Diary: Journal of the "Reminiscences" of Abolitionist & Suffragist Elizabeth Ann Kingsbury of Chester, PA.
91 mss pages, oblong volume measuring 3 1/2” x 5 7/8", leather spine, marbled paper covered boards, worn at spine, boards, edges, dated 28 April 1895, Chester, PA.
The journal was written in 1895 when Kingsbury was 78 years old. It contains 91 handwritten pages, with all of it having to do with her life growing up, as well as the early years of her parents before she was born. The story ends when she is twelve years old.
Biography of Elizabeth Ann Kingsbury (1817-aft 1895)
Elizabeth Ann (McKee) Kingsbury became a prominent abolitionist and suffragette. She was born on April 19th, 1817, in CT, to Rev. Joel White McKee and his wife Hannah Spencer. Her parents were natives of Massachusetts. Her father was an itinerant Methodist preacher who rode the circuit in Connecticut, New York, and elsewhere. From a book on the history of Sullivan County, New York, we find mention of Kingsbury's father when he was living at Thompson, NY:
"For several years previous to 1866, one of the habitués of Thompson was Joel W. McKee, an insane Methodist preacher. In early life, he was of average ability and standing; but from inherent causes his mind ultimately became unbalanced, when a conflict arose between him and his ecclesiastical superiors - he believing that he should labor energetically for the conversion of sinners, and they knowing that he should rest. Proceedings were about to be instituted to silence him, when, with a shrewdness which often characterizes the insane, he denounced his old associates of the Church as "punkin-heads," withdrew from the society, and joined the Independent Methodists, of which Rev. John Newland Maffit and others were the founders. After this he had no followers and no rivals in Sullivan. He was the only member of his Church in the county, and got into as many dilemmas and scrapes as he pleased. A hundred anecdotes could be related of his queer sayings and acts. He was zealous in preaching; but his hearers generally were limited to a few irreverent young men and mischievous boys. After being incarcerated twice in insane asylums, and wasting a comfortable sum of money, which he had saved in his better days, he found a home in the poor-house, where he died."
Elizabeth was a highly intelligent child and was said to have learned to read at age three. In her younger years, she taught music and was preceptress at the Mount Morris Academy in New York. She married Dr. William Irvin Kingsbury (1813-1846) of Cazenovia, NY in 1842 at the age 25 and was widowed four years later when her husband died. At this time she lived at Payson, IL.
Kingsbury is said to have worked for women's suffrage since at least 1856. It is unclear when her interest in suffrage came about, but may have been when she took an interest in spiritualism. In 1857, at about age 40, she began to travel and lecture throughout the United States, continuing into her 80's. She was one of a number of spiritualists that advocated equal rights for women. "Equal Rights' is my motto," declared Kingsbury 1857. "Women have been so long subject to customs degrading to herself, that she nor the men are sensible where, and to what extent, they [equal rights] exist. Elizabeth Ann Kingsbury was one of several "hard-working and well-traveled speakers in the cause of women's suffrage" who were California spiritualists. The “spiritualists provided nearly all of the suffrage advocates stumping the state. They had the most experience on the lecture circuit."
In 1868, at Vineland, NJ, Kingsbury was listed among a group of 172 women, both black and white, who provided their own ballots and box to vote at a Federal Election. In a letter to "The Revolution," Kingsbury described how John Gage, chairman of the Woman Suffrage Association of Vineland, together with Portia Gage and Kingsbury, entered Union Hall, where the judges were busy readying themselves for the election. They were treated kindly and set up a table with a ballot box. As women began coming to vote they were rejected by the "official" election judges and then would go to Kingsbury's table to place their vote. While it was all symbolic, the point was clear, women wanted to vote.
In 1880, Kingsbury is found enumerated with her sister and sister's family at Cleveland, Ohio. She was listed as a lecturer of various topics. In 1887, Kingsbury toured California to determine the condition of the state of the suffrage movement. She moved west in 1883, and in the spring of 1884, she formed the Los Angeles Woman's Suffrage Association. After her trip up and down California, Kingsbury announced that she had failed to find a single "earnest suffragist" in San Francisco and that Knox Goodrich was "discouraged regarding organized effort." Kingsbury used the columns of Woman's Journal, a national organ of the suffrage movement, to plaintively inquire, "Is our little suffrage club of Los Angeles with seventeen members the only one in the state?"
After the founding of the Southern California Woman Suffrage Association, Kingsbury presided over it until she returned east five years later. When the 1900 Census was taken, Kingsbury is found enumerated at Chester, PA, with her niece Sophia M. Larkin the woman who originally asked Kingsbury to write up her reminiscences. At present, it is unclear when Kingsbury died, but it would have likely been soon after her appearance in the 1900 Census at Chester, PA, as she was at that time 83 years old.
Bibliography:
1. Quinlin, James Eldridge. History of Sullivan County, New York: 1973, Pp. 617 2. Gullett, Gayle. Becoming Citizens: The Emergence and Development of the California Women's Movement, 1880-1911. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2000. Pp.16 3. Braude, Ann. Radical Spirits: Spritualism and Women's Rights in the Nineteenth-Century America. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2001. Pp.56 4. O'Dowd, Sarah C. A Rhode Island Original: Frances Harriet Whipple Green McDougall. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, 2004. Pp. 30 5. Gordon, Ann D., editor. The Selected Letters of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony: Volume II. Against an Aristocracy of Sex, 1866 to 1873. New Brunswick: Rutgers University, 2000. Pp. 040 6. Stanton, Elizabeth Cady et al, editors. History of Woman Suffrage: 1876-1885. Volume 1. Koches, NY: Susan B. Anthony, Pp. 476-477. 7. Gullet. Pp.16 8. Braude. Pp. 193
Quotes from the Journal:
On the very first page of the diary it says, “Reminiscences by E. A. Kingsbury" and the entries start with this:
Pp. 1:
"My niece Sophia W. Larkin wishes me to write certain memories of childish day and what I can recall of our ancestry. To do this I shall have to speak much of myself and you must therefore excuse the egotism. My great-grandfather on my mother's side, Silas Spencer, owned about half a mile each side of a street in East Hartford, ParishConn. I never saw him but when a child was frequently in the house he built and occupied till his decease.”
She goes on for several pages concerning the land and who inherited what. The following are just a few brief examples of Elizabeth's journal of reminiscences:
Part of pp. 8:
“At this late day it is almost impossible for one who did not live in the early part of the present century to imagine the darkness and ignorance that then prevailed on all theological points. Tithes were paid to the minister by all, rich and poor, church members or not. Agents of the law collected them periodically. The minister was the despot of the parish..."
Parts of pp.12-18:
"A certain woman walked two and a half miles every Sunday to this meeting. The occupants of a house she passed, taught their parrot as she approached to cry out, "Patty Jones, Methodist Meeting. Patty Jones, Methodist meeting!” The dress of the women especially was remarkable for its more than Quaker plainness for it was not only very simple but inexpensive. Costly apparel was strictly forbidden as well as ruffles, ribbons and jewelry. One day a young lady came into class meeting with a single ringlet each side of her face. An elder sister seated herself by her side, took off her bonnet, carefully put back the offending curls and replaced the bonnet. The young lady burst into tears and with much confusion and distress, confessed how vain and proud and wicked she had been. Thomas Spencer's house was a home, not only for Asbury, Hedding, Wood, Jocelyn, Ames and other ministers but for Methodists generally. The meeting house became too small for unusual assemblies and in summer quarterly meeting were held in the large yard under the mighty and gracefully waving old elm tree. Amid such associations and excluded by the spirit from general society, Betsey Hills Spencer grew to maturity. Good looking with a fine mind and modest deportment, Bishop Hedding, as well as other preachers, would gladly have called her his (who frequented the house) but her mother not being strong, determined to keep her only child at home. Therefore she discouraged every idea of the kind. At length a young man, Joel White McKee, who lived in the eastern part of the parish, was converted to Methodism, joined the class and formed an attachment for the daughter which was reciprocated. The shaking of hands was the opportunity for a secret exchange of love notes and matters progressed in this way till her parents became aware of the fact and at length consented to the union. The mother binding the lover by a solemn promise that he would never seek to take her daughter away from home while she herself lived. Thomas Spencer deeded a lot of land to Joel W. Mcheen addition was built to the already large house and they were married....."
Pp. 27-29:
"Joel W. and Betsy H. McKee lived happily together in her father's house for about five years, his usual avocations and she caring for her mother and giving birth to Hannah Spencer Aug 1, 1811. Sophia Maria Feb. 22, 1814 and later a still born child, a boy. Then my father, as I suppose him, for though I had not yet made my appearance, I was coming; having exhorted successfully in different localities for a certain time, felt that he had a call to preach. Therefore after a due examination, he was ordained a deacon in the M. E. Church and under the charge of an elder, was appointed to a circuit not far distant. Thus mother, in the winter of ’16-'17 was left alone to care for her two children. A mother crippled with rheumatism and considerate, yet needed the usual attention men receive from their household angels. The consequence was that the girl baby who came into this weary wicked world, April 19, 1817 weighed only four pounds. But having a good constitution Betsy Ann, as she was christened, grew and flourished finely, especially after she was taken to New London by her father and mother and treated to sea baths. Somewhere about these days, Sophia was so very sick that she was laid out for dead but soon after life was perceived in her and she recovered. Then came two boys at different times, still born and the other living only three days......”
Pp. 31 & 32:
"In Sept. following, Hannah was taken sick with a fever and died. When near the end, she wanted them to sing; "On Jordan's stormy banks I stand." Mother who was a sweet and powerful singer, did so, though in trembling tones. When she came to the lines; "When shall I see my father's face and in his bosom rest" Hannah replied, "Tomorrow, maybe;" and she did die the day after. All of us, including father, being present. She bid a formal "Good-bye" to each, I being the last to take her hand for that purpose. I remember walking with Sophia behind father and mother to the graveyard and peeping between them to see the coffin lowered into the grave. Hannah was a very precious child, the wonder and pride of her teachers. She and one other pupil had two of the first copies of Woodbridge's Geography that were published....."
