Ben Perley Poore in Georgia

Photo: Benjamin Perley Poore, between 1865 and 1880. Credit: Brady-Handy Photograph Collection; Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

The prominent Washington correspondent and historian Major Ben: Perley Poore (the colon after “Ben” is the family custom), from Indian Hill Farm, West Newbury, Massachusetts, led a charmed life.

Poore (1820-1887) dined with Lafayette and Sir Walter Scott. His collection of Americana was the finest in the country. His home had a Masonic Hall and a bedstead slept in by Washington. His drawing room charm earned himself a seat at the best parties.

However, before Poore rose to success, a brief stint in the sunny south landed him in hot water.

Read the whole story at Ben: Perley Poore’s Georgia Scandal

Quaker Teacher Esther Biddle Rhoads

1978 Detroit Free Press A year before her death.

A follow up post from The Early Quaker Lines

From the Wardwell and Biddle line Esther Biddle Rhoads (1896-1979) daughter of Edward Garrett Rhoads (1863-1926) and Margaret Ely Paxon (1871-1949) granddaughter of Jonathan Rhoads (1830-1914) and Rebecca Garrett (1830-1905) daughter of Thomas Garrett (1809-1888) and Francis Biddle (1803-1873)  (BIDDLE Lineage: John, Owen, John, John, William and Lydia) NOTE: William Biddle (1806-1887) married Elizabeth Cresson Garrett (1806-1881), brother of Thomas Garrett--which I will cover in another post

The Society of Friends records and research show that the RHOADS and GARRETT families were prominent members of the Quaker community as well. The GARRETT family famed Abolitionists, I posted some photos and newspaper clips below. 

Esther's Education: Bachelor of Science, Earlham College, 1921. Doctor of Humane Letters, Earlham College, 1960. Doctor of Laws, Drexel Institute of Technology, 1962.  

Esther was a teacher and the head of the Friends Girls' School in Tokyo for over 50 years. She was also of great importance in work with Licensed Agencies for Relief in Asia and with the American Friends Service, to assist Japanese-Americans affected by the War Relocation Act. 

Obit Esther Biddle Rhoads

Esther's Gr Grandparents Thomas Garrett (1809-1888) and Francis Biddle (1803-1873)

Garrett Family: Rebecca Garrett (1830-1905) daughter of Thomas Garrett (1809-1888) and Francis Biddle (1803-1873) wife of mother Jonathan Rhodes. 

Esther's great grandfather, Thomas Garrett (1809-1888) husband of Francis Biddle (1803-1873) He was the son of Philip Garrett 1780-1851 and Rebecca Cresson.  Thomas was "Station Master On The Underground Railroad "

Garrett Family Tree Historical Society and Pennsylvania Archives

  

Esther Biddle Passport 1920

 

Swarthmore, Quaker Meeting Records. Friends Historical Library, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.

1914 Jonathan Rhoads Obit, grandfather to Esther Biddle Rhoads

• Pennsylvania USGenWeb Archives 
• Sketch of Owen Biddle, to which is Added A Short Account of the Parke Family, Together with a List of His Descendants
• Esther B. Rhoads papers, ca. 1895-ca. 1979 - Ms, Coll. 1153 - Haverford College Special Collections and her Papers https://library.haverford.edu/finding-aids/files/950-156.pdf and
• http://library.haverford.edu/file-id-890

Rev. Joseph May and John Hancock Seal Newburyport Massachusetts

Joseph May, the son of the Rev. Samuel Joseph May and Lucretia Flagg Coffin, was born in Boston on January 21, 1836. Lucretia was daughter of Peter Coffin and Anne Martin. Peter Coffin Son of Peter Coffin and Lucretia Flagg.

Other Children of Rev Samuel and Lucretia: John Edward May, George Emerson May, and Charlotte Coffin May m. Alfred Wilkinson.
Rev Samuel May was son of Joseph May (1760- 1841) and Dorothy Sewall (1758-1825)
Joseph May son of Samuel May (1723-1794) Abigail Williams (1732-1811)
Dorothy Sewall was daughter of Samuel Sewall (1711-1743) son of Joseph Sewall (1695-1769) and Elizabeth Walley (1685-1756) and Elizabeth Quincy (1727-1791) daughter to Edmund Quincy (1703-1788) and Elizabeth Wendell (1704-1769)

Elizabeth Wendell Quincy (1704-1769) wife of Edmund Quincy Mother of Elizabeth Quincy, Henry Quincy, Edmund Quincy V, Elizabeth (Quincy) Sewall, Jacob Quincy, Esther (Quincy) Sewall and Dorothy (Quincy) Hancock Scott. First Photo 1720 circa from Child Life in Colonial Days, by Alice Morse Earle Project Gutenberg.

"Dorothy Q." "Thirteen Summers," 1720 circa. On the back of the portrait is written this inscription: "It pleased God to take Out of Life my Honor'd and dearly Belov'd Mother, Mrs Elizabeth Wendell, daughter to Honble Edmund Quincy, Esq. March, 1746, aged 39 Years." Her brother Edmund Quincy married her husband's sister Elizabeth (thus the two Elizabeth's exchanged surnames), and Dorothy Q. married Edward Jackson. From Child Life in Colonial Days, by Alice Morse Earle Project Gutenberg

