Nancy A Hewitt - Radical Friend: Amy Kirby Post and Her Activist Worlds

Radical Friend

Radical Friend

Amy Kirby Post and Her Activist Worlds

NANCY A. HEWITT

The University of North Carolina PressChapel Hill

2018 The University of North Carolina Press

All rights reserved

Set in Charis and Lato by Westchester Publishing Services

Manufactured in the United States of America

The University of North Carolina Press has been a member of the Green Press Initiative since 2003.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Hewitt, Nancy A., 1951 author.

Title: Radical friend : Amy Kirby Post and her activist worlds / Nancy A. Hewitt.

Description: Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017044377 | ISBN 9781469640327 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781469640334 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH : Post, Amy Kirby, 1802 | Quaker womenNew York (State)Biography. | Social reformersNew York (State)Biography. | Women radicalsNew York (State)Biography. | Social movementsUnited StatesHistory19th century.

Classification: LCC BX 7795. P 65 H 49 2018 | DDC 289.6092 [B]dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017044377

For Mary M. Huth, who inspired me to begin

For Irene Hewitt, Will Hewitt, and Neerja Bhatnager, who cheered me on

&

For Steven F. Lawson, who sustained me to the end

Contents

,

Cast of Characters

Jericho and Westbury Family and F/friends

Amy Kirby (AK), b. 1802, d. 1889

Mary Seaman Kirby, AKs mother, d. 1854

Jacob Kirby, AKs father, d. 1859

Mary W. Kirby, AKs sister, b. 1791 m. John Willis

Hannah Kirby, AKs sister, b. 1799, d. 1827 m. Isaac Post, 1821; daughter Mary, b. 1823; son Edmund, b. 1825

Elizabeth Kirby, AKs sister, b. 1814 m. James Mott

Sarah Kirby, AKs sister, b. 1818

Esther Seaman and Willet Robbins, AKs aunt and uncle

Mary Robbins, b. 1806, AKs first cousin and confidante m. Joseph Post 1828, Isaac Posts brother

John and Rebecca Ketcham, AKs cousins

Jemima Seaman, Mary Seaman Kirbys cousin m. Elias Hicks 1771, Quaker minister and antislavery advocate

Isaac Post, b. 1798, d. 1872, Westbury, N.Y.; moves to Ledyard, N.Y., after marrying Hannah Kirby in 1821

Phebe Post Willis and Lydia Post Rushmore, Isaac Posts married sisters

Edmund and Joseph Post, Isaac Posts brothers

Charles Willets, Isaac Posts first cousin and AKs fianc, d. 1826

Amy Willis and Anna Greene, AKs childhood friends

Society of Friends Traveling Ministers and Visitors

Elias Hicks, advocate of reforming Quaker practices and leader of Hicksite faction

Lucretia and James Mott, Kirby cousins and weighty Philadelphia Hicksite Friends

Anna Braithewaite, English Friend opposed to Elias Hickss views

Priscilla Coffin Hunt Cadwalader, Hicksite minister

Joseph John Gurney, English reform-minded minister, visited central N.Y. late 1830s

Rachel Hicks and George White, Hicksite ministers opposed to worldly activism

Isaac Hopper, prominent Hicksite, disowned for exciting discord over worldly activism

Thomas and Mary Ann MClintock, Philadelphia Hicksites, moved to Waterloo, N.Y.

Charles Townsend, Hicksite visitor to Genesee Yearly Meeting 1835

Ledyard and Central New York Family and F/friends

Amy Kirby m. Isaac Post, 1828 in Ledyard

Stepchildren: Mary and Edmund (d. 1830); sons Jacob (b. 1829), Joseph (b. 1832), Henry (b. 1834)

Sarah Kirby, Amy Kirby Posts (AKP) sister, b. 1818, spends extended time in central N.Y.

