FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO AMY POST

[Rochester, N.Y.]¹Douglass addressed this letter to Amy Post from the “North Star Office.” 4 Aug[ust] 1852.

AMY POSTPost, 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. .

DEAR AMY,

Take good care of yourself. I thank you for your kind wishes. I shall not leave home till tomorrow afternoon.²Douglass traveled to Pittsburgh to attend the national convention of the Free Democratic party on 11 and 12 August 1852. Douglass delivered an impromptu address to the gathering on its first day, and the party chose him as one of its seven secretaries. Douglass Papers, ser. 1, 2:388–93. I should have called upon you yesterday, had I supposed you, still in the city. I may see you yet before I leave home for Pittsburgh. This cholera,³In 1852 Rochester endured a third epidemic of cholera that left 450 people dead. Having believed the disease extinct following an earlier outbreak in the 1840s, city officials were caught unprepared, and launched an extensive investigation that traced the origins of the contagion to overcrowded tenements surrounded by open sewers and piles of garbage. As a result, the city passed an ordinance requiring builders to provide adequate ventilation in multifamily housing projects. Blake McKelvey, “Civic Developments of Rochester’s First Half Century, 1817–1867,” RH, 5:19 (April 1943). is shared more or less by us all. I feel myself some of the symtoms. My advice is be calm. Do not allow yourself to be alarmed. Remember that taking thought (anxious thought I mean) cannot alter the settled condition of things. We are all subjects—parts of a great whole—in the hands of a Supreme power—and you and I have decided that that power is good. Leave all to the Supreme good and be calm.

With love to IsaacPost, 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. ,⁴Isaac Post. LewisBurtis, Lewis

Lewis (1792–?) and Sarah Anthony (1810—1900) Burtis were Progressive Quakers and close friends of the Posts. They participated in many of the reform movements in Rochester and were among the group that gathered at the Posts' home for séances. Sarah, a cousin of Susan B. Anthony, had been a teacher before her marriage to Lewis, a farmer and produce merchant from Genesee. She helped found the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society, and became involved in the women’s movement through her association with Anthony, Amy Post, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Serious divisions among members of both movements in the years following the Civil War caused her to retire from her reform activities. 1850 U.S. Census, New York, Monroe County, Rochester, 8th Ward, 376; Directory for Rochester, 1851, 86; Blake McKelvey, “Women’s Rights in Rochester: A Century of Progress,” RH, 10:5, 8 (July 1948); Hewitt, Women’s Activism and Social Change, 116–19, 132, 170, 210, 231. , and Sarah BurtesBurtis, Sarah

Lewis (1792–?) and Sarah Anthony (1810—1900) Burtis were Progressive Quakers and close friends of the Posts. They participated in many of the reform movements in Rochester and were among the group that gathered at the Posts' home for séances. Sarah, a cousin of Susan B. Anthony, had been a teacher before her marriage to Lewis, a farmer and produce merchant from Genesee. She helped found the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society, and became involved in the women’s movement through her association with Anthony, Amy Post, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Serious divisions among members of both movements in the years following the Civil War caused her to retire from her reform activities. 1850 U.S. Census, New York, Monroe County, Rochester, 8th Ward, 376; Directory for Rochester, 1851, 86; Blake McKelvey, “Women’s Rights in Rochester: A Century of Progress,” RH, 10:5, 8 (July 1948); Hewitt, Women’s Activism and Social Change, 116–19, 132, 170, 210, 231. ⁵Lewis (1792–?) and Sarah Anthony (1810—1900) Burtis were Progressive Quakers and close friends of the Posts. They participated in many of the reform movements in Rochester and were among the group that gathered at the Posts' home for séances. Sarah, a cousin of Susan B. Anthony, had been a teacher before her marriage to Lewis, a farmer and produce merchant from Genesee. She helped found the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society, and became involved in the women’s movement through her association with Anthony, Amy Post, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Serious divisions among members of both movements in the years following the Civil War caused her to retire from her reform activities. 1850 U.S. Census, New York, Monroe County, Rochester, 8th Ward, 376; Directory for Rochester, 1851, 86; Blake McKelvey, “Women’s Rights in Rochester: A Century of Progress,” RH, 10:5, 8 (July 1948); Hewitt, Women’s Activism and Social Change, 116–19, 132, 170, 210, 231. Sincerely yours

FREDERICK DOUGLASS.

P.S. Julia⁶Julia Griffiths. desires her warm regards to yourself and friends.

ALS: Post Family Papers, NRU.