The Quaker Poet: John Whittier and Concord Township
- Emma Leuschner
- Feb 19
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 26
John Greenleaf Whittier was born in 1807 in Haverhill, Massachusetts to a Quaker family. He grew to become a renowned poet and anti-slavery activist. He was known as one of the 19th-century “fireside poets” known across America, including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Cullen Bryant, James Russell Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Whittier was a founding member and secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society, which was formed in 1833. Whittier was also the editor of the Pennsylvania Freeman from 1838-1840, a leading abolitionist paper published out of Philadelphia.
Dr. Benjamin Franklin Leggett was a personal friend of John Greenleaf Whittier. Dr. Leggett was born to a Quaker father and Methodist mother in Chestertown, New York. His father, Joseph W. Leggett, was a prominent abolitionist and operated an Underground Railroad safe house out of the Leggett family home. Both Quakers, abolitionists, and poets — these two men must have been fast friends.
At Dr. Leggett’s Concord Township school, Ward Academy, his pupils celebrated Whittier’s birthday in 1882 with classroom recitations of Whittier’s works and an address by Dr. Leggett including a reading of a personal letter from Whittier to Leggett:
“Dear Friend. —
I remember Delaware county very well, and congratulate thee on thy protective permanent home in its limits. It is a lovely spot. The climate is all that could be desired and the people intelligent and hospitable. I am glad to be kindly remembered on my birthday by thy school. With good wishes for teachers and pupils, I am very truly thy friend, John G. Whittier”
—published in an article in The Jeffersonian, 23 December 1882
Dr. Leggett lectured on the life and works of John Whittier following his death in 1892. He spoke about Whittier’s life and legacy and often brought a personal portrait of Whittier along to lectures. In these lectures, or rather, public eulogies, Dr. Leggett spoke about his private letter correspondence with Whittier.
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