Barnabas Yale
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Barnabas Yale (1784 – 1854) was an American abolitionist attorney, vice-president and cofounder of the Central New-York Anti-Slavery Society, part of the American Anti-Slavery Society. He petitioned Congress in 1838 for the abolition of slavery, about 30 years before the American Civil War, and was made Justice of the Peace of Martinsburg, New York.
Barnabas Yale was born in Rupert, Vermont, on April 9, 1784, to Sally Baxter and Amasa Yale, grandnephew of Capt. Theophilus Yale, and member of the Yale family.[1][2] His father was a soldier in the American War of Independence, surveyor and merchant, and his mother, born in Boston, was from the Baxters involved with the Boston Tea Party.[3][2] His brother was Paul Baxter Yale, father of Walter D. Yale, public notary and teacher.[4][1] His brother owned an alcohol business which he ran for a few years, served in the War of 1812, and was also a cattle dealer and bridge builder.[3] He married Achsah, daughter of John Dewey.
Her father was a selectman and a clothing merchant who also enlisted in the War of Independence, and wrote in his journal his travels during the war, including the passing of the Delaware River with General Washington, while Baxter Yale's brother-in-law, Perez Dewey, was the first president and wealthiest merchant in Sinclairville, New York.[5][3] Barnabas's cousin was Capt. Josiah Yale of the Revolutionary War, father of Eunice Yale, the grandmother of Mayor George W. Gardner, an early business partner of John D. Rockefeller and descendant of the Quincy and Adams families, of U.S. Presidents and Founding Father John Adams and John Quincy Adams.[2]
Barnabas was also a cousin of Rev. Cyrus Yale, Rev. Elisha Yale, Dr. Leroy Milton Yale Jr. from Martha's Vineyard, and tin ware manufacturer Burrage Yale, who played a major role during the Civil War as co-proprietor of Lamson, Goodnow & Yale, the largest gun-machine manufacturer of Abraham Lincoln's army, family of Linus Yale Sr.[6][7] Barnabas removed to Salem, New York, during his childhood, where his father died, leaving him and his two siblings to the care of their mother.[1] For two years he attended Salem Academy, then entered in the law office of lawyer Blanchard, where he would remain for about two and a half years.
