Contents
Guide
Pagebreaks of the print version
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
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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