BETSEY MIX COWLES WAS DEVOTED FEMALE ABOLITIONIST

Life was Defined by Freedom for All

By Tom Emery

Though often forgotten today, some of the most fervent abolitionists of the mid-nineteenth century. One of the most famous female abolitionists was an original faculty member at Illinois State University.

Betsey Mix Cowles’ life was defined by her fierce devotion to freedom for all. The famed abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison was a friend to Cowles, who was also acquainted with Frederick Douglass and other leading anti-slavery individuals of the era.

Born in Bristol, Ct. on Feb. 9, 1810, Cowles was the daughter of a minister who, as one source notes, “championed education.” Betsey obviously followed in his footsteps. She never married, instead choosing a career – a rarity for women in the early nineteenth century.

Not surprisingly, she was a lifelong teacher. As a youth, she had settled with her family in Ohio, and by the late 1820s, Betsey and her sister had established “infant schools,” which some consider a forerunner of modern-day kindergartens.

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In 1835, she became a leader in the Ashtabula Female Antislavery Society, a group of almost 500 members that was the largest abolitionist organization in Ohio, and one of the biggest in the nation. One source reports that “she also became a disciple” of Garrison, who inscribed a book to Betsey as a “friend.”

Betsey later graduated in 1840 from Oberlin College in Ohio, a school that was the first in the United States to admit black students.

Cowles then taught for three years in the Ohio River town of Portsmouth, Ohio, where she finally realized a dream of being able to teach a class of students of multiple races. However, the local backlash was so severe that it left Cowles worn out, inducing a move back to northern Ohio. She then spent five years as the dean of women at the Grand River Institute in Austinburg, Ohio.

Meanwhile, she organized antislavery fairs and events throughout Ohio, and traveled as far as Boston to attend abolitionist gatherings.

In addition to her rampant desire for abolition, Cowles was also a dedicated supporter of women’s rights. In 1850, she was elected presiding officer of the state’s first Woman’s Rights Convention at Salem, Ohio, and the next year, delivered an address on labor and wages at another women’s rights convention at Akron.

However, as one source notes, many conservatives in her home area believed she “had walked away from her first love to Christ and replaced it with an agenda of social reform.”

Betsey Cowles likely would have offered no apologies for her unyielding devotion to her causes. As she became increasingly radical in her beliefs, she was also unafraid to freely criticize fellow Ohio residents, groups, and even church congregations that were against rights for blacks.

In 1856, she left her home of Ashtabula County, accepting a position as supervisor of practice teachers at the McNeely Normal School in Hopedale, Ohio. As with everything else, Cowles excelled in this position, and gained a far-reaching reputation. By now, she was also dedicating herself to improved higher education for female teachers.

In 1858, Illinois State University President Charles Hovey hired Cowles as an assistant teacher. One source implies that Hovey was aware of Cowles’ well-known excellence in pedagogy. In turn, she may have been drawn to Illinois State’s progressive reputation, which was evident early on, and has remained a constant through much of its history.

Exactly when Cowles arrived at ISU, though, is of debate. Various ISU histories list her as one of the original faculty members of the school in its first year, 1857-58. Other sources, however, indicate that she did not arrive on the campus until early 1858.

Whatever the case, Cowles did not stay for long. By the fall of 1858, she was serving as superintendent of schools in Painesville, Ohio, a position she held for two years before a stint as a teacher in Delhi, N.Y. from 1860-62.

By this time, Abraham Lincoln was in the White House, which may not have pleased Cowles. While she favored quick action to resolve the slavery issue, Lincoln was a moderate, much to her chagrin. A 2018 biography notes that “because of Lincoln’s reputation for caution and unwillingness to take a strong stand against slavery…Cowles did not support him.”

However, her eyesight was failing, and she retired to Austinburg in 1862. She would eventually lose the sight in one eye.

But her vision of a free America never wavered. One source reports that, “on the day Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation, Betsey Cowles said, ‘the two great tasks of my life are ended together – my teaching is done, and the slaves are free.’”

A remarkable, though often overlooked, figure in American social justice, Betsey Mix Cowles died at age 66 on July 25, 1876.

Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville, Ill. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.