EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800; PAULINA KELLOGG WRIGHT DAVIS P/ 119

                                                                      Read Part One HERE

In this blog I will focus on a woman named Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis. She lived from 1813 -1876. Paulina was born in Bloomfield, New York, USA. Her parents were Captain Ebenezer Kellogg and Polly Saxton Kellogg. The family moved to the frontier near Niagara Falls in 1817. In 1820 Paulina went to live with an Presybyterian aunt in LeRoy, New York, where she was educated and attended church regularly. She wanted to become a missionary but the church did not allow single women to become missionaries.

In 1833 she married Francis Wright. Both Paulina and her husband had similar values and were involved in various reform movements - anti-slavery, temperance and women's rights.

In the late 1830s, Paulina met Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She worked with others on a petition to the New York state legislature that eventually led to the passage of the Married Women's Property Acts in 1848, giving married women control of their own personal property and real estate.

Her husband's death in 1845 left Paulina desolate but independently wealthy and free to embark on a career as a lecturer and educator.

Read Part One Hundred And Twenty HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800; SARAH HARRIS FEAYERWEATHER P/118

                                                                                   Read Part One HERE

In this blog I continue to focus on a woman named Sarah Harris Fayerweather. She lived from 1812 - 1878. As for Miss Crandall, at whose school Sarah taught,  she was arrested three times for violating the Black Law, and spent a night in jail. The students testified on her behalf at the trial. Miss Crandall was convicted, but on July 1834,  her case was overturned by the Connecticut Supreme Court on a technicality. Shortly thereafter, the Canterbury Female Boarding School was attacked by a mob. For the safety of her students, Miss Crandall decided to permanently close the school.

By this time, Sarah had left the school. She had married George Fayerweather in 1833. The couple moved to New London, Connecticutt in 1841 before moving to Kingston, Rhode Island, in 1855. Sarah supported abolitionism and racial equality. She joined the Kingston Anti-Slavery Society, attended anti-slavery meetings held by the American Anti-Slavery Society in various cities acrosss the North, and maintained a correspondence with former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass. She also maintained an active church life, joining the Sunday School class at Kingston's Congregational Church.

Sarah died in 1878.

Read Part One Hundred And Nineteen HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: SARAH HARRIS FAYERWEATHER P/117

                                                                                   Read Post One HERE

In this post I will continue to share the story of Sarah Harris Feayerweather. She lived from 1812 - 1878.

Sarah was admitted to Miss Crandall's school, but this caused an immediate furore among the parents of white students in the school and the Canterbury townspeople. Parents withdrew their daughters from the school, forcing Mis Crandall to briefly close it. After consultations with a number of black and white abolitionists, Miss Crandall re-opened her Academy in April 1833, exclusively serving "Young Ladies and Little Misses of Colour."

This created another furore in the town: stores refused to sell to students, churches refused admittance for services, doctors refused to provide medical services.The young girls, who averaged fifteen years old, experienced frequent harrassment and taunting whenever they appeared in public.

In response to Miss Crandall opening her school to black girls, the Connecticut Legislature passed the infamous Black Law of 1833, making it illegal to educate black children from out of state without permission from the state.

Read Part One Hundred And Eighteen HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: SARAH HARIS FAYERWEATHER P/116

                                                                                   Read Part One HERE

In this post I will focus on a woman named Sarah Harris Fayerweater. She lived from 1812 - 1878. Sarah was born in Norwich, Connecticut, USA. Her parents were William Monteflora Harris and Sally Prentice Harris. She was of African and French West Indian descent and the second oldest of twelve children. She was raised in the Orthodox Congregational Church of Canterbury.

Sarah's father understood the importance of education for the advancement of his race, and he ensured that all his children received schooling. Initially, that meant that the Harris children would all attend the Sabbath School and the district school in their home town of Norwich.

In January 1832, shortly after Prudence Crandall had opened her Canterbury Female Boarding School, Sarah's parents purchased a farm in Canterbury. In September 1832, Sarah asked: "Miss Crandall, I want to get a little more learning, if possible, enough to teach coloured children, and if you will admit me to your school I shall forever be under the greatest obligation to you." Miss Crandall intitially declined to give an answer, stating she would take time to think about it. But Sarah made repeated requests, and was admitted later in the Fall of 1832. 

Read Post One Hundred And Seventeen HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: JANE MASTER HUNT P/115

                                                                 Read Part One HERE

In this post I continue to focus on a woman named Jane Master Hunt. She lived from 1812 - 1889.

On July 19, 1848, people crowded into the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls for the two-day historic event that catapulted the women's rights movement into a national battle for equality. Although the convention was for women, men were not turned away. Therefore, forty-two men became part of the 300-member assembly. James Mott, womens' rights advocate and husband of Lucretia Mott, chaired the event. Both Jane and Richard Hunt attended the Convention.

The Seneca Falls Convention advertised itself as "a convention to discuss the social, civil and religious condition and rights of women." For the occasion Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote a Declaration of Sentiments, which she modeled on the Declaration of Independence. to formally assert the equality of men and women and propose resolutions, including female suffrage.

On the first day, Elizabeth read the Declaration of Sentiments to formally assert the equality of men and women and propose resolutions including female suffrage. 

On the second day, abolitionist Frederick Douglass made a powerful speech that unified the two causes of abolishing slavery and women's rights. It was also the day that the convention voted on the Declaration of Sentiments. After 68 women and 32 men signed the document making it legitimate, the women's rights movement officially began.

Richard Hunt died in 1856, leaving Jane a wealthy widow, but she remained active in community affairs and gave generously to the town of Waterloo. 

Jane died in 1889, while visiting her daughter in Chicago. 

Read Part One Hundred And Sixteen HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: JANE MASTER HUNT P/114

                                                                Read Part One HERE

In this post I continue to focus on a woman named Jane Master Hunt. She lived from 1812 - 1889.

Lucretia Mott arrived at Jane's home with her sister Martha Wright from Auburn, New York. Mary Ann McClintock of Waterloo was also there. The only non-Quaker was Elizabeth Cady Stanton, from nearby Seneca Falls. As the women drank their tea, Elizabeth shared her frustration about women's subservenient place in society.

Elizabeth had first met Lucretia at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, England, in 1840 , when Elizabeth was on her honeymoon. When the London meeting refused to admit women delegates from the United States, the two women had agreed to hold a meeting to discuss the rights of women when they returned home, but real life intervened, and they never did. Seeing Lucretia again after eight years apart inspired Elizabeth once more, and she poured out her long-standing discontent.

They discussed the misfortunes imposed upon females - they could not vote or own property, and there were few social or intellectual opportunities. These women decided they wanted change. Without that gathering of Quaker women who were experienced in the strategy and tactics of the abolition movement, energized by Elizabeth, there would have been no Seneca Falls Convention.

Read Part One Hundred and Fifteen HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: JANE MASTER HUNT P/113

                                                                Read Part One HERE

In this post I focus on a woman named Jane Hunt. She lived from 1812 - 1889. Jane was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Quakers William and Mary Master. At age 33 Jane married Richard Hunt and moved to Waterloo, New York.

Jane and Richard opposed slavery and their home served as a station on the Underground Railroad.

Traditional Quakers tenets held that men and women should meet separately when making religious decisions. In 1848 the Hunts and other Quaker families formed a more radical Quaker group known as the Yearly Meeting of Congregational Friends, or Progressive Friends. They intended to further elevate the infuence of women in affairs of the faith. They introduced joint meetings of men and women, giving women an equal voice.

After a Quaker service on Sunday 9 July, 1848, several women decided to invite Lucretia Mott, a well-known Quaker minister and social reformer from Philadelphia, to visit Waterloo. Lucretia was most famous for her oral ability, which was rare during an era in which women were often not allowed to speak in public. Jane offered her home for the meeting.

Read Part One Hundred And Fourteen HERE

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800: ABBY KELLEY P/112

                                                                Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to focus on a woman named Abby Kelley. She lived from 1811 - 1887.  In 1845, Abby married fellow abolitionist Stephen Foster, with whom she had a daughter Paulina. She and her husband lectured together throughout Ohio. Their home became a station on the Underground Railroad.

In 1850, Abby was one of the many abolitionists who supported the first National Women's Rights Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts. The ideals for freedom for slaves applied equally to the new women's reform movement. Early women's rights activists used the existing abolitionist networks for support. Abby became more active in the women's movement after the Civil War.

Abby believed that the problem of slavery was a moral one, and that only moral weapons would free the slaves.

Abby always struggled to balance her anti-slavery and women's rights work with her role as a wife and a mother. She devoted over 50 years of her life to fight for the rights of all humanity. 

Abby died in 1887.

Read Part One Hundred And Thirteen HERE