Rosetta Douglass to Frederick and Anna Murray Douglass, August 31, 1862
ROSETTA DOUGLASS TO FREDERICK AND ANNA MURRAY DOUGLASS
Salem[, N.J.] 31 August [18]62[.]
MY DEAR FATHER AND MOTHER
I postponed writing to you until now that I might send you some pleasing news. I passed an examination last Wednesday in Arithmetic, Geography. Grammar Reading [illegible] and spelling and have obtained the Situation at the Salem School and to morrow I begin my labors.1Rosetta Douglass studied arithmetic, geography, and grammar at the Salem Normal School in 1862. Her successful completion of the final examination qualified her to teach in the Salem schools. She taught both day and evening classes until she returned to Rochester in 1863. McFeely, , 220–23. I have had many little trials to contend with while waiting for this situation and when I see you I can talk them all over with you. I am thinking strongly of moving to
a more convenient boarding place and should do so pretty soon if I could. You have been so good and kind in sending me money and you have never inquired how I was spending it. I will now tell you how I spent it.
I bought a few necessary articles for my self and the remainder I spent for creature comforts. I found Uncle2Although “Uncle Perry” is identified as Anna Murray Douglass’s brother, he does not appear to have used the surname Murray. Instead he can probably be identified as Perry Wilmer (c. 1815–?), an African American native of Maryland, who was recorded in both the 1860 and 1870 Salem, New Jersey, Census. By 1862, the Wilmer household would have consisted of Perry, a mason whose home was valued at $2,200 in the 1860 census; his wife, Elizabeth; and three young children, Gertrude, Hetty, and Perry. 1860 U.S. Census, New Jersey, Salem County, 44; 1870 U.S. Census, New Jersey, Salem County, 82. in rather a cramped place when I came to see him and after hearing that I might possibly obtain this school I remained and so as not to entirely be a burden on him I taught at School in Claysville3Rosetta Douglass taught in Claysville for eight weeks before her successful completion of the final exam at the Salem Normal School. McFeely, , 221. partly for that reason and partly for the children sake. That School afforded me but little and that little except what amount it took to do my washing went in the family. Uncle never requested any thing from me but I did it for my own sake for the whole eight weeks I taught that school I never had any dinner but would wait from morning until night so that I was sometimes very faint. I am glad I did so now though at the time it was sometimes hard. Aunt Lizzy4Probably Perry Wilmer’s wife, Elizabeth Wilmer (c. 1820–?), who was described in the census as being a native of Salem, New Jersey. 1860 U.S. Census, New Jersey, Salem County, 44. came home the other day and told methat some Quaker lady had said it was a pity I was here on Perry as he was struggling to pay for his house, but I am glad to say as they will that I have been of some help instead of hindrance. I have deprived myself of many little things that the money you sent me would have afforded me but I lived in hopes of getting this school and then I could get what I wished and repay you for your kindness for if it had not been for your aid I could not have felt so well while waiting for this school. I am quite glad since so much gossip has been about me.5Although it is impossible to determine the specific gossip to which Rosetta refers, it probably stemmed from problems that arose while she was staying with the Dorsey family in Philadelphia. In April 1862, Rosetta complained bitterly to her father that Mrs. Dorsey had publicly humiliated her by stating, in front of a room full of guests, that she had been specifically instructed by Douglass to keep his daughter “away from boys,” thus, in Rosetta’s opinion, creating the impression amongst Philadelphia’s African American community that Frederick Douglass had reason for concern over his daughter’s reputation because “that was her particular failing.” Consequently Mrs. Dorsey felt justified in berating her in public—the mildest rebuke being that she had acted no better than a “street runner”—for leaving the house on more than one occasion without first informing her hostess where she was going or whom she was meeting. Rosetta Douglass to FD, 4 April 1862, General Correspondence File, reel 1, frames 713–17, FD Papers, DLC; Sterling, , 138–39. Every thing that is vile has been said of me by persons living here and strangers coming here pretending to have known me. One man whose name I cannot get a minister he has told it that Fred. Douglass himself was a very nice man but this daughter of his is one who has become low while others believe me to be still an imposter passing for your daughter as a means of getting along, but despite these rumors and various others I have this school. I think of leaving Uncle not because he is unkind nor Aunt either except that Aunt Lizzie is rather a passionate person and I have received harsh language from her that my own mother never gives me now still in many things she is kind, but I wish to leave for my own comfort. There are three small children here and she does her own work and I cannot receive just that board I should wish. All those who leave their home will certainly learn by experience that home is the best place after all and even if it were necessary for a person to leave home it adds something to one’s happiness to that there is a home to go to. I have done many things I never have done at home or scarcely ever do and I have had to be very courageous not to write for money to come home but I hope I shall earn money to come home with myself. I heard
