John Botume, Jr.

Successful businessman John Botume Jr. joined the Boston Vigilance Commitee in 1850.

State Library of Massachusetts

Quick Facts

Significance:

Businessman, politician, Boston Vigilance Committee Member

Place of Birth:

Unadilla, New York

Date of Birth:

February 2, 1826

Place of Death:

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Date of Death:

June 9, 1892

Place of Burial:

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cemetery Name:

Mount Auburn Cemetery

Boston businessman John Botume Jr. served in the Boston Vigilance Committee, an organization that assisted freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad.

Born in 1826 in Unadilla, New York, John Botume Jr. later moved to Boston. By 1850, he lived at 62 Essex Street and worked as a clerk in the Faneuil Hall Marketplace.¹ In the mid-1850s he established the firm of Hart, Baldwin, and Botume "for the purpose of transacting a Commission and Provision business," which soon became one of the leading packinghouses in the city.²

Following the passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law, Botume joined the Boston Vigilance Committee.³ According to the records book of the committee, Botume donated 5 dollars in March 1859.⁴ There are no further records uncovered yet of his contributions or motivations for participating in the Vigilance Committee. Perhaps his political views influenced his decision to join. Throughout his life, Botume involved himself in the Free Soil party, then later, the Republican party, both of which opposed the extension of slavery.⁵ His family may have also influenced his participation in anti-slavery work. For example, his sister, Elizabeth Hyde Botume, volunteered as a teacher for the Freedman's Aid Association during the Civil War.⁶

In 1867, Botume served in the Massachusetts legislature. Later, he became President of the Massachusetts Brick Company. He also participated in various Masonic lodges and involved himself in local politics in Stoneham where he moved later in life.⁷

Remembered as "a man of generous impulse and genial disposition," Botume passed away in 1892.⁸ He left behind a widow, and three children. His remains are buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery. Botume's house on Spot Pond in Stoneham is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and now serves as the Visitor Center for Middlesex Fells Reservation.

If you are a researcher or descendant of John Botume, Jr. and can provide any further insight into his work with the Vigilance Committee or the larger antislavery movement, please reach out to us at [e-mail].

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Footnotes:

1. The Directory of the city of Boston, 1850-1851 (Boston: 1851), Boston Athenaeum, 94. 
2. A "packinghouse" is a common term for places that slaughter and package various meats and by-products. Daily Atlas, October 10, 1855; Boston Journal, June 10, 1892.
3. "Members of the Committee of Vigilance," broadside printed by John Wilson, 1850, Massachusetts Historical Society.
4. Account Book of Francis Jackson, Treasurer The Vigilance Committee of Boston, Dr. Irving H. Bartlett collection, 1830-1880, W. B. Nickerson Cape Cod History Archives, 59, Archive.org.
5. Boston Daily Advertiser, June 10, 1892; Springfield Republican, June 29, 1888.
6. Elizabeth Hyde Botume later wrote a book of her experiences as a teacher in South Carolina titled First Days Amongst the Contrabands, which can be accessed on Internet Archive. Email from a descendant of Elizabeth Botume to Boston African American NHS, September 25, 2023.
7. Boston Daily Advertiser, June 10, 1892.
8. Boston Daily Advertiser, June 10, 1892.