The grave of William Bloss [Photograph]
William Bloss is buried in the Brighton Cemetery (a suburb of Rochester, New York). The text underneath the relief of Mr. Bloss reads: (The text is written as it exists on the monument.)
“William Clough Bloss
Born at West Stockbridge, Mass. January 19, 1795
Died at Rochester. April 18, 1863
A Tribute to the People
In 1826 being convinced that the use of spirituous liquors was an evil, he emptied the contents of the bar of his tavern into the canal near this site. He was instrumental in establishing a Temperance Society in every town in this country. He was the promoter of the Free School Law. He was one of the originators of the Anti Slavery Movement, and in 1834 he published one of the first Anti Slavery Papers ‘The Rights of Man.’ In 1838 he advocated the ballot for women. In 1845, while a representative at Albany, in rebuke of the caste prejudice of the day, he left his seat among the Whites at a communion service, and seating himself with the separated Blacks, partook of the sacrament with them. In 1856 he supplemented the presentation of a rifle to each member of the Massachusetts Colonists en route to Kansas, by the gift of a Bible and Spelling Book ‘To establish civil and religious liberty in Kansas.’ In 1856 during the Fremont Campaign, he originated and circulated a Map showing the area and aggressions of the Slave power, which was so unanswerable an argument as to be excluded from the southern mails. He favored unrestricted immigration. For years he was a self appointed Chaplain of the county jail, his ministry to the needy, the destitute, and the helpless, continued throughout his life. A thinker in advance of his age, an orator on whose lips the people hung, he boldly championed unpopular truths, consecrating his gifts to God and humanity.”
Digital photograph taken by Judy E. Emerson of the
Rochester Regional Library Council, August 2000.