FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO AMY POST

Worcester, [Mass] 20 Oct[ober] 1850.

MY DEAR FRIENDPost, Amy Kirby

The Posts, Isaac (1798-1872) and Amy Kirby (1802-89), were prominent abolitionists who spent their most active years in Rochester, New York. Isaac was born on Long Island but moved to Scipio, New York, in 1823 with his first wife Hannah Kirby. After Hannah's death in 1827, he married her younger sister, Amy, a native of Jericho, New York. In 1836 the Posts moved to Rochester, where they became involved with Garrisonian abolitionism. The Posts often hid fugitive slaves, and Amy acted as vice president of the American Anti-Slavery Society in the 1850s and 1860s. In addition to abolitionism, Amy was active in the women's movement, including the seminal 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, a meeting that she helped to organize. In 1848 the Posts also numbered among the first converts to spiritualism in Rochester, and Isaac soon attracted fame as a writing medium. Douglass first met the couple in 1842 when he stayed at their home during a lecture tour, and their friendship influenced his choice of Rochester as the base for his newspaper, the North Star. Hewitt, Women's Activism and Social Change, 61, 93, 107, 118, 131-34, 142-43, 169; Blake McKelvey, "Civic Medal Awarded Posthumously," RH, 22:10-11 (April 1960); DAB, 15:117. ,

You are now, doubtless enjoying the society of our little circle at our Sunday meeting.¹Douglass perhaps refers to meetings of the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Sewing Circle, which met at the Posts’ home from time to time. NS, 3 October 1850. I am at the House of a member of the society of friends—Effingham CapronCapron, Effingham L.

Effingham L. Capron (1791—1859), a Quaker cloth manufacturer in Worcester, Massachusetts, was an active Garrisonian abolitionist. He served as a vice president of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society for many years and, in 1851, presided over a Worcester celebration marking the anniversary of emancipation in the West Indies. NS, 18 February 1848; Washington (D.C.) National Era,14 August 1851; 1850 U.S. Census, Massachusetts, Worcester County, Worcester, 367; Garrison and Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 1:398. .²Effingham L. Capron (1791—1859), a Quaker cloth manufacturer in Worcester, Massachusetts, was an active Garrisonian abolitionist. He served as a vice president of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society for many years and, in 1851, presided over a Worcester celebration marking the anniversary of emancipation in the West Indies. NS, 18 February 1848; Washington (D.C.) National Era,14 August 1851; 1850 U.S. Census, Massachusetts, Worcester County, Worcester, 367; Garrison and Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 1:398. They have gone to meeting[.] J. C. HathawayHathaway, Joseph Comstock

Joseph Comstock Hathaway (1810-43), a Quaker farmer from Farmington, New York, was the recording secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1843. Philadelphia Friends Review, 27:328 (10 January 1874). ³Joseph C. Hathaway. has also gone. I am here alone. And in this moment of repose—I wish to breathe a word to you—a word of friendship—a word of which I know you well enough, to know, that you will be pleased to receive. I am happy to state that my health is good and my spirit is Right. I spoke in this city last night, at Brinley Hall,⁴Douglass spoke at an antislavery fair held at Brinley Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts, on 19 October 1850. NS, 31 October 1850. before the audience assembled at antislavery fair, held for the benifet of the American Antislavery Society. The audience was large—and listened with earnest attention. The F. Slave Bill⁵The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. has made a deep sensation here—and it is universally determened that no slave shall be taken from Worcester. I have been to New Bedford and Nantucket since I spoke in Faneuil Hall.⁶On 14 October 1850 Douglass spoke at a meeting held by the “Citizens of Boston” at Faneuil Hall in opposition to the recently passed Fugitive Slave Law. During the following four days, he appeared before crowds at New Bedford and Nantucket, arriving in Worcester on 19 October. Lib., 14 October 1850; NS, 24 October 1850.We have collected in these places—about one hundred and thirty dollars. We are to lecture here this Evening and hope to do more for our imprisoned Brother.Chaplin, William Lawrence

