Frederick Douglass, the famed abolitionist, social reformer, orator, and writer traveled widely, speaking before gatherings across the United States. Those travels brought him through Cecil County and at least once he spent a few hours in Port Deposit before boarding a train to Rising Sun, where he was on his way to speak to the Rising Sun Literary Society on Dec. 28, 1885. (We have written about that previously.)
Some eleven years earlier, Anna Murray, Douglass’ first wife, visited the family of Gibson Valentine near Cherry Hill, spending two or three days there. When she returned to Elkton to catch the train, it became generally known that she was at the Station. There was “quite a flutter” and “a great curiosity to see her was manifested,” according to the Cecil Whig (Aug. 29, 1874).
Anna Murray was born in Denton around 1813. This strong freeborn woman moved to Baltimore to work as a domestic servant when she was 17 (Smithsonian Magazine). Murray helped Douglass escape, following him to New York City where the couple was married in 1838. They had five children. She died from a stroke in 1882.
For photographs related to this post, see the album on the Cecil County History Facebook page.
Notes & Sources:
- Cecil Whig, Aug. 29, 1874. From the Library of Congress Online editions of the Cecil Whig, which are text searchable and makes locating items like this possible. chroniclingamerica.loc.gov
- For more on Anna Murray Douglass see the Hidden History of Anna Murray Douglass. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/hidden-history-anna-murray-douglass-180968324/
- After Anna passed away, Frederick Douglass remarried. His second wife was Helen Pitts Douglass, a suffragist, reformer, and abolitionist. They married in 1884. For more on this see Helen Pitts Douglass, Frederick Douglass’ Second Wife from ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/helen-pitts-douglass-biography-3530214
Thank you for this post. Do you know anything more about the family of Gibson Valentine? Where exactly did they live? Would they have relations or friends in Talbot County? Could they be related to Frederick Douglass? He set his birthdate at February 14 because his mother always called him her “little Valentine.” But could he have been sired by a man by the surname, “Valentine?” Any thoughts on this?
Feel free to email me.
Suzanne, I don’t have too much information. Here are a few items, but I’ll email you with anything else. The Family lived about 5 or 6 miles north of Elkton, along what is today Route 213. It’s just north of a small village called Cherry Hill. If you are looking at a modern map with some detail, they lived between the villages of Andora and Cherry Hill along Route 213. They worked for the nearby paper mill, and I can see the name on some of the old Cecil County Maps from the late 19th century. There was a small African American community about two miles from where they lived, called Cedar Hill. It had a church and school so they probably attended this church. Here’s a link to a post about Cedar Hill https://cecilcountyhistory.com/griffith-aump-church-and-cedar-hill/
Suzanne, I’m sorry I don’t have additional information to pass along.