Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry begins telling the history and genealogy of the Remonds family, African American abolitionists in Salem, Massachusetts. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.

Pioneer abolitionist and journalist William Lloyd Garrison (1804–1879) of Newburyport, Massachusetts, inspired a generation of reformers committed to ending slavery.

Garrison’s weekly newspaper, Liberator, became a platform for many abolitionists for over a century.

As Garrisonian satellite groups spread in the fight for social equality, opponents filled editorial pages with attacks, dismissing Garrisonians as “a farce” and calling them followers of the “hot-headed ravings of an insane man.”

The opposition soon turned violent. Here is an illustration entitled “Downfall of Abolition Depicting the Anti-Garrison Riot Which Occurred in Boston on October 21, 1835.” It shows the rioters removing the sign from the Anti-Slavery Office and condemning the abolitionists. Read more from the National Park Service article “The Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society.”

That day, an angry mob attacked William Lloyd Garrison – but rather than extinguish the anti-slavery movement, the violence only fueled its fire and resolve.

Among the justice warriors who answered the call was the Remond family of Salem, Massachusetts, starting with John Remond (1786-1874) and his wife Nancy (Lenox) Remond (1787-1867). Following in their footsteps as abolitionists were two of their children, Charles Lenox Remond (1810-1873) and Dr. Sarah Parker Remond (1826-1894), both born at Hamilton Hall in Salem.

Here is a little background on the early history of the Remond family in Salem.

According to the Massachusetts Historical Society, John Remond arrived in Salem in 1798 as an unaccompanied ten-year-old immigrant from Curacao in the West Indies.

In Salem he had a long and successful career as a caterer, “restaurateur,” and business entrepreneur, which included dealing in fine wines and liqueurs. When he died his cellar was stocked with some of the finest rare wines around.

Much of his business was operated from Hamilton Hall, located on Chestnut Street in Salem. It was designed by Samuel McIntire, built in 1805, and named in honor of Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the treasury, who had visited Salem.

The Remonds catered dinners, balls, cotillions, and special town events for Salem’s leading families, dignitaries, and military guests.

Here is a news clip from 1825 about the Salem Light Infantry’s anniversary celebration which John Remond hosted at Hamilton Hall.

This article reports:

In the evening, the corps, with a large number of gentlemen, formerly members of it, and other invited guests, sat down to a supper in Hamilton Hall, served in the first style of elegance and good taste by Mr. Remond, who has really become illustrious in the art, and who richly deserves the encouragement of the public for his enterprise and unwearied exertions to please.

In 1852 an upgrade to Hamilton Hall was announced in the Salem Observer.

This article reports:

Hamilton Hall. Mr. Remond has been putting the extra “fixings” upon this long-established favorite, until nothing seems left to be desired. What with gas-apparatus, curtains, new carpets, &c., the noble main hall, with its various ante-rooms, and the minor hall for smaller parties, the establishment is now in a condition to accommodate parties, either public or private, in the most elegant style.

The following advertisement promotes John Remond’s Oyster Saloon in Higginson Square in Salem, operated by his business partner and son-in-law James Lyna Shearman (1810-1866), son of Charles Shearman and Elizabeth (Lyna) Shearman. James married another of John’s daughters, Nancy Remond (1809-1878). Church records on the family can be found at the Newport Historical Society.

John’s wife, Nancy (Lenox) Remond, an accomplished pastry cook and baker, is the daughter of Revolutionary War veteran Cornelius Lenox and his wife Susannah (Toney) Lenox.

Below is an advertisement for Mrs. Nancy Remond’s bakery goods, published in the Salem Register.

To learn more on the Remonds’ business enterprises, you can view several records, receipts, letters, and advertisements from the collection housed at PEM Remond Family Papers, Peabody Essex Library. Some were preserved and gifted by descendant Cecilia R. Babcock on 22 June 1915.

Cecilia, another daughter of John Remond and Nancy (Lenox) Remond, married Charles Babcock.

Below is clip from Garrison’s newspaper Liberator, announcing John Remond’s membership to the New England Anti-Slavery Society.

This article reports:

More Life Members. Samuel E. Sewall, Esq., of this city, Dr. Ingalls Kittredge of Beverly, and Mr. John Remond of Salem, have constituted themselves Life Members of the New-England Ant-Slavery Society by the payment of $15 (about $495 today); and through the kindness and liberality of the “Garrison Society” of Boston, (composed entirely of colored females), the names of the publishers of the Liberator have been enrolled upon the list of Life Members of this Society.

John and Nancy’s son Charles Lenox Raymond was an agent and writer for Garrison’s newspaper.

For more history on the family, see: “The Remonds of Salem, Massachusetts: A Nineteenth-Century Family Revisited.”

To be continued…

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Note on the header image: masthead of William Lloyd Garrison’s newspaper “Liberator.” Credit: Digital Commonwealth.