Isaac T. Hopper A True Life

Navigation

To the story as told by her will be added a sketch of Friend Hopper, much prized by his family, which appeared in The Heking Hand, in the year , from the graceful ancl discriminating pen of Mrs. Kirkland, of New York. Except for this valued addition, the account of Isaac T.

Hopper, as first presented thirty years ago, remains unchanged. With R view to assure the thousands who were in sympathy with his work, that no part of it died with him, and to show how well his mantle has been worn by the noble woman on whose shoulders it naturally fell, a word is here added touching the labors of his daughter, Mrs. Abby Hopper Gibbons, in the various fields of philanthropy which have occupied a large part of her life. This is not the place for a biography of Mrs. IIay the day be distaot when it shall be possible to speak of her without that sense of friendly constraint which imposes itself upon the eulogist of the living Such a narrative, could it be fitly drawn out, would show her, for a third of a century at least, in the front rank of every humane and charitable movement-her judgment sought by old and young-her patience and energy untiring-her motherly tenderness unfailing—her courage equal to every demand.

Early interested in the effort to provide a fit refuge for the Citys infant poor, she was a visitor, with Miss Catharine M. Sedgwick, at the Long Island Fr rnls, when that terra iszcognita was the place of shelter for the little waifs now congregated in such numbers at Randalls Island. As though a malign fatality grudged them this last poor semblance of a home, the buildings occupied on Long Island burned to the ground, and the inmates were transferred for a time to inadequate quarters on Blackwells Island.

Gibbons was present, in company with Mrs. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world , and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity individual or corporate has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc.

Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Isaac T.

Hopper , please sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia.

Refine your editions:

Aug 06, Richard rated it it was ok Shelves: Having come across Hopper's name in some of my readings about Quakers and Abolitionism I was curious to learn more about this man. This plus one other book were all I could come up with. Since I have enjoyed reading some other biographies written in the 19th century before, I decided to try this one, which was published in one year after Hopper's death.

• Twin-Sun River: An American POW in China.
• Deepwater Heroes: The Boats that Saved the Coast!
• Isaac T. Hopper: A True Life by L. Maria Child - Hardcover.
• Timeless?

The author, Lydia Maria Child, was a younger Abolitionist herself who came to know Hopper quite well during the last years of his life. Thus Having come across Hopper's name in some of my readings about Quakers and Abolitionism I was curious to learn more about this man.

Thus, she wove a tale filled with many detailed tales of his efforts in the anti-slavery and then later in the prison reform movement from the 's until his death in On the one hand, these provided first hand accounts of Hopper's steadfast, and at times heroic, efforts in Philadelphia, and later in NYC, to help escaped slaves obtain their freedom.

Child quotes liberally and at length from letters and other written documentation about Hopper's actitivites. On the other hand, there were so many of these episodes and such lengthy quotes that I began to find them redundant and tedious. Thus, I skimmed through sections of the book. Unlike any other book I have read from that era this one had an 'index' at the beginning but no table of contents. It was also not broken up into chapters. Instead, it weaved its way through various periods in Hopper's life without any clear breaks in the narrative.

The book read almost as if Child was telling the story of Hopper's life to a group of people. Finally, this biography lacks any criticism of the man, his relationships with others, or his actions over the course of his long life. For these reasons, I would give this book a 2. Ie, I learned some interesting things but it was flawed in some significant ways.

Perhaps the other more modern biography of this man would be a little more to my tastes. But that author is also reportedly a Quaker. Would she be more willing to criticize Hopper than Child?