J. Milton Clarke 1820 - 1902 / Lewis Clarke 1818 - 1897

J. Milton Clarke 1820 - 1902, also, Lewis Clarke 1818 - 1897. Writers and Abolitionists. , Lewis and John Milton Clarke, who were among the many contributors to the antislavery cause in Cambridge, were born in Madison County, Kentucky. They were the sons of an elderly white Revolutionary War veteran and a mulatto daughter of Samuel Campbell, a plantation owner. Campbell promised freedom for his daughter and her ten children upon his death; however, his heirs laid claim to them, and they were sold at auctions to several new masters. Owing to their light complexions, Lewis and Milton attracted attention as "white slaves.", The brothers escaped to Ohio and in 1842 were reunited in Oberlin. They arrived in Cambridge in 1843, staying with Aaron Safford, a Boston merchant who lived on Prospect Street near Broadway. They joined the Second Evangelical Congregational Church, which was known as the abolition church. Their pastor, the Reverend Joseph C. Lovejoy (the brother of Elijah, a famous martyr for the abolitionist cause), published their book, Narrative of the Sufferings of Lewis and Milton Clarke, in 1846., The Clarkes' fame arose by coincidence. Safford's wife, Mary, was a daughter of Dr. Lyman Beecher and a sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe. After hearing their story, Mary arranged for Stowe to meet the brothers in Cambridge. Stowe based George Harris, a character in Uncle Tom's Cabin, on Lewis., Lewis left Cambridge before the Civil War to go to Dawn, Ontario, which was founded by escaped slaves. He later returned to Oberlin, where he lived until his death., Milton remained in Cambridge, working as a caterer and waiter. He supported a large extended family and lived on Norfolk Street and Florence Place from 1851 until he died. In 1870, he succeeded his patron, Aaron Safford, on the Common Council, becoming the first African American elected to public office in Cambridge. He was reelected in 1872, but resigned to become a messenger at the U.S. Subtreasury in Boston. There he worked with John J. Fatal, another Cambridge African American, for thirty-three years, until his death at age eighty-two., Related Cambridge African American Trail Marker , John J. Fatal, 49 Lincoln Street, Sources , Boston Transcript, December 17, 1897 , Cambridge Chronicle, March 4, 1902 , Lewis Clarke and J. Milton Clarke, Narrative of the Sufferings of Lewis and Milton Clarke, 1846; reprinted 1969 , Colored American, vol. 6, 1903 (photo) , Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston, eds., Dictionary of American Negro Biography, 1982 , Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1852; reprinted , Harriet Beecher Stowe, A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin; Presenting the Original Facts and Documents upon Which the Story is Founded, 1853; reprinted 1968