Garrison Family

William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879) was born 10 December 1805 in Newburyport, Mass. to Abijah Garrison and Frances Maria Lloyd Garrison. In 1818, he began an apprenticeship at the Herald newspaper in Newburyport; over time he also began writing articles for the paper. He briefly started his own paper, after which he worked at various papers in Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maryland before accepting a position in 1829 for abolitionist Benjamin Lundy's Genius of Universal Emancipation. In 1831, he established the anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator in Boston. William also founded the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, later the American Anti-Slavery Society, which called for the complete abolition of slavery. He also used his platform to advocate for women's rights. Following the abolition of slavery, Garrison closed The Liberator and stepped down from his position as president of the American Anti-Slavery Society. He continued to advocate for social reform, chiefly Black civil rights and woman's suffrage, for the rest of his life, through writing and speaking events. In 1834, he married Helen Eliza Benson (1811-1876), the daughter of George Benson and Sarah Thurber Benson of Rhode Island. The couple had seven children: George Thompson (1836-1904), William Lloyd, Jr. (1838-1909), Wendell Phillips (1840-1907), Charles Follen (1842-1849), Helen Frances (1844-1928), Elizabeth Pease (1846-1848), and Francis Jackson (1848-1916).

George Thompson Garrison (1836-1904) was born 13 February 1836, the eldest child of William Lloyd Garrison and Helen Eliza Benson Garrison. After attending schools in Boston and Northampton, Mass., George was sent to Hopedale Home School in Hopedale, Mass. from 1850-1852. There he boarded with the family of William Henry Fish. While attending school, he was part of a group of students who established a school newspaper called the Diamond, which ran from 1851-1852. From 1851-1854, George also worked in the Danvers, Mass. law office of Adam F. Clark. After he returned to Boston, he started work as an assistant to James Manning Winchell Yerrinton at his father's newspaper The Liberator from 1855-1857. In April of 1857, George left for Nininger, Minnesota. He shared a room with his friend from Hopedale, William Baylies Reed, and worked in the blind and sash shop of Anthony Reed before being hired as a printer by A. W. MacDonald for his newspaper, the Emigrant Aid Journal. In early 1858, following the Panic of 1857, the newspaper closed. In the fall of 1858, George left for Kansas where he stayed with his uncle George W. Benson's family in Lawrence. The Bensons were early settlers to the area, being part of the New England Emigrant Aid Company's mission to fill the Kansas-Nebraska territories with anti-slavery supporters. While there, George worked as a printer at the Lawrence Republican. After encountering financial difficulties and with few prospects, he returned home in October 1859. Once back in Boston, George returned to The Liberator for the next two years.

Following the creation of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, the first Black regiment raised in the North, in 1863, George accepted an officer's commission as second lieutenant in the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment in Company I, which was comprised of Black soldiers and white officers and was created after the 54th was full. By June he was training with his regiment at Camp Meigs, and by July 25 arrived in North Carolina. In November of 1863, George was promoted to first lieutenant, and in June 1865 to captain of Company K. He was brevetted a major in July of 1867. He also served as regimental quartermaster for a time. The regiment engaged in skirmishes and expeditions in South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia, including the Battles of Honey Hill and St. James Island.

Following the Civil War, George returned to The Liberator before it closed, then went to work for his brother William at Bailey, Jenkins, and Garrison as an accountant until 1868. Soon after, he moved to New York and began work as a bookkeeper at The Nation, the newspaper where his brother Wendell worked. In 1871, he returned to Boston and purchased a paper box manufacturing business on Congress Street. However, on 9 November 1872, it was destroyed in the Great Boston Fire. George once again went to work for his brother William in various enterprises, including Garrison and Howe. George married Annie Keene Anthony on 1 October 1873. George died 26 January 1904.

