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

1854-09-10

Description

Handwritten letter from William Cooper Nell to Amy Kirby Post. Nell writes to Post about recent events in 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

1033

Location

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

Transcription

                     Boston Sept 10. 1854.
Kind Friend Amy Post-          9. o'clocK
        Sunday Eve
Though a stormy day =Theodore ParKer had a
good audience who in turn recieved [sic] a
grand discourse == I have Just returned
from a Visit to my Sister Louisa with
whom in a few days I am to commence
boarding = -The weather has prevented
Harriet Jacobs coming in from Cambridgeport
and spending the days opposite = as she had
promised= She is becoming improved in
health by her thus freeing herself awhile
from Idlewild associations-
Please maKe no reference to the matter
we spoKe of= I promise to give You
soon a definite reason there for-
           A mutual friend of Jeremiah
B. Sandersons and my own = residents
of Sandwich =(Cape Cod) = Mr J. F. ClarK
is now in the City = intending soon to leave
for Whitesboro Oneida Co== Herself and
Husband tell me they made Yours and
Husbands acquaintance as they Visited
     Rochester recently

(Page 2)

They are a whole Souled couple and
eminently worthy of Isaac and Amy's
acquaintanceship =   I shall have more to
say of them by and bye-
I tooK tea with her Sisters family
night before last= and enjoyed it much
     So Dorcas and Henry have made
You a visit = Did You find the Ladies
Almanac? Did Dorcas read Wensley?
Did You leave= English Laws for Women
with Sarah Thayer? If so I have
another copy = which will be sent the
earliest opportunity= Just the BooK for
Mary Hallowell =Sarahs = Willis = Burtis
Fish =Anthonys De Garmo V= to read
by the way I promised it to Susan
Anthony= I Know in Your hands it will
do good-
a few days since I heard
Charles Sumner at the anti slavery [sic]
office narrate the Congressional
Scenes between himself Butler & Mason
It was rich indeed = Isaac
William and Edmund would
have enjoyed it = Sumner has been
truly represented by Higginson as constructed

(Page 3)

with many Statesmen = a Light House
among Lamp Posts-
     Wednesday 5. P. M.
I was intending a visit to Salem this
evening = but Wm W. Brown is expected
to arrive in the Niagara before morning
and I want to be on hand to
greet him= as I have done to
Garrison = Rogers = ^George Thompson^ Douglass - Remond
Mary Chapman Vc and bidding God
speed to them as also Pillsbury -
Wm G. Allen et al-
Mrs. Charles Follen was here to day [sic]
Just arrived from the old world
She was much interested with a letter
in my Journal from her Husband
the lamented Professor in 1835-
Yes Says She = "He always said what
he meant =”
   She brings encouraging
reports of the Womens efforts in Paris
and elsewhere = for the coming
anti Slavery [sic] Bazaar == This sentence
brings to    mind = Minerva Hall = Rochester

(Page 4)

in that early day of my acquaintance
with the tried and faithful band of
Women = So outrageously superseded
by the disaffected = I never can
get reconciled to it = the memory of
it irritates = So You see I am not
as patient as I should be = Knowing
as I do that ultimately the right will
triumph = But How Long, Oh Lord
must we wait –

I am not sure but that I may pass through
Rochester within 2 weeks = returning for the
Syracuse meeting= dont rely upon it = nor say
it to others = for I so often get disappointed
Please write me soon = I am anxious to hear
I dreamed that Willie was in the Spirit
land = a few nights since = they say
Dreams go by Contraries You Know.
Tell Mary Ann =I will consent to
"Wait for the Wagon"= when she tunes
her Harp==       Love to Jacob Faithful
Tell Joseph = The New Boston Theatre just opened
exceeds for size = beauty and appointments throughout
all others in the United States = and no mistaKe
go =the whole circle including Sarah Birney. Say God Bless You
     Ever yours Wm C. Nell

[Text aligned along left margin of Page 4]

I often dwell on the pleasant hours I shared at the homes of William & Mary Edmund & Sarah

Annotations

William Cooper Nell, an abolitionist and former slave, is writing from Boston to fellow activist, Amy Post. Theodore Parker was a Transcendentalist and reform minister of the Unitarian Church. Harriet Jacobs was an abolitionist and former slave. Nell refers to the home of her former employer, Cornelia and Nathaniel Willis, called- Idlewild. Jeremiah B. Sanderson was a free, black man who left the Northeast to move to California, where he became active in the movement to offer education to black children. Dorcas and Henry Collins were mutual friends of the Post family. Sarah Thayer was a relative of the Posts. Mary Hallowell was Post's step- daughter. Sarah was Post's sister. Sarah Burtis was a woman's rights activist, and Susan B. Anthony's second cousin. Sarah Anthony and Sarah Fish and the De Garmo family were also woman's rights activists. Charles Sumner was a radical abolitionist, who became a Senator representing Massachusetts. Andrew Butler and James Mason were both pro-slavery Congressmen.

William Hallowell was Post's son-in-law. Edmund Willis was Post's brother-in-law. Thomas Wentworth Higginson was the editor of the Atlantic Monthly and an abolitionist. William Wells Brown was an African American abolitionist, lecturer, novelist, playwright and historian. He was born a slave, and escaped to the North in 1834, where he wrote the first novel by an African American, titled- Clotel. William Lloyd Garrison was a radical abolitionist and the editor of the newspaper, the Liberator. Nathaniel Peabody Rogers was also an abolitionist. George Thompson was a British abolitionist. Frederick Douglass was an abolitionist and former slave. Charles Lenox Remond was an abolitionist and lecturer. Mary Chapman was an abolitionist and a member of the member of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Parker Pillsbury was a minister, abolitionist, writer and woman’s rights activist. Professor William G. Allen was the editor of the National Watchman, which was a Temperance and abolitionist newspaper for African Americans. Charles Follen was a British poet and abolitionist. Mary Ann Pitkin took care of the Post's youngest son, Willie. Jacob and Joseph were Post's other sons. Sarah Birney was a mutual friend of Nell and Post.

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 23, 2024, https://rbscpexhibits.lib.rochester.edu/items/show/3323.

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