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ROSETTA DOUGLASS SPRAGUE TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS
Rochester[, N.Y.] 4 Feb[ruary] 1868.
MY DEAR FATHER
I received your letter some days <ago> from <Akron> and at your request send the reply to Chicago.1Douglass’s letter to his daughter Rosetta, sent from Akron while he lectured there on 25 and 26 January, has not been located. He was scheduled to speak at Library Hall in Chicago for the Young Men’s Christian Association on 7 February 1868. Charles Douglass reported that he had received a letter from his father on 9 February 1868. Douglass Papers, ser. 1, 4: xxiv; Charles R. Douglass to Frederick Douglass, 14 February 1868, General Correspondence File, reel 2, frames 345R–346, DLC. There are as yet no important letters, one from Jamestown being the most that needs attention. L. O. Smith, Jamestown, says it will be quite as convenient for them to arrange for your lectures on the 31st of March and 1st of April as later2Possibly Louisa Olive Smith (1813–74), daughter of Clark and Rhoda Adams Smith of Connecticut. Louisa was married to Hiram Smith (1814–88), a carpenter turned architect. They initially lived in Busti and Ellicott, New York, but were based in Jamestown for most of the 1860s. By 1870, the family was living in Titusville, Pennsylvania, where their son, Eugene L. Smith (1842–1909), launched a successful career as a merchant. Although it has proved impossible to determine what position Louisa O. Smith held that would have led to her making the arrangements for a visit from Douglass, it is known that Douglass spent two days in Jamestown (31 March and 1 April) in 1868, lecturing on the first day at Institute Hall in a benefit for the Union School Fund, and at a local Methodist Episcopal church on the second day. Douglass Papers, ser. 1, 4: xxiv; 1850 U.S. Census, New York, Chautauqua County, 40; 1860 U.S. Census, New York, Chautauqua County, 161; 1870 U.S. Census, Pennsylvania, Crawford County, 19; John W. Jordan et al., eds., Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania Biography, 32 vols. (New York, 1914–67), 5:1759–60; Andrew W. Adams, A Genealogical History of Robert Adams of Newbury, Mass., and His Descendants, 1635–1900 (Rutland, Vt., 1900), 193.—I am rather puzzled about replying to letters as I have no stamps, or am I only to notice those who send stamps?
We are a great deal concerned about Lewis not having had a word since you left and cannot imagine where he is.3Lewis had returned east from Colorado in December 1867. He stayed briefly with family friends in New York and New Jersey. In early February, he wrote to his brother Charles from Philadelphia. Charles R. Douglass to Frederick Douglass, 14 February 1868, General Correspondence File, reel 2, frames 345R–346, DLC; Bernier and Taylor, If I Survive, 19–20. There are a number of letters awaiting him here, one also from Fred. to you.4By his own account, Frederick Douglass, Jr., moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1867 to work as a clerk for the Union Pacific Railroad, but moved back to Rochester for a short period of time in 1868 before taking up permanent residence in Washington, D.C., later that same year. Bernier and Taylor, If I Survive, 27, 633.