Annie Keene Anthony Garrison (1839-1922) was born 23 July 1839 to John Gould Anthony and Anne Whitney Rhodes Anthony in Cincinnati, Ohio. Annie's paternal uncle Henry Anthony was married to George's maternal aunt, Charlotte Benson Anthony. During the Civil War, the two began a correspondence and became engaged in 1865. Though it was quickly called off, they became engaged again in 1872 and were married in 1873 at her parent's home in Cambridgeport, Mass. They had three children: Elisabeth (1874-1959), Rhodes Anthony (b. 1877), and Fanny (1879-1975). The family resided on Fairview Terrace in West Newton, Mass. Annie died 12 March 1922.

William Lloyd Garrison, Jr. (1838-1909) was the second child of William Lloyd Garrison and Helen Eliza Benson Garrison. He was born 21 January 1838. After leaving Boston Latin School before graduation, he took an internship with James Buffum at his shoe business in 1855. He moved to Lynn, Mass. to work as a teller at Laighton Bank until 1862, later becoming employed at Richard Hallowell's wool business in 1863. He then established his own wool businesses, Bailey, Jenkins, and Garrison in 1866, which was destroyed in the Boston Fire of 1872, and Garrison and Rodliff in 1877. William established an investment brokerage firm in 1884 and in 1888, Garrison and Howe, a commercial paper and investment securities firm. In September of 1864, he married Ellen Wright (1840-1931), the daughter of abolitionists and suffragists David Wright and Martha Coffin Wright of Auburn, N.Y. The couple had five children: Agnes (1866-1950), Charles (1868-1951), Frank Wright (1871-1961), William Lloyd III (1874-1964), and Eleanor (1880-1974). William died 13 September 1909.

Wendell Phillips Garrison (1840-1907), known as Wendy, was born 4 June 1840 to William Lloyd Garrison and Helen Eliza Benson Garrison. He attended Boston Latin School from 1852-1857 and graduated from Harvard College in 1861. After graduating, he briefly worked as a teacher and tutor and began writing articles for The Liberator in 1864. Not long after, he left for New York City to work at the Independent. By 1865, he had been hired as an associate editor at The Nation. When The Nation merged with the New York Evening Post in 1881, Wendell became literary editor of the Post and editor-in-charge of The Nation before retiring in 1906. He also, along with his brothers, undertook completing their father's biography. Wendell married Lucy McKim (1842-1877) in 1865. She was the daughter of James Miller McKim and Sarah Allibone Speakman McKim of Philadelphia. Lucy came from an abolitionist family and collected songs of enslaved people that were published in Slave Songs of the United States. Together they had three children: Lloyd McKim Garrison (1867-1900), Philip McKim Garrison (1870-1935), and Katherine McKim Garrison (1873-1948). The family settled in Orange, New Jersey. In 1891, Wendell married Lucy's sister Annie McKim Dennis Garrison (1841-1893). Wendell died on 17 February 1907.

Helen Frances Garrison Villard (1844-1928), known as Fanny, was the fourth child and only surviving daughter of William Lloyd Garrison and Helen Eliza Benson Garrison. She was born on 16 December 1844. Like her brothers, she attended local schools before completing her formal education in 1862. In 1866, Fanny married Henry Villard (1835-1900) at the Garrison family home. Henry, or Harry, was born Ferdinand Heinrich Gustav Hilgard in Speyer, Germany to Gustav Leonhard Hilgard and Katharina Antonia Elisabeth von Pfeiffer Hilgard. After coming to the United States, he worked in the newspaper business. From 1881-1884, he served as president of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company and later as chairman of the Board of Directors, 1889-1893. In 1881, he purchased controlling interest in the Evening Post and The Nation. He later established the Edison General Electric Company around 1890. They had four children: Helen Elise (1868-1917), Harold Garrison (1869-1952), Oswald Garrison (1872-1949), and Henry Hilgard (1883-1890). The family spent time in Germany and New York. Later in life, Fanny became active in pacifist and women's rights groups. She died 5 July 1928.

