#randomvictorianstuff

'Shadows' - A Bantam 1856

'Shadows' by Charles Bennett, 1856

'Shadows' - Beer, 1856

Optician's sign, Sweden, late 1800's or early 1900's

The business the sign belonged to was Nordlöws Ur & Optik (Nordlöw's Clocks and Optics). Unfortunately, I don't have an exact date for this shop sign, other than that it's from somewhere around the turn of the century 1800-1900. The building itself was originally built in 1789 in the city of Härnösand and used throughout the 1800's and early 1900's. The building is today located in the open-air museum Murberget in Härnösand, Sweden.

'Shadows' - A Skeleton, 1856

Clasped Hands of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1853

Artist: Harriet Goodhue Hosmer

Harriet Tubman's Auburn Home (Auburn, New York)

“For the decade following her escape to freedom, Harriet Tubman devoted her energy to helping her friends and family attain their own emancipation. As the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad, she was almost constantly on the move between Canada and Maryland. In that time, she rarely had an opportunity to establish a home base for herself. Realizing that a Civil War was imminent, Tubman found a haven for her family in the pastoral village of Fleming, New York, just outside the city of Auburn.

Auburn, NY was a hub for abolitionists in the mid-1800s and had ties to Philadelphia, PA where Harriet Tubman lived immediately after she escaped from slavery in Maryland. While in Philadelphia, Harriet met many influential abolitionists, including William Still, the African American Purvis extended family, Lucretia Coffin Mott, and Frederick Douglass. William Still would keep records of freedom seekers passing through Philadelphia and he interviewed Harriet and her brothers on one of her trips. Harriet’s allies in Philadelphia would aid her greatly in leading her family and friends north. Harriet had to change hiding places frequently to avoid detection and Philadelphia abolitionists would open their houses and provided aid to make the passage as safe as possible. After the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 passed, aiding any person escaping from slavery was illegal and subject to criminal punishments. These wealthy and powerful, mostly white, abolitionists would be risking much to aid freedom seekers like Harriet Tubman, but by the same token would have more protection through their status in society.

Harriet Tubman used her connections to finally secure a place where she could have her own home and determine the course of her life in freedom. Lucretia’s sister, Martha Coffin Wright, lived in Auburn, NY in the 1850s and would become friends and colleagues with Harriet Tubman. Martha’s husband David was in a law practice with William Seward. Seward’s wife, Frances Miller Seward, Harriet, and Martha all worked to provide support for freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad in Auburn, NY.

Harriet Tubman purchased her 7-acre parcel from  Frances Seward in the late winter or early spring of 1859. A limited Women’s Married Property Act had been passed in NY in 1848 which allowed Frances Seward to inherit land from her father under certain conditions. The transfer of land to a self-emancipated person was illegal under the Fugitive Slave Act. Frances Seward was breaking the law and taking a large risk to help Harriet Tubman have her own land. Frances rightly thought that since her husband, William Seward, was a powerful politician in New York State that no action would be taken against them.

In the wooden home already on the property, Harriet Tubman’s parents, brothers, nieces, and nephews would be protected by her powerful abolitionist friends during the Civil War. Here they could build a life among the familiar rhythms of the seasons and connect with other families from the eastern shore of Maryland in the free black community of “New Guinea.” Harriet Tubman would start her returns to Maryland in 1850, only a year after she escaped. She would return 13 times and rescue about 70 people by 1860. Harriet rescued her brothers, James, John, and William and some of their family members in 1854 when she received word that they might be sold. Harriet had already lost three sisters after they were sold down south and she would never be able to find them. Harriet had gone back to rescue her sister, Rachel and Rachel’s children, but is unable to. She learns Rachel has died in 1859 and Rachel’s young son and daughter are left behind. Instead, she will rescue other friends and relatives. Her family would travel between St. Catharines and Auburn depending on which was safest for them at the time.

Canada had outlawed slavery by this time and becomes a haven for African American freedom seekers. Her brothers would settle in St. Catharines in Canada in a community of other Black freedom seekers. It was common for freedom seekers to change their name to avoid detection or to start a new life with a name they chose. Harriet and her brothers’ surname had been Ross. Upon escaping Harriet’s brothers, adopted the surname of Stewart after a powerful white family in Dorchester County, Maryland where they were from and changed their first names. Harriet herself had changed her name when she married from Araminta to Harriet after her mother. The Tubman part of her name was from her first husband, John Tubman. John was born a free Black man and after Harriet escaped in 1849, she came back to rescue John two years later. Harriet was heartbroken when not only did John refuse to come with her, but he had also moved on and married another woman. She would be successful in rescuing her elderly parents, Ben and Rit, and bringing them to Canada after they were facing prosecution for helping others escape.