Amos Noë Freeman (1809 —1893) was an African-American

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

minister, and educator. He was the first full-time minister of Abyssinian Congregational Church in

Portland, Maine Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...

, where he led a station on the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

Early life and education

Amos Noë Freeman was born in

Rahway, New Jersey Rahway () is a city (New Jersey), city in southern Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A bedroom community of New York City, it is centrally located in the Rahway River, Rahway Valley region, in the New ...

. He was orphaned and raised within the church from an early age. As a child, he was sent to attend the African Free School in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, then matriculated to Phoenix High School in New York City, established by his mentor Rev. Theodore Sedgewick Wright. Freeman returned to his native New Jersey to attend Rahway Academy, and later transferred to the

Oneida Institute The Oneida Institute ( ) was a short-lived Presbyterianism, Presbyterian school in Whitesboro, New York, United States, that was a national leader in the emerging Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist movement. Existing from 1827 to 18 ...

Whitesboro, New York Whitesboro is a village in Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 3,772 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The village is named after Hugh White, an early settler. The Village of Whitesboro is inside the Whitestown ...

. It had recently been founded by radical

minister, Rev. Beriah Green. Freeman was one of four African Americans in the first year class of 33; others were Amos Beman, who became a good friend; Alexander Crummell, and

Henry Highland Garnet Henry Highland Garnet (December 23, 1815 – February 13, 1882) was an American abolitionist, minister, educator, orator, and diplomat. Having escaped as a child from slavery in Maryland with his family, he grew up in New York City. He was ed ...

.Swift, David Everett
''Black Prophets of Justice: Activist Clergy Before the Civil War''
Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1989, p. 178. Upon graduating from Oneida Institute in the early 1830s, Freeman moved back to New Jersey, first to

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

, then Newark, to teach in the "

colored ''Colored'' (or ''coloured'') is a racial descriptor historically used in the United States during the Jim Crow era to refer to an African American. In many places, it may be considered a slur. Dictionary definitions The word ''colored'' wa ...

" public schools.

Marriage and family

In 1839 in Newark, Freeman married Christiana Taylor Williams (1812–1903), born in Red Hook on Hudson, New York. She was a recently

manumitted Manumission, or enfranchisement, is the act of freeing slaves Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and ...

domestic slave and black descendant of Philip H. Livingston (1769,

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

-1831, New York), grandson of Philip Livingston, a signer of the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...

; and Barbara Williams, an enslaved woman of African descent born in Jamaica. Christiana Williams had worked in one or more of Livingston's households in New York state. The Freemans had a family, including a daughter, Mary Freeman. She married Rev. Robert Foster Wheeler. One of their daughters, Laura Wheeler Waring, became a portrait painter known for her work during the

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African-American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics, and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the ti ...

. She was among the first African-American artists to have works exhibited by the Harmon Foundation, and was commissioned by them to do portraits of prominent African Americans.Art and Culture: Exploring Freedom/Laura Wheeler Waring
''African American World'', PBS-WNET.

Ministry

Freeman was ordained as a minister by the New York Presbytery in 1840. In 1841, he and his wife moved to

, where he was installed as the first pastor of the Abyssinian Congregational Church, now the third oldest surviving black church in the United States. It became a center of the anti-slavery movement and part of the

. Freeman became the most well-known African American in Maine because of his leadership there; he was a strong supporter of education and also ran a school affiliated with the church. For a decade, he and his wife provided support to fugitive slaves at the church and in their home., Portland Freedom Trail, 2007. In 1852, Rev. Freeman became the pastor of Siloam Presbyterian Church in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, founded in 1849. He served there from 1852 to 1860. He was a longtime friend of Amos Gerry Beman, a prominent black minister active in the Northeast. In 1853, he was a prominent attendee of the radical abolitionist National African American Convention in Rochester, New York. His was one of 5 names attached to the address of the convention to the people of the United States published under the title, ''The Claims of Our Common Cause'', along with

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was the most impor ...

, James Monroe Whitfield, Henry O. Wagoner, and George Boyer Vashon. In 1857 Freeman moderated the annual meeting of the Evangelical Association of Colored Ministers of Congregational and Presbyterian Churches, which met from 1856 to 1859 to confirm their distinctive vocation; that year they met at the Central Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. In 1859 Freeman hosted this meeting at the Siloam Church, by which time there were 27 black churches in the group.Swift (1989)
''Black Prophets of Justice''
p. 310. While Rev. Freeman lived in Brooklyn in the mid-1850s, he secretly sheltered and aided Anna Maria Weems, a young fugitive slave, on her journey to freedom in Canada. Jacob Bigelow, a Washington, DC lawyer, disguised her as a boy. They met Dr. Ellwood Harvey of Philadelphia in front of the White House in November 1855, and Weems pretended to be a male buggy driver. She drove Harvey from Washington to Philadelphia, where Harvey took her to the house of another abolitionist,

William Still William Still (October 7, 1819 – July 14, 1902) was an African-American abolitionist based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a conductor of the Underground Railroad and was responsible for aiding and assisting at least 649 slaves to freedom ...

, for Thanksgiving. The next day Dr. Harvey took Weems across the river to

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a City (New Jersey), city in Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan region. The city was incorporated on February 13, 1828.Snyder, John P''The Story of ...

, and on to New York City. In Brooklyn he took her to Rev. Charles Ray's house. Ray took her to the home of

Lewis Tappan Lewis Tappan (May 23, 1788 – June 21, 1873) was an American abolitionist who in 1841 helped to secure freedom for the enslaved Africans aboard the '' Amistad''. He was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, into a Calvinist household. Tappan w ...

, where the only photo of Weems was taken in her "boy disguise". Rev. Freeman accompanied Weems from there by train to Canada, where she reached safety at her uncle and aunt's house in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. It is likely that is where Freeman first met the radical American abolitionist, John Brown. Later Brown stopped at Freeman's church in Brooklyn in 1859, while en route to his raid at Harpers Ferry.

Later years

In 1860, Rev. Freeman was called as pastor of the Congregationalist Talcott Street Church in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

. Four years later, Rev. Freeman and family returned to Brooklyn, where he rejoined the congregation at Siloam Presbyterian Church. Freeman served there until his retirement in 1885. Christiana Williams Freeman worked at the Colored Orphans Home in New York City, where she helped protect the children during the New York Draft Riots of 1863. Rev. Freeman died at his home in Brooklyn. Both Freemans are buried at The Evergreen Cemetery in Brooklyn.

Legacy and honors

*The "Home of Amos Noe and Christiana Williams Freeman" is on the Portland Freedom Trail in Maine, and a plaque was installed in their honor."Home of Amos Noe and Christiana Williams Freeman"
Historical Marker Database, 2007, includes photo of house, accessed 28 January 2014.

References