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

1855-12-25

Description

Handwritten letter from William Cooper Nell to Amy Kirby Post. Nell writes to Post about their mutual friends.

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

1104

Location

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

Transcription

(Page 1)

                                         Boston December 25 1855
Kind Friend Amy
                                     Wishing You and my Rochester
Friends all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New
Year = I can      only promise at this time a hurried
and imperfect response to Your interesting communication
                           Wm Wells Brown and Josephine are now
in the office         he Knowing or Yankee liKe guessing my
present writing has requested his Daughter to direct You
a BooK which will be duly recieved [sic] at 36 Sophia St
       By the Bye      Your       letter was dated Nov 20
when probably You meant December 20^th our
Birthday = and which I observed by commencing
a new Scrap BooK = embracing all that is possible
in my others . _         Mrs Remond and the others
are much pleased with the Rochester contribution
and Mrs Partingtons Capital article I have
heard spoKen of highly. _
                                          Your opinion of
Antoinette Brown concurs with what I have
heard       Garrison and Remond express -
               Mrs Webb . will be in Boston on the 31^st
Now let me advise You to write her at once -
^(address 21 Cornhill)^ though I Know not the time of her expecting to
be in Syracuse = but as She has promised me
to read in Rochester = the matter is in Your
hands and worth Your immediate attention
for You Know not but through Some Hocus Pocus

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

Mr. Phillips gave a radical speech at Plymouth 22^d
and at the Tremont Temple to a crowded audience at the Peoples
Lectures in his =Street Life in Europe gave many an antislavery [sic]
hit on Colorphobia = Piece & Cushing et al. - Theodore Parker last Sunday to
a great audience including John P. Hale ) rebuKed the antislavery [sic] Lecture Committee
for inviting slaveholders and placing the Pioneer Liberator as a substitute    he also
                   reproved the recent Woman’s Convention here for not having Abby Kelly on the
                                                                                                      Platform.

(Page 2)

others may put thier [sic] busy fingers into the
matter =    a word to the Rochester wise is
Sufficient    especially where they are well
Post ed = and thier Will is to Hallo well
in the right direction = the Webb can be
spun to suit them       and be Stow-ed to
advantage in Corinthian Hall
               Samuel J. May is now preaching a
Christmas Sermon for James Freeman Clarke
         Lydia Mott tells me that Mr Phillips
Says he cannot go to Syracuse hence I much fear
he will not get to Rochester = too bad but
I Know not that it can be helped though
You must not Yield the point until
obliged to. -
                      So Jacob has secured the
golden opportunity in getting a Watch -
    I hope     the           matter is amicably
Settled =     When is ^are^ Jacob and Joseph
Coming to Boston =               I should liKe to
See          Eunice Doty = and have an
hours chat about           old times. and

     Jeremiah has Secured the School in
San Francisco and I presume is doing
well -
                  I meant to have told You
that I heard Mr Garrison querying
about the time of his Rochester engagement
they have asKed him to Buffalo = and he has

(Page 3)

stated to them his Rochester engagement . hoping
that both can come near enough together for one
trip and which he anticipates         (I believe in Feb
or March = = Mr Garrison has Just told me
that if You feel disposed to withhold his
appointment in consequence of not encouragement
enough to continue the course or for any other
reason     do so ad libitum . I told him my
impression was that if disappointed about
others He would all the more be wanted
    But at present He considers himself
BooKed for Rochester -
   Of my Presentation =meeting You will
see a good report in this weeKs Liberator
the occasion was one long to be remembered
The Watch is a handsome Gold one
Coopers maKe ( London ) Said by Several Judges
to ^be^ worth between 150 and 200 dollars though
purchased for $125 =                 Every body was pleased
The Ladies and Children LooKed charming
         I had as You may readily imagine a
difficult part to               perform = and though I
found Some fault with myself others
tell me     Mr Phillips and Louisa and
quite a circle tell me I never done
   better = How I wished my Rochester friends
Could have ^been there^ = Something tells me You will
be pleased on reading the proceedings -

(Page 4)

Here comes Henry C. Wright -   - Mrs F.H. DraKe
of Leominster = and other friends = one from
Essex      and the other from Plymouth
County = thier [sic] meeting gives rise of course
to an antislavery [sic] talK -
      Mrs Chapman presented me with
the new Liberty Bell Yesterday = Anne &
Deborah Weston are not in the Bazaar . I
presume in consequence of thier [sic] Fathers
recent      death = You of Rochester
Should become acquainted with
Mrs Chapman - I hope Soon You
Will , -
           Cordelia DeGrasse has a little Daughter
glad FranK calls in at 36 Sophia St = She is too careless of her
                                                         Friends or has been
   Louisa reciprocates Your Kind mention
of her    She is always talKing of pleasant
   times in Rochester = Her being there was
an event always desired by me -
   Should I Visit Cincinnati in April
either going or coming      I expect to
Call at 36 Sophia Street once more

   Do You hear from Waterloo -

I had an interesting conversation a few days
Since with Mrs Eddy   Francis JacKsons Daughter
about Spiritualism in examining Patients
and Securing Matrimonial Partners
She has much faith in Spiritualism -
Mrs Garrison started Saturday for Plymouth but by mistake
was carried to Weymouth = this occasioned much disappointment

[Text written vertically along the left margin of Page 4]

Please acKnowledge my indebtedness to Wm R. Hallowell for Papers forwarded.

Annotations

William Cooper Nell, an abolitionist and former slave, is writing from Boston to fellow activist, Amy Post. 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- Clotel. Brown’s youngest child, Josephine, attended school in France and returned to the United States in 1855 to complete a biography of her father. The members of the Remond family were abolitionists. Reverend Antoinette Brown was the first female minister of a recognized denomination in the United States. She was also a women’s rights activist. William Lloyd Garrison was a radical abolitionist and the editor of the newspaper titled, the Liberator . Mrs. Webb performed in the play Black Siddons during this period. Nell refers to the Boston anti-slavery office, located at 21 Cornhill. Wendell Phillips was an abolitionist, Native American advocate and lawyer. Theodore Parker was a Transcendentalist and a reform minister of the Unitarian Church. John P. Hale is noted as being the first Senator, who campaigned as an abolitionist. Nell may be referring to the 1855 National Woman's Rights Convention, held in Cincinnati. Abby Kelley Foster was an abolitionist and women’s rights activist.

Nell uses various last names of mutual friends on Page 2 as puns. The Post, Willis, Hallowell, Webb and Stowe families were all involved in various social movements of the period. Samuel J. May was a radical reformer, who advocated for women’s rights, access to education and the abolition of slavery. James Freeman Clarke was a Unitarian Minister and social reformer. Lydia Mott was woman's rights activist, Lucretia Mott's sister-in-law. Jacob and Joseph were two of Post's sons. Jeremiah B. Sanderson was a free African American, who moved to California during the Gold Rush and advocated that public schools that educated black children should receive the same amount of funding as those schools that educated white students.

Nell uses the Latin phrase "ad libitum", which means "at one's pleasure". Louisa was one of Nell's sisters. Reverend Henry C. Wright was a member of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. The Chapman sisters were abolitionists, who worked with various organizations in Boston. Deborah Weston was one of the founding members of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society. The De Grasse family were mutual friends of the Post family and Nell. Frances was another of Nell's sisters. Nell refers to the Post family home at 36 Sophia Street in Rochester. Both Eddy and Francis Jackson were Spiritualist mediums. Spiritualists believed that through mediums they could communicate with the dead. William R. Hallowell was Post's son-in-law.

Tags

Abolitionism; Education; 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/3394.

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