History of Albion, (Kennebec County) Maine United States of America

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Biographies:

Elijah Parish Lovejoy, abolitionist, was born in Albion, Maine, Nov. 9, 1802; son of the Rev. Daniel and Elizabeth (Pattee) Lovejoy, and grandson of Francis Lovejoy, of Amherst, N.H., who settled in Albion, Maine, in 1790, and of Ebenezer and Mary (Stimson) Pattee, of Georgetown, Maine. He was prepared for college at the academies at Monmouth and China, Maine, and was graduated from Waterville college in 1826. He was principal of China academy, 1826-27, and in 1827 removed to St. Louis, Mo., where he engaged in teaching. He was editor and publisher of the Times, a Whig newspaper, in St. Louis, 1828-32; attended Princeton Theological seminary, 1832-33, and was licensed to preach by the second presbytery of Philadelphia, April 18, 1833. He established, edited and published the St. Louis Observer, a religious paper, the first number of which appeared Nov. 22, 1833, and he also conducted religious services. He was married March 4, 1835, to Helen Ann French, of St. Charles, Mo. In 1834 he had formally announced himself an advocate of anti-slavery, and in 1835 began to use his paper as an anti-slavery organ. His editorials created much excitement in the city and throughout the state, and in October, 1835, he was requested by his subscribers to abstain from discussing the question in his paper. He replied "that the free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the invaluable rights of man, and that every person may freely speak, write and print on any subject?being responsible for the abuse of that liberty," which sentiment became a clause in the constitution of the state of Missouri. The opposition in Missouri became greater, and he was requested to resign his editorship, which he did. He removed to Alton, Ill., where he was elected moderator of the Alton presbytery. The office in St. Louis was entered before the outfit could be removed and much of the material destroyed. The printing-office press was not damaged, and was at once sent to Alton, Ill., where it was destroyed by a mob and thrown into the river. The citizens of Alton, regretting this act, furnished money to purchase a new press, and the Observer, with Mr. Lovejoy as editor, reappeared in the summer of 1836. The utterances of the paper against slavery being continued, on Aug. 21, 1837, a mob broke into the office and completely destroyed his press. Another was bought, and on September 21 of that year followed its predecessor to the bottom of the Mississippi. Mr. Lovejoy ordered a fourth press and resolved to fight the opposition to the end. A public meeting was called and he was urged to leave Alton. This he refused to do, and on Nov. 6, 1837, a new press arrived and was placed in the warehouse of Godfrey, Gilman & Co., and a force of nineteen men, including Mr. Lovejoy, remained in the warehouse to protect the press. On the night of Nov. 7, 1837, a mob attacked the warehouse, and after the riot had apparently subsided Mr. Lovejoy opened the door and received five bullet wounds, from which he died almost instantly. A monument to his memory was dedicated in Alton Nov. 8, 1897. He died in Alton, Nov. 7, 1837.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Owen Lovejoy, representative, was born in Albion, Maine, Jan. 6, 1811; son of the Rev. Daniel and Elizabeth (Pattee) Lovejoy. He worked on his father's farm, where he earned sufficient money to pay his way through college, and entered Bowdoin with the class of 1834. He left before graduating to study for orders in the Protestant Episcopal church, but on being required to refrain from taking sides on the question of slavery, he removed to Alton, Ill., in 1836, and was present when his brother Elijah was killed by the mob Nov. 7, 1837. He joined the Congregational church, studied for that ministry, and was pastor of the church at Princeton, Ill., 1838-54. He defied the laws of the state by holding anti-slavery meetings in all parts of Illinois, making his home in Princeton one of the principal stations of the "underground railroad." His course led to his arrest many times and to his paying innumerable fines. He was elected a representative in the state legislature in 1854, and succeeded in obtaining a repeal of the obnoxious law. He was a delegate to the national liberty convention at Buffalo in November, 1847, and in the state legislature supported the nomination of Abraham Lincoln for U.S. senator. He was a representative from the third district of Illinois in the 35th, 36th, 37th and 38th congresses, 1857-64, and died in office. While in congress he was chairman of the committee on agriculture and the District of Columbia. He took part in all the great debates on the slavery question in congress, and was a speaker in the political campaigns which followed the organization of the Republican party. He prepared with his brother, Joseph Cammet, A Memoir of the Life of Elijah Parish Lovejoy (1838). He died in Brooklyn, N.Y., March 25, 1864.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor