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Joseph A. Dugdale (November 10, 1810-March 5, 1896) was born in Bristol, Pennsylvania, of Quaker parents. He was at various times a farmer, a teacher, and a minister and became active in the temperance, peace, and antislavery movements. William Lloyd Garrison wrote in the Liberator (December 24, 1852) that Joseph Dugdale possessed "a loving and reverent spirit," aspired after all that was "beautiful and good," and was also "a practical reformer on a world-wide scale." Garrison, Lucretia Mott, Wendell Phillips, and Lydia Maria Child were among Dugdale's friends and fellow workers for reform (Ruchames IV 221). The Green Plain, Ohio, Friends monthly meeting, of which the Dugdales had been members since 1835, had disowned him and Ruth, his wife, because he aided runaway slaves and was "too candid" (Merrill V 44). They moved to southeastern Pennsylvania and in 1857 are known to have been living in Harmorton, southwest of Philadelphia, where they were members of the Progressive Friends. In 1862 they moved to Mount Pleasant, Iowa (44).

On January 29, 1842, Gamaliel Bailey had suggested to Milo that he open correspondence with W. Donaldson, Dr. A Brooke, J.A. Dugdale, or Levi Coffin on the subject of opening a free store. It seems unlikely that Milo should have waited eighteen years to contact Dugdale, and it seems unlikely that finding a place for a free store would have been the subject of a letter written as late as 1860.

The free-produce movement was cheifly advocated by Quakers, who proposed it at meetings and wrote on the desirability of abstaining from purchasing or using slave-grown products. However, it was found that products produced by slave labor were so mixed and mingled with those not so produced, that it was virtually impossible to use exclusively what was provided only by free labor (Kraditor 218-220).

On the other hand, both Milo and Dugdale were of Quaker background, and they may have clung idealistically to the concept after most abolitionists had given it up as impossible of attainment.

Letter 13

from Joseph A. Dugdale

Newmerton (Harmorton?), Chester Co Penn

6 mo 28, 1860

Milo Townsend

Dear Friend

Thou hast been much the subject of my thoughts for days. This morning I went into Kennett Square - It is a little place of 5-800 inhabitants on the new R.R. Surrounded by an intelligent Community 2 1/2 miles west of our meeting house-- There is no establishment like thine [?] there. As the country people become more cityfied they incline to paper & decoration-- I conversed with some friends and all seemed of one accord that it will be pleasant to have this provided thee will make it succeed-- I should be very unwilling to advise to any step that will not result satisfactorily. There are five stores in the place and I was thinking goods to be sold as cheap almost as in Phil.

There is a stand with dwelling house attached that I thought to be very suitable. I called to confirm but found it was leased for 3 years-- It belonged to one of our friends, a merchant who has walked on to the other life.

If thee and thy dear wife would think it worth while to come and look into our country and make us a visit we should be delighted to render you any service in our power.

If thee should come alone we will be just as good to thee as we can. I felt drawn near to you in spirit and should love to have you nearer in life than you are.

This is beautiful country-- so is yours-- This is a healthful region and taking the county over there is a good deal of excellent society-- not spiritualistic of the radical order, but materials of worth to make those of the best type.

How sad it seems to lose dear Theodore Parker. What a great and good man he was. Those who knew him well can testify to his gentleness and simplicity-- He drew his friends very close to him. He did a manly work and will be long remembered. The Lord in His divine order manages all things well, and tho it seems to us as tho the loss was irreparable yet it is not so. Those who have been true here pass on into higher spheres and draw us by invisible influences-- Death is not death, but life, immortal life. Our Y M [Yearly Meeting] was one of considerable interest-- Wise things were said and foolish things also-- the attendance on first day is so overwhelmingly large that it was finally concluded to meet next year on 4th day. We had much discussion on the subject and determined the case in a good spirit much being said for and against.

We were delighted with Ellen Angier1. She is a noble girl-- She worked in our harness nicely-- Our good aunt and dear cousin Ellen we knew before to have long loved them. We found A.D. Mayo a fine speaker but not so social in company as would have been pleasant to us-- At Pittsburgh we visited the House of Refuge and were deeply interested-- They need more of the refining power of love and less of the ugliness of force in that institution. Poor Children how my heart was moved with compassion for them.

With love to thy dear wife and parents.

I am truly and affectionately

J.A. Dugdale

1Ellen Angier. Milo's collection contains thirteen letters from her. She held a variety of teaching positions in the United States and while on vacation with friends, died of typhoid fever in Milan, Italy, during May of 1872,. She appears to have been a close friend of the Townsend family and apparently visited in their home for extended periods during school holidays.