Pp. 47-49 describing her kindergarten class:
"Within these two rows of benches was a Franklin stove and the teacher's table and chair stood between it and the fourth side of the room. I will not stop to describe the dunce block, stick, ferule and other means by which delinquents were punished. The ferule especially was used upon the hand or other parts of the person without much discrimination or mercy. At one time Sophia in passing to her seat, stumbled over a boy's foot, purposefully thrust out for fun. The teacher in another part of the room, thinking she was of course doing something wrong, threw his ferule at her and cut her forehead. I cannot remember that any special notice was taken of this. Teachers were expected to be severe. We girls had a better time in summer when we had a woman teacher and were allowed to bring to school, sewing, knitting or any convenient manual industry. The large boys were then at work on the farms and only little ones were present..."
Pp. 67 & 68:
"One Saturday afternoon Sophia and I found ourselves each the happy possessor of a piece of beautiful silk, which we at one preceded to fashion into work bags. Sophia finished hers before sunset but I was not so fortunate or expert, rather. My first thought on waking the next morning was on my little bag and dressing in a hurry. I put in the few necessary stitches and ran down stairs exclaiming, "See mother, I have done my little bag!" She replied, "On the Sabbath day!" I replied, "O mother I forgot." "That does not make it any better" she said. "We are commanded to remember the Sabbath day but you have forgotten and broken it."
Part of pp. 70 & 71:
"The paramount object of all with whom I associated was to lead pure and holy lives, that they might escape hell and attain to heaven and we girls were continually exhorted to watch and pray but I found myself so often sinning in deed as well as in word and thought that I became quite discouraged. The words of Jesus, Whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost it shall all not be forgiven him, either in this world or the world to come; and those of Paul; he that offendeth in one point is guilty of all; haunted me both day and night. I felt sure that I should never go to heaven. I should unwittingly and ignorantly commit some little sin that would effectually shut me out. What was the use of bothering about it any longer? I might as well have a good time now since I should surely go to hell anyhow…”
Pp. 73:
“While mother was very careful that we should learn nothing wrong from our schoolmates, we were allowed to visit certain old women, one of whom did me much harm by filling my mind with stories of ghosts and witches. Those tales of terror were ever present with me, filling my imagination, both day and night with the most frightful pictures. For a long time, going to bed, I would repeat as a kind of charm; "I guess I shant dream bad tonight, guess I shant, guess I shant" and thus drop into a fitful slumber. No one, not even Sophia knew anything of my sufferings. Nearsighted and thus bashful and reticent, I kept all this horror to myself. Of course I could not go to mother with it. Parents and children were then separated by a habitual repression and reserve."
Genealogy of the Spencer Family:
0. Silas Spencer, of East Hartford, Oxford Parish, CT
- 1. Thomas Spencer, took over family property, converted to Methodism from Presbyterianism, after hearing Bishop Asbury, became the first Methodist in Hartford, CT, and helped form the first class, as well as built a meeting house on his land deeding it to the Methodist Church
- +1st Dorothy Hills, died after giving birth to four children
- - 2. Thomas Spencer, built house and lived near father
- - + ?
- - - 3.
- - 2. Jared Spencer, built house and lived near father
- - + ?
- - - 3.
- - 2. George Spencer, wanderer
- - + ?
- - - 3.
- - 2. Dorothy Spencer
- - + ? Case, lived in extreme eastern part of town
- - - 3. had sons and daughters
- - +2nd Hannah Symonds
- - 2. Betsy Hills Symonds
- - + Joel White McKee, lived in eastern part of town.
- - - 3. Elizabeth Ann McKee, journal writer
- - - + William Irvin Kingsbury, died four years after marriage
- - 2. twins died early
- 1. Silas Spencer, moved to NY State
McKee Family
- 1. Alexander McKee, Scottish origins + ?
- - 2. Alexander McKee + ?
- - - 3. Cooper McKee + ?
- - - - 4. Walter McKee
- - - - 4. Emily McKee
- - - - 4. Hudson McKee
- - - - 4. Roselle McKee
- - 2. Robert McKee, veteran of the American Revolution, died at age 75
- - + Betsey Griswold, received a veteran pension after the death of her husband, died at 99 years old.
- - - 3. Robert McKee, after the failed powder mill adventure, he became secretary of the minister to France, after his return he lectured and wrote upon astronomy.
- - - 3. Asa McKee
- - - 3. Betsey McKee
- - - 3. Daniel McKee
- - - 3. Nancy McKee
- - - 3. Joel McKee, with his brother Robert, were connected to a powder mill, which failed, after his marriage, he made his home at the property of his wife's father, became a Methodist minister.
- - - + Betsey H. Spencer
- - - - 4. Elizabeth Ann McKee, journal writer
- - - - + Dr. William Irvin Kingsbury
- - - 3. Abiel McKee
- - - 3. Clara McKee
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