In August 1850 William L. Chaplin (1796-1871) was among a group arrested for aiding fugitive slaves. Originally a lawyer, Chaplin left his legal practice in Easton, Massachusetts, to devote himself to the abolitionist movement in New York in the 1830s. He worked for the Liberty party as a lecturer and editor, becoming an associate of Gerrit Smith. In 1850 Chaplin assisted a group of slaves who had escaped from slave owners Alexander H. Stephens and Robert Toombs. Authorities arrested Chaplin and charged him with violating the Fugitive Slave Act in both Washington, D.C., and Maryland. Three of Chaplin’s longtime New York abolitionist friends, James C. Jackson, Joseph C. Hathaway, and Theodosia Gilbert, rushed to Washington to attend to Chaplin’s needs while jailed. Free Democrat Congressman Joshua Giddings and Senator Salmon P. Chase aided in Chaplin’s legal defense. Opponents of the Fugitive Slave Act, led by Smith, rallied around the case and posted the bond of $25,000 for Chaplin. Back in New York in 1851, Chaplin refused to return south for his trial and worked only briefly to raise funds to reimburse those who stood his bail. He drifted away from Gerrit Smith and, together with Jackson and Hathaway, moved into the Free Democratic camp. Chaplin later married Gilbert and joined Jackson in operating a water cure establishment in Glen Haven, New York. Henry Wilson, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, 3 vols. (Boston, 1874), 2:80-82; Stanley Harrold, Subversives: Antislavery Community in Washington, D.C., 1826-1865 (Baton Rouge, La., 2003), 157-62; Friedman, Gregarioas Saints, 123; Harlow, Gerrit Smith, 290-95; Lawrence J. Friedman, “The Gerrit Smith Circle: Abolitionism in the Burned-Over District,” CWH, 26:19-37 (March 1980).In August 1850 William L. Chaplin (1796-1871) was among a group arrested for aiding fugitive slaves. Originally a lawyer, Chaplin left his legal practice in Easton, Massachusetts, to devote himself to the abolitionist movement in New York in the 1830s. He worked for the Liberty party as a lecturer and editor, becoming an associate of Gerrit Smith. In 1850 Chaplin assisted a group of slaves who had escaped from slave owners Alexander H. Stephens and Robert Toombs. Authorities arrested Chaplin and charged him with violating the Fugitive Slave Act in both Washington, D.C., and Maryland. Three of Chaplin’s longtime New York abolitionist friends, James C. Jackson, Joseph C. Hathaway, and Theodosia Gilbert, rushed to Washington to attend to Chaplin’s needs while jailed. Free Democrat Congressman Joshua Giddings and Senator Salmon P. Chase aided in Chaplin’s legal defense. Opponents of the Fugitive Slave Act, led by Smith, rallied around the case and posted the bond of $25,000 for Chaplin. Back in New York in 1851, Chaplin refused to return south for his trial and worked only briefly to raise funds to reimburse those who stood his bail. He drifted away from Gerrit Smith and, together with Jackson and Hathaway, moved into the Free Democratic camp. Chaplin later married Gilbert and joined Jackson in operating a water cure establishment in Glen Haven, New York. Henry Wilson, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, 3 vols. (Boston, 1874), 2:80-82; Stanley Harrold, Subversives: Antislavery Community in Washington, D.C., 1826-1865 (Baton Rouge, La., 2003), 157-62; Friedman, Gregarioas Saints, 123; Harlow, Gerrit Smith, 290-95; Lawrence J. Friedman, “The Gerrit Smith Circle: Abolitionism in the Burned-Over District,” CWH, 26:19-37 (March 1980). ⁷Together with Joseph C. Hathaway, Douglass spoke at an antislavery meeting in Worcester’s City Hall on 20 October 1850. Both speakers called for contributions from the audience to assist William L. Chaplin, who was imprisoned in Washington, D.C., for aiding fugitive slaves. NS, 31 October 1850. Saw Mr. Garrison yesterday, had a long and friendly talk with him. We said nothing about the “Star—” but about matters and things in general and about George ThompsonThompson, George

George Thompson (1804-78), originally from Liverpool, was an early advocate of slave emancipation in the British colonies and was an influential British ally of William Lloyd Garrison. Thompson lectured for the Agency Committee, a group that helped force passage of the West Indian Emancipation Act of 1833. That same year, he was among the founders of the Edinburgh Society for the Abolition of Slavery throughout the World. As a member of Parliament from 1847 to 1852, Thompson was a member of the Parliamentary Reform Association and the Anti-Corn Law League, and promoted the production of East Indian cotton in order to undermine American slavery. Thompson also promoted the antislavery cause during trips to the United States during the 1830s, 1850s, and 1860s. Lib., 29 May 1846; Garrison and Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 1:434-522, 2:1-72; Howard Temperley, British Antislavery, 1833-1870 (Columbia, S.C., 1972), 23-29; C. Duncan Rice, "The Anti-Slavery Mission of George Thompson to the United States, 1834-1835," Journal of American Studies, 2:13-41 (April 1968); DNB, 19:691. in particular. George Thompson is really coming and is now on his way[.]⁸George Thompson was scheduled to sail for the United States from Liverpool on 19 October 1850. On 1 November 1850 the Liberator announced that Thompson had indeed reached Boston safely. He was to start from Liverpool yesterday—on the steam ship Canada.⁹The Canada was a steamship operated by the British Cunard Steam-Ship Company between 1848 and 1867. C[harles] R[obert] Vernon Gibbs, British Passenger Liners 0f the Five Oceans: A Record of the British Passenger Lines and Their Liners from 1838 to the Present Day (London, 1963), 173, 185–86. Now Dear Amy, George Thompson must come to Rochester. He must come this winter. Rochester must not escape him.¹⁰During his tour of the United States, Thompson spoke at Rochester’s Corinthian Hall in mid-March 1851. NS, 20 March 1851. But George Thompson though a member of the British parliament is a poor man and will need money to sustain him. He might have been a wealthy man—his talents might have made him so. He could have sold him self for gold—but he has chosen to take up the cause of the poor—to plead the cause of the humble—and of consequence to share the poverty of the humble. Mr. Thompson will need funds to sustain his family while he is travelling in this country and giving