Francis Jackson Garrison (1848-1916), the youngest child of William Lloyd Garrison and Helen Eliza Benson Garrison, was born 29 October 1848. He graduated from Boston Latin School in 1865 and went on to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in January of 1868 before leaving that spring. In 1871, he took a position as a bookkeeper for the publishing company Riverside Press, later Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, where he worked until 1915. He also played a large role, along with Wendell, in completing their father's biography. In 1879, he married Mary Pratt (1853-1882), daughter of Francis Pratt and Frances Tillinghast Pratt of Pawtucket, R.I. Mary died from complications of childbirth, along with their daughter Ruth Phillips Garrison, in July of 1882. Frank married Theresa Holmes (1857-1915), a pianist and composer, in 1891. She was the daughter of Jacob Holmes and Charlotte Mead Holmes. Together they had two sons: Wendell Holmes (1894-1968) and David Holmes (1897-1899). Frank died on 11 December 1916.

Rhodes Anthony Garrison (1877-) was born 5 October 1877, the second child of George Thompson Garrison and Annie Keene Anthony Garrison. He graduated from Harvard University in 1900. Soon after he went to work at N. W. Harris and Co., which later became Harris, Forbes and Co. Rhodes married Marianne Baehrecke in 1908.

Marianne Baehrecke Garrison (1879-1951) from Dresden, Germany was the daughter of Alvin Friedrich Baehrecke and Johanna Marie Schoepffer Baehrecke. She was also the niece of the Garrison family friend John Ritchie and his wife Rosa Gertrude Schoepffer Ritchie. She married Rhodes Anthony Garrison in 1908, and they had five children: Ritchie (1911-1997), Frederick (1915-2001), Rhoda (1917-1993), George (1920-2005), and Arnold (1924-2010). Marianne died 1 July 1951.

Fanny Garrison (1879-1975), born 10 May 1879, was the third and youngest child of George Thompson Garrison and Annie Keene Anthony Garrison. She graduated from Smith College in 1902 and was an instructor of gymnastics at Briarcliff School by 1904. Later she worked in the Department of Hygiene and Physical Education at Wellesley College. Fanny died in 1975.

James Holley Garrison (1801-1843) was the eldest son of Abijah Garrison and Frances Maria Lloyd Garrison and brother of William Lloyd Garrison. He was born 10 July 1801 in Nova Scotia. After apprenticing in his youth as a shoemaker in Lynn, Mass., he became a sailor. James went to live with his brother William and his family after he became ill in 1840. His memoir, Behold Me Once More: The Confessions of James Holley Garrison, Brother of William Lloyd Garrison, was later published in 1954. James died in 1842.

Anthony family

John Gould Anthony (1804-1877) was a renowned conchologist who worked at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology. He was born May 17, 1804 to Joseph Anthony and Mary Gould Anthony of Rhode Island. Before his career as a conchologist, he worked in the silversmith and jewelry business with various Cincinnati firms including, Allen, Rhodes & Co.; Rhodes, Anthony, and Carley; and Rhodes and Anthony. He married Anne Whitney Rhodes in 1832. John died October 16, 1877.

Anne Whitney Rhodes Anthony (1810-1898) was the daughter of Thomas Rhodes and Lydia Keene Rhodes of Rhode Island. She was born October 18, 1810. In 1832 she married John Gould Anthony and together they had Joseph Bowen (1833-1836), Thomas Rhodes (1836-1884), Edward Rhodes (1837-1923), Annie Keene (1839-1922), John Francis (1841-1925), Joseph Bowen (1843-1850), Charles Rhodes (1843-1853), [Mary] Elizabeth Lyell (1845-1929). The family lived in Cincinnati for over thirty years before moving to Cambridgeport, Mass. Anne died December 6, 1898.

Elizabeth Lyell Anthony (1845-1929) was born November 20, 1845, the daughter of John Gould Anthony and Anne Whitney Rhodes Anthony. She was born Mary Elizabeth Lyell Anthony but went by Elizabeth, or Lizzie, to family and friends. She worked for her father at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology starting in 1869 as one of his assistants. She remained in the department for 50 years. Elizabeth lived with her sister Annie Keene Anthony Garrison's family in West Newton and died in November of 1929.

