Rochester March 13^th 1852.

Mrs. FrancesFrancis, Sydna Edmonia Robella

Sydna Edmonia Robell Francis (1815-1889), was the president and co-founder of the Ladies' Literary and Progressive Improvement Society of Buffalo. She was married to Abner Hunt Francis. She has been incorrectly identified as "Lynda" in secondary sources and in the biography of her husband included here. ,

Dear Madam. The most of the letters of Mr. FrancisFrancis, Abner Hunt

Abner Hunt Francis (1812-72), born on a farm near Flemington, New Jersey, lived in a number of locations throughout his life and became a leader of the black community wherever he resided. In Trenton, New Jersey, he protested against the American Colonization Society, acted as a subscription agent for the Liberator, and attended national black conventions in 1833 and 1834. In 1836 Francis moved to Buffalo, New York, where he established a clothing business. Not only was Francis a leading member of the integrated Buffalo Anti-Slavery Society, but he also spoke at the First of August celebrations of West Indian Emancipation, sought integration of schools, coordinated a state suffrage campaign, and acted as an agent for the Palladium of Liberty, published in Columbus, Ohio, and the North Star. In 1850 Francis openly opposed the Fugitive Slave Law and encouraged others to do so. In mid-1851, he and his wife Lynda relocated to Portland, Oregon, despite an 1849 law that prohibited black settlement in the Oregon Territory. Oregon courts in 1851 ordered 0. B. Francis, Abner's brother, to leave the territory under the exclusionary law. Two hundred eleven leading residents of Oregon offered a petition to the legislature requesting that the Francis brothers be given an exemption. The brothers were not forced to leave, but intolerance of blacks in Oregon continued to grow. In 1860 Abner and Lynda Francis moved to Victoria, Vancouver Island, Canada, where Francis became the first black elected to the city council in 1865 and remained a well-respected citizen until his death. Elizabeth McLagan, A Peculiar Paradise: A History of Blacks in Oregon, 1788-1940 (Portland, Ore., 1980), 88-89; Arthur 0. White, "The Black Movement against Jim Crow Education in Buffalo, New York, 1800-1900," Phylon, 30:380 (Winter 1969); Ripley, Black Abolitionist Papers, 4:102, 105-07n. have already been published in my paper and his paper has been regularly sent to California. Why he does not get them is to me unknown.

I am quite sorry to be unable to send you the manuscript of his letters. I had no idea that they would be wanted and have therefore taken no pains to preserve them. I shall however be careful to do so in future.

With great respect—your obedt Servant

Frederick Douglass