Name/Title
Widow of Prominent Abolitionist in Taylor CemeteryEntry/Object ID
2023.10.404Scope and Content
Text and images from story previous available on the pre-2023 SDHC website. The content has been moved to the online catalog for safekeeping.Context
One of the earlier stones in the Taylor Cemetery, (Blue Star Highway south of Hunt Tree) is for "Sarah wife of Cyrus P. Grosvenor" "President of N.Y. Central College". Sarah died August 18, 1856. Behind this simple stone is the story of a of the prominent abolitionist leader who was a compatriot of William Lloyd Garrison. Albion Historian Frank Passic writes:
"Rev. Cyrus Pitt Grosvenor was a major leader of the anti-Slavery Baptists in the pre-Civil War 19th century. He was an officer of the American Baptist Home Mission Society, and the American Anti-Slavery Society. He was part of Boston's first anti-slavery meeting in 1828. He was one of the founders of the New York Central College in McGrawville, Cortland County, New York. Cyrus served as the first college president of this institution in 1849-50, and was on its faculty for several years afterwards. It was the first college in the nation founded specifically to educate both black and white students, both men and women. Cyrus was an 1818 graduate of Dartmouth College, and also attended Princeton Theological Seminary 1821-22, and later received an LLD degree in 1867."
In 1852, their daughter Sarah married the Rev. Austin Harmon, a Baptist minister. Rev. Grosvenor retired from the faculty of the college in 1853. The Rev. Austin served as a Baptist missionary in Western Allegan County from 1854 until his death in 1865. The Grosevnors followed their daughter to Allegan County, and Mrs. Grosvenor passed away in 1856. At some point after her death, the Reverend moved on to Albion, Michigan, and died there in 1879. He is buried in the Albion Riverside cemetery.
Sarah Austin married Charles Fiegert in 1872 and died Jan. 23, 1921. She is buried by Rev. Harmon in the Taylor Cemetery. Four children of the Harmons lived to adulthood, including a daughter Emma who married Christopher Ensfield. Some of Emma's descendants still live in this area.
-contributed by Chris Yoder, Oct. 2010Collection
Cemeteries and graves, Family HistoryCataloged By
Winthers, SallyAcquisition
Accession
2023.10Acquisition Method
Found in CollectionLocation
* Untyped Location
Digital data in CatalogItRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Grosvenor, Sarah (Warner) (Ward) 1791-1856General Notes
Note
This information was copied from the pre-2023 SDHC website. The location of an original version was unknown at the time of cataloging.Create Date
January 12, 2024Update Date
January 12, 2024