Ritchie family

John Ritchie (1836-1919) was the third and youngest child of Uriah Ritchie and Susan White Rand Ritchie of Boston. He was born 4 August 1836 and grew up in the North End. He attended the Eliot School as a child, followed by English High School, graduating in 1855; Boston Latin from 1855 to 1857; and Harvard College, 1857-1861. He worked from 1852 to 1854 in his uncle George C. Rand's printing office. John was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment on 20 February 1863. Engagements included the Battle of Fort Wagner, Battle of Olustee, and the Battle of Honey Hill. John served as the regiment's quartermaster until he resigned his commission in June of 1865.

In 1866, he married his first cousin Caroline Stuart Poole (1835-1867), the daughter of Amos Poole and Caroline Curtis Rand Poole of Milton, Mass. Following her death in January of 1867, John spent much of his time travelling. He earned an income through real estate, owning properties on Federal and Franklin Streets in Boston, and Broadway and 26th Street in New York City. During a European trip, he met Rosa Gertrude Schoepffer. The two were married in 1876 in Dresden, Germany. The couple spent some time living in Winthrop, Mass. and Dresden before settling at 10 Mt. Vernon Street in Boston for many years. Later in life, they owned a house on the corner of Seaview Ave. and Canonicus St. in Cottage City on Martha's Vineyard; and later a cottage in Jackson N.H., first called Dornröschen and then Waldweben.

John travelled extensively throughout his life, including Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, the eastern seaboard, Europe, and North Africa. He was a member of numerous clubs and organizations, including president of the Massachusetts Cremation Society. John died 12 July 1919.

Rosa Gertrude Schoepffer Ritchie (1856-1949) was born in Dresden, Germany on 17 March 1856 to Hector August Friedrich Schoepffer and Jessy Bogen. Following her marriage to John Ritchie in 1876, Rosa travelled extensively, usually visiting family in Germany or spending time at the couple's vacation homes in Cottage City on Martha's Vineyard and in Jackson, N.H. During World War I, the interwar years, and World War II, Rosa was active in German aid work causes, including the Herminen Hilfswerk. She died 16 August 1949.

Uriah Ritchie (c.1800-1865) was born ca. 1800 to Samuel Ritchie and Mary Bond in Gortnessy, Ireland. At the age of 15, he went to Scotland, where he apprenticed as a mason. He sailed to Canada in 1821 before settling in Boston in 1823. Together with his brother John, Uriah worked as a mason and builder and earned income through real estate in Boston and New York. He supported the anti-slavery and temperance movements. In 1830, he married Susan White Rand (1809-1851), the daughter of John Rand and Betsey Babcock Rand. They had three children: Elizabeth (1831-1903), Uriah (1833-1863), and John (1836-1919). Uriah died in 1865.

Elizabeth Ritchie Lewis (1831-1903) was the eldest child of Uriah Ritchie and Susan White Rand Ritchie of Boston, born 23 March 1833. In 1856, she married John Allen Lewis. They had one son, Ritchie Lewis (1858-1863). The family lived in Chicago for a time before returning to Boston. Elizabeth died 19 March 1903.

John Allen Lewis (1819-1885) was born in Barnstable, Mass. to Josiah Lewis and Sally Gorham Lewis in November of 1819. He trained in typesetting under S. B. Phinney of the Barnstable Patriot, after which he went to California where he worked in newspaper printing for several years, first at the Alta California in San Francisco and later establishing the Los Angeles Star with William Henry Rand, the uncle of his wife Elizabeth Ritchie. After leaving California, he worked in the literary department for the Illinois Central Railroad. In 1856, he married Elizabeth Ritchie. The couple had a son Ritchie in 1858 and spent time in Chicago and Boston. John died 2 November 1885.

John Ritchie (c.1801-1883) was the son of Samuel Ritchie and Mary Bond Ritchie and brother of Uriah Ritchie. He was born ca. 1801 in Gortnessy, Ireland and arrived in Boston around 1822. John was in business with Uriah as a mason and builder. He married Mary White, daughter of Robert and Catherine White. They had three children: John, Jr., born 1853; Samuel, born ca. 1855; and Molly, born ca. 1864. John died 2 November 1883.