Howard Courant, January 31, 1890
Mrs. Prudence Crandall died at her home in Elk Falls, this county, Monday, the 27th of January, of influenza, after an illness of several days, aged 86 years.
Her maiden name was Prudence Crandall, and all old-time Abolitionists and anti-slavery people will remember the part she performed in the early days of the great movement which ultimately wiped out the great sin of human slavery in the United States, and the name at the head of this sketch recalls the name of William Lloyd Garrison , Rev. Samuel May, Arnold Buffum and all the other noted Abolitionists, whose contemporary Prudence Crandall was, in days when there was great personal danger in avowing principles antagonistic to the giant institution of slavery.
We very much regret that we have not material or references at hand to enable us to give a complete biographical sketch of deceased. She was born in New Hampshire, September 3, 1803. Her parents were quiet, earnest, liberty loving Quakers. Prudence was given a liberal education and fitted for teaching.
In 1831 she bought a large dwelling in Canterbury, Conn., and turned it into a boarding school for girls. In this school a colored girl named Harris worked for her board, and was also given some instruction in reading, writing and the lower branches. This brought forth a protest from some of the patrons of the schools and the citizens of Canterbury. It was demanded that Miss Crandall turn the colored girl out and send her away, but she refused so to do. Then most of her patrons withdrew from her school, and she then proceeded to carry out an idea she had cherished for some time of establishing a school exclusively for colored girls, and she at once published her announcement to that effect.
This action caused great indignation in that virtuous community, and a public meeting was held and resolutions were passed against allowing the “nigger” school to be conducted in their midst. A committee waited on Miss Crandall and warned her not to commence the school, or it would be violently suppressed. The State legislature passed a law making it a crime punishable by fine and imprisonment to teach colored scholars, and as Miss Crandall persisted in trying to run her school, she was arrested and thrown into jail. Pending her trial her school house was stoned, windows smashed in, wells filled with filth, etc. She was twice tried and convicted under the newly enacted law, and appealing her case was finally cleared on a technicality.
She then attempted to resume her school, but a mob dispersed it, destroyed her furniture and burned her house, and she was forced to leave the community. This in 1833 was the first attempt ever made in the United States to establish a school for colored girls, and at that day Miss Crandall’s case was a matter of national interest. The destruction of her school is mentioned in Vol. 1 of Greeley’s American Conflict, and was also the subject of quite a lengthy article in the Century Magazine for September 1885, by Wendell Phillips Garrison. In the article also appears a picture of Miss Crandall in 1835 from a life sized painting which now has an honored place in Cornell University.
Prudence Crandall married soon after the breaking up of her school, a Rev. Calvin Philleo. Moved to New York, then to Illinois, and at the death of her husband, to Elk Falls, Kas., about 1878 or 1879. She was accompanied by an aged brother, who died at Elk Falls a few years ago, since which time she has lived quietly, having for a companion, a niece. She retained her mental powers to a wonderful extent, and was an interesting conversationalist. She kept well posted on the topics of the day, and took a lively interest in the prohibition movement and the W.C.T.U. She enjoyed argument and always stood ready to discuss any question. She frequently made public addresses, and at the last Old Settler’s Reunion she addressed the assembled crows in the grove, her voice being strong, and her remarks well chosen.
In religion she was a Spiritualist, and was considered very eccentric in all her religious views.
A few years ago, State of Connecticut voted her an annuity of three or four hundred dollars, as a small return for the damage done by the anti “nigger school” mob of 1833. This enabled her to live in comparative comfort till her death. Her remains was interred in the Elk Falls cemetery last Wednesday.
Submitted by L. Morgan