{Justice} Edmund Quincy (1703 - 1788) husband of Elizabeth Wendell. Children: Edmund Quincy According to Prof. Edward Elbridge Salisbury, Family Memorials, page 317, Edmund married Ann Husk  According to Massachusetts Historical Society: Pride of Quincy's, Nine Generations of the Quincy Family, Edmund was "of Boston and Shoron; business man and land developer; married thrice and had issue by each marriage." Henry Quincy married 1st Mary Salter and 2nd Eunice Newell. Abraham Quincy drowned in ship swept up Germantown. Elizabeth Quincy married Samuel Sewall, grandson of {Judge} Samuel Sewall. Katharine Quincy unmarried. Jacob Quincy who married Elizabeth Williams. Sarah Quincy who married {General} William Greenleaf. Esther Quincy married Jonathan Sewall, the last attorney general of the Province of Massachusetts before the American Revolution. Dorothy Quincy who married first to John Hancock, a signer of the American Declaration of Independence and secondly to {Capt} James Scott. Taken from Quincy Genealogy

A portrait of Abigail Williams May (1733-1811), by an unknown artist, painted in about 1780. Abigail Williams May had family ties to Portland. Photo from Maine Memory Network

Samuel Joseph May, at age of 50, about 1847--early supporter of Garrison, and senior colleague and confidant. From The Liberator Files Photo Collection 

Samuel Joseph May.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, September 12th, 1797.
Died in Syracuse, New York, July 1st, 1871 From
Harvard University Library

Joseph May received an AB from Harvard in 1857. After several years in Europe, he entered Harvard Divinity School and graduated in 1865. He was ordained by the First Unitarian Church in Yonkers, N.Y., on September 14, 1865, and served this church until September 1867. From July 1868 to December 1875, he served the First Religious Society of Newburyport, Massachusetts.

In January 1876, he became minister of the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia, which he served for 25 years. After his retirement, he became pastor emeritus until his death on January 19, 1918. In 1886 he helped establish a community center for boys in Philadelphia known as the Evening Home and Library Association. He was a strong supporter of education for African Americans throughout his life. Jefferson Medical College LLD degree in 1887, and  DD degree from Meadville Theological School in 1914.
For more information, see Heralds of a Liberal Faith, ed. by Samuel A. Eliot. Boston: American Unitarian Association, 1910. Vol. 4, p. 186-189. [Cabinet card photo (credit: F. Gutekunst Co., Philadelphia)] Andover-Harvard Theological Library
He published a volume on The Miracles and Myths of the New Testament, two volumes of The Life and Letters of Samuel Longfellow, brother of the poet, as well as a number of pamphlet sermons.

 Older photo of Joseph May (1836-1918) from Harvard Square Library Collection

Joseph married Harriet Charles Johnson (1833-1881) daughter of Philip Carrigan Johnson (1795-1859) and Mary Kimball Chandler (1796-1855)
and 2nd Elizabeth Justice (1848 - 1935)  daughter of Warner Justice (1808-1862) and Huldah Thorn (1811-1888)

Eastman Johnson, famous genre and portrait painter was brother of Harriet. Eastman was Co-Founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, with his name inscribed at its entrance. Best known for his genre paintings, paintings of scenes from everyday life, and his portraits both of everyday people, he also painted portraits of prominent Americans such as Abraham Lincoln, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. His later works often show the influence of the 17th century Dutch masters whom he studied while living in The Hague, and he was even known as The American Rembrandt in his day.
Below is Commodore Philip Carrigan Johnson - (father of Vice Admiral Alfred Wilkinson Johnson) was followed by his beloved sisters Harriet, Judith, Mary, Sarah, Nell and his brother Reuben. Eastman grew up in Fryeburg and Augusta, where the family lived at Pleasant Street and later at 61 Winthrop Street.

Looking for any information on John Hancock Seal please post or e-mail me. Thanks

Also noted in Ballou's Monthly Magazine, Volume 55 by George Bancroft Griffith "New England Relics" page 474 1882
At a meeting of the members of the First Unitarian Congregational Society of Philadelphia, held on Wednesday evening, Dec. 8th, 1875, for the purpose of considering the subject of choosing a pastor, it was decided to invite the Rev. Joseph May, of Newburyport, Mass. The Chairman of the Trustees was instructed to notify him of his election, and to ask his acceptance of the position. The invitation and acceptance were communicated in the following correspondence:
Mv Dear Sir:
At a meeting of our Unitarian Society on Wednesday (yesterday) evening for the purpose of deciding whom we would invite to become the settled pastor of the Society, the choice, after an informal ballot, fell, on a regular vote, by a large majority, on you. The Chairman of the Trustees was thereupon instructed by vote to inform you of the action of the Society, and to invite you to become its settled pastor, at an annual salary of four thousand dollars. On behalf of the Society, I therefore give you this " call," and I will only add, that

in doing so, I have personally great satisfaction.
Very respectfully yours, Henry Winsor

Chairman of Trustees. Rev. Joseph May, Newburyport.
Dec. 16th, 1875. Henry Winsor, Esq.,
Chairman of Trustees, Unitarian Church, Philadelphia.
Dear Sir:
I now respectfully inform you that I accept, with high appreciation of the honor done me by their choice, the invitation of your Society to become their minister.

I do so with unfeigned diffidence also, and under a sense, almost oppressive, of the responsibilities I incur. I am, indeed, upborne by the cordiality with which I am invited to the service, and by my assurance of the many encouragements which will certainly attend my efforts. But I feel deeply that I need abundantly the blessing of God upon me in accepting such a trust, and that only by His help, for which I pray, can I hope to be equal to my task.

May I, as I proceed, inherit some portion of the spirit of your late pastor—honored and beloved by me, as by yourselves—whose relation to you can only in form be severed, and whose affectionate welcome of me as his successor renders the prospect of taking up the responsibility he has well earned the right to lay down, so peculiarly inviting.

