Person Sheet
NamePrudence CRANDALL 
Birth3 Sep 1803, Hope Valley, Hopkinton, Washington Co., Rhode Island
Death28 Jan 1889, Elk Falls, Elk Co., Kansas
BurialElk Falls Cemetery, Elk Co., Kansas
FatherPardon CRANDALL (1778-1838)
MotherEsther CARPENTER (1784-1872)
Notes for Prudence CRANDALL
1831 Opened school for girls at Canterbury, [Windham Co.], CT
1833 Arrested and imprisoned for setting up a school for colored people from out of state without consent of selectmen of town
Of Quaker descent
Prudence Crandall's life
(Source: "The CRANDALL Corner", Oct 2003)
Prudence Crandall was born in the village of Hope Valley (Hopkinton), RI on September 3, 1803.
In 1831, she was asked by a group of Canterbury, CT citizens to establish a private school. The academy opened in January of 1832 in the former Luther Payne house located on the Canterbury Green. Areas of study included reading, writing, arithmetic, English grammar, geography, history, moral philosophy, chemistry and astronomy. Tuition was $25 per quarter.
When Sarah Harris, a twenty-year old black woman was admitted to the school late in 1832, Crandall lost community support and was forced to dismiss remaining students.
On April 1, 1833, Crandall reopened the school for the purpose of instruction of "young ladies and little misses of color." - the first academy for black girls in New England,
The General Assembly in Hartford passed the "Black Law" on May 24, 1833 in response to Crandall's move. The law made it illegal to establish a school for the instruction of "colored persons who are not inhabitants of this State." Thus Crandall was arrested, imprisoned overnight, and tried three times. Her case was later dismissed on a technicality in July, 1834.
During this time, the academy remained open, but its residents endured harassment, and the building was pelted with stones, eggs, and mud. There was even an unsuccessful attempt to set it on fire.
After an attack on the academy by a mob of local residents on the night of September 9, 1834, Prudence feared for the physical safety of her students and decided to close the school.
She left Canterbury soon afterwards and traveled with her husband, Rev. Calvin Philleo (they were married on August 12, 1834) to Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, and Illinois. Calvin died in 1874, Prudence and her brother, Hezekiah, bought property in Elk Falls, Kansas where they spent their remaining years. Prudence died in 1890 at the age of 87.
Prudence moved from Connecticut to Kansas with her husband Phillio who died there in 1874. They had no children. Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain of Missouri) offered to buy back her Cantebury, Connecticut home, but she declined preferring to stay in Kansas. There is a museum in CT, though. She did receive a pension of $400/year from CT based on a legislative act approved in 1886. She died in Elk Falls, Kansas.
1833 Arrested and imprisoned for setting up a school for colored people from out of state without consent of selectmen of town
Of Quaker descent
Prudence Crandall's life
(Source: "The CRANDALL Corner", Oct 2003)
Prudence Crandall was born in the village of Hope Valley (Hopkinton), RI on September 3, 1803.
In 1831, she was asked by a group of Canterbury, CT citizens to establish a private school. The academy opened in January of 1832 in the former Luther Payne house located on the Canterbury Green. Areas of study included reading, writing, arithmetic, English grammar, geography, history, moral philosophy, chemistry and astronomy. Tuition was $25 per quarter.
When Sarah Harris, a twenty-year old black woman was admitted to the school late in 1832, Crandall lost community support and was forced to dismiss remaining students.
On April 1, 1833, Crandall reopened the school for the purpose of instruction of "young ladies and little misses of color." - the first academy for black girls in New England,
The General Assembly in Hartford passed the "Black Law" on May 24, 1833 in response to Crandall's move. The law made it illegal to establish a school for the instruction of "colored persons who are not inhabitants of this State." Thus Crandall was arrested, imprisoned overnight, and tried three times. Her case was later dismissed on a technicality in July, 1834.
During this time, the academy remained open, but its residents endured harassment, and the building was pelted with stones, eggs, and mud. There was even an unsuccessful attempt to set it on fire.
After an attack on the academy by a mob of local residents on the night of September 9, 1834, Prudence feared for the physical safety of her students and decided to close the school.
She left Canterbury soon afterwards and traveled with her husband, Rev. Calvin Philleo (they were married on August 12, 1834) to Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, and Illinois. Calvin died in 1874, Prudence and her brother, Hezekiah, bought property in Elk Falls, Kansas where they spent their remaining years. Prudence died in 1890 at the age of 87.
Prudence moved from Connecticut to Kansas with her husband Phillio who died there in 1874. They had no children. Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain of Missouri) offered to buy back her Cantebury, Connecticut home, but she declined preferring to stay in Kansas. There is a museum in CT, though. She did receive a pension of $400/year from CT based on a legislative act approved in 1886. She died in Elk Falls, Kansas.
Notes for Calvin (Spouse 1)
Of Ithaca, Tompkins Co., NY
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/pa/county/lycoming/family_histories/crandall/crandalls1.html
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/pa/county/lycoming/family_histories/crandall/crandalls1.html