The Southwick family members were Quaker in early Salem, even when that meant persecution from the Puritan authorities. Their children and descendants married prominent Quakers from all over New England. In the compiled genealogy book about the Southwick family, Joseph Southwick (1791 – 1866) is described as a tanner, with three daughters. Period. With a little digging I was able to learn that Joseph Southwick was much more than a tradesman. I was also able to find out the many ways I am related to this family (I have a few relationships described below at the end of this blog post).
Joseph Southwick founded the American Anti-Slavery Movement
in 1833 and was a signer of the Declaration of Sentiments of the American
Anti-Slavery Society. He was president
of the society 1835 -1836, and vice president for many years. He was one of the original subscribers to
William Lloyd Garrison’s journal The
Liberator. He is considered one of
the original abolitionists in America. His work inspired his wife and daughters to be involved in abolitionism, at a time when women were usually not allowed to campaign for progressive causes.
Joseph Southwick married Thankful Hussey, daughter of Quaker
abolitionist Samuel Hussey. She was a
member of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society and of the New England
Non-Resistance Society. William Lloyd Garrison
delivered the eulogy at her funeral, and Lydia Maria Child wrote her obituary. She
lived longer than her husband and was able to become even more famous as an
abolitionist in New England.
The compiled Southwick genealogy book (see below) has
Thankful’s obituary on pages 261 – 264
OBITUARY
Thankful Southwick,
widow of Joseph Southwick, died on the 29th of April, at her
residence in Grantville [a part of the town of Wellesley], Mass., in the 75th
year of her age.
All survivors of the old
abolition band will remember her as one of the very earliest, the noblest, and
the most faithful of that small army of moral combatants who fought so bravely
and perseveringly for the deliverance of the downtrodden. Mrs. Southwick was born and educated in the Society
of Friends, and to their calmness of demeanor she added indomitable persistence
in the path of duty.
One of the most exciting affairs
that ever occurred in Boston was known as the Baltimore Slave Case. Two girls had escaped in a Boston vessel, and
when about to be carried back, were brought out by a writ of habeas
corpus. All Boston was in a ferment for
and against the fugitives. The
commercial world were determined that this Southern property should be restored
to the white claimants, and the abolitionists were determined that it should
remain in the possession of the original owner owners until a “bill of sale
from the Almighty” could be produced.
The well-known Father Snowdon was then alive, and by his vigilance and
ingenious arrangements, efficiently aided by Mrs. Southwick, the slaves were,
at a given signal, spirited away from the crowded court-room, and conveyed out
of the city. The agent of the
slaveholders happened to be standing near Mrs. Southwick, and while he was
gazing in astonishment at the empty space where the fugitives had been an
instant before, she turned her large
gray eyes upon him, and said very calmly, “Thy prey hath escaped thee.”
Wherever working or thinking was
to be done for the advancement of our righteous cause, there was Thankful
Southwick, ever ready with wise counsel and energetic action. She and her excellent husband were among the
very first to sustain Garrison in his unequal contest with the strong Goliath
of slavery. At that time they were in affluent
circumstances, and their money was poured freely for the unpopular cause, which
had as yet found no adherents among the rich.
Their commodious and every-way comfortable house was a caravansary for fugitive
slaves and for anti-slavery pilgrims from all parts of the country. At the anniversary
meetings, when most of the city abolitionists were anxious to have for their
guests Friend Whittier, or Angelina Grimke, or Theodore Weld, or Hon. Mr.
Birney, or George Thompson, or some other lions of the cause, Joseph and Thankful
Southwick were quietly looking about for such anti-slavery brothers and sisters
as were too little known to be likely to receive invitations. And through all their long and honorable
lives this worthy couple retained the same characteristics. Always kindly and
unpretending, clear sighted to perceive the right, and faithful in following
it, wheresoever it might lead. They were upright in all their dealings with the
world, tender and true in the relations of private life, and the memory they
have left is a benediction. – Lydia Maria Child, in Anti-Slavery Standard [repeated in other newspapers across New England and the United States]
The Southwicks lived originally in North Vassalboro, Maine,
but removed to South Danvers (now Peabody, Massachusetts) in 1834. They were very active with the Anti-Slavery
movement and eventually removed again, in 1835 to High Street in Boston for the
next two years.
Abigail Southwick (1819 – 1904), their eldest daughter, attended
the convention of antislavery women in 1838 and was a delegate to the London
convention in 1840. She married John
Hubbard Stephenson.
Their middle daughter, Sarah Hussey Southwick (1821 – 1896) was the
treasurer of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1842, when her mother
was president. She
was only thirteen years old in 1834 when she moved to South Danvers and
attended the first Anti-Slavery event in Boston with her father and sisters. You can read a very interesting chapter about
Sarah's life in the book Old Anti-Slavery Days: Proceedings of the
Commemorative Meeting held by the Danvers Historical Society at the Town Hall,
Danvers, April 26, 1893 , pages 134 – 140 (available to read online at
Google Books).
