Stevens

The story of the Stevens-Cogdell-Sanders-Venning family, which eventually developed into a prominent middle class African American family in Philadelphia, began in the 1760s, when John Stevens emigrated from England and settled in Georgia. He began as a Georgia planter, owning a plantation until a slave rebellion ended his plantation career. After this setback, he settled in Charleston, South Carolina. There he established the Carolina Coffee House, which became an important establishment and meeting point in the community. He later received a postal appointment, which added to his success. He had a daughter, Mary Ann Elizabeth Stevens, and a son, John (Jack) Stevens. His son John (Jack) Stevens left Charleston, South Carolina and moved to Jamaica, against his father’s wishes. His daughter, Mary Ann Elizabeth Stevens, married George Cogdell.

Mary Ann Elizabeth Stevens and George Cogdell had three known sons, John Stephano Cogdell, Clements Stevens Cogdell, and Richard Walpole Cogdell. Their son, Richard Walpole Cogdell (1787-1866) married a woman named Cecilia, and they had three sons, James Gordon Cogdell, George Burgess Cogdell, and John Walpole Cogdell. Although he was married with a family, Richard Walpole Cogdell sought the relations of a black mistress, Sarah Martha Sanders (d. 1850). This relation existed despite the feelings and emotions of his family, particularly his mother, about intimacies between the races. His mother, Mary Elizabeth Stevens wrote in her diary, “the laws of country are imperfect allowing such familiarity [physical intimacy between white men and black women] with impurity, every white man having such connection should be compelled by the laws of humanity to marry the person, black or mulatto, with whom such familiarities have existed, and to have no intercourse with genteel society or to appear in any public place of amusement on an equality with other citizens,” ( Library Company of Philadelphia Annual Report, p. 27). Mary Elizabeth Stevens passed before her son Richard Walpole Cogdell fathered children with Sarah Martha Sanders.

Richard Walpole Cogdell (1787-1866) would father no less than ten children with his mistress Sarah Martha Sanders (Robert, Jacob, Julia E., Sarah Ann, Cordelia, John, Sophia Elizabeth, Miranda, Florence, and Martha J.). Though Richard Walpole Cogdell did not marry Sarah Martha Sanders (he was already married to Cecilia), he did maintain an affectionate relationship with her and their children. He supported them financially and made provisions for them in his will. In the 1850s, Cogdell bought a house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and arranged for the Sanders family to move there in order flee the slave state of South Carolina. Eventually, Richard Walpole Cogdell’s estate languished due to poor fiscal management and his relationship with Sarah Martha Sanders and their family officially ended in 1866 when he died in Philadelphia.

Despite Richard Walpole Cogdell’s financial misfortunes, Richard Walpole Cogdell and Sarah Martha Sanders’ children and their children’s offspring went on to join Philadelphia’s middle class black citizenry. The children became tradesmen, businessmen, educators, and business professionals. The Sanders were “...dedicated to providing their children with opportunities for education, culture and economically secure professional status,” ( Library Company of Philadelphia Annual Report, p. 28). The Sanders family was involved in several prominent local African American institutions, including the St. Thomas P.E. Church, Church of the Crucifixion, Central Presbyterian Church, the Colored Institute of Youth, and the Citizens Republic Club.

Cogdell and Sanders’ daughter Julia married a carpenter named Edward Y. Venning who was in business with his father, Edward W. Venning. Together they had ten children, Miranda, Julia Elizabeth, Cordelia Nixon, Sophia, Oliver Casey, Robert, Sallie, George Edward, Martha and Louise. Their daughter Miranda Venning became a teacher and eventually the principal of the Joseph E. Hill School. She was educated at the prestigious Institute for Colored Youth, Robert Forten's private school, and the Vaux School. She was the first black graduate of Philadelphia’s Girls Normal School in 1882. Julia and Edward Venning’s son, George Edward, married Julia Capps and Julia and Edward’s daughter Sallie Sanders married William B. Holden.

Cogdell and Sanders’ daughter Cordelia, married William H. Chew, a hairdresser and wigmaker. The Chew family, in 1880, sued to abolish racially segregated schools in Pennsylvania. Cordelia and William H. Chew had two sons, Richard Sanders and Charles Sanders. Their son Richard Sanders Chew, benefited from the Chew family efforts and Richard Sanders Chew studied engineering at the University of Pennsylvania; however, at the supposed advice of a professor there, he moved to the West Coast and lived as a white man. He married a white woman and had a successful career. Their other son, Charles Sanders Chew married Georgine Saunders and had two children, Agnes and Cordelia.

Bibliography:

“Afro-Americana: Family Values, in Black and White” in The Annual Report of The Library Company of Philadelphia for the Year 1991, pp. 26-31. Philadelphia: The Library Company of Philadelphia.