The Kimberly Mansion is a historic house at 1625 Main Street in

Glastonbury, Connecticut Glastonbury ( ) is a town in the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, United States, formally founded in 1693 and first settled in 1636. It was named after Glastonbury in Somerset, England. Glastonbury is ...

, United States. It was the home of

Abby Abby or Abbie is a given name, most often a shortened form of Abigail (name), Abigail and Albert (given name), Albert. Notable women * Abbie Betinis (born 1980), American composer * Abby Binay (born 1975), Filipino politician * Abbie Boudre ...

and

Julia Evelina Smith Julia Evelina Smith (27 May 1792 – 6 March 1886) was an American women's suffrage activist who was the first woman to translate the Bible from its original languages into English. She was also the author of the book ''Abby Smith and Her Cows'', ...

, political activists involved in causes including

abolitionism 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 France in 1315, but it was later used in its colonies. ...

and

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

. By contesting the assessment on their property and protesting against " taxation without representation," they brought international attention to the cause of

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

History

The Smith family hosted abolitionist meetings and lectures in their home and on their lawn. They collected signatures for an anti-slavery petition and sent it to former president

John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the sixth president of the United States, serving from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States secretary of state from 1817 to 1825. During his long diploma ...

to present to

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

. In 1873, late in their lives, they became

tax resisters Tax resistance is the refusal to pay tax because of opposition to the government that is imposing the tax, or to government policy, or as Taxation as theft, opposition to taxation in itself. Tax resistance is a form of direct action and, if in v ...

when they began a two-year fight with local authorities over an inequitable property tax assessment on their property, Kimberly Farm. They owned the most valuable property in town and believed they were being exploited by the town tax collector. In Connecticut at the time, women had no vote and therefore no voice in the disposition of their taxes. They refused to pay their tax until they were given representation. Abby took their concerns to the town council where she said:

The motto of our government is 'Proclaim liberty to all inhabitants of the land!' and here, where liberty is so highly extolled and glorified by every man in it, one-half of the inhabitants are not put under her laws, but are ruled over by the other half, who can take all they possess. How is Liberty pleased with such worship?

The town responded by seizing their Alderney cows, auctioning them off and attempting to auction their farm as well. The sisters were able to buy the cows back and fought the town in court, ultimately winning. The case brought wide national attention to the sisters, their cows and the cause of women's suffrage. The sisters came from an accomplished and nonconformist family. The sisters' parents were Zephaniah Smith, a lawyer and former

Sandemanian The Glasites or Glassites were a small Christian church founded in about 1730 in Scotland by John Glas.John Glas preached supremacy of God's word (Bible) over allegiance to Church and state to his congregation in Tealing near Dundee in July 172 ...

minister, and Hannah Hickok, an amateur mathematician and poet. There were three other sisters: Hancy, an inventor; Laurilla, an artist and Cyrinthia, a poet. Julia also knew classical languages and in 1855, she finished the first complete translation of the Bible into English by a woman."Last of the Smith Girls", New York Times, March 9, 1886. She published the translation herself in 1876 as an example of the accomplishments that women are capable of.E. G. Speare, "Abby, Julia, and the Cows", American Heritage, Volume 8, Issue 4, June 1957. The house was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in 1974 for its association with the Smith sisters and its role in their protest. The large wooden two-story farmhouse was built in the early 18th century by the Connecticut politician Eleazer Kimberly. Zephaniah Smith bought the house in 1790.

References

External links

The Historical Society of Glastonbury
{{National Register of Historic Places Glastonbury, Connecticut National Historic Landmarks in Connecticut Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Houses in Hartford County, Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in Hartford County, Connecticut Tax resistance in the United States History of women in Connecticut

History

See also

References

External links