Fannie Virginia Casseopia "Fannie" Lawrence

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
I posted this a couple of years ago, but in light of bringing up children of the Civil War, thought I'd re-do the thread. Fannie was a pretty famous little girl in abolitionist circles, as can be attested to by the sheer numbers of these little cards which were distributed in certain circles. Our family has 2 of them, have to go dig around fo the second.

"Slave redeemtion was a long established practice in slave socities. They do not seem to have been very common in America, although the information we have been able to find is very limited. The best known redeeemed slave is certainly Frederick Douglas. After he ran away, supporters of slavery mounted a series of attempts to kidnapp him so his friends finally purchased his freedom. We note some redeeded slave children. Some were light-complectioned children. Others redeemed were children with black complections and features.


We know very little about Fannie Virginia Casseopia Lawrence seen in the CDV here (figure 1). The Virginia tells us where she was from. And the Lawrence tells us who redeemed her. She obviously had a white father and probably other white ancestors. She could pass for white. The caption on this CDV read, "Fannie Virginia Casseopia Lawrence: A redeemed Slave Child, 5 years of age. Redeemed in Virginia by Catherine S. Lawrence, baptized at Plymouth Church, by Henry Ward Beecher, May 1863." Beecher of course was one of the leading abolitionist spokesmen an preacher in the Unibed States. This CDV portrit was copyrighrted and distributed commercially to raise finds, presumably for more slave redeemptions. This was, however, after the Emancipation Proclamation. Fannie was probably obtained in an area of Virginia occupited by Federal forces. So we do not know if she actually had to be purchased. "
http://histclo.com/act/work/slave/us/free/red/sur-ind.html


http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=95182169
FannyVirginiaCass.jpg
 
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