To Mr. Prior Foster and others engaged in the "Woodstock Institute."

Mr. Editor:ーOn the 30th of May last, Mr. J. W. Loguen, of Syracuse, received from "the trustees of the Woodstock Manual Labor Institute," by the hands of their General Agent, Prior Foster, a commission to travel, lecture, and collect funds for the prosecution of the benevolent object of the Institute. Mr. Loguen came home, intending to prepare himself at once to execute the commission. But he found it difficult and not advisable to separate himself from the church of which he has had the pastoral care. He therefore, by the advice of friends, concluded to relinquish the commission he had received: accordingly, early in July, he deposited with me the certificate of his appointment, and the instructions accompanying it, to be kept until called for by Mr. Foster. He requested me to make this statement immediately in the North Star, but I have neglected to do so until now.

It is understood that Mr. Loguen intends to devote a part of his time to his parochial district in Syracuse, and the residue to lecturing upon Temperance and Anti-Slavery, and the improvement of colored people, wherever he may be invited or find an opportunity.

Yours truly, SAMUEL J. MAYMay, Samuel Joseph

Samuel Joseph May (1797-1871) mixed abolitionism with a variety of other humanitarian concerns during his long career as a Unitarian clergyman. Boston-born and Harvard-educated, May studied theology at Harvard Divinity School and was ordained in 1822. During his forty-year ministry he championed such causes as temperance, women's rights, pacifism, universal education, and abolitionism. Originally a supporter of African colonization, May joined the abolitionist ranks in 1830, supported Prudence Crandall's efforts to establish a school for black youths in 1833, and enjoyed a long tenure as an agent of the New England Anti-Slavery Society. During the 1840s and 1850s he helped many fugitive slaves reach Canada; in 1851 he helped rescue Jerry McHenry from slave catchers inSyracuse, New York. After the Civil War he worked with black colleagues such as Jermain W. Loguen and Douglass to fight racial segregation in New York schools. Donald Yacovone, Samuel Joseph May and the Dilemmas of the Liberal Persuasion, 1797-1871 (Philadelphia, 1991); Pease and Pease, Bound with Them in Chains, 276-307; NCAB, 2:313; DAB, 12:447-48. .