Hezekiah Joslyn

American physician and abolitionist (1797-1865)

Hezekiah Joslyn

Born| 1797 (1797)

Cicero, New York, U.S.

Died| October 1865 (aged 67–68)

Fayetteville, New York

Occupation| Physician
Known for| Abolitionist activity
Relatives| Matilda Joslyn Gage, daughter; L. Frank Baum, grandson-in-law

Hezekiah Joslyn (1797 – October 30, 1865[1]) was an American physician and abolitionist.

Joslyn homesteaded at what is today (2020) 8560 Brewerton Rd. in Cicero, New York.[2] The homestead is now considered a potential archaeological site.[3] He was an Onondaga County, New York, doctor after 1823 and in 1865 an officer in the county medical society.[4][5][6]

Joslyn was a founding member of the Liberty Party, an early advocate of abolitionism founded in the 1840s. His daughter Matilda Joslyn Gage was a suffragist as well as a prominent abolitionist.[7] Their home in Fayetteville, New York, where Hezekiah died, was a station on the Underground Railroad.[8][9] His tombstone near his former home in Cicero reads "AN EARLY ABOLITIONIST".[10]

Hezekiah's daughter Matilda was mother-in-law of L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.[11]

## References

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1. ^ "Death of Dr. Hezekiah Joslyn" (PDF). Syracuse Daily Journal. November 2, 1865. p. 4.
2. ^ Sarah Moses (October 17, 2011), "Town of Cicero unveils historical marker at Matilda Joslyn Gage's childhood home", Syracuse Post-Standard, Syracuse, New York
3. ^ Sites Relating to the Freedom Trail, Abolitionism, and African American Life in Syracuse and Onondaga County, Preservation Association of Central New York
4. ^ v.d. Luft 2009, p. 43 "Hezekiah Joslyn, a freethinking physician in private practice since 1823 in Cicero, New York, tried in the 1840s to get his daughter Matilda into Geneva Medical College, but there is no record of her ever applying for admission."
5. ^ New York Legislature 1852.
6. ^ *"List of officers of county medical societies". Transactions of the Medical Society of the State of New York: 372. 1865.
7. ^ "That Laboratory of Abolitionism, Libel and Treason": Syracuse and the Underground Railroad, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University
8. ^ Snodgrass 2015, p. 208.
9. ^ Onondaga Historical Association 2015.
10. ^ "Hezekiah Joslyn Grave Site". Freethought Trail. 2020. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
11. ^ "Matilda Gage Book Signing, Lecture". Seneca Daily News. November 15, 2015. Archived from the original on February 12, 2017. Retrieved January 17, 2017.

### Bibliography

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* Snodgrass, Mary Ellen (2015), The Underground Railroad: An Encyclopedia of People, Places, and Operations, Routledge, ISBN 9781317454168
* Women's History Month: Happy Birthday to Matilda Joslyn Gage, Onondaga Historical Association, March 2015
* "List of officers of county medical societies, 1852", Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York, Volume 2, New York state legislature, 1852, p. 155
* v.d. Luft, Eric (2009), SUNY Upstate Medical University: A Pictorial History, ISBN 9781933237350