from Laura Wheeler6Probably Laura Wheeler Moody (1843–1921), the daughter of George D. and Cordelia Whipple Wheeler of Lockport, New York. In 1863 she married George H. Moody, who operated a very successful nursery business for many years on a farm located near Lockport. He also served as a trustee of the Farmers’ and Merchants’ Bank of Lockport and was active in several state and national horticultural organizations. 1860 U.S. Census, New York, Niagara County, 312; (Chicago, 1889), 736–38; William Richard Cutter, , 3 vols. (New York, 1912), 2:735. in Lockport7Settled in 1821 and incorporated in 1865, Lockport, located in Niagara County, New York, was built on the old Erie Canal around a series of locks. The area surrounding the city was know for its fruit and dairy production in the early nineteenth century, and Lockport itself was known as a significant manufacturing center. Cohen, , 2:1765. the other day and I received a long letter from Miss [Amé-Droz]8A Swiss national, Rosine Amé-Droz (c. 1816–?) first arrived in England on 11 July 1838, listing her profession as teacher. In 1841 she was teaching and living in the parish of Egg Buckland, Devonshire. After spending an undetermined length of time back in Switzerland, she returned to England in July 1848, this time listing her profession as governess. According to the 1861 English Census (where she was recorded as “Rosine Ann Davy,” a native of Neufchatel, Switzerland), she was staying in the home of Mrs. Elizabeth Read of Ecclesfield, Yorkshire. By 1871 she was serving as governess to the children of George S. Kemp, a wealthy Lancashire manufacturer. 1841 England Census, Devonshire, Egg Buckland, 11; 1861 England Census, Yorkshire, Ecclesfield, 56; 1871 England Census, Lancashire, Castleton, 1; (online). last Saturday week. She tells me she wrote to me a letter to Philadelphia and sent me a necktie in it I have seen nothing of it I cannot believe but that it is there I left my shawl at the Dorsey’s9 Thomas Joshua Dorsey (1810–75), one of the leading caterers in nineteenth-century Philadelphia, was born a slave in Liberty, Maryland. In 1856, William Still, an agent for Philadelphia’s Underground Railroad, helped Dorsey escape there. Abolitionist friends later raised $1,000 to purchase the fugitive’s freedom. Following his emancipation, he married a free woman by the name of Louise Tobias (?–1879) and established a popular dining establishment on Locust Street, which served many prominent individuals in the antislavery movement, such as Charles Sumner, William Lloyd Garrison, and Douglass. Douglass remained good friends with the Dorseys throughout their lives; in fact, Mrs. Dorsey accompanied Douglass to Lincoln’s second inauguration, in 1865. Philadelphia , 17 October 1896; Roger Lane, (New York, 1991), 2, 301; John N. Ingham and Lynne B. Feldman, (Westport, Conn., 1994), 226; Randall K. Burkett, Nancy Hall Burkett, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., eds., , 3 vols. (Alexandria, Va., 1991), 1:364; Dubois, >, 34; , 20:775–76. and have sent for it several times but have not yet received it perhaps my letter and shawl will come together I expect soon to write for it. After this letter I will be destitute of money even so much as to mail my letters. I was examined by a Southern minister whose son last week was sent last week, to Fort Delaware for giving information to the enemy and his father we have every reason to believe is a secessionist. After examining me he asked me very politely to attend his church saying when he preached South his galleries used to be filled with my color and he use to take much pleasure &c &c, I thanked him but did not say really what I wished as I thought of this school. Now I have the school and he being Superintendent he will ask me again, I can now answer him. That is one thing that I am much questioned about my religious views. I am never seen going to church and I never talk of the Bible and I am a sort of mystery. In the colored church here is a Sabbath School where the children are taught to read the Bible I was asked several times to take the Bible class and at last I consented and now every Sunday at two o’clock I go to hear these large girls read and answer questions from their question books.