The Southwick Genealogy:
Generation 1: Lawrence Southwick and Cassandra Burnell. Immigrant
ancestors to Salem, Massachusetts, arrested for being Quaker and exiled to
Shelter Island in 1659 where they died of exposure. My 9th great grandparents.
Generation 2: Daniel Southwick, son of immigrants Lawrence
Southwick and Cassandra Burnell, born
1637 in Salem, died about 1718; married about 1663 to Esther Boyce. He was the brother to my 8th great
grandfather, John Southwick (1625 – 1672).
Generation 3: Lawrence Southwick, (my first cousin 7
generations removed) son of Daniel Southwick
and Esther Boyce, born 1664 and died 1718 in Northampton, New Jersey; married
on 24 June 1704 in Salem to Tamosen Buffum.
She was also my first cousin 8 generations removed, since I descend from
her grandparents, Robert Buffum (1590 – 1669) and Tamosen Ward (1606 – 1688).
Generation 4: Joseph
Southwick, son of Lawrence Southwick and Tamosen Buffum, born in 1716 in Salem,
Massachusetts; died 1791 in Peabody, Massachusetts; married Bethia Callum, who
died 1803 in Peabody, Massachusetts.
Generation 5: Edward Southwick, son of Joseph Southwick and
Bethia Callum, born on 1 March 1757, died 23 January 1836; married Abigail Rowell.
She was the daughter of Jacob Rowell
and Anna Buxton, born on 14 June 1764 in Amesbury, Massachusetts, and died 10 February
1856.
Generation 6: Joseph Southwick, son of Edward Southwick and
Abigail Rowell, born on 11 September 1791, died on 10 May 1866; married to
Thankful Hussey, the daughter of Samuel Fothergill Hussey and Thankful Purington.
Joseph Southwick is my 4th cousin,
5 generations removed. Three children:
1. Abigail , born 17 September, 1819
2. Sarah Hussey, born 3 March 1821
3. Anna R., born 6 April 1823
For the truly curious:
The Letters of William Lloyd Garrison:
Let the oppressed go free, 1861 – 1867, by William Lloyd
Garrison, 1979, (available to read
online at Google Books)
https://archive.org/details/lettertomydearga00john_60 The1867 Letter from Oliver Johnson to William Lloyd Garrison,
wishing Garrison a “happy and prosperous journey” to Europe, and expresses his
shock at the sudden death of Thankful Southwick.
The Genealogy of the Descendants of Lawrence and Cassandra Southwick of
Salem, by James Moore Caller and Maria A. Ober, (available to read online at Google Books)
My relationship to Thankful Hussey, wife of Joseph
Southwick:
Generation 1. Rev.
Stephen Batchelder (1561 – 1656) (my 11th great grandfather)
Generation 2. Theodate Batchelder m. Christopher Hussey (I
descend from two of her siblings – Nathananiel Batchelder (1590 – 1630) and Ann
Batchelder Sanborn (b. 1601)
Generation 3. Stephen
Hussey m. Martha Bunker
Generation 4. Batchelder
Hussey m. Abigail Hall
Generation 5. Sylvanus
Hussey m. Elisabeth Varney (daughter of Joseph Varney and Abigail Robinson, and
granddaughter of William Varney (1599 – 1654) and Bridge Deverell, my 10th
great grandparents)
Generation 6. Samuel
Fothergill Hussey m. Thankful Purington
Generation 7. Thankful
Hussey m. Joseph Southwick (She is my 4th
cousin, 5 generations removed three different ways! )
-----------------------------------
The URL for this post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/02/joseph-southwick-abolitionist.html
Copyright © 2015, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
Very interesting people.. Seems I am related to as many of these folk as you are--it becomes very difficult to follow the intertwined lines. But I have learned that I am related by both my mother & father. The study of genealogy becomes so interesting when you find such ethical people with high integrity. However I frequently find that my ancestors are on both sides of an issue or even a war.
ReplyDeleteI ran across your entry on Joseph and Thankful by chance while googling Joseph's eulogy which is supposed to be somewhere on the net. Can't find it yet. Joseph is a 2nd cousin to me, although Lawrence and Cassandra Southwick are 10th great-grandparents to me, so there may be another intermarriage in there somewhere. I've known about the Southwicks for years but was surprised to see Joseph shown in an 1837 Maine newspaper report as the uncle of Mark Fisher who was the father-in-law of Harriet White Fisher, a woman for whom I am writing a biography. I haven't been able to untangle all the Fisher to Southwick lines yet, but I'm working on it. If Joseph and Mark are truly uncle and nephew, then I am also related in some convoluted way to the Fisher family that is the topic of my book. Your 11th GGF Stephen Batchelder is my 10th GGF. I descend from his daughter Deborah who married Rev. John Wing and was in the first group to come to Sandwich. Since your line goes from Batchelder to Hussey and eventually to Thankful, Joseph Southwick's wife, then I am also related to Thankful. I'll have to work on that using Ancestry to find the links. I guess that makes us some kind of cousins, too. Thanks for posting about Joseph and Thankful.
ReplyDeleteFrank Comstock