With earnest prayers that I may be enabled to attain to even a degree of that which your people doubtless hope for in me, and that the best interests of the Church may be prospered in our united hands, I remain, with most agreeable personal anticipations.

Faithfully yours, Joseph May.

INSTALLATION OF REV. JOSEPH MAY. 9

Accordingly invitations were sent only to the two Societies over which our pastor-elect had previously been settled---the Unitarian Society in Yonkers, N. Y., and the Society in Newburyport, Mass.; also to the Unitarian Societies in Wilmington, Del., and in Baltimore, asking them to be represented by pastor and delegates, and to the pastor and members of the Society in Germantown, which we consider the child of our church.

At the hour appointed the church was filled with an eager and deeply interested audience. The edifice was beautifully decorated under the supervision of some of the ladies of the Society. Festoons of laurel, evergreen and smilax were hung from the ceiling along the front of the Pulpit. The pillars on either side were arrayed in ascending terraces with ferns and flowers, while in front, covering the communion table and all the approaches to it, were arranged growing tropical plants, amid a profusion of other natural flowers.

The music was excellent,—the organ under the charge of the organist, Mr. William H. Dutton, being accompanied by a piano, a violoncello, and the regular quartet choir of the church, increased for this occasion by an additional quartet from the Cathedral and other churches.

The services continued until ten o'clock, after which the guests of the Society, with the Trustees and their families, attended a reception given by Dr. and Mrs. Furness at their residence.

THE RECEPTION ON THURSDAY EVENING.

On the following evening Mr. and Mrs. May received their friends at the house of Mr. James T. Furness, No. 1420 Pine Street—Mr. and Mrs. Furness having kindly placed their parlors at the disposal of the Trustees. Invitations were sent to all who are members, or who have been accustomed to worship with the Society—extending to them a cordial invitation to come. Essex-County Conference of Liberal Christian Churches. Organized Dec. 11, 1866, at Salem, Mass. Officer-Vice President.

Obit: John Greenleaf Whittier

Last Photo of John Greenleaf Whittier at Old Homestead
PHOTOS: Garden of Whittier Home, Amesbury, during Whittier's funeral.
From Whittier-Land, by Samuel T. Pickard

William Lloyd Garrison Mob Boston 1835

The lock which was used to secure Garrison in a prison, for his protection from men who wanted to lynch him, during the October, 1835 mob action.

From The Liberator Files 1831-1865

A Moment in Abolition History

A view by Horace Seldon

Often history records an event which later is seen as a crucial “moment”, filled with meaning beyond the specific time, place and personalities involved. Such a time happened in London, in June, 1840. In another place I’ve written about the international significance of that time, when Garrison and other men from New England refused to participate in an international anti-slavery convention, because women delegates had been denied recognition. The effect on the movement became significant as a “watershed moment”.

In Boston, in 1835, a similarly significant “moment” occurred, once again with William Lloyd Garrison at the center, this time encountered by an angry “mob”. To tell the story I will rely on Garrison’s own words, on the historical accounts of Henry Mayer, and of Garrison’s sons, Wendell Phillips Garrison, and Francis Jackson Garrison. Any particular “moment” has a historical context, and the year 1835, is a time which Garrison himself called a “reign of terror”, threatening individual abolitionists and the movement itself. See Papers to Garrison Mob by Lyman

On the left is Wendell Phillips, son of the City of Boston’s first mayor, eloquent Abolition speaker; Garrison in the middle; on the right, George Thompson, English Abolition leader, close collaborator with Garrison. The Garrisons named two of their sons after Phillips and Thompson. Photo from Rare Book Room Boston Public Library

In New England in premonition of “terror”, late 1834 saw the destruction of Prudence Crandall’s school in Canterbury, Connecticut. She had opened her school for young black women, and that act enflamed a hatred that warned abolitionists of the depth of what previously Garrison had called the “mountains of ice” which needed to be melted. Then came the hot hatred of 1835. In Charleston, South Carolina, a post office was seized by a crowd of people who seized mailbags full of anti-slavery pamphlets; the fire which burned the literature became the scene of the hanging of effigies of Arthur Tappan and Garrison. In Nashville, Amos Dresser, a young man who had joined abolitionist protests at Lane Seminary, was publicly assailed and lashed twenty times in the public market.

Prudence Crandall (September 3, 1803 - January 28, 1890), a schoolteacher raised as a Quaker, stirred controversy with her education of African-American girls in Canterbury, Connecticut. Her private school, opened in the fall of 1831,was boycotted when she admitted a 17-year-old African-American female student in the autumn of 1833; resulting in what is widely regarded as the first integrated classroom in the United States. She is Connecticut's official State Heroine.

In Canaan, New Hampshire, voters of the town assembled in town meeting, and acted to appoint a committee to oversee the physical removal from the town of Noyes Academy. That Academy had been started to educate young black children, under leadership which included one of Garrison’s devotees, David Child. Also in New Hampshire, in that same year, in a church in Northfield, George Storrs, was lifted from his knees while offering an anti-slavery prayer, and thrown out of the church! This “reign of terror” became very real for Boston, and for Garrison.

George Thompson, strong abolitionist leader from England, had come to the United States in the previous year, and was still touring the country in 1835. His speeches brought strength to the movement here, but he was under constant threat wherever he appeared. At an August speech in Boston abolitionist women had cleverly maneuvered him away from a threatening crowd. In the same month, a stone meant for Thompson, was thrown through a window, where he was speaking, in Lynn. Slaveholder hatred and fear took radical form. Subscriptions to a fund for procuring the heads of Garrison, Thompson, and Tappan, were invited to be made through a bookstore in Norfolk, Virginia. The Richmond Enquirer urged that these “wanton fanatics” be “put down forever”, and warned the North against interference with the right of slavery. Some Northern commercial interests, threatened with the loss of Southern patronage, or the destruction of Southern branches, responded by bringing pressure against abolitionists in Boston.

