Ann Carroll Fitzhugh
Encyclopedia
Ann Carroll Fitzhugh was an American abolitionist, mother of Elizabeth Smith Miller
, and the spouse to Gerrit Smith
. Her older brother was Henry Fitzhugh
. Ann Fitzhugh and Gerrit Smith’s Peterboro, New York
home was a station on the Underground Railroad
. Known as “Nancy," Ann Fitzhugh Smith frequently traveled via an enclosed carriage to permit her carriage to be used, in her absence, to convey veiled fugitives on their way to Canada
. In 1822, Fitzhugh – living in Rochester, New York
and formerly of Hagerstown, Maryland – married Gerrit Smith. Ann was devout and was influential in Gerrit Smith’s religious conversion and beliefs about social reform and slavery.
, Ann Carroll Fitzhugh was given a slave, Harriet Sims, whom was sold and was further enslaved in Kentucky, with her spouse Samuel Russell. Ann and Gerrit located the Russells, purchased their freedom in 1841 and aided them in settling at Peterboro. The Smith couple had joined the abolition movement fully in October 1835, after a meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society in Utica, New York
was forcibly broken up by local slaving sympathizers. Ann and Gerrit interceded from the audience, and offered the Peterboro mansion as a safe haven to reconvene the gathering. While Ann’s daughter Elizabeth attended a Quaker school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Ann stayed in the city for extended periods during 1836, 1837 and 1839. These stays brought Ann into the circle of Lucretia and James Mott, abolitionists C.C. Burleigh and Mary Grew. Ann and her daughter taught Sunday school in one of Philadelphia’s African-American communities.
and Peterboro, New York in 1839 and 1843 respectively.
. William Fitzhugh, with Nathaniel Rochester
and Charles Carroll
, purchased the "100 acre Tract" at the Genesee Falls, later to become Rochester, New York
. William D. Fitzhugh descended paternally from William Fitzhugh of Bedford, England, born in 1570. Henry Fitzhugh, also of Bedford, was born to the eponymous William in 1615. The first Colonel William Fitzhugh, son of Henry, was also born in 1651 at Bedford. The first Colonel William emigrated to Westmoreland County, Virginia
. He married Sarah Tucker (May 1, 1674), and died in 1701. His son, George Fitzhugh, farmed in Stafford County, Virginia
, and was spouse to Mary Mason. The next Colonel William Fitzhugh, also of Stafford County, Virginia, was George’s son born on January 11, 1721. He was Ann Fitzhugh Smith’s grandfather and died February 11, 1798. He married Mrs. Anne Rousby (1727–1793), née Frisby, of Cecil County, Maryland
, on January 7, 1752. She was born September 15, 1727, and died March 26, 1793. Colonel William Fitzhugh (1761–1839) of the Beehive, Ann’s father, was born in Calvert County, Maryland
.
Ann’s mother, Ann Hughes (1771–1828), was daughter to iron mongering entrepreneur Daniel Hughes of Washington County, Maryland
. Ann Hughes married Colonel William at Saint John’s Church, Hagerstown, on October 18, 1789. The Fitzhughs and the Hughes were communicants at Saint John’s Church
at Hagerstown, Maryland. The Ascension Window in St. John’s north transept was donated in memory of Ann Fitzhugh’s mother. Their daughter Ann, and her spouse Gerrit, were relatively secure financially, except immediately after the Panic of 1837
. After that crash, the Smiths moved from the Peterboro mansion to a cottage. Both Ann and her daughter. Elizabeth, clerked in Gerrit Smith’s land office to economize.
Ann and Gerritt joined the Peterboro Presbyterian Church in 1826. They had seven children, five of whom dies young. Ann’s surviving children were Elizabeth and Greene (1842–1880). [Greene's Smith gravestone in the Peterboro Cemetery gives his year of birth as 1841, which is incorrect. Correct year of birth given in Smithfield Town Clerk's Records of the Civil War, 1865-1867, Smithfield Town Clerk's office, Peterboro, NY]
Elizabeth Smith Miller
Elizabeth Smith Miller , known as 'Libby' was an advocate and financial supporter of the women’s rights movement and the daughter of antislavery philanthropist Gerrit Smith and spouse, the abolitionist Ann Carroll Fitzhugh. Elizabeth Miller was born September 20, 1822. In 1843, Elizabeth married...
