ELLIS GRAY LORING

Ellis Gray Loring, lawyer, abolitionist was born on April 14, 1803, the son of James Tyng Loring, a druggist and Relief Faxon. Ellis Gray Loring was born in Boston and spent most of his life there. On October 29, 1827 he married Louisa Gilman of Boston, daughter of Frederick Gilman and Abigail Gilman. Louisa was born January 1, 1797 and died May 25, 1868.

(The following quotations are from the Loring Genealogy, Pope and Loring ; Cambridge, 1917).

"He entered Harvard College in 1819 - but was not graduated, though a member of the Hasty Pudding Club and the Phi Beta Kappa Society. The following extract from the College faculty explains this matter: 'June 27, 1824. Loring who left college in May, 1823, at a time a large part of the class was dismissed for resistance of college authority, applies for his degree. - Voted, that Loring's request be not granted, as the Govt. cannot make any distinction between his case and that portion of his class who were dismissed in May, 1823.

"He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1827. He was Counsellor-at-law, master in chancery, and solicitor for the Western Railroad Company. Was one of the early `abolitionists.'"

Loring was an organizer of the New England Anti-Slavery Society in 1831. He financed the continuation of William Lloyd Garrison's Liberator and supported gradual abolition of slavery. In 1836, in the court case, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts vs. Thomas Aves Loring established the principle that a slave having been brought into Massachusetts could not be taken out of the State against his will. Loring died May 24, 1858.

The Lorings had one child, Anna, who was born November 10, 1830. "To her Lydia Maria Child dedicated her book, Fact and Fiction . She m. Oct. 29, 1863, Otto Dresel pianist and composer, b. at Geisenheim on the Rhine, Dec. 22, 1826, d. Beverly, (Mass.) July 26, 1890. She was Vice president of the Sanitary Commission of Boston during the Civil War, president of the Vincent Hospital. She died in 1896.

From the guide to the Collection, (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)