Benjamin Rush letter to Samuel Bayard, October 23, 1810
Permanent ID:
15684
Call number:
0175
Date:
October 23 1810
Image Description:
Letter dated October 23, 1810 from Benjamin Rush to Samuel Bayard asking him to let the bearer of the letter, Reverend Mr. Gloucester, preach at the local church in order to help raise money to purchase his wife and children out of slavery from his former master.
Gloucester was a powerful preacher and a former Tennessee slave who had been brought to Philadelphia by his master in 1807. While white Presbyterians worked to obtain Gloucester's release from slavery, he founded the first black Presbyterian church in the United States. It would take another dozen years for Gloucester to raise enough money to buy his family. (Gloucester information cited from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3h469.html).
Address:
Benjamin Rush, Philadelphia
Samuel Bayard, Princeton
Format:
Correspondence
Dimensions:
Width: 39.8 cm, Height: 24.7 cm