HARPER AT 200

JANE P. MERRIT

State Convention of the Colored Citizens of Ohio (1849: Columbus, OH), “Minutes and address of the State Convention of the Colored Citizens of Ohio, convened at Columbus, January 10th, 11th, 12th, & 13th, 1849,” ColoredConventions.org.

While Black women such as Frances Harper and Edmonia Highgate spoke at Conventions, others physically interrupted convention spaces to demand that male delegates recognize Black women as delegates.

During the evening session on Friday, January 17, 1849, at the Columbus Convention of Colored Citizens of Ohio, held in the Bethel Church on Long Street, a group of Black women threatened to boycott the convention unless they were permitted to participate on an equal basis with men. As their leader, Mary Jane Pointer Merritt submitted a resolution to the Business Committee: “Whereas we the ladies have been invited to attend the Convention, and have been deprived of voice, which we the ladies deem wrong and shameful. Therefore, Resolved, That we will attend no more after tonight, unless the privilege is granted.”[1] Though two delegates, W. Hurst Burnham and George J. Reynolds[2] were opposed, the committee adopted the resolution, granting women an equal voice in the proceedings by “inviting the ladies to share in the doings of the Convention.” Among those who favored the resolution from the outset were John Watson, chair of the session, John Mercer Langston (future Dean of Howard Law School, US Congressman and the great uncle of Langston Hughes), and Thomas Jefferson Merritt, a member of the business committee (Merritt’s husband) who initially brought the women’s resolution to the floor.[3] Mary “Jane” Merritt and other women’s action redefined Black citizenship.

We now know that Mary Jane Pointer was born on December 13, 1830 on a farm in Pike Run Township, Washington County, PA.[4] Her father, Thomas Pointer Sr., was a freed man who had moved north from Virginia and her mother was Nancy Butler.[5][6] Her family soon left PA and moved further west to Lett’s Settlement in Muskingum County, OH, where Mary Jane grew up.[7] The Pointer family was involved in the Underground Railroad, an activity that further raised tensions in the predominantly white settlement.[8] It is probable that Mary Jane Pointer received a formal education. She would have attended a school in Meigs Township where colored children were allowed.[9]

Mary Jane’s parents died when she was still fairly young, and she may have briefly moved away from Lett’s Settlement to live with an older brother, Daniel, and his family in nearby Perry County.[10][11] In 1847, she was living in Lett’s Settlement once again when she met a widowed barber named Thomas Jefferson Merritt and they swiftly married, moving to Circleville where Merritt had established his barbering business.[12][13] Together, Thomas Jefferson and Mary Jane Merritt attended the 1849 Colored Convention where she made her aforementioned speech. Following the convention, the Merritts returned to Circleville where they continued to build up the barbering business. He also apprenticed two of her younger brothers in his shop.[14] Unfortunately, Mr. Merritt died in January of 1854.[15]

Death Certificate of Mary Jane Pointer Merritt Ellis . Image courtesy of Michigan Department of Community Health

Mary Jane Merritt moved to Michigan where some of her extended family had settled and met her second husband, Charles W. Ellis, whom she married in 1858.[16] Mr. and Mrs. Ellis were interested in the Haitian Emigration movement. Letters reveal that they were on a list awaiting confirmation on when they could emigrate to Port-au-Prince.[17] Meanwhile, they had several children and became more tightly tied to their community.[18] Mary Jane probably continued to work at least partially in the hair dressing trade, as she exhibited “hair work” at the Michigan State Fair in 1866 (19).

The Ellis family moved to Saginaw, Michigan, by 1868 where they prospered.[20] Mr. Ellis first worked as head waiter at the Taylor House (which later became the Hotel Fordnay) but ultimately opened his own restaurant and catering business. This grew into a second restaurant and Turkish Bath. During this time, the Ellises were active in Zion Baptist Church where Mrs. Ellis taught Sunday School and Mr. Ellis became a school superintendent. Charles Ellis was also a participant at the Battle Creek convention that took place in 1844 and stayed active in the Michigan Equal Rights Party; his son, Charles Ellis, Jr., and son-in-law Walter L. Burton also participated in this movement.[21] Charles W. Ellis, Sr. died on January 28, 1897.[22] Six years later, on September 3, 1903, Mary Jane Pointer Merritt Ellis passed away.[23] Their legacy was the children they raised, who remained active and respectable citizens in the greater Michigan community.