George Thompson, at age 47, in 1850-1851. United Kingdom abolitionist, close friend and ally to Garrison, after meeting in London, in 1833

One Boston newspaper, the Commercial Gazette, responded to an announcement of an August 14 annual meeting of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, and predicted resistance. “This resistance will not come from a rabble, but from men of property and standing, who have a large interest at stake in this community…” The paper warned ladies to keep away, and threatened that if Thompson were to appear, he would be lynched.

Faneuil Hall was denied for abolitionist meetings, but on August 21, the same Hall was filled with those who wanted to “protect the rights of the South”. Harrison Gray Otis, retired Mayor, was a featured organizer-speaker for that crowded meeting. Otis spoke of the intent of abolitionists to create auxiliary societies in “every state and municipality”, asserting that this proved them to be “imminently dangerous” and “hostile to the spirit and letter of the constitution”. In the same period Samuel May had a speech broken up in Haverhill, and John Greenleaf Whittier was pelted with eggs in Concord. The Garrison family was frightened by a gallows which was planted on the doorstep of their home, on Brighton Street.

The postponed meeting of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, was announced for three o-clock on Wednesday afternoon, October 21st. It was to be held at 46 Washington Street, in a hall at the Anti-Slavery office. The Commercial Gazette reported on the indignation among business men who thought that “women ought to be engaged in some better business than that of stirring up strife between the South and the North on this matter of slavery… they ought to be at home, attending to their domestic concerns …”

Believing that George Thompson was to speak, anti-abolition forces distributed handbills which urged people to “snake out” Thompson, and offered a one hundred dollar prize for the first to lay violent hands on him. It hoped that Thompson would “be brought to the tar-kettle before dark”. These warnings were widely distributed to insurance offices, hotels, reading rooms, from State Street to the North end. Fearful merchants petitioned Mayor Lyman to prevent the meeting. Photo from Caren Collection

On the day of the meeting, a crowd had gathered along Washington Street, and in the vicinity of City Hall. Hisses, sarcastic cheers, racial epithets were accompanied by demands for “Thompson”. The crowd was assured by the Mayor, who had arrived, that Thompson was not in the building. Word spread soon that Garrison was there. He had come from his home on Brighton Street, where he had hosted a dinner for John Vashon, a leader of the Pittsburgh colored community; he was accompanied by Charles Burleigh, abolitionist from Connecticut. Garrison, after consulting with the women leaders of the meeting, retired into the Anti-Slavery office, separated from the gathering by a partition. (See Letters to John Vashon--Garrison)

The birth of John Bathan Vashon in 1792 is celebrated on this date. He was a Black seaman, businessman and abolitionist. 

The President of the Society, Mary Parker, proceeded with the business of the meeting, with the customary prayers and reading of Scripture. She was interrupted by the Mayor bursting into the room, requesting that the ladies abandon the meeting and go home. A conference between Parker, Maria Chapman, and the Mayor resulted in the decision by the ladies to adjourn the meeting and reconvene at the Chapman home at 11 West Street.

The story then becomes one of a remarkably dignified walk by the women, black and white, arm in arm, six blocks down Washington Street, through an angry mob, still resolute in determination to continue their meeting. It is also the story of a portion of the mob gaining access to the building, grabbing Garrison, and his final release from the crowd by “two burly Irishmen not know as abolitionists”. He was then rushed by constables, into a carriage, and taken to the Leveret Street jail for safety overnight. John Vashon visited Garrison the next morning, where he was in prison, and gave him a hat to replace the one which had been “cut in pieces by the knives of men of propoerty and standing”.

History most often gives emphasis to the threat to Garrison, who was indeed nearly lynched, and could have been killed by some in the mob. Here I want to lift up the courage of the women who walked through that mob, undeterred in the immediate purpose of their meeting, or the overarching purpose of abolition. Here also it is appropriate to some who were present that day who were led to become dedicated abolitionists.

Young Wendell Phillips, son of Boston‘s first Mayor, dated his “conversion” to the abolitionist cause from the day when he witnessed the mob. Henry Ingersoll Bowditch, just returned from medical training in Europe, knowing nothing of Garrison, was also infuriated by the mob’s action against Garrison. He vowed himself an abolitioinst from that moment, and shortly after subscribed to Garrison’s Liberator.

Edmund Quincy, son of the second Mayor, was alerted toward the rights of abolition. His father, Josiah Quincy, then President of the City Council, saw the mob from his office at 27 State Street, rushed to Garrison’s side until he was placed in the carriage and driven off, . Rev. James E. Crawford, later of Nantucket, was walking on State Street and encountered the riotous mob, and “his heart and soul became fully dedicated to the cause of immediate emancipation. Thirty years later, William H. Logan told of how, soon after the mob had left, he had received from Sheriff Parkman, remnants of a pair of pantaloons which had been torn from Garrison. At that same 1855 remembrance of the occasion, William C. Nell reported that a Boston merchant, David Tilden, Esq., “immediately became a subscriber to the Liberator and continued a reader until his death. Reports of several others of the affect of being witness may be suspect, but the affect on Harriett Martineau was widely reported. Martineau, an English teacher, professor, liberator, had been in the country for months, conducting what might be termed a sociological study of slavery. She had interviewed slave owners and abolitionists alike, adhering to her academic style for the most part. On the historic day, she was on her way from Salem to Providence, passing through Boston as the crowd was gathering. Friends, seeing the well-dressed crowd, and knowing it was close to a Post Office, informed her that the crowd was assembled because it was a “busy foreign-post day”. In Providence she heard the factual account. She volunteered her interest and within a few weeks she was a speaker at the Society. In December she visited Garrison in Boston, and became a worthy supporter.

