Anna (Murray) Douglass (abt. 1813 - 1882)

Born about 1813 in Denton, Maryland, United States

Wife of Frederick Augustus Washington (Bailey) Douglass — married 15 Sep 1838 in New York, United States

Descendants

Died 4 Aug 1882 at about age 69 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States

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Anna (Murray) Douglass was a part of the Abolitionist Movement.

Biography

Anna Murray-Douglass was an American abolitionist, a member of the Underground Railroad, and the first wife of social reformer, writer and statesman Frederick Douglass.^[1]

The seventh-born and first of Bambarra and Anna Murray's twelve children to be freeborn, Anna met her future husband in Baltimore and helped him escape to New York in 1838. After their marriage, they lived in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where they both worked with the Anti-Slavery Society. They had five children: Rosetta (b. 1839), Lewis (b. 1840), Frederick (b. 1842), Charles (b. 1844), and Annie (b. 1849). Anna helped support her family by working as a laundress and later as a shoe mender.

When the family moved to Rochester, New York, Anna became involved in the Underground Railroad. She welcomed hundreds of fugitive slaves on their way to Canada into her home. "It was no unusual occurrence for mother to be called up at all hours of the night, cold or hot, as the case might be to prepare supper for a hungry lot of fleeing humanity," wrote her daughter Rosetta.^[2]

In 1872 Frederick and Anna relocated to Washington, D.C., where they bought two row houses. Five years later they moved to Cedar Hill a house in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, where Anna died of a stroke in 1882. She is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York.^[3]

"Cedar Hill"

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Anna Murray-Douglass," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anna_Murray-Douglass&oldid=616374351 (accessed July 27, 2014).
2. ↑ Sprague, Rosetta Douglas. Anna Murray Douglass, My Mother As I Recall Her at Library of Congress
3. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Douglass&GSiman=1&GScid=65340&GRid=7407760& Find a Grave

• 1850 United States Census database with images, FamilySearch, accessed 12 April 2016, in household of Frederick Douglass, Rochester, ward 7, Monroe, New York, United States; citing family 70, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
• 1860 United States Census, database with images, FamilySearch, accessed 13 December 2017, in entry for Fredrick Douglass, 1860.
• 1870 United States Census, database with images, FamilySearch, accessed 12 April 2016, in household of Frederick Douglass, New York, United States; citing p. 15, family 106, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 552,469.
• 1880 United States Census, database with images, FamilySearch, accessed 11 August 2017, in household of F W Douglass, Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, United States; citing enumeration district ED 7, sheet 143C, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 0121; FHL microfilm 1,254,121.
• Archives of Maryland (Biographical Series)