Nathan left home last Thursday and is doubtless at his journeys’ end,[.]5Early in 1868, Nathan Sprague moved to Omaha, Nebraska, in search of work, leaving his pregnant wife Rosetta and two small children (Annie and Harriet) in the care of her parents in Rochester. He unsuccessfully attempted once again to drive a hack; after that, he tried his hand at running a boarding house, only to fail at that as well. Finally, after months of trying and failing to establish a successful business in Omaha, he returned to Rochester in time for the birth of his third daughter, Alice, in mid-October. Blight, Prophet of Freedom, 500, 829n; Fought, Women, 208–09; McFeely, Frederick Douglass, 297. I am fully aware and appreciate every act of kindness and affection bestowed upon Nathan and myself and no one is more grateful than is Nathan himself. I am sorry you have been obliged to form any <unfavorable> opinion and hope you will not lose any of the confidence you have been pleased to keep of him for I believe & know that it is Nathan’s desire to act honorably. Lizzie Peirson6A native of Yorkshire, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Pierson (1826–aft. 1900) was the eldest of ten children born to the English Quakers Thomas and Hannah Smith Pierson. The Piersons left England in 1849, and by 1850 were living in Lockport, New York. Charles Douglass lived with the Pierson family for a period of time after John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, and both Elizabeth and her younger sister Mary Ann seem to have maintained close, lifelong friendships with Frederick Douglass and other members of his family. 1850 U.S. Census, New York, Niagara County, 121; 1870 U.S. Census, New York, Niagara County, 73; 1900 U.S. Census, New York, Niagara County, 163; Fought, Women, 170–71, 179, 241, 270; “England and Wales, Quaker Birth, Marriage, and Death Registers, 1578–1837,” Ancestry.com; “New York, Alien Depositions of Intent to Become U.S. Citizens, 1825–1871,” Ancestry.com. has sent you a present in the shape of two books one Ecce Homo7Originally published anonymously, Ecce Homo: A Survey of the Life and Work of Jesus Christ (1865) was a religious treatise written by Sir John Robert Seeley (1834–95), a fellow at Christ’s College, Cambridge, and later Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge. Alexander Hamilton Thompson, A History of English Literature, and of the Chief English Writers, Founded Upon the Manual of Thomas B. Shaw (London, 1901), 746. and the other Kathrina by Dr Holland.8The poet, novelist, and journalist Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819–81) was born in Belchertown, Massachusetts, but spent most of his first fifty years living in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1844, Holland graduated from Berkshire Medical College, and he went into private practice with a former classmate in Springfield in 1845. By 1848, however, Holland’s medical practice had failed, and he was forced to take a teaching post in Richmond, Virginia. Three months later, he accepted the job of superintendent of public schools in Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he remained until April 1849, when he returned to Massachusetts and began working as assistant editor of the Springfield Republican newspaper. In 1855, Holland published his first book, the well-received History of Western Massachusetts, and in 1858 he published his first work of fiction, the novel Bay Path, which was inspired by the research for his first book. After taking over as co-owner and editor of the Republican, Holland launched a humorous series titled “Letters to Young People, Married and Single,” in the paper under the pseudonym “Timothy Titcomb.” The column proved to be so popular that it caught the attention of the publisher Charles Scribner, who published the complete series as a book in 1859. The book was a commercial and critical success, eventually selling over 62,000 copies. Indeed, between 1859 and Holland’s death in 1881, Scribner’s sold over 500,000 copies of his works, including biographies, volumes of poetry, and novels. Among his most popular publications were his biography of Abraham Lincoln (1866) and the novels Arthur Bonicastle (1873), Sevenoaks (1875), and Nicholas Minturn (1877). His most successful volume of poetry was Katharina: Her Life and Mine, in a Poem (1867), whose sales were surpassed only by Longfellow’s Song of Hiawatha (1855). In 1869, in partnership with Charles Scribner and Roswell Smith, he co-founded Scribner’s Monthly magazine, serving as the publication’s first editor. In 1871 he moved his family to New York City, where he spent a number of years serving as both the president of the city’s board of education and chairman of the board of trustees of the College of the City of New York. 1870 U.S. Census, Massachusetts, Hampden County, 9; 1880 U.S. Census, New York, New York County, 418 C–D; H. Clay Williams, ed., Biographical Encyclopedia of Massachusetts of the Nineteenth Century, 2 vols. (Boston, 1883), 2: 181–88; ACAB, 3: 234–35; Find a Grave (online). As to Louisa I know it will cost quite a little to take care of her.9Helen Louise “Louisa” Sprague (c. 1853–91) was the younger sister of Nathan Sprague and, like all of her siblings, was born into slavery on a plantation belonging to the Sprigg family in Prince George’s County, Maryland. By 1863, all the Sprague siblings were free and living in Washington, D.C., except Nathan, who had already settled in Rochester, New York. In early 1868, Louisa accompanied her older brother Lewis Sprague (1838–1900) and his family when they