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

1855-03-11

Description

Handwritten letter from William Cooper Nell to Amy Kirby Post. Nell writes to Post about the Anthony Burns trial and other anti-slavery events in Boston.

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

1061

Location

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

Transcription

(Page 1)

[Five lines of text aligned upside down along top margin of Page 1]

                                Monday Morning
                               Just seen a little Girl
                                whose Voice= features
                                and action reminded me of
                                                 Joanna.

                   Boston March 11
                                                                          1855
Kind friend
            Amy Post
                                               Perhaps has forgot
that She has for Several weeKs been
owing me a letter =waiting anxiously
for the Same has prevented my
writing = until now it seems
   necessary to remind her of the
   facts in the case = though liKely
   enough She may be at this time
(Sunday Eve = 8 oclocK ) penning me
a few lines from 36 Sophia Street

         Many things that I had
resolved upon telling thee
have now become old

   I have Just responded to Dorcas
Collins . Phebe Thayer and Harriet
Jacobs the later expects to be in
New York during Anniversary week
with Louisa = I hope to be there
also and Shake Amy & Isaac Post
by the hand for “Auld Lang Syne

Do tell me How is William R
Hallowell and good Mary his wife

(Page 2)

Sarah H. and Edmund P. Willis

Jacob and Joseph and also

FranK tells me that Sarah
Birney is getting better I am
very glad indeed to hear the
good news = tell her to be
   hopeful =         =
          So You see FranK
has returned to Boston = we
trust to stop here = the question
is not Yet decided upon Benjamins
Voyage to California-

          Has Isaac Post = given
up his Store? Who succeeds him.

   Tell Jacob that Charles
Remond has Sold Lucy Stone
and now has Ida May
    and Clotel   =
       As I am no
Judge of Horse flesh he must
learn of thier [sic] relative abilities
     from W Wells Brown or
               other post ed up
                Friend-

(Page 3)

   The past week has been prolific
with anti slavery [sic] interest     -
         The Loring Legislation –
Return of Anthony Burns –
Arrival of the little White Slave
Ida May      and also of
Solomon Northrup who I
introduced to Theodore Parker at
Music Hall this forenoon and
Yesterday to Wendell Phillips at 21 Cornhill

    Remember me to Willie and
Mary Ann PitKin --

        I am happy to say that my
health is Yet in an encouraging
State =      as perhaps You may
have supposed me married
   let me undeceive You =
            I'm single Yet-

      I presume Jacob is about
being annexed?          is it so.

I dont Know who is responsible for the
following which I insert for benefit
     of Jacob and Joseph.

[Text from newspaper clipping attached to bottom of Page 3]

                     Dreadful Joke.
   William.-"There, Amy! what do you say to           those for a Pair of Moustachios?"
      Amy. -"Why, I should say that calling those
Moustachios was giving to 'Hairy Nothing a Local
Habitation and a Name. '"(For Shame, Amy.)

(Page 4)

I shall be expecting a letter
laden with Rochester News
for which I promise to be
duly grateful –

   Sallie Holley and Miss Putnam
are occasionally in the office
Miss Holley has not Yet spoKen
publicly in Boston = She is very
diffident and unnecessarily So
as her speaking is attended
with great Success elsewhere
                  -
     Please distribute my remembrances
of       the Whole Circle of
anti slavery [sic] friends –
            and believe me
            Ever Faithfully Yours

                William C. Nell

Annotations

William Cooper Nell, an abolitionist and former slave, is writing from Boston to fellow activist, Amy Post. Nell refers to the Post family home at 36 Sophia Street in Rochester. Phebe Thayer was a relative of the Post family. Harriet Brent Jacobs was a former slave, who wrote Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Louisa was Jacobs's daughter. Nell refers to "Auld Lang Syne", a Scottish poem, written by Robert Burns in 1788. William R. Hallowell and Mary were Post's son-in-law and step- daughter. Sarah was Post's sister, and Edmund, her husband. Jacob and Joseph were two of Post’s sons. Frank was one of Nell's sisters. Sarah Birney was a mutual friend of Nell and Post. Nell refers to his brother-in-law Benjamin Cleggett. Charles Remond was an orator and an abolitionist. Nell refers to anti-slavery writings by Lucy Stone, Mary Hayden Green Pike's novel, Ida May and Clotel, written by William Wells Brown. Brown was an African American abolitionist lecturer, novelist, playwright and historian. Anthony Burns was an escaped slave helped by members of the Boston anti-slavery community. Their help became the subject of a court case in violation of the Fugitive Slave Act. After the trial, the Massachusetts's court denied him his freedom and returned him to his master. Solomon Northrup was a free black man from New York, who was kidnapped and sold into slavery when he was 32 years old. Twelve years later he regained his freedom. Theodore Parker was a Transcendentalist and a reform minister of the Unitarian Church. Wendell Phillips was an abolitionist, Native American advocate and lawyer. Willie was Post's youngest son and Mary Ann took care of him as a child. Sallie Holley traveled as an anti-slavery lecturer with Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone and Sarah Remond, and others. The Boston school system fired Georgiana Putnam for circulating a petition to end segregation in schools.

Tags

Abolitionism; Personal

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/3351.

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