An 1839 Antislavery Petition Signed by the Legal Voters of West Brookfield

Harvard University has a collection of Massachusetts Anti-Slavery and Anti Segregation Petitions available online.  One such petition was Senate Unpassed Legislation 1839, Docket 10525, SC1/series 231, Petition of Seth Field .  This was a petition against the admission of Florida or any other slave state to the union.  It was signed by the legal voters of West Brookfield. The eighty-five signatures included such names as Alanson Hamilton, (for whom the GAR chapter was named,) Ebenezer Merriam, Eli Chamberlain, (father of Daniel Henry Chamberlain, who commanded colored troops in the Civil War and served as governor or South Carolina during Reconstruction). Other signers were Alfred White, Seth Field, and Francis Stone (the father of Lucy Stone who was an abolitionist and suffragette.) 


Those researching West Brookfield families or town history should find this interesting.