Phebe Post Willis, stayed with Posts after traveling with Lucretia Mott

Rhoda and Elias DeGarmo, Post F/friends, moved to Rochester in 1834

Sarah and Benjamin Fish, Post F/riends, moved to Rochester c. 1829

Anna Greene, F/friend of AKP

Benjamin and Mary Howland, Orthodox Quaker neighbors of the Posts

Lydia and Abigail Mott, AKP cousins, Abolitionists (Ab)

Sarah and Phebe Thayer, AKP cousin and her daughter, Ab

Esther and Frances Titus, AKP cousin and daughter, Ab, later Freedmens Aid

Susan White, Post F/friend, m. Elias Doty 1833, Ab

Hannah Willets, F/friend of AKP

Rochester, N.Y., Family Members

Amy and Isaac Post, move to Rochester in 1836

Children: Mary Post m. William Hallowell 1843; Jacob Post m. Jennie Curtis 1857; Joseph Post m. Mary Jane (Mate) Ashley 1854; Henry, b. 1834, d. 1837; Mathilda, b. 1840, d. 1844; Willet, b. 1847, m. Josephine Wheeler 1877

Sarah Kirby, m. Jeffries Hallowell 1838, moves to Rochester; Hallowell, d. 1844

m. Edmund Willis 1853, Isaacs nephew, moves to Rochester in 1838

George and Ann Willets, Isaac Post cousins, move to Rochester c. 1848

Post Servants

Sarah Birney, Irish servant, hired 1847

Bridget Head, Irish servant, hired c. 1848

Mary Dale (Johnson), English servant, hired 1849; boards with AKP, 187080

Henry Van Auken, hired boy, c. 187680

Activists Living with Posts

William C. Nell, lives with Posts 184749 and 185152

Frances Nell, William Nells sister, lives with Posts 1848

Harriet Jacobs, lives with Posts 184950; later works in contraband camps in Alexandria, Va.

Mary Ann Pitkin, c. 185056

Sojourner Truth, 1851 and intermittently in 186668, 1878

Jay Chaapel, c. 188084

Rochester Coworkers of the Posts

Asa and Huldah Anthony, F/friends and Abolitionists (Ab)

Daniel and Lucy Anthony and daughters Mary and Susan B. Anthony, F/friends and Ab, Womens Rights (WRts)/Suffrage, Womens Loyal National League (WLNL)

Sarah Anthony and Lewis Burtis, F/friends, Ab, Communitarians (Comms)

William C. Bloss, evangelical and Ab

Abigail and Henry Bush, ex-evangelicals and Ab, WRts, move to California c. 1850

Lucy Colman, Ab, WRts, later works in contraband camps in Washington, D.C., Freedmens Aid

Sarah and Silas Cornell, Orthodox Friends and Ab

Rhoda and Elias DeGarmo, F/friends and Ab, WRts/Suffrage

Frederick Douglass, Ab and WRts/Suffrage

Anna and Rosetta Douglass, Frederick Douglasss wife and daughter, Ab

Sarah and Benjamin Fish, F/friends and Ab, WRts, Comms

Catherine Fish, daughter of Sarah and Benjamin, Ab, WRts/Suffrage, Freedmens Aid

m. Giles Stebbins, Ab, and moves to Michigan 1849

Mary and Isaac Gibbs, AME Zion Church members and Ab

Julia Griffiths, British supporter of Douglasss work, lives in Rochester 184955

Mary Hebard, Unitarian, WRts/Suffrage

Rev. Thomas James, minister of AME Zion Church, Ab

Lemira and John Kedzie, ex-evangelicals and Ab, WRts

Mrs. Newton (Eliza) Mann, Unitarian, Suffrage

Abigail Mott and Lindley M. Moore, Orthodox Friends and Ab

Sara C. Owen, ex-evangelical and Ab, WRts/Suffrage, moves to Michigan 1849

Susan and Samuel D. Porter, evangelicals and Ab

Laura and Murray Ramsdell, Ab, WRts/Suffrage, Comms

Mrs. L. C. Smith, Unitarian, moral reform, suffrage

Austin Steward, Ab

Julia Wilbur, Orthodox Friend, teacher, Ab, works in contraband camps in Washington, D.C., and Alexandria, Va., Suffrage

Western and Central New York and Midwestern Coworkers