I have not been bothered about church much since J have been here. In Philadelphia10In her correspondence, Rosetta Douglass indicates that by early April she had been in Philadelphia for six weeks. By the end of August 1862, she had been living in Salem, New Jersey, long enough to have spent eight weeks teaching in Claysville, a predominantly black community that bordered Salem. Accordingly, she must have arrived in Philadelphia by late February 1862 and relocated to Salem no later than early June. Thomas Cushing and Charles E. Sheppard, (Philadelphia, 1883), 440; Sterling, , 138. I was worried with questions but I answered in such a manner as not to leave much doubt as to how I felt. If from reading and observation at home I became acquainted with enough to disgust me I have seen more since leaving home to make me believe that most of this religion is a cloak for sin. In Philadelphia one thing I disliked much was the feeling of caste that prevails there even in the family I was in.11Thomas and Louise Dorsey had three children: William Henry, Sarah, and Mary Louise. Sarah Ann Dorsey Seville (c. 1839–1871), born in Philadelphia, married John Seville in 1858. The marriage produced two sons, Dorsey and John C. Seville, who were taken in by their maternal grand- parents following their mother’s death. 1850 U.S. Census, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, 147; 1870 U.S. Census, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, 52; Lane, , 2, 60, 113, 301–03. For Sarah herself told me in the presence of her mother, she did not like too dark a face to come in their house to make much of a stay there. I have been launched among strange people during the past six months. I received the Monthly with your letter.12 That letter has not been located. Mrs Reckless13(Amy) Hester Reckless (1793–1881) was born into slavery in Salem, New Jersey. She escaped slavery with her child and fled to Philadelphia in 1826. Reckless joined the Pennsylvania Female Anti-Slavery Society and worked with Lucretia Coffin Mott to organize that society’s projects with local free blacks. She cherished a photo of the organization’s members and a flag with inscriptions containing antislavery sentiments. A courageous woman, Hester assisted many runaway slaves in their escape to freedom by way of the Underground Railroad and ran a safe house in Philadelphia on Rodman Street. Reckless resided in Philadelphia until after the Civil War, when she returned to her hometown of Salem. Robert Clemens Smedley, (1883; New York, 1968), 348. is the only person here that sympathises with my movements and is much grieved at the gossip, though she says it is more from envy than any thing else. I lend her my monthly every time it comes. I will probably stay here until you come but if I board I must have as many conveniences as I can get for my board. Uncle and Aunt hardly wishes me to leave them but after being in a noisy school all day one like quiet at night and the children are rather unruly. My love to Mother I hope to send Mother. and yourself something in a little while, My love to Miss
Assing14 Ottilie Assing. and Lewis15Lewis H. Douglass. and Frederick,16Frederick Douglass, Jr. What is Charly’s17Charles R. Douglass. address? Please write soon. Please tell Mother Rachel Mason18Possibly Rachael Mason (c. 1800–?), a free black living in the Eleventh Ward of Baltimore, where she was recorded as head of a household of ten in the 1850 Census. 1850 U.S. Census, Maryland, Baltimore County, 132. is here from Maryland she goes back Teus day I expect to see her tomorrow.
Your Affectionate Daughter
ROSETTA D—
ALS: General Correspondence File, reel 1, frames 727–31, FD Papers, DLC.