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]
Elizabeth Gloucester | |
|---|---|
| Born | Elizabeth Amelia Parkhill 1817 Richmond, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | August 9, 1883 (aged 65–66) Brooklyn, New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Businesswoman, abolitionist |
Life and career
editShe 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 married his youngest son, James Gloucester, in 1838. She developed her business skills by selling secondhand clothing and then operating a furniture store on West Broadway.[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, which had a mostly white clientele.[2] She hosted Frederick 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] Following her death, two of her daughters continued to run the Remsen House for some years, but the building was eventually demolished.[1]
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]
Death and legacy
editGloucester died on August 9, 1883, of pneumonia.[5] She was interred at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. In her obituary, The Brooklyn 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." At the time of her death, Gloucester's properties were worth about $300,000 ($7 million today), making her perhaps the wealthiest Black woman in America at the time.[1] Newspapers called her "the remarkable colored woman." She had six children: Emma, Stephen, Elizabeth, Eloise, Charles and Adelaide.[2][4]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e Bell, Steve (September 18, 2019). "Overlooked No More: Elizabeth A. Gloucester, 'Richest' Black Woman and Ally of John Brown". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
- ^ a b c d Nielsen, Euell A. (June 17, 2015). "Elizabeth A. Parkhill Gloucester (1817-1883)". Retrieved April 23, 2020.
- ^ a b c Morris), Suzanne Spellen (aka Montrose (October 9, 2012). "Walkabout: The Gloucester Family of Brooklyn, Part 1". Brownstoner. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
- ^ a b "Remsen House, Owned and Operated by". Black Then. June 10, 2018. Archived from the original on April 21, 2020. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
- ^ a b Morris), Suzanne Spellen (aka Montrose (October 11, 2012). "Walkabout: The Gloucester Family of Brooklyn, Part 2". Brownstoner. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
- ^ Genaro, Teresa. ""Overlooked No More": Elizabeth Gloucester". Brooklyn Heights Blog. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
Further reading
edit- Staples, Brent (February 16, 2024). "The Lost Story of New York's Most Powerful Black Woman". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 16, 2024.