Person

John Augustus

A drawing of an old man with his name below saying John Augustus
A drawing of John Augustus from a life-size portrait by Curtis.

J. Prince, "A Wreath for St. Crispin: Being Sketches of Eminent Shoemakers," 136.

Quick Facts
Significance:
Philanthropist, Prison Reformer, Abolitionist
Place of Birth:
Medford, Massachusetts
Date of Birth:
Around 1785
Place of Death:
Boston, Massachusetts
Date of Death:
June 21, 1859
Place of Burial:
Lexington, Massachusetts
Cemetery Name:
Old Burying Ground

Known as the "Shoemaker Philanthropist,"1 John Augustus dedicated his life to prison reform, the temperance movement, and anti-slavery causes.

Born around 1785 in Medford, Massachusetts,2 John Augustus left few records about his early life. In a letter written by abolitionist Theodore Parker to one of his churchwardens, Parker described Augustus as "the illegitimate son of somebody." Parker also wrote that Augustus married one of Parker’s cousins, "but they married before I was born."3 Sometime between birth and adulthood, Augustus moved to Lexington, Massachusetts, where he established his career as a shoemaker.4 By 1830, he moved his family and business to Boston.5

Few documents exist to clarify when or what drew Augustus to the abolitionist cause. An article in The Liberator confirms Augustus served in the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in 1839,6 and records show he donated money at the New England Anti-Slavery Convention in June 1841.7

However, Augustus did leave behind a published record of his prisoner reform efforts titled, A Report of the Labors of John Augustus: For the Last Ten Years, in Aid of the Unfortunate: Containing a Description of His Method of Operations; Striking Incidents, and Observations Upon the Improvement of Some of Our City Institutions, with a View to the Benefit of the Prisoners and of Society.

According to his own writing, Augustus began paying bail for prisoners in August 1841 after speaking with a "drunkard" in the police court. He believed the man could reform his ways if given the chance.8 His views on temperance influenced his belief in helping these individuals as he wrote, "to liberate the wretched inebriate from the prison of his own destructive vice... by removing from him the pernicious influences by which he had been surrounded."9

Augustus used his own money to cover these bails and did not accept funds from any person or organization. He wrote, "I am therefore not accountable to any sect, society, or individual for the manner in which my efforts have been applied."10

Despite giving up his business in 1846,11 Augustus remained a well-known shoemaker. Two years later, a book about shoemakers titled A Wreath for St. Crispin: Being Sketches of Eminent Shoemakers included a biography on Augustus and featured an inscription for him. The book includes a poem extract about Augustus delivered before the Boston Mechanics' Apprentices' Association by a J. M. W. Yerrington who wrote, "But one there lives in humbler life obscure, Who still moves on, the solace of the poor...Who sees in man, whate'er his stains may be, A brother hastening to eternity."12

After leaving his trade, Augustus continued with his reform work and other social justice causes. He supported anti-capital punishment efforts by attending meetings.13 According to the membership roster in Austin Bearse's Reminiscences of the Fugitive Slave Law Days in Boston, Augustus participated as a member of the 1850 Boston Vigilance Committee as well.14

Though few records exist to describe Augustus' work on the Vigilance Committee, his prisoner reform records are well documented. By January 1852, Augustus had posted bail for "eleven hundred persons, both male and female, and only one of them has ever forfeited the bonds."15

Augustus died on June 21, 1859 and is buried in the Old Burying Ground in Lexington.16

Shortly after Augustus' death, Theodore Parker wrote:

His death is a public loss...All the members of the United States supreme court might die next month, and the president of the United States follow suit, and half the governors of the Union, — and unitedly they would not be so great a loss as poor old John Augustus. The fair record of his life...would be one of the most extraordinary and instructive pieces of biography ever written.17

In another letter, Parker once again referenced Augustus: "Though he held no public office, sat on no platform of honor in public meetings, nor ever shared a civic feast, he yet did more service, I think, to Boston, than all her Mayors for thirty years."18

Footnotes:

  1. The Liberator, June 15, 1849, Newspapers.com.
  2. "Massachusetts, U.S., Death Records, 1841-1915," digital image s.v. "John Augustus," AncestryLibrary.com.
  3. Theodore Parker to Mr. Manley, August 4, 1859, in Life and Correspondence of Theodore Parker, Minister of the 28th Congregational Society, Boston, ed. John Weiss, Vol. II (London: Longman, Green, Longman Roberts, and Green, 1863), 329-330.
  4. Ibid, 329.   
  5. 1830 U.S. Census, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, digital image s.v. "John Augustus," GenealogyBank.com. According to the Boston City Directory, 1850-1851, he ran his business at 5 Franklin Avenue and lived at 65 Chambers Street (79).
  6. "Afternoon Session," The Liberator, March 29, 1839, Newspapers.com. 
  7. "Moneys Collected at the New-England Anti-Slavery Convention," The Liberator, June 11, 1841, Newspapers.com. 
  8. John Augustus, A Report of the Labors of John Augustus: For the Last Ten Years, in Aid of the Unfortunate: Containing a Description of His Method of Operations; Striking Incidents, and Observations Upon the Improvement of Some of Our City Institutions, with a View to the Benefit of the Prisoners and of Society (Boston: Wright & Hasty, 1852), 4.
  9. Ibid.
  10. Ibid.
  11. Ibid, 104.
  12. J. Prince, A Wreath for St. Crispin: Being Sketches of Eminent Shoemakers (Boston: Bela Marsh, 1848), 146.
  13. The Liberator, June 8, 1849, Newspapers.com.
  14. Austin Bearse, Reminiscences of the Fugitive Slave Law Days in Boston (Boston: Warren Richardson, 1880), 3, Archive.org.
  15. Augustus, 96.
  16. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/209789607/john-augustus: accessed 27 September 2021), memorial page for John Augustus (1785–21 Jun 1859), Memorial ID 209789607; Maintained by Jim Rockford (contributor 600).
  17.  Weiss, 329-330.
  18. "Tendered Resignation of Rev. Theodore Parker." The Liberator, October 28, 1859, Newspapers.com.

Boston National Historical Park, Boston African American National Historic Site

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Last updated: January 16, 2023