BRISBANE, WILLIAM HENRY

Reverend Dr. William Henry Brisbane as born in Beaufort County, South Carolina He was a Baptist Minister of the southern United States who, having convinced himself of the immorality of slavery, freed and settled a group of slaves he had inherited, and became an active abolitionist.

His father, Adam Fowler Brisbane (1783–1830) appears, from Brisbane's own writings, to have suffered from alcoholism. He was adopted by his rich childless uncle William Brisbane (1759–1821) (whom Brisbane later described as “tho' not remarkably pious, yet one of the most excellent men I ever knew, in whom was combined almost every quality worthy of admiration”) and aunt Mary Ash Deveaux (?–1845). He married May 28, 1825 at Lawtonville, Glorianna Lawton. who bore him eight recorded children of whom three survived to adulthood.

Brisbane inherited a large number of slaves, but became convinced that slavery was wrong, and in 1835 brought 33 of them to the north, manumitting them and aiding them to settle in life. Since much of Brisbane's wealth was in slaves, this act resulted in a considerable loss of income and equity. At this time many family and friends in his social circle, including rice planters, led lives that were economically dependent on slavery. Freeing his slaves and becoming an outspoken abolitionist resulted in his making enemies with many of those closest to him.

Brisbane came to his abolitionist views because of his inability to refute the claims made by an abolitionist pamphlet he received in the mail. He was especially disturbed by his inability to reconcile the values in the Constitution with those of the slavery institution.

Because of his radical views on slavery, for Antebellum South Carolina, he had to move north to Cincinnati. There he became the associate of prominent abolitionists, and a constant worker in their cause. In the decades of anti-slavery agitation before the Civil War he was an active campaigner for abolition.

In 1855 he moved to Wisconsin, was chief clerk of the state senate in 1857, and became pastor of the Baptist church in Madison. He was able to return to South Carolina (temporarily) as an officer of the victorious Yankees and, in 1864, as a tax commissioner. In June 1874, he took an active part in the reunion of the old abolition guards in Chicago. He died in Arena, Wisconsin.

SMITH, ABRAM DANIEL

Abram Smith was born in Lowville, New York, and married Mary Augusta Reed (1811-1866).

Abram Smith, born in Lowville, New York, settled in Sackets Harbor, New York where he read law. He attended Castleton Medical School in Castleton, Vermont, graduating in 1831. He was a member of the Equal Rights Party and elected as Justice of the Peace in Cleveland, Ohio in March 1837. He was also a prominent member and president (1838) of the Cleveland Republic of Canada Hunter’s Lodge, an organization made up of Lower Canadian refugees. Smith moved to Milwaukee in 1842. Smith came to the Wisconsin Territory from New York in 1842 and practiced law in Milwaukee. He was elected one of the three justices for the newly created 1853 Wisconsin Supreme Court and served until 1859. He wrote a famous but controversial opinion in Ableman v. Booth (1854) which was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. He also wrote that the federal Fugitive Slave Act violated state's rights and declared it unconstitutional. In 1856, Smith was implicated in a major railroad scandal in Wisconsin. Smith admitted receiving $10,000 from one of Wisconsin's major railroad promoters. Governor Coles Bashford and dozens of legislators were also implicated. Following his term on the Supreme Court, Smith practiced law in Wisconsin until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he accepted a government appointment in South Carolina.

Smith was described as patient, kindhearted and courteous, particularly to younger members of the bar. During the 1850 census, Abram and his family were living in the first ward of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and he was listed as a lawyer and his real estate value was $6,000. In 1860 they had moved to the 4th ward of the city and his real estate value had increased to $75,000. Senator James Rood Doolittle, a friend of Judge Smith lobbied for him to get the appointment on the Direct Tax Commission in Beaufort, South Carolina. He forced Smith to stay away “from intoxicating drinks or drugs” while on the job.

When the steamer Arago left Hilton Head at about noon June 2, 1865, Smith’s colleague William Henry Brisbane noted in his diary that Smith did not look well. “My former colleague Judge A.D. Smith is also on board. He is perfectly broken down and will probably even pass away.”

We learn by the News that Hon. A. D. Smith, formerly one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of this State, and recently one of the Tax Commissioners of South Carolina, died at New York City last evening on his way home from Hilton Head. Judge Smith achieved a national reputation by his decision in the Glover case and his devotion to the cause of Liberty.

