 |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
| DR. BARTHOLOMEW FUSSELL. 685 dent of the United States. As the counties were called in alphabetical order, be responded first among the Pennsylvania delegation. It is thought that he helped away during his whole life, nearly one thousand slaves. During his latter years, he was aided in the good work by his children, who never hesitated to sacrifice their own pleasure in order to help away fugitives. His convictions on the subject of slavery eeem to have been born with him, to have grown with his growth, and strengthened with hia strength. He could not remember when he first became interested in the subject. William Wright closed his long and useful life on the 25th of October, 1865. More fortunate than his oo-laborer, Daniel Gibbons, he lived to 'see the triumph of the cause ia which he had labored all his life. His latter years were cheered by the remembrance of hia good deeds in the cause of human freedom. Modest and retiring, he would not desire, as he does not need, a eulogy. His labors speak for themselves, and are such as are recorded upon the Lamb's Book of Life. DB. BARTHOLOMEW FUSSELL. Dr. Fussell, whose death occurred within tbe current year, was no ordinary man. He was born in Chester county, Pa., in 1794, his ancestors being members of the Society of Friends, principally of English origin, who arrived in America daring the early settlement of Pennsylvania, some being of the number who, with William Penn, built their homes on the unbroken soil, where Philadelphia now stands. He inherited all the bravery of these early pioneers, who left their homes for the sake of religious freedom, the go%'erning principle of his life being a direct antagonism to every form of oppression. Removing in early manhood, to Maryland, where negro Slavery was legally protected, he became one of the most active opponents of the system, being a friend and oo-laborer of Elisha Tyson, known and beloved as " Father Tyson," by all the slaves of the region, and to the community at large, as one of the most philanthropic of men. While teaching school during the week, as a means of self-education, and reading medicine at night, the young student expended his surplus energy in opening a Sabbath-school for colored persons, teaching them the rudiments of knowledge, not for a few hours only, but for the whole day, and frequently finding as many as ninety pupils collected to receive the inestimable boon which gave them the power of reading the Bible for themselves. To the deeply religions nature of these Africans, this was the one blessing they prized above all others in hia power to bestow, and the overflowing gratitude they gave in return, was a memory he cherished to the latest years of his life. |