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American abolitionist (1799–1878) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Barney Corse (November 2, 1799 – March 8, 1878)[1] was an American abolitionist, and leather merchant in New York City. He worked with Isaac T. Hopper, and David Ruggles in the anti-slavery movement and to protect fugitive slaves and free Blacks from slave kidnappers.
Barney Corse | |
---|---|
Born | November 2, 1799 Camden, Delaware, United States |
Died | March 8, 1878 78) Flushing, Queens, New York City, New York, United States | (aged
Burial place | Flushing Cemetery, Flushing, Queens, New York City, New York, United States |
Occupation(s) | Abolitionist, leather merchant |
Spouse | Mary Elizabeth Leggett (m. 1823–1878; his death) |
Children | 3 |
Barney Corse was born on November 2, 1799, in Camden, Delaware, to parents Lydia Troth and Israel Corse.[1] He had five siblings,[1] and the family was Quaker. His father owned a leather business on Jacob Street in Manhattan.[2][3] His father remarried and Barney Corse had step-siblings.
Barney Corse married Mary Elizabeth Leggett in 1823, and they had three children.[1]
In 1821, Corse joined his father in the leather business, and the name was changed to Israel Corse and Son.[4] In 1830, Israel retired and Corse's brother in-law Jonathan Thorne joined the business; by 1832, Corse left the entire business to Thorne.[3][4][5] In 1842, there was an issue with Israel Corse's land transfer the title of the land for the leather business, and it resulted in a lawsuit and his son Barney Corse filing for bankruptcy.[6]
Corse was a member of the New York Manumission Society.[7] Isaac T. Hopper, David Ruggles, and Corse had often worked together in abolition in New York City. Corse had planned and directed the forerunner of the Quaker-run Underground Railroad in North Carolina.[8]
On August 25, 1838, John P. Darg from Virginia had brought his chattel slave Thomas Hughes with him to New York City; and the state of New York had ended slavery a few years prior in 1827.[9][10][11] The laws for bringing human chattel to a free state was not yet defined in 1838. Thomas Hughes went to Isaac Hopper’s house, seeking temporary settlement.[10][12] Hopper initially was reluctant, and asked Hughes to leave.[10] The next day, The Sun newspaper published a reward for Darg's missing slave Hughs, and stolen money.[10] Hopper, and Corse (and possibly Ruggles) served as go-betweens for Darg and Hughes.[10] The money was spent by Hughs, so Hopper and Corse decided it was moral to return the missing money, so they put up their own money.[10]
The returned amount was less than the stolen amount of money, and Darg ordered Corse and Ruggles arrested for grand larceny.[13] Corse made bail, but Ruggles was jailed for two days.[10] The Disappointed Abolitionists, was a published lithograph caricature of Hopper, Ruggles, and Corse by artist Edward Williams Clay and lithographer Henry R. Robinson.[14] It suggested the trio was more interested in the reward money and extortion, and was not in the business of freeing slaves.[10][15] Local newspapers caused a furor for exposing the extreme dangers of abolitionist work.
Hughs served two years in prison for the money theft, and after his release he was a free. Corse was tried as an accessory to the robbery of John P. Darg in the Court of Sessions in New York City on March 8, 1839.[13][16] The jury couldn’t decide on the outcome of the case and a new trial was ordered.[16] On October 10, 1839, Corse was tried a second time.[13] The case facts were conflicting between the two Corse trials.[13]
Corse died of "paralysis of the heart" (in modern terms most likely sudden cardiac arrest) on March 8, 1878, in Flushing, Queens, New York City.[1][17]
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