In his next letter Dugdale reports an extended humanitarian trip which he and his wife had taken after a visit to the Townsends.

Letter 40

from Joseph A. Dugdale (Aneslie Farm)

Near Mount Pleasant Iowa 6 25, 65

My Dear Friend

In our book of nearly a hundred photographs thine mingles with many of the reformers of this and other ages for we date back as far as the 17th century-- Enclosed please find ours-- After we saw thee and thine we went on our mission of gospel love and while absent visited and had a pleasant interview with the President1 now the martyred and beloved-- We saw Dorthea L Dix2 in Washington and had a satisfactory conversation with her. We visited the Prison on the Capitol and had religious services there, held a meeting for children in the Old School Presbyterian Church, visited the camps and held meetings with the soldiers-- In Baltimore visited the Penitentiary, the Orphanage, Asylum-- & House of Refuge where 500 children gave listening ear for an hour-- Held large meetings for the colored people and found them unusually intelligent their houses of worship neat and commodious, held meeting in Friends meeting house for the laboring classes, visited the Widows home. Attended the Yearly Meeting of Friends in Baltimore and was in the state the day it was proclaimed free. Went to Phila, visited the same class of Institutions there beside holding many meetings in the country Then went to the Capitol of New Jersey on the same errand. While in its state prison which is conducted on the Silent system I was impressed to say "We are Friends, we have come to visit you in gospel love We can not see your faces If you can hear my voice and are in sympathy with the object of our mission will you respond by tapping on your cell doors." Instantaneously the response was made from end to end of the long corridor from hundreds of persons-- I was electrified, and my soul bowed in prayer to Him who is the God of Love and seeks to save all His creatures in whom burns the immortal fire.

Here we found two children one eleven the other 13 years old incarcerated each for ten years!

In Phila we held five meetings in the Almshouse, one of which was with the convalescent Insane. During the service such was the solemnity and precious baptism of the spirit that they all without exception seemed to be in their right mind and the expression of tenderness after the meeting impressed us with a renewed confidence in the power of the religious sentiment to hush the passions and bring the soul into contrition before the Lord-- We arrived at our prairie home on the 12 of 4 mo last after an absence of 6 months having traveled more than 3500 miles without sickness never having missed a connection, encountered an accident, or failed in the fulfillment of an appointment.

In view thereof we have cause for gratitude to that Divine guardian Power who maketh angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire

In love to thee and thy dear wife in which my dear Ruth joins I am in very kind remembrance

Thy friend Joseph A. Dugdale

Love to thy dear parents and if living to dear aunt and uncle Robert3 and family.

Enclosed please find the autographs of Theodore Parker, Isaac Hopper, Wendel Phillips, J.R. Giddings, and Thomas Garrett.

1Abraham Lincoln was shot April 14, 1865, and died at 7:22 the next morning (Kull 227).

2Dorothea L. Dix (1802-1887) became a pioneer of prison reforms in this country. She also pioneered the creation of almshouses and insane asylums. During the Civil War she had been superintendent of women nurses. (Hart 228).

3Robert Townsend, Milo's uncle. For more information see in chapter 1 the section on the antislavery movement in Beaver County.

There is no date for the article from which the following excerpts are taken:

The Children's friend familiarly known to them as "Uncle Joseph." held a meeting in the Methodist Episcapal [sic.] Church, on Sabbath afternoon last, where he spoke an hour and a half to the delight and profit of, not only the large company of little girls and boys, but also to "the children of a larger growth."-- Friend Dugdale possesses a peculiarly happy faculty for enlisting the interest and sympathy of childhood, and in the beautiful, touching little parables and stories he relates is inculcated great principles of Truth and Righteousness, that appeal to the universal heart of man. In this way, he is doing a great and noble work, and no one can listen to him, without having the deep fountains of his better nature stirred within him.

Whatever may be the theological, or sectarian differences in the views of men, to the element of love and kindness, they must all respond, in a greater, or lesser degree. To these common impulses of humanity, he appeals with impressive earnestness and simplicity, making impressions on the minds of young and old, that will not be easily eradicated.

Friend Dugdale has been traveling extensively in the West, and there, as well as in the East, he has met a cordial welcome-- the Churches of all denominations being kindly opened for his meetings. Teaching nothing of a sectarian character, he labors to inculcate the living principles of the Divine Master in a way comprehensible even to the little child, and is thus doing a work whose blessed results cannot fail to be felt in the far after-time (Scrapbook IV 115).

There are no further letters from Dugdale in Milo's collection.