This page is adopted from a previous exhibit,”The ‘Conventions’ of Conventions: Political Rituals and Traditions.” Click here to learn more about women’s roles.

REFERENCES

Please see Jewon Woo’s article “Black Women at the Colored Conventions in Antebellum Ohio”, Forthcoming in XX, UNC Press, 2021.

[1] State Convention of the Colored Citizens of Ohio (1849: Columbus, OH), “Minutes and address of the State Convention of the Colored Citizens of Ohio, convened at Columbus, January 10th, 11th, 12th, & 13th, 1849,” ColoredConventions.org, accessed April 30, 2016, https://omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/247.

[2] W. Hurst Burnham lived in Zanesville, Ohio, possibly as a businessman, but no record reveals his activities in abolitionism other than his attendance at the conventions. The Muskingum County Recorder indicates that he purchased nine lots on a business street in May 7th, 1851. http://cotthosting.com/ohmuskingum/HTML5Viewer/ImageViewer.aspx?OIB=true.  According to the Sandusky Library Archive Research Center, George J. Reynolds was a carriage maker and active Underground Railroad conductor in Sandusky, Ohio. The historian Wilbur Siebert depicts Reynolds as a skilled blacksmith “of mixed Negro and Indian blood.” Reynolds also met with John Brown at the meeting in Chatham, Ontario, Canada in May 1858 to discuss abolitionism. However, no evidence suggests his participation in the Harper’s Ferry Raid. For more biography of George J. Reynolds, see http://sanduskyhistory.blogspot.com/2008/02/george-j-reynolds-carriage-maker-and.html

[3] James Oliver Horton and Stacy Flaherty, “Black Leadership in Antebellum Cincinnati,” Race and the City: Work, Community, and Protest in Cincinnati, 1820-1970 (Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1993), 80.

[4] Death Certificate of Mary Jane Ellis, dated 6 September 1903, Saginaw County, Michigan, Register no. 428.  Michigan Department of Community Health’s Vital Records Office, Lansing, Michigan, http://seekingmichigan.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p129401coll7/id/517111/rec/6. Accessed 28 April 2016.

[5] Robert Lett, “Daniel Pointer and Thomas Pointer,” in http://www.oldsettlersreunion.com/index.php/old-settler-family-pages/2-uncategorised/83-danielpointer. Accessed 28 April 2016.

[6] Ibid; “United States Census, 1820”, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHL5-TN6 : accessed 28 April 2016), Thomas Pointer, 1820;  “United States Census, 1830,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHPT-J39 : accessed 28 April 2016), Thomas Pointer, Pike Run, Washington, Pennsylvania, United States; citing 225, NARA microfilm publication M19, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 163; FHL microfilm 20,637.

[7] “United States Census, 1840,” database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHRJ-7GZ : accessed 28 April 2016), Thos. Pointer, Meigs Township, Muskingum, Ohio, United States; citing p. 378, NARA microfilm publication M704, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 418; FHL microfilm 20,173.

[8]”United States Census, 1850,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-12393-289668-25?cc=1401638 : accessed 30 April 2016), Ohio > Perry > Salt Lick > image 36 of 44; citing NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

[9] George Simpson, “Lett Settlement: The Colored School, Meigs Township, Muskingum County, Ohio.”http://henryburke1010.tripod.com/lettsettlementreunion/id23.html   Accessed 28 April 2016.

[10] “Mary Jane Pointer Ellis, Find a Grave, ”http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Ellis&GSfn=Mary&GSmn=J&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=24&GScnty=1299&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=45713674&df=all& Accessed 28 April 2016.

