Col.
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
Roger Hooker Leavitt (July 21, 1805 – July 17, 1885) was a prominent landowner, early industrialist and
politician who with other family members was an ardent
abolitionist
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
The British ...
, using his home in
Charlemont, Massachusetts
Charlemont is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,185 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
Charlemont was first colonized by Moses R ...
as an
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...
station for
slave
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
s escaped from the
South
South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
. The escaped slave
Basil Dorsey
Basil Dorsey (c. 1808 – February 15, 1872) was a self-emancipated slave born in Libertytown, Maryland. He fled to Bristol, Pennsylvania, and later moved to Florence, Massachusetts, where he lived for the remainder of his life.
__TOC__
Early li ...
lived in Leavitt's home for nearly six years until eventually settling in
Florence, Massachusetts
Florence is a village in the northwestern portion of the city of Northampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. During the 19th century, Florence was a thriving manufacturing village shaped by progressive ideas on religion, abolitionism, and edu ...
.
[Roger Hooker and Keziah Leavitt House, Charlemont, National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, National Park Service, nps.gov]
Leavitt was born in
Heath, Massachusetts
Heath is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 723 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
Heath was first settled in 1765 as a part of C ...
, the son of wealthy landowner Roger Leavitt and his wife Chloe (Maxwell) Leavitt. Leavitt's father served in the state's legislature, was an active businessman, and later an ardent abolitionist. The elder Roger's brother was Judge and State Senator
Jonathan Leavitt
Jonathan Leavitt (1764–1830) was a prominent Greenfield, Massachusetts attorney, judge, state senator and businessman for whom the architect Asher Benjamin designed the Leavitt House, now the Leavitt-Hovey House on Main Street, in 1797.
...
of nearby
Greenfield. Roger's son Roger Hooker Leavitt, a graduate of
Hopkins Academy
Hopkins Academy is the public middle (7th and 8th grade) and senior (9th–12th grade) high school for the town of Hadley, Massachusetts, United States.
Founding
The school was founded in 1664 with an endowment from Edward Hopkins, an English co ...
in nearby
Hadley, and briefly a student at
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
also served in the
Massachusetts Senate
The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the ...
.
Col. Leavitt apparently came naturally to the abolitionist cause. His father had worked against slavery and his brother
Joshua
Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...
had, after graduating from
Yale Law School
Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...
and
Yale Divinity School
Yale Divinity School (YDS) is one of the twelve graduate and professional schools of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
Congregationalist theological education was the motivation at the founding of Yale, and the professional school has ...
, become a social reformer, leading campaigns for
temperance
Temperance may refer to:
Moderation
*Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed
*Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion
Culture
*Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...
and against slavery. Joshua later became the editor of the abolitionist newspaper ''The Emancipator'', was a prime force behind the defense of the crew of the ''
Amistad'', a slave ship that had sustained a mutiny aboard, and in 1833 founded the
New York Anti-Slavery Society.
In October 1835, Col. Roger Hooker Leavitt joined his brothers Joshua and Hart in attending the
Utica, New York
Utica () is a Administrative divisions of New York, city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The List of cities in New York, tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 ...
, state convention of the Utica Anti-Slavery Society. Violence by pro-slavery factions marred the gathering, but the fracas enabled the three brothers to fully convert their parents to the abolitionist cause.
[Underground Railroad in Florence, The David Ruggles Center](_blank)
/ref> By the following year, Col. Leavitt was president of the Franklin County Anti-Slavery Society as well as vice-president of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society
The Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, headquartered in Boston, was organized as an auxiliary of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1835. Its roots were in the New England Anti-Slavery Society, organized by William Lloyd Garrison, editor of ' ...
in 1838–39. In that year, Col. Leavitt's father moved from his home in Heath
A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...
to Charlemont, where his sons lived, and agreed to run for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
The lieutenant governor of Massachusetts is the first in the line to discharge the powers and duties of the office of governor following the incapacitation of the Governor of Massachusetts. The constitutional honorific title for the office is His ...
on the Liberty Party ticket, a political party which his son Joshua had helped found.
Col. Leavitt was best known for his sheltering of the fugitive slave
In the United States, fugitive slaves or runaway slaves were terms used in the 18th and 19th century to describe people who fled slavery. The term also refers to the federal Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850. Such people are also called free ...
Basil Dorsey, who escaped from Frederick County, Maryland
Frederick County is located in the northern part of the U.S. state of Maryland. At the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 271,717. The county seat is Frederick.
Frederick County is included in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV ...
unassisted in 1836. By that time, apparently, Col. Hooker's home had become known to anti-slavery zealots as a safe place to shelter escaped slaves. "It was always understood that a resting place was at Mr. oseaBlake's and Mr. Leavitt's," a resident recounted years later of the men operating the local Underground Railroad. "This was carried on with the greatest secrecy, because of the personal danger, not only to the slave but to those who harbored them."