This date, October 21, 1835 is worthy of celebration as a “moment” of gathering strength for the Abolition Movement in the United States. Five years later, in London, came a similarly significant “moment” of strength for abolitionists in the United Kingdom. In that “moment”, a major issue revolved around what some have called the “woman” question.

Public Sentiment at the North Date: Saturday, March 7, 1835  Liberator (Boston, MA) 

 [Boston; Post; Saturday; Garrison; William L. Garrison; Jailor; Wednesday; Deputy; Sheriff; Parkman] Tuesday, October 27, 1835  Salem Gazette (Salem, MA)

Other Reads

• Francis Jackson Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879; the story of his life told by his children: volume 2 
• The Memorial History of Boston: Including Suffolk County, Massachusetts Chapter 6 (1882)
• A House Dividing Against Itself, 1836-1840 By William Lloyd Garrison
• Mayors of Boston: An Illustrated Epitome of who the Mayors Have Been and what They Have Done
• The Life and Times of Wendell Phillips by George Lowell
• "Anti-Slavery Excitement" in Boston

Myra Colby Bradwell First Women Attorney

Myra Colby Bradwell, a pioneer in the movement to give to women equal rights before the law and equal opportunities to labor in all vocations, demonstrated by her life work what women can do in activities heretofore monopolized by men, and was one of the most remarkable women of her generation and one who had no small share in making that generation what it is.

Myra Colby Bradwell was born in Manchester, Vermont, February 12, 1831. Her father, Eben Colby, was the son of John Colby, a Baptist minister of New Hampshire. The Colby family records show that Anthony Colby, the first of the family to settle in America, came to Boston from England in 1630. Her father's mother was a lineal descendant of Aquilla Chase, a family that gave to the world the noted divine, Bishop Philander Chase, of the Episcopal church, and Salmon P. Chase, chief justice of the United States. On her mother's side she was a descendant of Isaac Willey, who settled in Boston in 1640. Two members of the family, Albert and John Willey, served in the little army that suffered glorious defeat at Bunker Hill. In the history of her family one finds many distinguished men of varying activities in statecraft, on the field and in the domain of the professions. Never was heredity better accentuated than in this teacher, editor, lawyer. In the warp of her'nature was woven the woof of that sterling New England character which has made such an impress on our national life.

Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, ca. 1864 Reproduction of an engraving. Alonzo Chappel, engraver. Courtesy of the Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States

    Elijah Lovejoy November 8th 1802 – November 7th 1837

But, gentlemen, as long as I am an American citizen, and as long as American blood runs in these veins, I shall hold myself at liberty to speak, to write, to publish whatever I please on any subject--being amenable to the laws of my country for the same." Elijah Lovejoy
In infancy she was taken to Portage, New York, where she remained until her twelfth year, when she came west with her father's family. Her family were aggressive abolitionists and stanch friends of the Lovejoys. The story of the murdered martyr, Elijah Lovejoy, as recounted by a friend of her youth, Owen Lovejoy, made a deep impression upon her mind. Thus early was implanted a hatred of slavery and injustice in the soul of one who was destined in subsequent years to bear a conspicuous part in freeing her sex from some of the conditions of vassalage in which it had stood, a champion who broke one of the strongest barriers to woman's enfranchisement, the bar, and paved theway for women into the upper halls of justice. As a student, possessed of a keen, logical mind, with the soul of a poet, she early evinced a deep love for learning and made the most of the limited educational advantages which were then deemed more than sufficient for girls. After studying in Kenosha and at a seminary in Elgin, Myra engaged in teaching. In this work she was signally successful. Endowed in a marked degree with all the attributes of a teacher, she had the abilit'y not alone to teach but to inspire.

 
May 18, 1852, Myra Colby was married to James B. Bradwell, and soon after her marriage she removed with her husband to Memphis, Tennessee. While there she proved herself a veritable helpmate, conducting with her husband the largest select school in the city. After two years' residence in the south, they returned to Chicago, where her husband engaged in the practice of law, and here they made their permanent home. With the ardor of a true patriot she could not remain inactive when danger threatened the government which her Revolutionary ancestors fought to establish. During the war, the soldier who helped to write the name nation above the name state, was the object of her solicitous care. The Soldiers' Fair of 1863, and the Fair of 1867, for the benefit of the families of soldiers, had no more active or efficient worker than Mrs. Bradwell. She was a member and secretary of the committee on arms, trophies and curiosities of the great Northwestern Sanitary Fair, and was the leading spirit in producing that artistic and beautiful exhibition in Bryan Hall, in 1865. When the war was over she assisted in providing a home for the scarred and maimed and dependent veterans who shouldered the musket to preserve the Union. During this period she was also very active in philanthropic work among the poor of the city, helping to establish a sewing exchange where the needy were given an opportunity to earn a livelihood.

