Read Part One HERE
In this post I will focus on a woman named Rhoda De Garmo. She lived from 1799 - 1873. She was born in Massachusetts. Rhoda lived with her husband, Elias DeGarmo, in Gates, New York. She joined the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society in 1842, the year that the Society was established. In 1845, she was appointd chair of the Society's counsellors (a group which has been likened to an executive committee). As a woman member of the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society, Rhoda was also involved in the organisation of Anti-Slavery Fairs, usually held annually. The purpose of the fairs was to raise funds to support the anti-slavery cause and to raise awareness of the plight of slaves and the evil of slavery.
Rhoda was also part of the network of anti-slavery activists who made up the Underground Railroad. Her home often provided refuge for fugitive slaves on their way to Canada. She was a close friend and co-worker with Susan B. Anthony in the anti-slavery movement.
As a member of the Society of Friends, Rhoda was active in the Farmington (New York) Quarterly Meeting.
Rhoda's belief in the temperance movement led to active partipation in that movement in the early 1850s. When her friend Susan was prevented from speaking at a Sons of Temperance meeting in 1852, Susan began to plan the establishment of a woman's statewide temperance society. A call was put out and almost five hundred women came to a meeting to form the Woman's State Temperance Society. At that meeting Elizabeth Cady Stanton was elected president of the new organisation, while Rhoda was chosen as one of the several vice-presidents.
Read Part Sixty-Seven HERE
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