Richard Price Hallowell

Richard Price Hallowell

Author of "The Quaker Invasion of Massachusetts"

Find A Grave Memorial ID # 83761214

Richard Price Hallowell was born into a family of Quaker abolitionists. His parents' home was used on several occasions as stop on the Underground Railroad.

He attended Haverford College in the early 1850s before leaving school to work as a merchant. In 1857 he left Philadelphia and moved to Massachusetts, as part of "a personal stand against slavery because his firm dealt in products (cotton) coming from slave labor."

He became a successful wool broker and banker with offices in Boston, and a home in West Medford. He eventually became a director of the National Bank of Commerce, a trustee, auditor, and later a Vice President, of the Medford Savings Bank. He was elected President of the Medford Savings Bank in April 1899, maintaining that position until his death in 1904.

He remained active in abolitionists circles in the years leading up to the Civil War, and was among the group of abolitionists sent to Virginia to retrieve John Brown's body after the raid on Harper's Ferry, bringing it North for burial.

During the Civil War, he was appointed by the Governor of Massachusetts to act as a special agent recruiting white & African American soldiers. Ill health prevented him from serving in a combat regiment, as he had wanted to do. Physicians suspected he was developing tuberculosis, and feared his lungs weren't strong enough to endure life at the front. Both of his brothers served in combat units and were severely injured during the course of the Civil War.

Richard continued to support the cause of racial equality after the War's end, campaigning for the passage of the 15th Amendment granting African American men the right to vote, and supporting the efforts of Booker T. Washington. Richard helped to establish schools for freed slaves in the South and served as manager of the "Home for Aged Colored Women" in Boston. He also acted as a financial agent of the Tuskegee Institute in Boston and served as a trustee of the Calhoun Colored School in Alabama.

In 1900, at the request of Booker T. Washington, he solicited funds to pay legal fees to test Jim Crow election laws prohibiting African Americans from voting in Louisiana and Alabama, and helped raised $30,000 to support the New Century Cotton Mills, which was to be an "all-black cotton mill" owned and operated by Africans Americans.

He also worked alongside his brother Penn to honor the memory of African Americans who served in the Civil War. In the 1890s, he wrote of their service: "We had appealed to him [black men] to fight for the life of the nation, and nearly 200,000 of his race had enlisted in the army. Braver or better soldiers never wore the federal military uniform."

He was also a staunch supporter of Women's Suffrage and religious tolerance. He served as Vice President of the Women's Suffrage Association, and was a founding member and treasurer of the Free Religious Association. The FRA was described as a "spiritual anti-slavery society" seeking to "emancipate religion from...dogmatic traditions". It was opposed to "organized religion and super-naturalism, [and] affirmed the supremacy of individual conscience and reason." Quakers, Jews, Unitarians, Agnostics, Spiritualists, Deists and Scientific Theists were all to be in the FRA's ranks.

Richard was a liberal Quaker. His children were permitted to enjoy many things that he had been forbidden as a child - dancing, music, studying the fine arts, etc.

Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915 for Richard P. Hallowell

Name Richard P. Hallowell

Gender Male

Birth Date 16 Dec 1835

Birthplace CAMBRIDGE,MIDDLESEX,MASSACHUSETTS

Indexing Project (Batch) Number C50078-1

System Origin Massachusetts-ODM

Source Film Number 496864

United States Census, 1850 for Richard Hallowell

Name Richard Hallowell

Residence Philadelphia, North ward, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Age 14 years

Calculated Birth Year 1836

Birthplace Pennsylvania

Gender Male

Film Number 444785

Digital GS Number 4205380

Image Number 00151

Line Number 39

Dwelling House Number 756

Family Number 1111

Marital Status

Free or Slave

	Household	Gender	Age

Morris L Hallowell M 41y

Hannah Hallowell F 38y

Anna Hallowell F 18y

William Hallowell M 17y

	 Richard Hallowell	M	14y

Edward Hallowell M 13y

Norwood Hallowell M 11y

Emily Hallowell F 8y

United States Census, 1880 for Richard P. Hallowell

Name Richard P. Hallowell

Residence Medford, Middlesex, Massachusetts

Birthdate 1836

Birthplace Pennsylvania, United States

Relationship to Head Self

Spouse's Name Anna Hallowell

Spouse's Birthplace Pennsylvania, United States

Father's Birthplace Pennsylvania, United States

Mother's Birthplace Pennsylvania, United States

Race or Color (Expanded) White

Ethnicity (Standardized) American

Gender Male

Martial Status Married

Age (Expanded) 44 years

Occupation Wool Merchat

NARA Film Number T9-0541

Page 127

Page Character D

Entry Number 954

Film number 1254541

	Household	Gender	Age

Richard P. Hallowell M 44
Spouse Anna Hallowell F 42

Child Maria Hallowell F 19

Child James Hallowell M 15

Child Lucretin Hallowell F 12

Child Frank Hallowell M 9

Mary Damfy F 50

Hugh James M 16

United States Census, 1900 for Richard P Hallowell

Name Richard P Hallowell

Residence Medford city, Middlesex, Massachusetts

Birth Date Dec 1835

Birthplace Pennsylvania

Relationship to Head-of-Household Self

Spouse Name Anna D Hallowell

Spouse Birth Place Pennsylvania

Father Birthplace Pennsylvania

Mother Birthplace Pennsylvania

Race or Color (expanded) White

Head-of-household Name

Gender Male

Marital Status Married

Years Married 40

Estimated Marriage Year 1860

Enumeration District 0869

Sheet Number and Letter 2B

Household ID 37

Reference Number 90

GSU Film Number 1240663

Image Number 00000173

	Household	Gender	Age

Richard P Hallowell M 12/1835 m40y
Spouse Anna D Hallowell F 4/1838 5ch4liv

Child May Hallowell F 8/1860

Child James M Hallowell M 2/1865

Mary Heaney F servant

Catherine Callahan F servant

Mary A Cassidy F servant

Adam and Anne Mott By Thomas Clapp Cornell

Anna Davis Hallowell, is the author of the biography

of James and Lucretia Mott above mentioned, and her husband,

Richard P. Hallowell, has written two or three small volumes in

defence of Quakerism and of Freedom : one, " The Quaker Invasion

of Massachusetts;" the second, "The Pioneer Quakers," and

a third, " The Southern Question." In recognition of these services,

their portraits are introduced in this volume. Their home

is at West Medford, near Boston, Mass.

Anna Davis, born 21st of 4th month, 1838 ; married, 20th

of 10th month, 1859, Richard P. Hallowell, born 10th of

12th month, 1835 ; son of Morris L. and Hannah P. Hal-

lowell, and had —

1. Maria Hallowell, born 22d of 8th month, 1860.

2. Penrose Hallowell, born 10th month, 1862, died 4th

month, 1872.

3. James Mott Hallowell, born 13th of 2d month, 1865.

4. Lucretia Mott Hallowell, born 8th of I2th month,

1867.

5. Frank Walton Hallowell, born 12th of 8th month,

1870.