Becoming deeply interested in her husband's profession, she commenced the study of law under his tutelage, at first with no thought of becoming a practicing lawyer; but subsequently she decided to make the profession her life work and applied herself diligently to its study. In 1868 she established the Chicago Legal News, the first weekly law periodical published in the west and the first paper of its kind edited by a woman in the world, and which stands to-day the best monument to her memory. Practical newspaper men and prominent lawyers at once predicted its failure, but they underestimated the ability and power of the editor. She obtained from the legislature special acts making all the laws of Illinois and the opinions of the supreme court of the state printed in her paper evidence in the courts. She made the paper a success from the start, and it was soon recognized by the bench and bar throughout the country as one of the best legal periodicals in the United States. With her sagacity, enterprise and masterful business ability she built up one of the most flourishing printing and publishing houses in the west. Two instances may be cited to show her business energy and enterprise. Since the year 1869, when she first began to publish the Illinois session laws, she has always succeeded in getting her edition out many weeks in advance of any other edition. At the Chicago fire, in common with thousands of others, she lost home and business possessions; but, undismayed by

misfortune, she stood cheery and indomitable, uttering brave prophecies of future good. Not an issue of her paper was lost; but, hastening to Milwaukee, she had the paper printed and published on the regular publication day.

She finally decided to apply for admission to the bar and to practice law. She had been permitted to work side by side with her husband as a most successful teacher; why not as a lawyer? And why not? Because, forsooth, of hoary precedent and musty precept, relics of feudal ages. In 1869 she passed a most creditable examination for the bar, but was denied admission by the supreme court of Illinois upon the ground that she was a married woman, her married state being considered a disability. She knew that the real reason had not been given. Marshaling her forces with that rare generalship so characteristic of her, she filed an additional brief which combated the position of the court with great force and compelled the court to give the true reason. In due time the court, by Chief Justice Lawrence, delivered an elaborate opinion in which it was said, upon mature deliberation, the court had concluded to refuse to admit Mrs. Bradwell upon the sole ground that she was a woman. She sued out a writ of error against the state of Illinois in the supreme court of the United States. Her case in that tribunal was argued in 1871 by Senator Matt. Carpenter. In May, 1873, the judgment of the lower court was affirmed by the United States supreme court. Chief Justice Chase, who never failed to give his powerful testimony to aid in uplifting woman from dependence and helplessness to strength and freedom, true to his principles, dissented.
Myra Bradwell; Oregon; General; Supreme; Decision; Negative Saturday, June 20, 1885 Topeka Tribune and Western Recorder (Topeka, KS) Page: 2

As has been well said, "Discussion of the Myra Bradwell case had the inevitable effect of letting sunlight through many cobwebbed windows. It is not so much by abstract reasoning as by visible examples that reformations come, and Mrs. Bradwell offered herself as a living example of the injustice of the law. A woman of learning, genius, industry and high character, editor of the first law journal in the west, forbidden by law to practice law, was too much for the public conscience, tough as that conscience is."

Although Mrs. Bradwell, with Miss Hulett, was instrumental in securing the passage of a law in Illinois granting to all persons irrespective of sex freedom in the selection of an occupation, profession or employment, she never renewed her application for admission to the bar. Twenty years after, the judges of the supreme court of Illinois, on their own motion, performed a noble act of justice and directed license to practice law to be issued to her, and March 28, 1892, upon petition of Attorney-General Miller, Mrs. Bradwell was admitted to practice before the supreme court of the United States.

A pioneer in opening the legal profession for women, Myra Bradwell's signal service to her sex has been in the field of law reform. With her, the conviction that a principle was right brought with it a sense of duty to labor for its adoption. With keen foresight she saw that the financial independence of women was the stepping-stone to their emancipation. She drafted the bill giving a married woman the right to her own earnings. A case in point, so monstrous in its injustice, gave an added impetus to her zeal. A drunkard who owed a saloon keeper for his whiskey had a wife who earned her own living as a scrub woman, and the saloon keeper garnisheed the people who owed the wife and took her earnings to pay her husband's liquor bill. It needed but an application like this for her to succeed in her efforts to pass the bill. She also secured the passage of the law giving to a widow her award in all cases. Believing thoroughly in the principle enunciated by John Stuart Mill, "of perfect equality, admitting no privilege on the one side nor disability on the other," she was an enthusiastic supporter of the bill granting to a husband the same interest in a wife's estate that the wife had in the husband's. 

 

She never missed an opportunity to try and secure any change in the law which would enlarge the sphere of woman. With this purpose in view she applied to the governor to be appointed a notary public. Finding her womanhood a bar even to this humble office, she induced her husband, who was in the legislature, to introduce a bill making women eligible to the office of notary public, which bill became a law. The bill drafted by her husband permitting women to act as school officers and which was passed while he was in the legislature, received her hearty support. Twice Mrs. Bradwell was honored by special appointment of the governor, being appointed a delegate to the prison reform congress of St. Louis, and it was mainly by her efforts that women, after a severe contest, were allowed a representation on the list of officers, she declining to accept any office herself; subsequently she was appointed by the governor as one of the Illinois Centennial Association to represent Illinois in the centennial exhibition of 1876 and was treasurer of the woman's branch of this association. After the completion of the work several hundred dollars remained in her hands, which was voted to the Illinois Industrial School for girls at Evanston. Mrs. Bradwell was one of the founders of this school and for years a member of its executive committee, and for fifteen years its treasurer. By her individual efforts in 1869 Mrs. Bradwell obtained the signatures of all the judges of the courts in Cook county and many of the lawyers and ministers of the city to the call for the first great woman's suffrage convention to be held in Chicago. She was one of the workers in the suffrage convention held in Springfield in 1869 and for a number of years one of the executive committee of the Illinois Woman's Suffrage Association. She also took an active part in the convention at Cleveland which formed the American Woman's Suffrage Association.

