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The Averys and the Stantons, Family Ties That Bind

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The Averys and the Stantons, Family Ties That Bind THE FRIENDS OF MOUNT HOPE CEMETERY Vol 22 No . 2 SPRING 2002 THE AVERYS AND THE 1829, he became deputy clerk of Monroe The Stanton and Avery families may County and officiated as clerk for nearly have first met at religious revival meetings STANTONS, three years in all courts of record because several years after Susan Brewster Stanton FAMILY TIES THAT the clerk himself lived many miles out of and her children moved to Rochester. BIND town. This experience served him well when he began his law studies. The arrival of Charles Gradison Finney in Rochester in October 1830 to by Jean Czerkas become minister of Third Presbyterian Church marked a period of religious fer- vor. Church membership increased dra- Family relationships, religious matically and capacity crowds attended revivals, temperance, moral Finney's revival meetings. Henry reform, and an undying com Stanton became a convert after listening mitment to the abolition of slavery to the charismatic revivalist speak. He were the ties that bound the Avery and became a close friend of Theodore Stanton families together. Weld, Finney's protcge and co-worker. Henry Brewster Stanton, who Susan Stanton and her sons Henry later became the husband of noted and Robert and her daughter Frances women's rights leader Elizabeth Cady became members of First Presbyterian Stanton, was 21 years old when he Church in January of 1830. Susan arrived in Rochester in April 1826. remained a member until May 183 1 . Already interested and eat-ler to become involved in politics, lie went George A. Avery, also a Finney fol- to work for Thurlow Weed, editor of lower, joined First Presbyterian Church the Monroe Telegraph . Weed thought on January 3, 1831 and became one of highly of the young Stanton and char- its most active members. He married acterized him as impulsive but amiable Susan Stanton's daughter Frances and with great promise. Mehitable Stanton sometime in the early 1930s. Although not wealthy by any means, Weed was a power in politics. Henry Stanton was a student at the Henry Stanton described him as one of Rochester Institute of Practical the poorest and worst-dressed men in Education and claimed to have studied the Rochester who lived in a cheap house in an Henry Brewster Stanton, a largely uniecog- classics at various locations in the Rochester obscure part of the village and commented ni ed but prominent abolitionist, became area. His brother Robert had been a student the husband of the noted women's civil that it was unusual for a man so poor to at the Oneida Institute. In 1831, they decid- rights leader; Fli .abeth Cads Stanton . wield such political power. Stanton's keen ed. along with their brother George and their powers of observation and his ability to friend Courtland Avery, to continue their articulate his experiences provided, in later education at Lane Seminary, a manual labor After the death of Joseph Stanton, years, a detailed view of events that school near Cincinnati, Ohio. Manual labor Henry Stanton's father, in New York in occurred in the Rochester area and in state schools availed young men of limited means 1827, Henry's mother, Susan Brewster and national politics. to obtain an education. Finney's involve- Stanton, moved to Rochester with her sons ment with the seminary was the impetus to Joseph, Robert, and George, and her daugh- While employed as a clerk in the canal enroll as students . office from 1826 to 1827, Henry Stanton ter Frances. Joseph Stanton had been a suc- cessful merchant, a shipper of goods to and had an opportunity to meet many important Because of financial concerns, the from the West Indies and a woolen manufac- political figures and began making speeches Stanton brothers and Courtland Avery trav- turer who ultimately went bankrupt. expressing his political views. In January eled part of the way to Lane Seminary on a raft. When the Stantons enrolled as students O r~J~rJ~rJ~r~r~rJ~rJ~rJ~rJrJ~rJ~rJ~rJ~rJ~rJ~rJ~r-Pr.Pr~rJ~rJ~r~rJ~rJrJ~rJrJrJrJtPrJPJ~rJ~r~rJ~rJrJrJrJrJr~rJrJrJrJ~rJ~rJ~rlclrJcPrJ~rJ~rJ~rJ~rJrJ O at Lane, their time as Rochester residents, 5 except for short visits, came to a close. 