Elizabeth A. Gloucester

Elizabeth Amelia Gloucester (née Parkhill; 1817 – August 9, 1883) was one of the wealthiest black women in America at the time of her death and was a supporter of the Underground Railroad and a business owner.[1]

Biography

She was born in 1817 in Richmond, Virginia, as Elizabeth Amelia Parkhill to a freedwoman. Little is known about her father, but census records listed that she was "mulatto" which implies she might have had a white father. When her mother died when she was still young, she went to live with Rev. John Gloucester Sr.[2] and she married his youngest son, James Gloucester in 1838.[1]

Gloucester ran 15 boarding homes in New York and they lived in Brooklyn from 1855. Her husband founded the Siloam Presbyterian Church[3] and she helped to pay for the building of the church.[3] They hosted abolitionist John Brown and she contributed to his causes.[1] She purchased the Hamilton Club and turned it into an upscale boarding house called the Remsen House.[2] She hosted Fredrick Douglass, John Brown and many others at the house and held meetings for the Freedman's Friend Society, Ladies National Union Fair and Union Soldier Association.[4]

Through the church, the Gloucesters carried out their abolitionist convictions by making it a stop on the Underground Railroad.[2][3][5]

She led the efforts to raise money for the Colored Orphan's Asylum in Weeksville, Brooklyn which was founded in 1866.[6]

Gloucester died on August 9, 1883, of pneumonia.[5] In her obituary, The Eagle wrote "She came to be known to every one in Brooklyn, New York, the State and in fact throughout a great part of the country." She had six children: Emma, Stephen, Elizabeth, Eloise, Charles and Adelaide.[2] At the time of her death, Gloucester's properties were worth about $300,000, today's 7 million dollars. Newspapers all reported that she was "the remarkable colored woman."[4]

References

  1. "Overlooked No More: Elizabeth A. Gloucester, 'Richest' Black Woman and Ally of John Brown". The New York Times. September 18, 2019. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  2. Nielsen, Euell A. (June 17, 2015). "Elizabeth A. Parkhill Gloucester (1817-1883)". Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  3. Morris), Suzanne Spellen (aka Montrose (October 9, 2012). "Walkabout: The Gloucester Family of Brooklyn, Part 1". Brownstoner. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  4. "Remsen House, Owned and Operated by". Black Then. June 10, 2018. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  5. Morris), Suzanne Spellen (aka Montrose (October 11, 2012). "Walkabout: The Gloucester Family of Brooklyn, Part 2". Brownstoner. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  6. Genaro, Teresa. ""Overlooked No More": Elizabeth Gloucester". Brooklyn Heights Blog. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
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