A thorough Chicagoan, in the life, progress and best interests of her city she had a citizen's interest and a patriot's pride. She was untiring in her efforts to secure the World's Fair for Chicago, accompanied the commission to Washington, and rendered valuable services there in obtaining the location of the exposition in Chicago. She was appointed one of the Board of Lady Managers and was chairman of the committee on law reform of its auxiliary congress. It is interesting to note that the woman who labored so courageously, persistently and effectively to secure for women their rights was herself a representative in the first national legislature of women to be authorized by any government.

Mrs. Bradwell was the first woman who became a member of the Illinois State Bar Association and the Illinois Press Association; was a charter member of the Soldiers' Home Board, the Illinois Industrial School for Girls, the Washingtonian Home and the first Masonic chapter organized for women in Illinois;was a member of the Chicago Woman's Club, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Grand Army Relief Corps, the National Press League and the Woman's Press Association.

A gentle and noiseless woman, her tenderness and refinement making the firmness of her character all the more effective, Mrs. Bradwell was one of those who live their creed instead of preaching it. She did not spend her days proclaiming on the rostrum the rights of women, but quietly, none the less effectively, set to work to clear away the barriers. If life is service, then truly did Myra Bradwell live, for the life of this noble woman was one of tireless activity of thought, of word and deed for the weal of humanity. A noble refutation of the ofttimes expressed belief that the entrance of women in public life tends to lessen their distinctively womanly character, she was a most devoted wife and mother, her home being ideal in its love and harmony. She was the mother of four children, two of whom survive her, Thomas and Bessie, both lawyers, and the latter the wife of a lawyer, Frank A. Helmer, of the Chicago bar. Mrs. Bradwell died February 14, 1894.

Bessie Bradwell Helmer, daughter of Myra Bradwell, was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1882, after graduating as valedictorian of her class from Union College of Law. Helmer focused her career on legal writing and editing. She assisted and then in 1907 took over from her father, James Bradwell, the editorial and management duties of the Chicago Legal News. Helmer was also the editor of Hurd's Revised Statutes of Illinois for nearly twenty years, and edited nine volumes of the Illinois Appellate Court Reports.Bessie Bradwell Helmer (1858-1927), 1927.Courtesy of the Chicago Tribune
The Island Printer Volume 12 1953 
Myra Colby Bradwell, wife of Judge James B. Bradwell, and the founder and managing editor of the Chicago Legal News, died at her home in Chicago on February 14, after an illness dating back nearly a year. With her accustomed vigor Mrs. Bradwell kept at her work until September 7, when, on returning from a meeting of the World's Fair Board of Lady Managers at Jackson Park, she went immediately to bed, and from that time was confined to her room until her death.

The career of Mrs. Bradwell presents some unique features. She had the distinction of being the first woman to apply for admittance to the bar in the United States; the first woman to be admitted to membership in the Illinois Press Association, and the first woman who became a member of the Illinois State Bar Association.

Mrs. Bradwell was born in Manchester, Vermont, February 11, 1831. Her parents were Eben Colby and Abigail Willey Colby, both offshoots from solid colonial stock, which furnished good soldiers for the cause of independence. Her early training was received in a small town in western New York, her parents finally moving to Chicago when she was twelve years old. Her education was commenced at a school in Kenosha, and c o m pleted at the Elgin Seminary. As a recognition of her close application and ability she was received in the institution as a teacher. This was her calling for several years, part of the time being spent in Memphis, Tennessee.

The great turning point in her life came in 1852, when she was married to James B. Bradwell, a young lawyer with a future just dawning. Mrs. Bradwell became intensely interested in her husband's profession, and under his tutelage began the study of law. At first her studies had no other aim than of being of assistance to her husband. She became inspired later with the idea of gaining admittance to the bar. In due time she passed a most creditable examination, and filed her application. As she was a married woman, the application was rejected. The matter was carried to the Supreme Court of Illinois, again rejected, and then taken to the United States Supreme Court. Mere the case was argued in 1871 by Senator Matt Carpenter, of Wisconsin. Another adverse decision was rendered, and the case was dropped. No more attention was paid it until twenty years later, when the same court issued a certificate on the original application. The action created quite a surprise, as the court had come to this conclusion of its own volition and without argument.

In 1868 Mrs. Bradwell established the Chicago Legal News, the first paper of its kind in the West. Her editorial work soon attracted attention. A special charter was issued by the legislature for the paper, and later several acts were passed making it evidence in the courts and a valid medium for the publication of legal notices.

Mrs. Bradwell was a hard worker for woman's cause. She had much to do in securing legislative work looking toward the elevation of her sex, and took an active interest in all

societies for women. Her work did not begin and end with platform speaking, but she was always ready to make a practical application of her views on reform and philanthropy.

Before the great fire in 1871 Mrs. Bradwell helped to organize the American Woman's Suffrage Association in Cleveland. She was identified with the Illinois Centennial Association as treasurer. On the conclusion of the association's work the funds Mrs. Bradwell held were converted into the capital which was used in erecting the Illinois Industrial School for Girls at Evanston. Mrs. Bradwell was a member of the National Press League, and one of the prime movers in the Chicago Women's Club. She was a member of the Board of Lady Managers of the World's Fair and chairman of the Committee on Law Reform of its auxiliary congress.

Her last address in public was to the Women's Club last August. Her subject was "Civil Service Reform." She was hardly able to stand while speaking. Mrs. Bradwell had four children. James and Myra are now dead. Thomas and Bessie are grown up and married. Both are lawyers; the former is well known as a justice of the peace, and the latter is the wife of Attorney Frank A. Helmer.

