William Clough Bloss (1795 - 1863)

Born 19 Jan 1795 in Stockbridge, Berkshire, Massachusetts, United States

Husband of Mary Bangs (Blossom) Bloss — married 19 Jun 1823 in Brighton, Monroe, New York, United States

Descendants

Died 18 Apr 1863 at age 68 in Rochester, Monroe, New York, United States

Biography

William was born in 1795. He was the son of Joseph Bloss and Amy Kennedy.^[1] He passed away in 1863.^[2]

In 1825, William purchased a tavern alongside a canal in Rochester. Over the next year, he became a convert to the temperance movement and, in 1826, dumped all his alcoholic beverages into the canal.^[3]

William was “a thinker in advance of his age”, as is inscribed on his grave monument. He was one of the originators of the anti-slavery movement and wrote “The Rights of Man” in 1834. His home was one of the Underground Railway stations, according to his son, Joseph, and he worked with Frederick Douglass.^[4]

In 1838, he was an early advocate for equal suffrage rights for women and in 1848 he publicly supported the ‘Declaration of Sentiments’.^[5]

William served on the New York State Assembly from 1845 to 1847.

William married Mary ‘Polly’ Bangs Blossom on 19 Jun 1823 in Brighton, Monroe, New York. ^[6] They had six children, including:

• Harriett Wentworth Bloss - born 1824
• Elizabeth House Bloss - born 1826
• Caroline Augusta Bloss - born 1828
• William Wirt Bloss - born 1831
• Henry Culver Bloss - born 1833
• Joseph Blossom Bloss - born 1839.

They lived in Rochester City, Monroe, New York in 1850,^[7] 1855^[8] and 1860.^[9]

Sources

1. ↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FCW4-1VM : 14 January 2020), William Clough Bloss, 1795.
2. ↑ Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10843863 : accessed 28 February 2020), memorial page for William Clough Bloss (19 Jan 1795–18 Apr 1863), Find A Grave Memorial no. 10843863, citing Brighton Cemetery, Rochester, Monroe County, New York, USA ; Maintained by Find A Grave .
3. ↑ “Bloss Club Honors Hater of Injustice, Backer of Liberals”, Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), 14 Nov 1948, Sun, Page 33, Newspapers.com : accessed 28 Feb 2020
4. ↑ “ ROCHESTER, THE CITY OF BEGINNINGS”, The Quarterly Journal of the New York State Historical Association, Vol. 1, No. 4, Harriet E. Brown Dow, July 1920, page 168, https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/43564385.pdf : accessed 28 Feb 2020
5. ↑ “William Clough Bloss (January 19th, 1795 - April 18th, 1863), A Report By Sarah Hussein, https://urresearch.rochester.edu/fileDownloadForInstitutionalItem.action;jsessionid=6184BCC69FBAF6832254A538429E8C73?itemId=28283&itemFileId=143291 : accessed 28 Feb 2020
6. ↑ “Bloss Genealogy”, James O Bloss, David Clapp & Son, Printers, Boston, 1887, Page 10, https://archive.org/details/blossgenealogy00inblos/page/n25/mode/2up : accessed 29 Feb 2020
7. ↑ "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCBQ-M4Y : 12 April 2016), Wm C Blass, Rochester, ward 6, Monroe, New York, United States; citing family 1075, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
8. ↑ "New York State Census, 1855," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K6SF-D1C : 13 March 2018), William C B*, Ward 10, Rochester City, Monroe, New York, United States; citing p. 677, line #1, family #1, county clerk offices, New York; FHL microfilm 1,429,808.
9. ↑ "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCWG-PBX : 13 December 2017), William C Bloss, 1860.