Levi Yale (April 11, 1792 – February 19, 1872), of

Meriden, Connecticut Meriden is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located halfway between the regional cities of New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. In 2020, the population of the city was 60,850.postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

and abolitionist, who worked as an agent of the Underground Railroad. He was a member of the state legislature, cofounded the abolitionist Liberty Party of Connecticut and was twice nominated for lieutenant governor under Senator

Francis Gillette Francis Gillette (December 14, 1807 – September 30, 1879) was a politician from Connecticut, USA. He was the father of actor and playwright William Gillette and politician and editor Edward H. Gillette. Gillette was born in Old Windsor, C ...

Early life

Levi Yale was born April 11, 1792, to Joel Yale and Esther Clark, members of the

Yale family Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

.Commemorative Biographical Record of New Haven County, Connecticut
J. H. Beers & Co, Chicago, 1902, p. 73-74 He was a great-grandson of Capt. Thomas Yale of Wallingford. His uncle Thomas Yale was a soldier during the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, enlisted in Capt. John Couch's company, and was married to Capt. Couch's daughter. His cousin Asahel Yale was a doctor in New York, and his aunt Rebecca married to Capt. Noah Parsons. Levi Yale was also cousin of Yale graduates Congressman Jonathan Brace and American life insurance founder

Thomas Kimberly Brace Thomas Kimberly Brace (October 16, 1779 – June 14, 1860) was an American insurance executive and politician. He was son of Jonathan Brace, and was born in Glastenbury, Connecticut, October 16, 1779. He graduated from Yale University in 1801. H ...

, as well as of Senators

Kenneth S. White Kenneth S. White was a member of the Wisconsin State Senate. Biography White was born Kenneth Sidney White on January 17, 1897, in River Falls, Wisconsin where he graduated from River Falls High School in 1914. He attended the University of Wisco ...

and John Baldwin. A more distant cousin, Bertrand L. Yale, was the owner of a large insurance business and became postmaster.Rockey, J. L. (1892
History of New Haven County, Connecticut
New York : W. W. Preston, Americana, p. 624-625 Levi Yale's father, Levi Sr., was a merchant, postmaster, and soldier in the War of 1812, brother of Rosetta Yale, whose granddaughter married Judge

James Perry Platt James Perry Platt (March 31, 1851 – January 26, 1913) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. Education and career Born in Towanda, Pennsylvania, to Senator Orville H. Platt, he ...

, son of Senator and Congressman Orville H. Platt. He was also the uncle-in-law of General

Edwin R. Yale General Edwin Rodolphus Yale (1804 – 1883) was an American military officer, Britannia metal, Britannia ware manufacturer and merchant, and proprietor of the "United States Hotel", the largest hotel in America in the mid 1830s. He was also a f ...

of the U.S. Hotel in Manhattan and the Mansion House in Brooklyn Heights. Levi Yale was the oldest of a large family of children and at the death of his father, he became the main support of his mother, at 12 years of age.Strother, Horatio T. (1962)
Underground railroad in Connecticut
Wesleyan University Press, p. 86-117 At the age of 16 he began teaching school in the winter and farming his mother's land in the summer.Rockey, J. L. (1892
History of New Haven County, Connecticut
New York : W. W. Preston, Americana, p. 656 At 19 years of age, in 1811, he was elected pathmaster of Meriden at the town council meeting.

Career

In 1821, Yale was elected a member of the

Connecticut State House The Connecticut State Capitol is located north of Capitol Avenue and south of Bushnell Park in Hartford, the capital of Connecticut. The building houses the Connecticut General Assembly; the upper house, the State Senate, and lower house, the ...

of representatives, and figured prominently during the agitation of the anti-slavery question, jeopardizing his life number of times in defense of anti-slavery principles. The Liberator exhibit 1

In the fall of 1837, Yale requested with Major Cowles, Julius Pratt, and a few others, to have Rev.

Henry G. Ludlow Henry G. Ludlow (1797–1867) was an American minister and abolitionist, and one of those who worked with the New York Amistad Committee. He was a divinity student at Yale and then minister of the First Congregational Church in Oswego. From 182 ...

, an abolitionist lecturer, give a speech at the old Center church in Meriden.Rockey, J. L. (1892
History of New Haven County, Connecticut
New York : W. W. Preston, Americana, p. 546Hungerford, Edward (1877)
Centennial Sermons on the History of the Center Congregational Church of Meriden, Conn.
Case, Lockwood & Brainard Publishers, Hartford, p. 54-55 Prominent pro-slavery businessmen used their influence to try to prevent the meeting from being held in town. They organized riots across different cities, using force if necessary, as during this period, being an abolitionist was a reproach, and violence often resulted. The day of the meeting, stones and eggs were thrown at men, women and children. Levi Yale and two others acted as body-guards, protecting and escorting Reverend Ludlow out of the church. This was about 30 years before the American Civil War led by Abraham Lincoln, at the time of the presidency of Martin Van Buren, which brought new heights to the slavery question. Yale then became an agent of the Underground Railroad in Connecticut, along with lieutenant governor Benjamin Douglas, Rev. George William Perkins, and others. Douglas replaced Julius Catlin as Lt. Gov. of Connecticut, the father-in-law of philanthropis
Laura Wood Catlin
another member of the Yale family. Her in-laws included robber baron

Trenor W. Park Trenor William Park (December 8, 1823 – December 13, 1882) was an American lawyer, political figure, and businessman. He was most notable as a founder of the Republican Party in California, and for his Republican leadership roles in Vermont, ...

and Senator Chauncey Depew, member of the

Skulls and Bones Skull and Bones, also known as The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death, is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The oldest senior class society at the university, Skull and Bone ...