In 1836, shortly after Dorsey's successful escape, Rev. Joshua Leavitt, living in New York City, helped Dorsey and his wife find refuge in Massachusetts – at the home of Joshua's brother Roger Hooker Leavitt. Charlemont records subsequently reflect the birth of Dorsey's son Charles Robert Dorsey in 1838 at Charlemont, as well as the presence in town of two of Dorsey's children born earlier in Maryland. Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
records for 1840 show no persons of color
The term "person of color" ( : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the U ...
living in the households of any of the Leavitt family – at the homes of father Roger, brother Hart nor at Col. Roger Hooker's – but records of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society clearly show that 'B. Dorsey' of Charlemont contributed 50 cents to the cause in 1839.
Shortly after his arrival in Charlemont, Dorsey's first wife died, in the same year as Roger Hooker's first wife Kezeah Osgood Hunt Leavitt. On learning the news of the death of Dorsey's wife, Joshua Leavitt wrote his brother Roger Hooker: "I feel for Mr. Dorsey in his bereavement and trust that you will do all that Christian benevolence requires in his care."
It was probably open knowledge in some parts of the community that the Leavitts were harboring fugitive slaves, but it seems that many like-minded citizens cooperated with the Leavitts and others who were sheltering the fugitives. As late as 1895, nearly thirty years after the Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, a Franklin County woman called Leavitt "a whole souled Abolitionist & omeone whodid all he could to help the slaves to freedom." At the same time, she averred that she could not furnish any specific details.
By 1844, Basil Dorsey moved on to other housing, likely in Florence, Massachusetts
Florence is a village in the northwestern portion of the city of Northampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. During the 19th century, Florence was a thriving manufacturing village shaped by progressive ideas on religion, abolitionism, and edu ...
. He had spent over five years under the roof of the Leavitt family, either at Col. Roger Hooker's home, the adjoining farm of his brother Hart, or at the home of the patriarch Roger – and probably at all three places. Contemporary accounts show that the family was aiding other escaped slaves during this period.
Col. Leavitt died in Waterloo, Iowa
Waterloo is a city in and the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census the population was 67,314, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. The city is part of the Waterloo – Cedar Falls ...
, where he was visiting his son John Hooker Leavitt. In its obituary, ''The New York Times'' noted Leavitt's abolitionist activities and called him "one of the prominent and leading citizens of Franklin County." Leavitt is interred at the Leavitt Cemetery in Charlemont.
The correspondence of Joshua Leavitt, his brothers Col. Roger Hooker and Hart, and that of his father Roger, from the years 1812–71, is deposited at the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
Manuscript Division in Washington, D.C.. The home of Col. Roger Hooker is now part of the campus of the Academy at Charlemont
The Academy at Charlemont is a small, private, college-preparatory day school, located on the Deerfield River in Charlemont, Massachusetts, that serves grade 6 through postgraduate. The school was founded by Eric Grinnell, Dianne Grinnell, David W ...
, and is included on the National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
's National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. On the Network to Freedom, as well, is the former Charlemont home of Col. Leavitt's brother Hart and his wife Mary.
See also
* 1868 Massachusetts legislature
*Joshua Leavitt
Rev. Joshua Leavitt (September 8, 1794, Heath, Massachusetts – January 16, 1873, Brooklyn, New York) was an American Congregationalist minister and former lawyer who became a prominent writer, editor and publisher of abolitionist literature. ...
*Hart Leavitt
Hart Leavitt (December 19, 1809 – 1881) was a Massachusetts merchant, landowner, legislator and prominent abolitionist. Leavitt was the brother of Roger Hooker Leavitt, with whom he operated an Underground Railroad station in Charlemont, Massa ...
* John Hooker Leavitt
*Thomas Hooker
Thomas Hooker (July 5, 1586 – July 7, 1647) was a prominent English colonial leader and Congregational minister, who founded the Connecticut Colony after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts. He was known as an outstanding spea ...
References
Further reading
* ''Joshua Leavitt, Evangelical Abolitionist'', Hugh Davis, Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, La., 1990
* Joshua Leavitt Family Papers, MMC-0893, Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
Manuscript Division, Washington, D.C.
External links
Grave of Roger Hooker Leavitt, Leavitt Cemetery, Charlemont, Massachusetts, Find-A-Grave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leavitt, Roger Hooker
1805 births
1885 deaths
American Congregationalists
Businesspeople from Massachusetts
Massachusetts state senators
Leavitt family
Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
19th-century American railroad executives
Underground Railroad people
People from Greenfield, Massachusetts
Massachusetts Libertyites
American temperance activists
People from Charlemont, Massachusetts
People from Heath, Massachusetts
Congregationalist abolitionists