Thursday, July 6, 2023

Renowned Phrenologist Nelson Sizer corresponds with John Brown, Jr.

                                                                     

Guest Post by Manuscripts Intern Nate Ricks


      Nelson Sizer's letter to John Brown Jr.

March 26, 1860

John Brown Jr. Collection


 

John Brown’s 1859 raid on Harper’s Ferry, Virginia (and his subsequent execution) solidified Northern and Southern sentiments regarding slavery.  Some began to act out in their own private “attacks,” as demonstrated by a letter found in the Hayes Presidential Library & Museums' collections. 

                                                                       

John Brown Jr.

In March 1860, the noted phrenologist Nelson Sizer conducted a mildly subversive one-man campaign in Virginia. The state had been nicknamed “The Mother of Presidents” by this time for birthing seven chief executives: Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, W.H. Harrison, Tyler, and Taylor.  But Sizer and other abolitionists were scornful of the role Virginia played in violently perpetuating slavery and proudly executing Brown.  He wrote to John Brown, Jr., the grieving eldest son of the martyred abolitionist:

 

“The other day I went to Washington and I walked three miles & across the Potomac bridge for the privilege of spitting on the state of Virginia.  I met a negro slave near the end of the bridge in [Virginia] & asked him if he ever heard of the [Underground Railroad], & his Eyes brightened as he replied, “Yes Massa, heap o’times.”  I said, “Some of your boys get away to a land of freedom on the [Underground Railroad], do they not[?]” He answered, “deed they do, sir.”  I call that tampering with a slave.  I did it out of contempt for the “Mother of Presidents,” and now of a race of braggarts and cowards.”

 

Such personal demonstrations became popular sentiment, leading to the election of Lincoln later that year, and the outbreak of civil war in April 1861.

 

Sizer’s letter to John Brown, Jr. is one of about 600 letters in the John Brown Jr. Collection found in the Hayes Presidential Library’s Charles E. Frohman Collection.  John Brown, Jr. settled at Put-in-Bay, Ohio, and received correspondence from many prominent abolitionists and reformers of the late 19th Century.  Learn more about this collection: https://www.rbhayes.org/collection-items/charles-e.-frohman-collections/brown-john-jr./

 

2 comments:

Dorene from Ohio said...

I am fascinated with John Brown Jr.!
When he died, my ancestor Charles F. Steen
was a pallbearer at his funeral!

Dorene from Ohio

Nan Card said...

Dorene. When some of these letters are transcribed they will be posted on the Manuscripts portion of the Hayes Presidential Library and Museums website. He certainly was well respected on South Bass Island where he lived the remainder of his life. So interesting that your ancestor was a pall bearer! Thank you for sharing.