5 5 5 Student debates on the abolition of 5 slavery and colonization were held at Lane 5 GEO. A. AVERY &, CO., 5 5 NO. 12 BCFfAI.U-STREET. ROCHESTER, N. Y., Seminary in 1834. The school's trustees 5 Wholesale and Retail Dealers in 5 became concerned when the students dis- 5 5 Orocerieo, Vainto, Due-1UQQDS, cussed these extremely controversial sub- 5 WINDOW GLASS, 5 jects and what effect that would have on the 5 5 seminary. The trustees decided to end the 5 GILB, WIMD ANUP 6HAPEDLEET, 5 5 AND. GENERAL COINI`fISSION KERCHANTSj 5 debates and forbid further student participa- 5 5 tion in abolitionist causes. The students 5 S involved in the debates chose to leave Lane 5 Seminary, a move that brought unwanted S 5 notoriety to the school, and they became o rJ~rJ~rJ~rJ~rJ~rJ~rhr~rhrJ~rJ~rJ~rJ~rJ~rJ~cPrJ~cPcPcPcPr~r~rJ~rJ~r~rJ~cPcPcPrJ~rJ~rJ~rJ~rJ~cPrJ't:I't:frJ~rJ~rJ~rJ~rJ~rJ~cPrJ~rJ~~PrJ~t- :PrJ~cPcPcPrJ~rJ~rJh7 known as "The Lane Rebels ." George A. Avery's advertisement Robert L. Stanton was one of two stu- in the Rochester DAILY dents who returned to Lane to complete his AMERICAN Business Directory. education. After graduation, he became the pastor of churches in Mississippi. Louisiana, and Ohio. He was president of Oakland College in Mississippi and Miami arranging meetings. While promoting the of the junior class and a student in the theo- University in Ohio. Princeton College con- abolitionist movement . Stanton often with- logical department during the 1836-1837 ferred upon him the degree of Doctor of stood attacks by hostile mobs. academic year. No annual catalog was pub- Divinity . He served as professor of theology lished the following year because of the in Danville Seminary and moderator of the Henry Stanton married Elizabeth Cady school's dire financial problems . In the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1840, and the couple spent their honey- 1838-1839 catalog, he is listed as being in in 1886. The Rev. Robert L. Stanton, D.D., moon in London where Henry was a dele the middle class. That was his last year of died and was buried at sea on May 28, 1885 gate to the World Anti-Slavery Conference. attendance . Courtland returned to Rochester at the age of 76 years. After completing his law studies, the and joined his brothers in George A. Avery's Stantons moved to Boston . In the hope of wholesale grocery business . Many of the Lane Rebels agreed to enjoying a less hectic lifestyle, they moved enroll in Oberlin if the Rev. Charles Finney to Seneca Falls in 1847 where Henry was George A. Avery was a religious man were appointed professor of theology. Henry elected to the New York State Senate and with great concern for the education and Stanton was not among them. Instead, he served in 1850-1851 as a Democrat. When religious training of young people . He became a more active participant in anti- the Republican party was organized, Stanton slavery causes. joined it. Throughout his life, he was active in politics. Years later he also became a EPITAPH He attributed the beginning of his inter- Washington correspondent for the New York slavery when as a small Published quarterly be the Friends of est in abolishing Arrt erican. child the soft-singing voice of a family slave Mount Hope Cemeter .v, 1133 Mount Hope lulled him to sleep. He decided that when he When the trustees of Lane Seminary Avenue Rochester: Nevi , York 14620. reached adulthood, he would become a forbade further debates and student involve- a nonprofit member organization founded champion of the oppressed, and he kept that ment in anti-slavery causes, George A. in 1980. vow. Avery, a successful Rochester wholesale ® 2001 The Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery grocer who had been a fund raiser for the continue his Richard 0. Rcisern, Editor Henry Stanton intended to school and a financial contributor, voiced education at Oberlin but was appointed gen- strong objections to the trustees' decisions Frank A. Gillespie, Photographer eral agent of the American Anti-Slavery and ended his relationship with the semi- Dan iNalczewski, Art Director Society and began the work that occupied a nary. Basic annual membership is S20. Cull large share of his life for many years. He (585) 461-3494 for afree pocket guide to served as secretary and as a member of the Courtland Avery, George A. Avery's Mount Hope Cerneter-Y and a membership executive committee of the American Anti- brother and one of Lane Rebels, left the application. See our colorfd and irlfbr- Slavery Society and traveled extensively in seminary, and enrolled as a student in mative webpage : wtvwf6mh .oq this country and abroad giving speeches and Oberlin in 1835. He was listed as a member devoted his time and financial assistance to The Stanton family's Rochester activi- Joseph Stanton, who died in 1832 and moral reform causes and establishing places ties have remained relatively unknown. whose burial site is unknown. of worship in the community. Because his wife, Elizabeth Cad), Stanton, played such a prominent role in the aboli- George D. Stanton, who died of cholera In 1821, the Monroe County Bible tionist movement, Henry Stanton and his in 1834 while a student at Lane Seminary Society was founded.
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