Angels of Mercy: White Women and the History of New York's Colored Orphan Asylum

1. The Early Years, 1836–42

1 The Early Years, 1836–42 Alas! I am an orphan Boy, With naught on earth to cheer my heart; No father’s love, no mother’s joy No kin nor kind to take my part. My lodging is the cold, cold ground, I eat the bread of charity; and when the kiss of love goes round, there is no kiss, alas. As the New York Orphan Asylum, founded in 1809, admitted only Caucasian children, it came as no surprise when Quaker women established the nation’s first orphanage for children of color.1 Originally slaveholders, in 1774 New York Quakers placed sanctions on members who bought and sold slaves. In 1778, they removed slaveholders from their congregations.2 The origin of the Colored Orphan Asylum has several versions, influenced by the passage of time, boastful pride, and marketing objectives . An original version noted that in 1834 two Quaker women, Anna H. Shotwell and her niece, Mary Murray, chanced upon two dirty and unkempt children at play under the watchful eye of a black woman. Upon learning that they had been abandoned by fugitive slave parents, the two gave the woman a few dollars to care for the children. Several days later, they found that the kind woman had four additional children under her care, having received enough funds to tend to their needs. This led the two Quakers to consider opening a home for homeless children of color. Later, Leslie Skiddy Parker noted that ‘‘a white the early years, 1836–42 | 9 woman . . . had taken [the two children] out of jail and not knowing what to do with them,’’ turned them over to the Quaker women, who took them home. This version places the kindness on the part of a sympathetic white woman instead of crediting a black woman for her generosity. Anna Shotwell and Mary Murray were both extraordinary women. Twenty-eight-year-old Anna, the daughter of William Shotwell , a member of the New York Manumission Society, was a staunch opponent of slavery. Anna had decided at age twelve never to have an African American servant or laborer as long as slavery existed. Eighteen -year-old Mary Murray, the granddaughter of John Murray Jr., the long-time treasurer of the Manumission Society, ‘‘was a person of a strong and dominant will [who possessed] a good deal of executive ability united with a great persistence of purpose.’’3 The Colored Orphan Asylum was formed on November 26, 1836, in the home of William Shotwell. The founders decided upon the name ‘‘colored’’ in deference to the community’s sensibilities. Many prominent men of color resented the white-led American Colonization Society ’s assertion that the black person’s destiny was in Africa. These men, who had been born in the United States and had a mixed AfricanEuropean ancestry, preferred the nomenclature ‘‘colored’’ over ‘‘African ,’’ which they believed better identified them as Americans and not Africans in exile. The founders of the COA, pioneers in child welfare for youth of color, included Anna Shotwell, Mary Murray, Eunice Mitchel , Sarah C. Hawxhurst, Sarah Shotwell, Hanna L. Murray, Mary Shotwell, Eleanor Shotwell, Phebe Mott, Elizabeth Little, Abby Ann Cook, Stella Tracy, Ernestine Lord, Jane U. Ferris, Sarah Underhill, Margaretta Cock, and Sarah Hall. A board of twenty-five female managers and five male advisers was quickly organized. The Association for the Benefit of Colored Orphans in the City of New York immediately received the assistance of prominent New Yorkers including Robert C. Cornell, Charles King, William F. Mott, Robert J. Murray, Dr. James Proudfit, Mahlon Day, Israel Corse, Walter Underhill, Robert I. Murray, John Murray Jr., John Jay, and John Jacob Astor. Throughout the nineteenth century, a who’s who of New York philanthropists, merchants , artisans, and bankers would befriend the institution. But it 10 | the early years, 1836–42 Anna Shotwell, Hannah Shotwell, and Mary Murray. (Collection of The New-York Historical Society.) the early years, 1836–42 | 11 would be years before the Colored Orphan Asylum would have financial security, and even then it would be sporadic, as increased enrollment would lead to deficits. The fledging organization provided women with an opportunity to display leadership. As married women in the early nineteenth century were not allowed to own property in their own right, the managers noted in their constitution that ‘‘the husbands of any married woman who is or may be a member...