitive slaves.  (Sinha, 2016)

Baltimore, Peter (Sinha, 2016, p. 534; Still, 1872)

Berman, Nathan S. S., Reverend (Sinha, 2016, p. 534)

Bowley, John (Still, 1872)

Bowley, William J. (Sinha, 2016, p. 534; Still, 1872)

Garnet, Henry Highland (Sinha, 2016, p. 534; Still, 1872)

Harden, James (Sinha, 2016, p. 534; Still, 1872)

Henry, William (Still, 1872)

Hooper, John H. (Sinha, 2016, p. 534; Still, 1872)

Rich, William (Sinha, 2016, p. 534; Still, 1872)

Still, William, African Amrican, abolitionist, major activist on the Underground Railroad (The Underground Railroad, Philadelphia, 1872

Townsend, Martin, Republican lawyer, defended fugitive slave Charles Nalle, who was rescued by the Troy Vigilance Committee (TVC).  Also defended fugitive slave Antoio Lewis in 1842.  (Sinha, 2016, pp. 534-535; Still, 1872)

Tubman, Harriet, 1822-1913, African American, abolitionist, member Underground Railroad, orator.  Troy Vigilance Committee. 

(Mabee, 1970, pp. 284, 321; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 37, 52, 307, 482-483, 489; Still, 1872; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, p. 172; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 10, Pt. 1, p. 27; American Reformers: An H.W. Wilson Biographical Dictionary, New York, 1985, pp. 816-817; American National Biography, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002, Vol. 21, p. 888; Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., & Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2013, Vol. 11, p. 238)

Return to Abolitionist and Anti-Slavery Organizations (main page)

Union (New York) Anti-Slavery Sewing Society (Yellin, 1994, p. 28)

Union Humane Society, founded 1815. (Dumond, 1961, p. 136; Rodriguez, 2007, pp. 33, 105, 489-490)

Lundy, Benjamin,

Union Missionary Society, merged with American Missionary Society

Unitarian Church (Mabee, 1970, pp. 8, 15, 16, 21, 71, 82, 208, 234, 255, 409n11)

Channing, Reverend Ellery, leader

Utica Anti-Slavery Society, Utica, New York (Sernett, 2002, p. 40)