the cause of the slave the benifit of his matchless eloquence. Now I want Rochester to have a share in him. Rochester must feel that she is doing her part towards upholding the hands of our beloved transatlantic Brother. This I think quite a suitable matter to bring before our little band in Rochester. I know their generosity—and will trust the result. Our old—sometimes friend Charles Lenox Remond is now really married and no mistake. He has got the prize for which he has been running—and a noble one it is. Mrs.Williams, Amy Matilda

From 1826 to 1848, before marrying Charles Lenox Remond, Amy Matilda Williams was married to Joseph R. Cassey (1789—1848), a Garrisonian abolitionist from the French West Indies. Merrill and Ruchames, Garrison Letters, 3:344n; Ripley, Black Abolitionist Papers, 3:89—90n. CaseyCassey, Joseph

From 1826 to 1848, before marrying Charles Lenox Remond, Amy Matilda Williams was married to Joseph R. Cassey (1789—1848), a Garrisonian abolitionist from the French West Indies. Merrill and Ruchames, Garrison Letters, 3:344n; Ripley, Black Abolitionist Papers, 3:89—90n. ¹¹From 1826 to 1848, before marrying Charles Lenox Remond, Amy Matilda Williams was married to Joseph R. Cassey (1789—1848), a Garrisonian abolitionist from the French West Indies. Merrill and Ruchames, Garrison Letters, 3:344n; Ripley, Black Abolitionist Papers, 3:89—90n. is as you have often heard me say a very noble woman. I know not how far she will adopt Remond’s feelings towards me—but I fear she will not feel any warmer towards the “North Star” on account of her marriage[.] Such is life. I have met since I came here many old and dear Friends—Some fugitives too from the neighborhood where I formerly resided. You would have been glad to have witnessed the cordiality of of these meetings. Upon the whole my visit to the East thus far has been of a very pleasant descreption. The women’s rights convention is looked forward to with much interest. I wish you could attend it. I shall be on hand if nothing happens. I am to lecture here this Evening and shall go to Leominster from here & shall return here from Leominster to attend the meeting.¹²Following two appearances in Worcester on 19 and 20 October, Douglass spoke in Leominster, Massachusetts, on 21 October. His schedule returned him to Worcester for the Women’s Rights Convention at Brinley Hall on 23 and 24 October. Two days later he spoke in Lawrence and then appeared before a crowd in Lowell on 27 October. NS, 15 November 1850. Please write to me at Lowell. I am to be there one week from this day.

Make my warm remembrance to Mr. PostPost, Isaac

The Posts, Isaac (1798-1872) and Amy Kirby (1802-89), were prominent abolitionists who spent their most active years in Rochester, New York. Isaac was born on Long Island but moved to Scipio, New York, in 1823 with his first wife Hannah Kirby. After Hannah's death in 1827, he married her younger sister, Amy, a native of Jericho, New York. In 1836 the Posts moved to Rochester, where they became involved with Garrisonian abolitionism. The Posts often hid fugitive slaves, and Amy acted as vice president of the American Anti-Slavery Society in the 1850s and 1860s. In addition to abolitionism, Amy was active in the women's movement, including the seminal 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, a meeting that she helped to organize. In 1848 the Posts also numbered among the first converts to spiritualism in Rochester, and Isaac soon attracted fame as a writing medium. Douglass first met the couple in 1842 when he stayed at their home during a lecture tour, and their friendship influenced his choice of Rochester as the base for his newspaper, the North Star. Hewitt, Women's Activism and Social Change, 61, 93, 107, 118, 131-34, 142-43, 169; Blake McKelvey, "Civic Medal Awarded Posthumously," RH, 22:10-11 (April 1960); DAB, 15:117. ,¹³Isaac Post. Mary and William Hallowell and believe me your ever faithful Friend.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS

ALS: Post Family Papers, NRU.