Last updated: February 15, 2024
Person
George Francis Cheever
Quick Facts
Significance:
Lawyer, Free Soil Party, Anti-slavery activist, Boston Vigilance Committee member
Place of Birth:
Salem, Massachusetts
Date of Birth:
November 30, 1819
Place of Death:
Pepperell, Massachusetts
Date of Death:
April 5, 1871
Place of Burial:
Salem, Massachusetts
Cemetery Name:
Harmony Grove Cemetery
Salem attorney, anti-slavery activist, and newspaper publisher, George Francis Cheever served in the 1850 Boston Vigilance Committee, an organization that assisted freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad.
In his Reminiscences of Fugitive Slave Law Days in Boston, Austin Bearse listed George F. Cheever as a member of the Boston Vigilance Committee. This organization formed in 1850 in response to the Fugitive Slave Law. Bearse's list, also known as the "Doorman's List," is more expansive than the official broadside issued by the Vigilance Committee which listed its members. Unlike that broadside, however, Bearse's list did not include addresses, making it more challenging to track down members' stories. The broadside does not list George F. Cheever nor his address, but other evidence suggests the likelihood that attorney George F. Cheever (sometimes spelled Chever) of Salem, served as a member the Vigilance Committee.1
Born in Salem in 1819, George Francis Cheever studied at Salem Latin School. He attended Harvard and became an attorney. While spending a few years in Mississippi, Cheever suffered a severe illness which left him with lifelong health ramifications. He then spent several months in the Azores before he returned to Salem to open his law practice.
In the late 1840s, Cheever became involved in the antislavery movement and the Free Soil Party, a political group dedicated to stopping the expansion of slavery. Many members of the Boston Vigilance Committee similarly participated in the Free Soil Party. He published a short lived newspaper, The Free World, from Salem to advocate for Free Soil candidates and policies during the election of 1848. According to one source, Cheever "espoused that cause with all the ardor of his earnest and sincere nature."2
In a July 1850 letter, Cheever invited prominent Boston abolitionist and future fellow Vigilance Committee member William Lloyd Garrison to an event in Salem celebrating the end of slavery in the West Indies. Clearly an admirer of Garrison, Cheever wrote, "A good spirit seems to be prevalent, thanks to those unwearied Friends of Freedom who have preceded us, among whom, you yourself stand conspicuous."3
Although Cheever's contributions to the Vigilance Committee remain unknown, his work in the antislavery slavery movement as well as his efforts as a champion and leader of public schools have been fondly remembered;
His excellent talents and superior acquirements rendered him very useful in these labors, and by voice and pen, in address and reports, he served the public with enthusiasm and success.4
After several years of active involvement in antislavery politics and public education work, Cheever withdrew from the public sphere and pursued a quieter life as a writer. He wrote poetry and prose, largely unpublished, as well as essays on history and nature all while living with persistent health issues and depression. Never married, he "lingered for a few years in feebleness and despondency" before his death in 1871 in Pepperill, Massachusetts. His remains are buried in Harmony Grove Cemetery in Salem.5
Footnotes
- Austin Bearse, Reminiscences of Fugitive-Slave Law Days in Boston, (Boston: Warren Richardson, 1880), 3, Internet Archive; Dean Grodzins, "Constitution or No Constitution, Law or No Law: The Boston Vigilance Committees, 1841-1861," in Matthew Mason, Katheryn P. Viens, and Conrad Edick Wright, eds., Massachusetts and the Civil War: The Commonwealth and National Disunion (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2015), 73, n.57.
- The Necrology of Harvard College, 1869-1872 (Cambridge: J. Wilson and Son, 1872), pages 93-95, Internet Archive; See also, The Free World (Salem [Mass.], 1848), Library of Congress; Municipal History of Essex County in Massachusetts, ed. Benjamin F. Arrington (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1922), Google Books.
- Cheever, George F., and William Lloyd Garrison. "Letter from George F. Cheever, Salem, to William Lloyd Garrison, July 18th, 1850." Correspondence. Salem, July 18, 1850. Digital Commonwealth, https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/6h441k083 (accessed February, 2024).
- The Necrology of Harvard College, 1869-1872, 93-95.
- The Necrology of Harvard College, 1869-1872, 93-95; Henry D. Thoreau, "From Nathaneil Hawthorne October 21, 1848," in The Correspondence of Henry D. Thoreau: Volume 1: 1834-1848, ed. Robert N. Hudspeth (Princeton University Press, 2013), The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau (ucsb.edu), see note in c1.386-387.pdf for "nature writer" reference; "Mortuary Notice," Salem Register, April 13, 1871, page 2; George F. Chever (unknown-1871), accessed February, 2024, Find a Grave Memorial.