The long-lost story of a Welsh abolitionist preacher who helped fleeing slaves in America has been brought to light after research by an academic. Reverend Robert Everett, who helped rally communities into the anti-slavery movement after emigrating to America in 1823, has been inducted into the National Abolition Hall of Fame in New York State.
His story has been rediscovered by Bangor University academic Professor Jerry Hunter, originally from Ohio. Thanks to his work Flintshire-born Rev Everett will now join the likes of Harriet Tubman and John Brown in the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum.
The Welsh congregationalist preacher’s papers revealed that he was a station master on the underground railroad, which helped fleeing slaves, and he was involved in translating abolitionist works into Welsh including Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum honours abolitionists, their work to end slavery, and the legacy of that struggle, and introduces new inductees every two years.
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Prof Hunter said reading through Welsh material published in north America during the period it became obvious that Rev Everett “probably did more than anybody else to radicalise Welsh-speaking Americans and enlist them in the anti-slavery movement”. Preaching from the pulpit Flintshire-born Everett was criticised by some but was a leading religious, moral, and intellectual leader of the Welsh-American community. At the time America had many vibrant Welsh-speaking communities, which supported a Welsh-language publishing industry including a range of newspapers and periodicals.''
Rev Everett was born in Llanasa, Flintshire, in 1791 and emigrated to America in 1823 where he became a tireless campaigner, publishing his “10-point campaign plan” for other chapels and groups to follow. But his radicalism was not welcomed in all quarters and he faced a backlash for preaching politics from the pulpit.
“The abolition of slavery was his main aim though he also supported women’s rights, pacifism, and temperance,” said Prof Hunter, “Rev Everett was the editor of Y Cenhadwr Americanaidd, (the monthly journal of the congregational chapel denomination) which included religious, cultural, and news material geared to appeal to a wider Welsh-speaking American readership. From the very first issue he used the monthly periodical to publish anti-slavery material and to radicalise and enlist Welsh Americans to the cause.”
The Saint David’s Society of Utica and the Remsen Steuben Historical Society sponsored the project to present the Welsh preacher for induction in the hall of fame and started to collect documents to support the bid. The Everett family are now compiling a family history and the site of Everett’s church was recently registered as a historical site by New York State. The local historical society has also created an Everett display at their headquarters in Utica.
Ted Engle, an American of Welsh descent and one of the group who proposed Rev Everett's nomination into the museum, said he attended the North American Festival of Wales in 2017 where he heard Professor Hunter give a presentation on the preacher. He said he was embarrassed not to know how influential Everett was to the Civil War and the Abolitionist movement. "Much has been forgotten even in our area with deep Welsh roots and it seemed unthinkable that we were not more knowledgeable," he said.
Even as a pacifist Everett ended up deciding that abolition should take precedence over peace and supported the Civil War of 1861-65 – a conflict he saw as "a crusade against slavery.” Having been ordained as a congregationalist minister in Wales he was first appointed to Swan Lane Chapel, Denbigh, in 1815. He emigrated to America in 1823 to minister to a Welsh congregational church in Utica, which was then considered the ‘unofficial capitol’ of Welsh American communities.
In 1838 he took charge of two Welsh chapels – Capel Ucha and Capel Penmynydd – in the villages of Steuben and Remsen outside Utica, Oneida county, New York State. He had his own printing press and in 1840 began printing and publishing Y Cenhadwr Americanaidd and other periodicals.
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