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Barney Corse

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Barney Corse
BornNovember 2, 1799
Camden, Delaware, United States
DiedMarch 8, 1878(1878-03-08) (aged 78)
Flushing, Queens, New York City, New York, United States
Burial placeFlushing Cemetery, Flushing, Queens, New York City, New York, United States
Occupation(s)Abolitionist, leather merchant
SpouseMary Elizabeth Leggett (m. 1823–1878; his death)
Children3

Barney Corse (November 2, 1799 – March 8, 1878)[1] was an American abolitionist, and leather merchant in New York City. He worked with Isaac T. Hopper, and David Ruggles in the anti-slavery movement and to protect fugitive slaves and free Blacks from slave kidnappers.

Early life and family

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Barney Corse was born on November 2, 1799, in Camden, Delaware, to parents Lydia Troth and Israel Corse.[1] He had five siblings,[1] and the family was Quaker. His father owned a leather business on Jacob Street in Manhattan.[2][3] His father remarried and Barney Corse had step-siblings.

Barney Corse married Mary Elizabeth Leggett in 1823, and they had three children.[1]

Career

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In 1821, Corse joined his father in the leather business, and the name was changed to Israel Corse and Son.[4] In 1830, Israel retired and Corse's brother in-law Jonathan Thorne joined the business; by 1832, Corse left the entire business to Thorne.[3][4][5] In 1842, there was an issue with Israel Corse's land transfer the title of the land for the leather business, and it resulted in a lawsuit and his son Barney Corse filing for bankruptcy.[6]

Corse was a member of the New York Manumission Society.[7] Isaac T. Hopper, David Ruggles, and Corse had often worked together in abolition in New York City. Corse had planned and directed the forerunner of the Quaker-run Underground Railroad in North Carolina.[8]

Darg case (1838)

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The Disappointed Abolitionists (1838) by Edward Williams Clay and Henry R. Robinson
The Disappointed Abolitionists (1838) by artist Edward Williams Clay and lithographer Henry R. Robinson

On August 25, 1838, John P. Darg from Virginia had brought his chattel slave Thomas Hughes with him to New York City; and the state of New York had ended slavery a few years prior in 1827.[9][10][11] The laws for bringing human chattel to a free state was not yet defined in 1838. Thomas Hughes went to Isaac Hopper’s house, seeking temporary settlement.[10][12] Hopper initially was reluctant, and asked Hughes to leave.[10] The next day, The Sun newspaper published a reward for Darg's missing slave Hughs, and stolen money.[10] Hopper, and Corse (and possibly Ruggles) served as go-betweens for Darg and Hughes.[10] The money was spent by Hughs, so Hopper and Corse decided it was moral to return the missing money, so they put up their own money.[10]

The returned amount was less than the stolen amount of money, and Darg ordered Corse and Ruggles arrested for grand larceny.[13] Corse made bail, but Ruggles was jailed for two days.[10] The Disappointed Abolitionists, was a published lithograph caricature of Hopper, Ruggles, and Corse by artist Edward Williams Clay and lithographer Henry R. Robinson.[14] It suggested the trio was more interested in the reward money and extortion, and was not in the business of freeing slaves.[10][15] Local newspapers caused a furor for exposing the extreme dangers of abolitionist work.

Hughs served two years in prison for the money theft, and after his release he was a free. Corse was tried as an accessory to the robbery of John P. Darg in the Court of Sessions in New York City on March 8, 1839.[13][16] The jury couldn’t decide on the outcome of the case and a new trial was ordered.[16] On October 10, 1839, Corse was tried a second time.[13] The case facts were conflicting between the two Corse trials.[13]

Death

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Corse died of "paralysis of the heart" (in modern terms most likely sudden cardiac arrest) on March 8, 1878, in Flushing, Queens, New York City.[1][17]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Greene, Richard Henry; Stiles, Henry Reed; Dwight, Melatiah Everett; Morrison, George Austin; Mott, Hopper Striker; Totten, John Reynolds; Pitman, Harold Minot; Ditmas, Charles Andrew; Forest, Louis Effingham De; Mann, Conklin; Maynard, Arthur S. (April 13, 1916). "The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record". New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. p. 190 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ "Bankruptcy plee of Barney Corse". New York Tribune. September 9, 1842. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-05-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b "Jonathan Thorne". The New York Times. 1884-10-10. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-05-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b Scoville, Joseph Alfred (1863). The Old Merchants of New York City. Carleton. p. 255.
  5. ^ "Dissolution of Co-Partnership". The Evening Post. 1832-08-16. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-05-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Bankruptcy plee of Barney Corse". New-York Tribune. 1842-09-09. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-05-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Foner, Eric (December 2014). "Gateway to Freedom: Sketches of a Caucasian past". Harper's Magazine. Vol. December 2014. ISSN 0017-789X. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
  8. ^ Snodgrass, Mary Ellen (2015-03-26). The Underground Railroad: An Encyclopedia of People, Places, and Operations. Routledge. p. 138. ISBN 978-1-317-45416-8 – via Google Books.
  9. ^ Blassingame, John W. (1977-06-01). Slave Testimony: Two Centuries of Letters, Speeches, Interviews, and Autobiographies. LSU Press. p. 209. ISBN 978-0-8071-0273-2 – via Google Books.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h DeLisle, Lisa (2018-04-27). Profiles in Journalistic Courage. Routledge. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-1-351-30790-1 – via Google Books.
  11. ^ Child, L. (December 7, 2020). "The Thomas Hughes Affair; an excerpt from Isaac T. Hopper by L. Maria Child (1854)". Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
  12. ^ Foner, Eric (2015-01-19). Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-393-24438-0 – via Google Books.
  13. ^ a b c d Finkelman, Paul (November 13, 2012). Free Blacks, Slaves, and Slaveowners in Civil and Criminal Courts: The Pamphlet Literature. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 978-1-58477-742-7 – via Google Books.
  14. ^ Anderson, Javonte (September 2, 2021). "'Soul of the Underground Railroad': David Ruggles, the man who rescued Frederick Douglass". USA Today. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
  15. ^ Jaffe, Steven H. (May 2018). Activist New York: A History of People, Protest, and Politics. NYU Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-1-4798-0460-3 – via Google Books.
  16. ^ a b "Hung jury in the Darg case against Barney Corse and others 1839". The Natchez Daily Courier. 1839-03-23. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-05-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Death notice Barney Corse". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1878-03-19. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-05-11.
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