, and President of N. Y. Central Railroad for

Commodore Vanderbilt Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), nicknamed "the Commodore", was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. After working with his father's business, Vanderbilt worked his way into lead ...

. Yale's home was a station of the Underground Railroad, and he has been described as "a man of very pronounced views against slavery, and one who had the courage of his convictions." Number of runaways found "food and harbor" at his farmhouse, and with Rev. Zolva Whitmore, they helped conduct fugitives from New Haven to Springfield. Along with two manufacturers in Meriden, they voted for the Liberty Party, and as a result, had their shops burned by pro-slavery men.Aella Greene,
The Underground Railroad and Those Who Operated It, Part II
" Republican, March 25, 1900 Yale was ridiculed for his aid to the runways at the time. In 1839, he was elected

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

and

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

. He was a cofounder of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Guilford and was elected a trustee.

Later life

In 1841, Levi Yale cofounded the Liberty Party of Connecticut and was appointed president at the Political Anti-Slavery Convention, with General Uriel Tuttle as vice-president, whose home was also a station for the Underground Railroad.Charter Oak : Free Principles, Free Men, Free Speech and a Free Press
Executive Committee of the Connecticut Anti-Slavery Society, Hartford, Vol. IV., No. 6, October, 1841, p. 4 As president of the convention, he wrote, signed and published in newspapers a letter requesting the President of the United States, John Tyler, to emancipate his slaves. The Party would later merge with four other political parties and become the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

of the United States in 1854. In 1841, and from 1843 to 1849, he was candidate for lieutenant governor of Connecticut under U.S. Senator

, the party's candidate for governor, losing on each occasion to

William S. Holabird William S. Holabird (c. 1794 – May 20, 1855) was an American lawyer, politician and the 37th Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut. Early life William S. Holabird was born circa 1794 reportedly at Canaan, Connecticut, the son of William D. Holab ...

, Reuben Booth, Noyes Billings,

Thomas Backus Thomas Backus (1800–1858) was a nineteenth-century American politician. He served as the 41st lieutenant governor of Connecticut from 1849 to 1850. Biography Backus, who lived in Killingly, Connecticut, was born in 1800. He married Sarah You ...

and

Charles J. McCurdy Charles Johnson McCurdy (December 7, 1797 – June 8, 1891) was an American lawyer, diplomat, and the 40th Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut from 1847 to 1849. Early life Charles J. McCurdy was born at Lyme, Connecticut. His father, Richard McC ...

, later U.S. Ambassador of Austria.Office of the Secretary of the State, Levi Yale, Past Contests
/ref> About the same time in 1841, Yale is featured in ''

The Liberator Liberator or The Liberators or ''variation'', may refer to: Literature * ''Liberators'' (novel), a 2009 novel by James Wesley Rawles * ''The Liberators'' (Suvorov book), a 1981 book by Victor Suvorov * ''The Liberators'' (comic book), a Britis ...

'', an abolitionist newspaper, at the clerical convention of ministers and members of the churches of Connecticut. He was elected among the first selectmen of Meriden from 1845 to 1848, and then from 1852 to 1853. He was a cofounder of the city town hall, being part of their committee, and cofounded the Meriden Savings Bank, with merchant Ashbel Griswold, merchant Bertrand L. Yale, Major General

Walter Booth Walter Booth (December 8, 1791 – April 30, 1870) was a Major General, manufacturing Entrepreneur, and United States representative from Connecticut. History Walter was born in Woodbridge, Connecticut. He attended the common schools and s ...

, and others. He was also elected a board director of the bank, now the oldest banking institution in the city. In 1851, Yale was candidate for Judge of Probate of Meriden but lost to Hiram Hall. In 1857, he was elected a member of the

Connecticut State Legislature The Connecticut General Assembly (CGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is a bicameral body composed of the 151-member House of Representatives and the 36-member Senate. It meets in the state capital, Hartford. ...

from Meriden. In 1861, he was candidate for State Senator but lost to Orville H. Platt, later U.S. Senator and Secretary of State of Connecticut.

Death

Levi Yale died February 19, 1872, at Meriden. He was married to Abigail Ellen Bacon, of

Middletown, Connecticut Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States, Located along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, it is south of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated by English settler ...

. They had three children together, two daughters, Harriet Ellen and Emma Louisa, and a son named Levi Bacon Yale. Levi B. was a Republican, Prohibition candidate, nominated for Senator in the 6th District in 1900, and was an active member of the Congregational Church. His nephew was a wholesale grocer in New Haven, Connecticut, named Edward Payson Yale, founder of Yale, Bryan & Co., one of the oldest wholesale grocery houses in Connecticut. Yale initially started the enterprise in 1857 under Stout, Yale & Co., with city council member Jerome L. Stout, and became the sole agents for a number of the largest flouring mills in the West, in addition to manufacturing coffee, tea, canned goods, and other items. He was also the proprietor of the Yale Brick Company in Berlin, Connecticut, and a real estate investor.Leading Business Men of New Haven County
William Hale Beckford, Mercentaile Publishing Co. Boston, 1887, p. 83

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yale, Levy 1792 births 1872 deaths People from Meriden, Connecticut Underground Railroad people Members of the Connecticut House of Representatives Connecticut postmasters American justices of the peace American abolitionists Yale family