Richard Eells (1800–1846) was an abolitionist and physician from Illinois. Born in Connecticut, he moved to

Quincy, Illinois Quincy ( ) is a city in Adams County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Mississippi River, the population was 39,463 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 40,633 in 2010. The Quincy, Illinois, mic ...

in 1833. A

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

graduate, he set up a medical practice and quickly involved himself in

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. ...

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became known as a place of refuge for escaped slaves. On August 21, 1842, an escaped slave known only as Charley, owned by Chauncey Durkee of

Monticello, Missouri Monticello is a rural village in, and county seat of, Lewis County, Missouri, United States, along the North Fabius River. The population was 104 at the 2020 census, and according to this census, Monticello is the county seat with the smallest ...

, came to the house seeking help and transport. A freedman, Barryman Barnett, had spotted Charley swimming across the Mississippi and directed him to Eells’s house. Dr. Eells attempted to hide Charley in his carriage and drive across town, to where a safer hiding place awaited. However, a posse of slave catchers tried to intercept them. Charley was returned to Durkee, who requested that Eells be charged with “harboring and secreting a fugitive slave”, a crime in the Illinois Criminal Code at the time. County Circuit Judge

Stephen A. Douglas Stephen Arnold Douglas (né Douglass; April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. As a United States Senate, U.S. senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party (United States) ...

fined Eells $400. He appealed the ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court in 1844, where he lost again. In the meantime, the celebrated case brought Eells to the attention of the wider abolitionist movement. He was made president of the Illinois Anti-Slavery Party in 1843. He unsuccessfully ran for governor of Illinois in 1846. However, the costly legal proceedings undermined Eells’s finances and health. Exhausted and ill, he died on a river boat on the Ohio River near Cincinnati in 1846. Nevertheless, Eells’s estate continued the appeal process up to the U.S. Supreme Court. Here, abolitionist senators

Salmon P. Chase Salmon Portland Chase (January 13, 1808May 7, 1873) was an American politician and jurist who served as the sixth chief justice of the United States from 1864 to his death in 1873. Chase served as the 23rd governor of Ohio from 1856 to 1860, r ...

and

William H. Seward William Henry Seward (; May 16, 1801 – October 10, 1872) was an American politician who served as United States Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869, and earlier served as governor of New York and as a United States senator. A determined opp ...

made the case for Eells’s innocence. Despite the heavy weight of this defense team, the Supreme Court was unwilling to challenge the national status quo, which at the time was sympathetic to slave owners. Eells’s conviction for “harboring and secreting a fugitive slave” was upheld in 1852. In 2015, Quincy Mayor Chuck Shultz sought a posthumous pardon for Dr. Eells, and it was finally granted by Governor Pat Quinn. Dr. Eells's house in the South Side German Historic District of Quincy has been restored and is open to the public.Kent Hull, “Dr. Richard Eells Goes to Court”, ''Herald Whig,'' (January 24, 2021).

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Dr. Richard Eells House: Dr. Richard Eells House
from National Park Service {{DEFAULTSORT:Eells, Richard People from Quincy, Illinois Freedom suits in the United States United States slavery case law 1800 births 1846 deaths Abolitionists from Illinois Liberty Party (United States, 1840) politicians

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