Arnold Buffum (December 13, 1782 – March 13, 1859) was an American Quaker abolitionist who was a member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society and the American Anti-Slavery Society.[1] Circa 1840, he was active in promoting the Liberty Party.[2] His children and grandchildren were also involved in social reform work.
Biography
editA native of Smithfield, Rhode Island, Buffum's family were Quakers.[3] Buffum's father, William Buffum, was a member of the colonial-era Rhode Island Abolition Society.[4] Arnold Buffum married Rebecca Gould, who was descended from Daniel Gould, a Quaker who had been given 30 lashes in Boston in 1659 for professing his faith.[5][6] Arnold and Rebecca (Gould) Buffum had seven children, the most notable of whom were Elizabeth Buffum Chace, Rebecca Buffum Spring, Sarah Gould Buffum Borden (who ran an Underground Railroad station with her husband Nathaniel Briggs Borden),[7] and Edward Buffum, a writer for the New York Herald.[8][3]
Buffum worked for the New England Anti-Slavery Society with Oliver Johnson, Samuel Joseph May, and Samuel Edmund Sewall.[7] During his Liberty Party years he became the editor of the "first abolition paper in Indiana, and between his lectures and editorials he seriously disturbed the peace of the Quaker church in Indiana."[9] Buffum was dismissed from meetings in both New England and Indiana for his insistent and vociferous liberal activism.[10] Later in life he promoted temperance and the Republican Party.[11]
Buffum struggled financially and had a number of careers (in addition to professional anti-slavery lecturer) such as hat manufacturer, and sheep farmer.[8] Buffum died in 1859 at Raritan Bay Union (near Perth Amboy, New Jersey), the utopian community cofounder by his daughter Rebecca.[3]
References
edit- ^ Garrison, William Lloyd (1971). The Letters of William Lloyd Garrison, Volume II: a House Dividing Against Itself: 1836-1840. Harvard University Press. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-674-52661-7.
- ^ Jordan, Ryan P. (2007-03-28). Slavery and the Meetinghouse: The Quakers and the Abolitionist Dilemma, 1820-1865. Indiana University Press. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-253-11709-0.
- ^ a b c Conley, Patrick T. (2023). Makers of Modern Rhode Island, The. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 167–169. ISBN 978-1-4671-5402-4.
- ^ Jones, Rufus Matthew (1921). The Later Periods of Quakerism. Macmillan and Company, Limited. p. 579.
- ^ Wyman, Lillie Buffum Chace (1913). American Chivalry. W. B. Clarke Company.
- ^ Staff, PRINT (2020-04-20). "Daniel Gould: A Voice for Social Justice in Early Quaker New England | CHDR Print Blog". Retrieved 2024-01-17.
- ^ a b Snodgrass, Mary Ellen (2015-03-26). The Underground Railroad: An Encyclopedia of People, Places, and Operations. Routledge. pp. no pag. ISBN 978-1-317-45415-1.
- ^ a b Stevens, Elizabeth C. (2003-01-01). Elizabeth Buffum Chace and Lillie Chace Wyman: A Century of Abolitionist, Suffragist, and Workers' Rights Activism. McFarland. pp. 8–9. ISBN 978-0-7864-1617-2.
- ^ Dunn, Jacob Piatt (1919). Indiana and Indianans: A History of Aboriginal and Territorial Indiana and the Century of Statehood. American historical society. p. 510.
- ^ Rodriguez, Junius P. (2015-03-26). Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition in the Transatlantic World. Routledge. pp. 98–99. ISBN 978-1-317-47180-6.
- ^ Brown, John Howard (1900). Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States. James H. Lamb Company. p. 484.