Abolition in the Archives #1:

Lewis Tappan to Garrit Smith, Aug. 10, 1842:

Letter of Introduction for Robert Bowne Parsons.

In 1842, Lewis Tappan, a prominent New York City abolitionist and Vigilance Committee supporter, introduced Robert Bowne Parsons, age 21, to fellow abolitionist Garrit Smith at his Peterboro, NY estate- a major Underground Railroad hub. In this letter, Tappan vouches for Robert as “son of the late excellent Mr. Sam’l Parsons.” (Samuel Parsons, a minister of the Society of Friends and a staunch anti-slavery activist, was married to Mary Bowne Parsons, the great-great-granddaughter of John Bowne and one of the heirs to Bowne House.) Joseph Sturge, mentioned as Robert Bowne Parsons’ friend, was an English Quaker who founded the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society and worked to bring about Emancipation in the British Empire.

"My dear Sir,

The bearer is Mr. Rob't B. Parsons, of Flushing, son of the late excellent Samuel Parsons of the Society of Friends, and friend of Jos. Sturge. R.B.P. is a true man.

                                                Affc'y yours, Lewis Tappan"

LETTER-WRITER AND RECIPIENT

IN DETAIL: “Engraved by P. Reason”

The letterhead on Tappan’s stationery is captioned “Engraved by P. Reason, A Colored Young Man of the City of New York, 1835.” Abolitionist Patrick Reason (1816-1898) was one of the first Black engravers in America. The figure of the kneeling slave is adapted from a popular image by Josiah Wedgwood, the English pottery-maker and social reformer. Reason numbered among the prominent graduates of the African Free School in New York City, where Robert Bowne Parsons great-uncle and namesake, Robert Bowne, had once served as Trustee.

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