moved to Rochester. Shortly thereafter, Lewis moved his family, including Louisa, to a farm in nearby Henrietta, New York. Complaining that she was treated more like a servant than a member of the family, Louisa eventually moved out of her brother Lewis’s home and joined her brother Nathan’s family in Frederick Douglass’s home. While living in the Douglass household, she was permitted to go to school and encouraged in her efforts to learn to read and write. In February 1869, however, she accompanied her brother and his family when they left the Douglass residence and settled in a house on Pearl Street. She accompanied her brother and his family when they again moved back in with Rosetta’s parents sometime before the birth of Nathan and Rosetta Douglass Sprague’s fourth child, Estelle, in August 1870. Welcomed by both Frederick and Anna Murray Douglass and treated like a member of the family, Louisa Sprague continued to reside with the Douglasses for most of the next fifteen years. Over time, as Anna Murray Douglass’s health deteriorated, Louisa took over most of the day-to-day management of the Douglass household, and following Mrs. Douglass’s death in July 1882, she essentially took on the role of housekeeper for Douglass until his marriage to Helen Pitts in January 1884. After Douglass’s remarriage, Louisa once again moved in with her brother Nathan and his family. In the months that followed, Nathan Sprague sued Douglass on his sister’s behalf for unpaid wages dating back to October 1872, when Douglass first moved his household to Washington, D.C. Claiming that Douglass had verbally promised Louisa a monthly salary of $25, Sprague sued his father-in-law for $2,640 and tried to arouse public sympathy for Louisa by claiming that while Douglass was earning over $200,000 a year, the only recompense he had ever provided Louisa had been an annual clothing allowance of approximately $40 a year. Douglass responded to his son-in-law’s allegations by denying that his income had ever been anything remotely close to the figure Sprague cited; furthermore, he stated that he had never considered Louisa an employee, and that while he would have been willing to employ her if she had ever expressed such a desire, he would not have been willing or able to pay her a salary that high. The lawsuit was settled out of court, with Douglass agreeing to pay Louisa $645 in exchange for her dropping the case. Afterward, Louisa, who found steady employment in a confectioner’s shop, refused to return to Cedar Hill. She died of cancer in March 1891, without reconciling with Douglass, and was buried in the (Nathan and Rosetta Douglass) Sprague family plot in Mount Hope Cemetery, in Rochester, New York. 1870 U.S. Census, New York, Monroe County, 70; Blight, Prophet of Freedom, 655–56; Fought, Women, 190, 208–11, 214–15, 247–50, 267, 310. Emma10Emma Brown Sprague (c. 1835–91), a mixed-race native of Maryland, was married to Nathan and Louisa Sprague’s oldest sibling, Lewis. It is unclear whether she was born a slave or free. She and her husband, along with their five oldest children (there would eventually be eight), settled in Monroe County, New York, where Lewis found employment as a coachman sometime in 1868. Emma Brown Sprague died in October 1891 and was buried in Rochester’s Mount Hope Cemetery. 1870 U.S. Census, New York, Monroe County, 191; 1880 U.S. Census, New York, Monroe County, 236B; Fought, Women, 208. wanted her and Louisa did not wish to go. The morning after you left she had one of <her> chills and the fever and seemed to suffer considerably she laid on the lounge in the kitchen all day Thursday and at night Nathan brought her over home, and Friday she had her chill followed by fever and quite sick. Saturday morning Emma came over Louisa was not able to get up but she came and made her get up put on her clothes to follow her home Louisa protesting that she did not wish to go. Nathan went up and put a stop to the proceedings expressed himself quite warmly. It was a bitter cold morning and Nathan said Louisa should not be dragged out in that condition, that Monday morning he would take her home and if she was contented he had nothing to say. So he took her Monday morning I lending her my shawl Tuesday Emma sent the shawl home, and in the evening Louisa came in great distress and wished to be allowed to remain. So here she is, she says it is so different and that if she remained <with the other
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family> she could not be contented, that Nathan never speaks harshly to her that she never was treated as kind in her life.
The family are not decided about remaining North and Louisa does not wish to go South again. Nathan said send her to school regularly, she goes and likes it. The children <are well> and are seated on the floor together enjoying themselves. Annie11Annie Rosine Sprague. is improving every day and is perfectly delighted with her new home. The bonds have come I gave them to mother to put away and $2.37 in cash the difference on the exchange. I hope when I write again to hear from Lewis. I will write to Ripon.12No information has survived regarding Douglass lecturing between engagements in Detroit, Michigan, on 9 February 1868 and in Alton, Illinois, on 7 March 1868. Mother13Anna Murray Douglass. is well and seems delighted to have me near, she sits with me every day after she is through the little she has to do. I am certainly am very thankful for the change. Mother desires her love.
Affectionately Your Daughter
R. D. S.
ALS: General Correspondence File, reel 2, frames 343R–45L, FD Papers, DL.