To the Editor of the N.Y. Tribune: Sir: I have the melancholy tidings to announce that the Hon. A. D. Smith of Wisconsin, recently of South Carolina, died on Arago last Sunday morning. His body was embalmed and sent to Wisconsin today. In behalf of yjr relatives and friends of the deceased, I desire to return my warmest thanks for their kindness and attention to him on the voyage here, to Messrs. Brisbane, Nording and Cooley, U.S. Tax Commissioners, to Capt. Gadsden, Purser Ely and other officers of the Arago, and also to J. R. Stimson, the agent of Adams’ Express Company, who first brought to me the painful tidings. Yours very truly, HERBERT REED Customs-House, New York, June 6, 1865

Judge A.D. Smith of Wisconsin, died on board the steamer Arago on Sunday last. He was Justice of the Supreme Court of that State several years since, and discharged Aherman M. Booth from custody when under attest for violation of the Fugitive Slave Act. Mr. Lincoln, in 1862, appointed him Judge of the District of South Carolina, a position which he resigned some months afterward.

Judge Smith and his wife are buried in Section 26 of Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Findagrave Memorial ID 88773026

WORDING, WILLIAM EDWARD

William Wording was born in Castine, Maine. He married Catherine Lawrence (1818-1890).

William Edward Wording, A.M., LL. D., well-known in this State and one of the eminent and successful men, so many of whom have gone from Maine and settled in the great West, dropped dead at Plainview, Minnesota last week, aged about 75 years. He was a native of Belfast and graduated at Colby University in 1836, being one year in college with Rev. Dr. Ricker of Augusta. From 1836 to 1841 he was professor of Greek and Latin in the Hampton Library and Theological Institute , New Hampshire; principal of the High School, Cheraw, South Carolina, 1841-1844; lawyer, Cheraw, 1845-1847; resided in Racine, Wisconsin, 1847-1862; judge of the county court 1850-1862; member of the Wisconsin Legislature; United States Tax Commissioner, South Carolina 1862-1870. Since 1870 he had been a member of the board of trustees of Colby University and donated $10,000 toward the institution. At the time of his death he was a lawyer and banker and had accumulated much wealth.

During the 1850 census William, Catherine and their family were living in Racine, Wisconsin and he was a lawyer. In 1860 they were in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin and he was a county judge.

William applied for a freedman’s bank account Feb 05, 1869 when he was a US Tax Commissioner and residing in Beaufort, South Carolina with his wife Catherine.

Houlton, June 28- This has been a memorable day in Houlton. The beautiful edifice, erected for Ricker Classical Institute by Mrs. Catherine L. Wording in memory of her deceased husband, the late Judge W. E. Wording, was dedicated with appropriate services. Judge Wording, who died in Fargo, North Dakota Jan 22, 1886, was a native of Castine, where he was born in 1812. Desirous of obtaining a collegiate education, with no relative or rich patron to aid him, he made his way to Waterville College, overcame bravely the obstacles which he encountered through a lack of pecuniary means, and was graduated with honor in 1836. For a while after his graduation he was engaged in teaching; then he entered upon the practice of law; for successive terms he was judge of probate for the county of Racine, Wisconsin, after that he was made United States Tax Commissioner in South Carolina. Since then his home had been in Wisconsin. His life was one of unspotted integrity, and when he died no stain rested upon the name which he had so long worthily born. Judge Wording never forgot the struggles through which he passed in obtaining an education, especially in the preparatory part of his course. It was because of this, doubtless, that Mrs. Wording has erected this beautiful memorial for Ricker Classical Institute, one of the endowed preparatory schools connected with Colby University; “the mother”, Judge Wording was wont to say, “to whom I owe all that I am.” Mrs. Wording’s gift of $30,000 for the erection of this memorial was adopted by the trustees of Colby University at the commencement at Waterville in 1886, and a committee, and Wording Hall erected under their supervision, is one of the most tasteful and convenient buildings for academic purposes in the State. The main entrance on Military Street is through a low, broad arch, over which is a tablet with the following inscription:

Erected A.D. 1887, by Catherine L. Wording,
In Memory of her husband, William E. Wording,
Who died Jan. 2, 1886

Wording Hall burned Mar 23, 1944, and was replaced in 1946.

William Wording is buried in Block 5, Mound Cemetery, Racine, Wisconsin Findagrave Memorial ID 175527946