, and the spouse to Gerrit Smith
Gerrit Smith
Gerrit Smith was a leading United States social reformer, abolitionist, politician, and philanthropist...
. Her older brother was Henry Fitzhugh
Henry Fitzhugh
Henry Fitzhugh was an American merchant, businessman and politician from New York.-Life:...
. Ann Fitzhugh and Gerrit Smith’s Peterboro, New York
Peterboro, New York
Peterboro, located about twenty-five miles southeast of Syracuse, New York, is a historic hamlet situated in the Town of Smithfield, Madison County, New York.-Founding:...
home was a station on the Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
. Known as “Nancy," Ann Fitzhugh Smith frequently traveled via an enclosed carriage to permit her carriage to be used, in her absence, to convey veiled fugitives on their way to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. In 1822, Fitzhugh – living in Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
and formerly of Hagerstown, Maryland – married Gerrit Smith. Ann was devout and was influential in Gerrit Smith’s religious conversion and beliefs about social reform and slavery.
Abolitionist
The Smith household hosted both abolitionist and early suffrage meetings in the pre-Civil War period. As a child in Chewsville, near Hagerstown, MarylandHagerstown, Maryland
Hagerstown is a city in northwestern Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Washington County, and, by many definitions, the largest city in a region known as Western Maryland. The population of Hagerstown city proper at the 2010 census was 39,662, and the population of the...
, Ann Carroll Fitzhugh was given a slave, Harriet Sims, whom was sold and was further enslaved in Kentucky, with her spouse Samuel Russell. Ann and Gerrit located the Russells, purchased their freedom in 1841 and aided them in settling at Peterboro. The Smith couple had joined the abolition movement fully in October 1835, after a meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society in Utica, New York
Utica, New York
Utica is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 62,235 at the 2010 census, an increase of 2.6% from the 2000 census....
was forcibly broken up by local slaving sympathizers. Ann and Gerrit interceded from the audience, and offered the Peterboro mansion as a safe haven to reconvene the gathering. While Ann’s daughter Elizabeth attended a Quaker school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Ann stayed in the city for extended periods during 1836, 1837 and 1839. These stays brought Ann into the circle of Lucretia and James Mott, abolitionists C.C. Burleigh and Mary Grew. Ann and her daughter taught Sunday school in one of Philadelphia’s African-American communities.
The Ann Fitzhugh and Gerrit Smith Household
Ann was seventeen when she married Smith. According to one historian, “Ann brought warmth and cheerful serenity to her new home, and she and Gerrit had a very loving marriage, ‘Heaven has broke loose!’ Gerrit once exclaimed when Ann entered the room. “ The Smiths lived in a large frame house facing Peterboro green. It was built in the hall-and-parlour style, with a large central hall front to back. The library of about 2,000 volumes, dining room and kitchen flanked the central hall on one side; a parlour and conservatory lay on the other. The Smiths emphasized equality, simplicity, intellectualism and spirituality in their domestic life. After 1835, the two would not serve food grown with slave labor. During the 1830s, the Smiths deemphasized their Calvinist theology and began exploring the perfectionist and ultraist beliefs common in the Christian Union movement. This led to their founding Free Churches at OswegoOswego, New York
Oswego is a city in Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 18,142 at the 2010 census. Oswego is located on Lake Ontario in north-central New York and promotes itself as "The Port City of Central New York"...
and Peterboro, New York in 1839 and 1843 respectively.
The Fitzhughs of the Beehive
Ann Fitzhugh Smith was daughter to Colonel William Frisby Fitzhugh [Source: William Frisby Fitzhugh: Co-founder of Rochester, by Robert F. McNamara. Rochester, NY: The Rochester Historical Society, Genesee Country Occasional Papers, Volume XVI, 1984]., proprietor of “The Beehive” at Chewsville, Maryland in the Cumberland valleyCumberland Valley
The Cumberland Valley is a constituent valley of the Great Appalachian Valley and a North American agricultural region within the Atlantic Seaboard watershed in Pennsylvania and Maryland....
