Overlooked No More: Elizabeth A. Gloucester, 'Richest' Black Woman and Ally of John Brown.
She ran boardinghouses whose lodgers included members of New York's elite, raised money for an orphan asylum and was active in the abolitionists' cause.
By Steve Bell
New York Times
Sept. 23, 2019
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/18/obituaries/elizabeth-gloucester-overlooked.html?searchResultPosition=1
Elizabeth and Reverend James Gloucester were leaders of Brooklyn's black community. She made a fortune in real estate and was active in fundraising for New York City's Colored Orphan Asylum. During the Civil War, she led efforts to raise funds for freedmen and Union soldiers. James was the founding pastor of Brooklyn's Siloam Presbyterian Church. He also was the principal of the African School in Carsville and a supporter of Lewis Tappan's American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. The Gloucesters were friends and colleagues of both Frederick Douglass and John Brown, men who would not have quietly accepted discrimination. When it came time for Elizabeth and James to purchase a burial spot, they chose lot 9817 in 1856. When she died in 1883, she was one of the richest women in America–and was widely believed to be the country's richest woman of color. They bought their 300 square foot lot in 1856 for $110–about $3000 in today's dollars. That was a substantial investment, one which many New Yorkers and Brooklynites, white and black, could not afford.
James married Elizabeth Gloucester in 1838 and moved to Brooklyn in the late 1840s. The couple were close friends and colleagues with Frederick Douglass and John Brown, and offered financial support for Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry. After Elizabeth died in 1883, James became a physician and moved to Long Island.
Elizabeth Gloucester was born in Virginia and moved to Philadelphia at age 6. She married Presbyterian minister James Gloucester and the couple moved to Brooklyn. She led fundraising efforts for freedmen and Union soldiers through the Ladies National Union Fair and the American Freedmen's Friend Society.
In addition to the obituary above, another longer NYTimes opinion piece appeared on Feb. 16, 2024 entitled: "The Lost Story of New York's Most Powerful Black Woman"
On May 20, 2024, the author of this article, Brent Staples, is scheduled to give a lecture with the same title at the New-York Historical Society.
Name Elizabeth A Gloucester
Date of interment August 11, 1883
Lot number (of current burial site) 9817
show more
Birthplace -
Marital status Married
Age at death 66 years
Late residence 144 Remsen St, Brooklyn
Place of death Brooklyn
Cause of death Organic Heart
Date of death August 8, 1883
Diagram available (see digital image) false
Lot owner? false
Undertaker / Funeral Director J M Hopper
Burial Registry Volume 29
Burial Registry Page 103
Interment Number 220099
Overlooked No More: Elizabeth A. Gloucester, 'Richest' Black Woman and Ally of John Brown.
She ran boardinghouses whose lodgers included members of New York's elite, raised money for an orphan asylum and was active in the abolitionists' cause.
By Steve Bell
New York Times
Sept. 23, 2019
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/18/obituaries/elizabeth-gloucester-overlooked.html?searchResultPosition=1
Elizabeth and Reverend James Gloucester were leaders of Brooklyn's black community. She made a fortune in real estate and was active in fundraising for New York City's Colored Orphan Asylum. During the Civil War, she led efforts to raise funds for freedmen and Union soldiers. James was the founding pastor of Brooklyn's Siloam Presbyterian Church. He also was the principal of the African School in Carsville and a supporter of Lewis Tappan's American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. The Gloucesters were friends and colleagues of both Frederick Douglass and John Brown, men who would not have quietly accepted discrimination. When it came time for Elizabeth and James to purchase a burial spot, they chose lot 9817 in 1856. When she died in 1883, she was one of the richest women in America–and was widely believed to be the country's richest woman of color. They bought their 300 square foot lot in 1856 for $110–about $3000 in today's dollars. That was a substantial investment, one which many New Yorkers and Brooklynites, white and black, could not afford.
James married Elizabeth Gloucester in 1838 and moved to Brooklyn in the late 1840s. The couple were close friends and colleagues with Frederick Douglass and John Brown, and offered financial support for Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry. After Elizabeth died in 1883, James became a physician and moved to Long Island.
Elizabeth Gloucester was born in Virginia and moved to Philadelphia at age 6. She married Presbyterian minister James Gloucester and the couple moved to Brooklyn. She led fundraising efforts for freedmen and Union soldiers through the Ladies National Union Fair and the American Freedmen's Friend Society.
In addition to the obituary above, another longer NYTimes opinion piece appeared on Feb. 16, 2024 entitled: "The Lost Story of New York's Most Powerful Black Woman"
On May 20, 2024, the author of this article, Brent Staples, is scheduled to give a lecture with the same title at the New-York Historical Society.
Name Elizabeth A Gloucester
Date of interment August 11, 1883
Lot number (of current burial site) 9817
show more
Birthplace -
Marital status Married
Age at death 66 years
Late residence 144 Remsen St, Brooklyn
Place of death Brooklyn
Cause of death Organic Heart
Date of death August 8, 1883
Diagram available (see digital image) false
Lot owner? false
Undertaker / Funeral Director J M Hopper
Burial Registry Volume 29
Burial Registry Page 103
Interment Number 220099
Family Members
-
Emma J. Gloucester Blanchard
1837–1885
-
Jeremiah Gloucester
1841–1841
-
Stephen H. Gloucester
1842–1856
-
Elizabeth Amelia Gloucester Johnston
1845–1915
-
Louisa R. "Eloise" Gloucester
1847–1918
-
Adelaide "Ella" Gloucester Rice
1849–1918
-
James Newton Gloucester
1851–1930
-
Charles M. Gloucester
1854–1908
-
Alfred P. Gloucester
1857–1859
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See more Gloucester or Parkhill memorials in:
- Green-Wood Cemetery Gloucester or Parkhill
- Brooklyn Gloucester or Parkhill
- Kings County Gloucester or Parkhill
- New York Gloucester or Parkhill
- USA Gloucester or Parkhill
- Find a Grave Gloucester or Parkhill
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