[11] On her death certificate, her father’s name is listed as “D. Pointer,” which would suggest Daniel Pointer; however, Daniel and his wife Millie Jane Cummings Pointer had no biological children, but adopted three boys. Death Certificate of Mary Jane Ellis; Robert Lett, “Daniel Pointer and Thomas Pointer.”; “United States Census, 1850,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-12393-289668-25?cc=1401638 : accessed 29 April 2016), Ohio > Perry > Salt Lick > image 36 of 44; citing NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

[12] Thomas J. Merritt (“Merit”) married Celia Ann Smith in Pickaway County, Ohio, on 1 May 1838.  Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2013,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-18059-98269-53?cc=1614804 : accessed 29 April 2016), Pickaway > Marriage records 1828-1839 vol 3 > image 161 of 172; county courthouses, Ohio. “United States Census, 1840,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-25144-43926-58?cc=1786457 : accessed 29 April 2016), Ohio > Pickaway > Circleville Township > image 27 of 54; citing NARA microfilm publication M704, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).; “United States Census, 1850,” database with images,  FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-11859-25987-96?cc=1401638 : accessed 29 April 2016), Ohio > Pickaway > Circleville town > image 38 of 72; citing NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

[13] “Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2013,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-11781-128865-36?cc=1614804 : accessed 29 April 2016), Muskingum > Marriage records 1845-1848 > image 328 of 786; county courthouses, Ohio.

[14] “United States Census, 1850,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-11859-25987-96?cc=1401638 : accessed 1 May 2016), Ohio > Pickaway > Circleville town > image 38 of 72; citing NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

[15] Executors & Administrators Bonds, Probate Court of Pickaway County, Ohio (1849-1856), 2:211, as found online at Ancestry.com. Ohio, Wills and Probate Records, 1786-1998 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

[16] United States Census, 1850,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXQY-JDT : accessed 1 May 2016), Lydia Smith in household of Levin Smith, Circleville town, Pickaway, Ohio, United States; citing family 169, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).; Robert Lett, “Thomas Pointer and Daniel Pointer.”; “Michigan Marriages, 1822-1995,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FCTW-JJK : accessed 1 May 2016), Charles Ellis and Jennette Moore, 06 Jul 1858; citing reference ; FHL microfilm 14,822.

[17] C. W. Ellis, “A Note from Michigan,” Pine and Palm, February 27, 1862, 4.

[18] The Ellis’ had at least two children, Mary Anna Ellis (b.1865) and Charles W. Ellis, Jr (b.1862). “United States Census, 1870,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHCJ-Z69 : accessed 1 May 2016), Charles Ellis, Michigan, United States; citing p. 64, family 503, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 552,201.

[19] “List of Premiums Awarded at the Eighteenth Annual Fair of the Michigan State Agricultural Society, held at Adrian, September 18, 19 and 20, 1866,”  (Detroit) Free Press, October 13, 1866, 7.

[20] Michigan Freedmen’s Progress Commission: Michigan Manual of Freedmen’s Progress (Lansing: John M. Green, 1915), 35; “The Caterers’ Convention,” (Cleveland) Gazette, April 28, 1888, 2; see also “Equal Rights,” Free Press, April 6, 1892, 3;  “Equal Rights Association. They Hold an Interesting Convention in Jackson.” Free Press, April 5, 1893, 1.

[21] C.W. Grant, “Memorial Report—Saginaw County,” Michigan Historical Collections 28 (Lansing: Robert Smith Printing Company, State Printer, 1900), 81; Section 14, Lot 230. http://cemeteries.saginaw-mi.com/search/viewBurial.php?serviceID=18121&lotID=F-14-230.

[22] “Michigan Deaths and Burials, 1800-1995,” database,  FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHLV-2XP : accessed 1 May 2016), Mary Jane Ellis, 03 Sep 1903; citing Saginaw, Michigan, reference v 1897-1908 p 148; FHL microfilm 967,177.

CREDITS

Written by Carolyne King.

Edited by P. Gabrielle Foreman and Sarah Patterson.