. William Fitzhugh, with Nathaniel Rochester
Nathaniel Rochester
Nathaniel Rochester was an American Revolutionary War soldier and land speculator, most noted for founding the settlement which would become Rochester, New York.-Early years:...
and Charles Carroll
Charles Carroll
Charles Carroll may refer to:*Charles Carroll , Continental Congressman from Maryland*Charles H. Carroll , U.S...
, purchased the "100 acre Tract" at the Genesee Falls, later to become Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
. William D. Fitzhugh descended paternally from William Fitzhugh of Bedford, England, born in 1570. Henry Fitzhugh, also of Bedford, was born to the eponymous William in 1615. The first Colonel William Fitzhugh, son of Henry, was also born in 1651 at Bedford. The first Colonel William emigrated to Westmoreland County, Virginia
Westmoreland County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 16,718 people, 6,846 households, and 4,689 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 9,286 housing units at an average density of...
. He married Sarah Tucker (May 1, 1674), and died in 1701. His son, George Fitzhugh, farmed in Stafford County, Virginia
Stafford County, Virginia
Stafford County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a U.S. state, and just across the Rappahannock River from the City of Fredericksburg. As of the 2000 census, the population was 92,446, increasing to 128,961 in 2010.. Its county seat is Stafford. In 2006, and again in 2009,...
, and was spouse to Mary Mason. The next Colonel William Fitzhugh, also of Stafford County, Virginia, was George’s son born on January 11, 1721. He was Ann Fitzhugh Smith’s grandfather and died February 11, 1798. He married Mrs. Anne Rousby (1727–1793), née Frisby, of Cecil County, Maryland
Cecil County, Maryland
Cecil County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. It is part of the Delaware Valley. It was named for Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore , who was the first Proprietary Governor of the colony of Maryland from 1632 until his death in 1675. The county seat is Elkton. The newspaper...
, on January 7, 1752. She was born September 15, 1727, and died March 26, 1793. Colonel William Fitzhugh (1761–1839) of the Beehive, Ann’s father, was born in Calvert County, Maryland
Calvert County, Maryland
Calvert County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. It occupies the Calvert Peninsula which is bordered on the east by the Chesapeake Bay and on the west by the Patuxent River. Calvert County is part of the Southern Maryland region. Calvert County's residents are among the highest...
.
Ann’s mother, Ann Hughes (1771–1828), was daughter to iron mongering entrepreneur Daniel Hughes of Washington County, Maryland
Washington County, Maryland
Washington County is a county located in the western part of the U.S. state of Maryland, bordering southern Pennsylvania to the north, northern Virginia to the south, and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia to the south and west. As of the 2010 Census, its population is 147,430...
. Ann Hughes married Colonel William at Saint John’s Church, Hagerstown, on October 18, 1789. The Fitzhughs and the Hughes were communicants at Saint John’s Church
Saint John's Church (Hagerstown, Maryland)
St. John's Church, or St. John's Episcopal Church, founded in 1786, is an historic Episcopal church located at 101 South Prospect Street in the South Prospect Street Historic District of Hagerstown, Maryland...
at Hagerstown, Maryland. The Ascension Window in St. John’s north transept was donated in memory of Ann Fitzhugh’s mother. Their daughter Ann, and her spouse Gerrit, were relatively secure financially, except immediately after the Panic of 1837
Panic of 1837
The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis or market correction in the United States built on a speculative fever. The end of the Second Bank of the United States had produced a period of runaway inflation, but on May 10, 1837 in New York City, every bank began to accept payment only in specie ,...
. After that crash, the Smiths moved from the Peterboro mansion to a cottage. Both Ann and her daughter. Elizabeth, clerked in Gerrit Smith’s land office to economize.
Ann and Gerritt joined the Peterboro Presbyterian Church in 1826. They had seven children, five of whom dies young. Ann’s surviving children were Elizabeth and Greene (1842–1880). [Greene's Smith gravestone in the Peterboro Cemetery gives his year of birth as 1841, which is incorrect. Correct year of birth given in Smithfield Town Clerk's Records of the Civil War, 1865-1867, Smithfield Town Clerk's office, Peterboro, NY]