Elizabeth Buffum Chace
| Elizabeth Buffum Chace | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | December 9, 1806 Providence, Rhode Island |
| Died | December 12, 1899 (aged 93) |
| Resting place | Swan Point Cemetery |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | activist |
| Children | Arnold Buffum Chace |
Elizabeth Buffum Chace (9 December 1806 – 12 December 1899) was an American activist in the Anti-Slavery, Women's Rights, and Prison Reform Movements of the mid-to-late 19th century.
Elizabeth Buffum Chace was born Elizabeth Buffum in Smithfield, Rhode Island on December 9, 1806, to Arnold Buffum and Rebecca Gould, the Buffum and Gould families were some of the oldest families in New England. A birthright Quaker, Elizabeth Buffum grew up in a household that was anti-slavery, her father Arnold holding strong beliefs in that regard.
On April 4, 1828, Buffum married Samuel Buffington Chace, also a birthright Quaker of an ancient New England family. It was after her marriage to Samuel that Elizabeth began to become truly influential in the anti-slavery movement. Although Samuel was not as outspoken as his wife, he shared her beliefs and together, they opened their home in Valley Falls, Rhode Island as a Station on the Underground Railroad, at great personal risk, to runaway slaves helping them escape to Canada.
Elizabeth had ten children with Samuel. The first five died in childhood to diseases which ravaged the families of that time.
With the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, the Chaces continued their striving for the outlaw of slavery and although firmly supportive of the Union cause, were disappointed that Abraham Lincoln did not move immediately to abolish slavery. Elizabeth Buffum Chace met and corresponded regularly with many of the most significant Anti-Slavery figures of that time; she associated personally with William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and William Wells Brown, and hosted them frequently at her home.
As an illustration of just how dedicated to and involved in the anti-slavery movement the Buffum family were, while John Brown was being held in Virginia after his actions at Harpers Ferry and right prior to being hanged, Elizabeth's sister Rebecca Buffum and her son Edward journeyed to Virginia from Rhode Island specifically to visit with Brown in his cell. They requested and received special permission from the Virginia authorities to do so thinking that they could "minister" to John Brown. By their own account of the visits, John Brown welcomed them openly.
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