The funeral was held on February 18 at the family residence, No. 1428 Michigan avenue. Representatives were present from the Chicago Legal News, the Cook County Equal Suffrage Association, the Soldiers' Home Association, Daughters of the American Revolution, many members of the Chicago bar also attending. Half covering the casket was a mass of white lilies and roses from Mrs. Helmer, daughter of Mrs. Bradwell. A bank of lilies was sent by Justice Thomas Bradwell and his wife. At the head of the casket was a large scroll of white roses on a background of leaves, bearing the words,"Myra from Jane." Employes of the Chicago Legal News sent an open book of roses, lilies and carnations. Masses of roses, violets, hyacinths, lilies, narcissus, and many wreaths and bouquets were sent by friends.

Bishop Samuel Fallows officiated and feelingly spoke of the life and character of Mrs. Hradwell. The interment was at Rosehill cemetery.

The honorary pallbearers were: Judge H. W. Blodgett, Judge H. M. Shepard, Dr. I)e Laskie Miller, J. Carson Smith, H. W. Bishop, J. W. Butler, Thomas B. Bryan, C. C. Bonney.

Letters and telegrams of condolence were received from Luther Lafliu Mills, Judge Tuley, Gen. John C. Smith, Judge W. L. Gross, of Springfield; Adjutant-General A. Orendorff, H. W. Warner, Judge J. N. Scott, of Bloomington, and others. Among those in attendance were: Fernando Jones, Judge IL V. Freeman, Judge Hutchinson, C. C. P. Holden, J. L. High, Judge Thomas G. Windes, John C. Richberg, Frederick A. Smith. Judge C. C. Kohlsaat, Alexander M. Sullivan, Homer B. Galpin, H. W. Jackson, Charles Cutting, K. B. Sherman, Julius Rosenthal.

From Harvard Art 

MORE INFO ON FAMILY
BRADWELL, JAMES B.—Born at Loughborough, England, April 16 1828. BRADWELL. Son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Gutteridge) Bradwell; family left England when subject was sixteen months old; settled in Utica, N. Y., remaining there until 1833; removed to Jacksonville, Ill., and from there to Wheeling, in this county. Mr. Bradwell spent his boyhood and young manhood on the farm, doing hard outdoor work, a circumstance which amply accounts for his robust health at the age of 65. His early education was obtained in log school-houses, but later he attended Wilson's Academy in this city, and finished in Knox College, Galesburg, Ill. James B. Bradwell is a selfmade man in the highest sense of that term; earned his living by hard work evenings, Saturdays and holidays, and thus provided the money for his schooling; has worked as a journeyman at several different trades; is a natural mechanic, and has paid much attention to photography; invented a process for producing half-tones, and has the honor of having produced the first half-tone cut in Chicago, that of Chief Justice Fuller. His preparation for the legal profession was most thorough and complete, and he has been a prominent and respected lawyer since his admission to the bar, about forty years ago. Is a good speaker, a persistent worker, and has built up an excellent practice. In 1861 was elected judge of the Cook county court by a large majority, and in 1865 was reelected for four years; was sent to the legislature of Illinois in 1873, and was returned in 1875; proved to be an influential member, and secured the adoption of many measures for the benefit of his state and immediate constituency; has ever held advanced ideas regarding the rights of women, and introduced a bill making women eligible to all school offices, and secured its passage. Was ever considered a power while on the bench, and was the first judge to hold, during the war, that a marriage made during slavery was valid upon emancipation. This opinion was delivered in the case of Matt C.Jones, and has been fully endorsed by judges of note since that time. Has been president of the Chicago Bar Association, and of the Illinois State Bar Association; was one of the founders of the Union League Club of Chicago, and chairman of its first board of directors; has been president of the Press Club of Chicago, of the Chicago Soldiers' Home, and of the Chicago Rifle Club. For years Judge Bradwell was considered the best shot in Chicago. He was chairman of the committee of the World's Congress Auxiliary on Congress of Photographers. His family is one of lawyers; his wife, Myra Bradwell, is editor of the Chicago Legal News, and has been admitted to the barj his son, Thomas Bradwell, his daughter, Mrs. Bessie Bradwell Helmer, his son-inlaw, Frank A. Helmer, and his nephew, James A. Peterson, are all members of the Illinois bar. The judge is a Mason of the 33d degree, and is an honorary member of the Supreme Council; also of the ancient Ebor Preceptory at York, England. Was married in 1852 to Myra Colby, and has had four children, James and Myra, deceased, and Thomas and Bessie, both married. He has one granddaughter, Myra Bradwell Helmer and one grandson, James Barton Bradwell.

Myra Colby Bradwell 

Descendant of Allen Willey. 

Daughter of Eben Colby and Abigail Hurd Willey, his wife.
Granddaughter of Benjamin Willey and Abigail Hurd, his wife.
Gr.-granddaughter of Allen Willey and Mary Fuller, his wife.
Allen Willey was a Selectman when he served under Gen. Stark at Bennington. He responded to various alarms in Western New Hampshire.

Allen Willey, (1730-1811), held offices of trust at Lempster and served at Bennington. He was born in East Haddam, Conn., and died in Lempster, N. H. His son Allen was a minute man.

Abraham Willey, (1750-1841), served as sergeant, 1775, and as ensign, 1779, under Capt. John Isam. At the age of 87, for service in the Conn. Continental Line, he was placed on the pension roll of Cayuga county, N. Y. He was born in East Haddam, Conn., and died in Ira, New York.