Nell, William Cooper. Letter to Amy Kirby Post.

Title

Nell, William Cooper. Letter to Amy Kirby Post.

Creator

Nell, William Cooper

Contributor

Post, Amy Kirby, 1802-1889

Date

1852-09-06

Description

Handwritten letter from William Cooper Nell to Amy Kirby Post. Nell writes to Post about the recent events of the Boston abolitionist movement.

Subject

Post, Amy Kirby, b. 1802

Is Part Of

Isaac and Amy Post Family Papers

Rights

The organization that has made the Item available believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. The Item may not be in the Public Domain under the laws of other countries. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/

Identifier

938

Location

Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester

Transcription

(Page 1)

Monday 1. o.clock PM                          Boston
Fine weather
                                Sandwich (Mass)
                                       Sept. 6^th 1852.
Esteemed Friend Amy
                                      Here I am seated in
our mutual friend Jeremiah B. Sandersons shop
in company with our other mutual ^friend^ Charles
Lenox Remond we three having Just got back
from the antislavery meeting at Harwich about
24 miles further down on Cape Cod.
    I. left Boston on friday morning in company
with William Lloyd Garrison and
Charles C. Burliegh and hence I need not
tell You that I was happy-

at Jerrys house He is now seated by his
wife playing with his little son-
William Nell Sanderson = it sounds familiar
to hear them call Willie I was delighted to
recieve [sic] Your letter. but sorry to learn of
the increasing alarm from the Cholera
hope that my good friends Lewis and
Sarah Burtis are now rejoicing in the
recovery of Warrens health.

Charles, Jerry and myself have
really been revelling [sic] in reminiscenses [sic]
of the Post family

(Page 2)

Beautiful weather.               Tuesday Morning 7^th

Yesterday afternoon while Garrison and Remond
were taking seats in the Cars for Boston [obliterated]
I was accosted by a Young man whom I had not
seen for 10 Years or more since He was a Sunday School
scholar and I was Assistant Superintendant [sic]= -
Here he is now married and has 3 children
Jerry and myself paid his family a flying visit
while on our way to greet an old friend of
mine whose Husband has Just sailed from
New York for Australia She having returned to
her Indian Homestead on Herring river
our ride through the woods and by the river
side was a most romantic one.
                                         4 1/2 O.Clock P.M
Just returned from Mashpee 8 miles distant
where I went to visit G. T. Sewell and wife
with whom I stood up 7 years since –
He was a City Beau = She has made him a
practical farmer = they are both very happy
and were successful in thier [sic] exertions to
make me So during my brief Stay–
they are living on the Mashpee Indian
Reservation-
                      One week Last “First day”
Remond and myself held a meeting
at Worcester it rained torrents
and of course we did not have a

(Page 3)

Large audience = but very fair considering
we took tea the evening before with
John Milton Earle (Quaker) Editor of the
Massachusetts Spy and Legislative
Leader of the            Free Soil Party-
                     -
I am gaining confidence as an anti
Slavery [sic] Lecturer = and Mr Garrison and
others encourage my further efforts.
I Shall have much to Say- and thank
You and Sarah Hallowell} for when
                William and Mary
I return = and am eager to behold
again the light of Your countenances.
                    -     Wednesday Morning
Spent last evening most happily in company
with Jerry. Wife and Willie at the Domicil of
James^osiah^ Franklin Clarke =whose family are so
thoroughly antislavery [sic] and Swinging in the
Grove= on the Pond margin = Boat sailing
Fishing V= together with the mental as
feast contributed at the social circle has left
the most agreeable impressions on my mind
and heart -     I meant to have told You
that among the incidents of our anti
Slavery [sic] tour to Harwich was the crossing
to and from the meeting in [obliterated]
a skiff= the Pond opposite Mr Robinsons
House =abundant with Lillies - while the
Girls and Boys Charles V Jerry would be

(Page 4)

singing anti Slavery [sic] Songs— ^and^
I have paid 2 visits to the extensive Glass
House here and thus gratified a long
cherished desire -

One anti Slavery [sic] friend here has now Just
buried one of three daughters who were all
awfully burned by Lamp fluid = a most
afflicting affair in its details-
My health is encouraging =if it only continues
so this winter I shall begin to hope-
I cannot say now when I shall reach Rochester
If not before at least by the time of the Jerry
anniversary in October ^^{at Syracuse—}^
Distribute my Love to every one of the
Household—
I enclose Jacobs reciept [sic] for the Yankee
Blade Tell Sarah Hallowell to resolve
             not to be lame any more.
                                   I protest against
                                                         it-
I am now expecting Louisa to
accompany me to Rochester-
I shall probably have Jerry and Misses
Daguereotype [sic] to show You= as He will
Speak for himself in this letter I forbear
considerable talk about Spirits on Cape Cod
Hope You are having a good time at the
Womans Rights Convention-
    Ever Yours Faithfully. William C. Nell

Annotations

William Cooper Nell, a former slave and abolitionist, is writing from Sandwich, Massachusetts to fellow activist, Amy Post.

Jeremiah B. Sanderson was a free black man and abolitionist, who advocated that schools educating black children should receive public funding. Charles Lenox Remond was an American orator and abolitionist. William Lloyd Garrison was a radical abolitionist and the editor of the Liberator. Charles C. Burleigh was an abolitionist and woman’s rights activist, who was involved in both the American Anti-Slavery Society and the Middlesex Anti-Slavery Society.

Sarah Burtis was Susan B. Anthony’s second cousin. Burtis was a Quaker, a woman’s rights leader and an abolitionist. The Mashpee Indian Reservation was in Mashpee, Massachusetts. John Milton Earle was an abolitionist and a businessman, who founded the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. He was also a member of the Free Soil Party, whose supporters opposed the expansion of slavery into the Western territories.

William R. Hallowell was Post's son-in-law, Mary was his wife. Sarah Kirby Hallowell was Post's sister. Jacob was Post’s son. Louisa was the daughter of author and former slave, Harriet Brent Jacobs.

Nell refers to the growing Spiritualism movement, whose followers believed that through mediums they could communicate with the dead.

Tags

Abolitionism; Personal; Women's Rights

Collection

D.93 Isaac and Amy Post Family Papers

Citation

Nell, William Cooper, “Nell, William Cooper. Letter to Amy Kirby Post.,” RBSCP Exhibits, accessed November 24, 2024, https://rbscpexhibits.lib.rochester.edu/items/show/3228.

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