Nathaniel C. Nash

Quick Facts

Significance:

Boston Vigilance Committee member

Place of Birth:

Scituate, Massachusetts

Date of Birth:

April 6, 1804

Place of Death:

Arlington, Massachusetts

Date of Death:

August 31, 1880

Place of Burial:

Norwell, Massachusetts

Cemetery Name:

First Parish Cemetery

“One of the most prominent merchants of Boston,”¹ Nathaniel C. Nash participated in the 1850 Boston Vigilance Committee. 

Born on April 6, 1804, to parents John and Debby (Cushing) Nash, Nathaniel Cushing Nash grew up in Scituate, Massachusetts before moving to Boston to pursue business as a grocer. He worked under Joshua Seass until eventually operating his own business.²

In 1850, Nash joined the third and final iteration of the Boston Vigilance Committee following the passage of a new Fugitive Slave Law. He and others aided freedom seekers coming to Boston on the Underground Railroad. In 1854, Nash donated funds for legal aid for those involved with the attempted rescue of freedom seeker Anthony Burns.³

Nash also donated two dollars to the Vigilance Committee to help purchase an artificial leg for freedom seeker Johnson H. Walker in 1858. Walker had escaped from Maryland but had one of his feet crushed under the wheel of a railcar on his way North, which resulted in an amputation.⁴

Similar to many of his fellow abolitionists, Nash grew involved with the Free Soil Party and actively participated in local and state politics. In 1856, he served on the city of Boston’s Common Council, then in 1858, he served as a Representative in the Massachusetts State Legislature. Additionally, from 1864 to 1867, Nash served as part of the Board of Aldermen in Boston.⁵

Nash retired from his successful business and political career and moved to Arlington, Massachusetts. He died on August 31, 1880, and is buried in Nowell, Massachusetts in the First Parish Cemetery.⁶

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Footnotes

1. “Death of Nathaniel C. Nash,” Boston Globe, August 31, 1880, 4. 
2. “Nathaniel Cushing Nash,” Boston Post, September 1, 1880, 3; “Death of Nathaniel C. Nash,” Boston Globe, August 31, 1880, 4.
3. "Members of the Committee of Vigilance," broadside printed by John Wilson, 1850, Massachusetts Historical Society; Francis Jackson, 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, https://archive.org/details/drirvinghbartlet19bart/page/n3/mode/2up, 23; “Fugitive Slave Meeting,” Boston Evening Transcript, October 15, 1850, 1. 
4. Francis Jackson, 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, https://archive.org/details/drirvinghbartlet19bart/page/n3/mode/2up, 81. 
5. “Free Soil or Republican,” The Springfield Daily Republican, November 14, 1854, 1; “Nathaniel Cushing Nash,” Boston Post, September 1, 1880, 3; “Death of Nathaniel C. Nash,” Boston Globe, August 31, 1880, 4; “Pay of the Legislature,” Pittsfield Sun, December 8, 1859, 2.
6. “Nathaniel Cushing Nash,” Boston Post, September 1, 1880, 3; “Nathaniel Cushing Nash,” Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/134608715/nathaniel-cushing-nash; “Death of Nathaniel C. Nash,” Boston Globe, August 31, 1880, 4.