Abraham Shadd Family

New Castle County · dedicated 2022 · 849 N. French Street, Wilmington

Abraham Doras Shadd (1801-1882) was the grandson of Hans and Elizabeth Schad, a Hessian soldier and free Black woman who settled in Delaware in the 1770s. Abraham was a shoemaker and a well-known abolitionist in Wilmington who aided freedom seekers. He also served as President of the National Convention for the Improvement of Free People of Colour in the United States in 1833. Abraham and his wife, Harriet Parnell Shadd, had 13 children. The eldest, Mary Ann Shadd Cary (1823-1893), became a teacher, journalist, lawyer, and activist in the abolition and women’s suffrage movements. She was also the first Black woman newspaper editor in North America.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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