Arnold Buffum
Arnold Buffum (December 13, 1782{{Snd}}March 13, 1859) was an American Quaker abolitionist who was a member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society and the American Anti-Slavery Society.{{Cite book |last=Garrison |first=William Lloyd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ojhsW0VgooC&dq=%22arnold+buffum%22&pg=PA122 |title=The Letters of William Lloyd Garrison, Volume II: a House Dividing Against Itself: 1836-1840 |date=1971 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-52661-7 |pages=122 |language=en}} Circa 1840, he was active in promoting the Liberty Party.{{Cite book |last=Jordan |first=Ryan P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-yVxUlWPqNYC&dq=%22arnold+buffum%22&pg=PA49 |title=Slavery and the Meetinghouse: The Quakers and the Abolitionist Dilemma, 1820-1865 |date=2007-03-28 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-11709-0 |pages=49 |language=en}} His children and grandchildren were also involved in social reform work.
Biography
A native of Smithfield, Rhode Island, Buffum's family were Quakers.{{Cite book |last=Conley |first=Patrick T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IU63EAAAQBAJ&dq=%22arnold+buffum%22&pg=PA167 |title=Makers of Modern Rhode Island, The |date=2023 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-1-4671-5402-4 |pages=167–169 |language=en}} Buffum's father, William Buffum, was a member of the colonial-era Rhode Island Abolition Society.{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Rufus Matthew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yHbZAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22arnold+buffum%22&pg=PA579 |title=The Later Periods of Quakerism |date=1921 |publisher=Macmillan and Company, Limited |pages=579 |language=en}} Arnold Buffum married Rebecca Gould, who was descended from Daniel Gould, a Quaker who had been given 30 lashes in Boston in 1659 for professing his faith.{{Cite book |last=Wyman |first=Lillie Buffum Chace |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gRkTAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22arnold+buffum%22&pg=PA35 |title=American Chivalry |date=1913 |publisher=W. B. Clarke Company |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=PRINT |date=2020-04-20 |title=Daniel Gould: A Voice for Social Justice in Early Quaker New England {{!}} CHDR Print Blog |url=https://chdr.cah.ucf.edu/print-blog/index.php/2020/04/20/daniel-gould-a-voice-for-social-justice-in-early-quaker-new-england/ |access-date=2024-01-17 |language=en-US}} Arnold and Rebecca (Gould) Buffum had seven children, the most notable of whom were Elizabeth Buffum Chace, Rebecca Buffum Spring, Sarah Gould Buffum Borden (who ran an Underground Railroad station with her husband Nathaniel Briggs Borden), and Edward Buffum, a writer for the New York Herald.{{Cite book |last=Stevens |first=Elizabeth C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TIF5ACdkeHQC&dq=%22arnold+buffum%22&pg=PA9 |title=Elizabeth Buffum Chace and Lillie Chace Wyman: A Century of Abolitionist, Suffragist, and Workers' Rights Activism |date=2003-01-01 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-1617-2 |pages=8–9 |language=en}}
Buffum worked for the New England Anti-Slavery Society with Oliver Johnson, Samuel Joseph May, and Samuel Edmund Sewall.{{Cite book |last=Snodgrass |first=Mary Ellen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RmqsBwAAQBAJ&dq=%22arnold+buffum%22&pg=PT250 |title=The Underground Railroad: An Encyclopedia of People, Places, and Operations |date=2015-03-26 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-45415-1 |pages=no pag |language=en}} During his Liberty Party years he became the editor of the "first abolition paper in Indiana, and between his lectures and editorials he seriously disturbed the peace of the Quaker church in Indiana."{{Cite book |last=Dunn |first=Jacob Piatt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GmcPryCCxFIC&dq=%22arnold+buffum%22&pg=PA510 |title=Indiana and Indianans: A History of Aboriginal and Territorial Indiana and the Century of Statehood |date=1919 |publisher=American historical society |pages=510 |language=en}} Buffum was dismissed from meetings in both New England and Indiana for his insistent and vociferous liberal activism.{{Cite book |last=Rodriguez |first=Junius P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DXysBwAAQBAJ&dq=%22arnold+buffum%22&pg=PA98 |title=Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition in the Transatlantic World |date=2015-03-26 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-47180-6 |pages=98–99 |language=en}} Later in life he promoted temperance and the Republican Party.{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=John Howard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rPoUAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22arnold+buffum%22&pg=RA2-PA484 |title=Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States |date=1900 |publisher=James H. Lamb Company |pages=484 |language=en}}
Buffum struggled financially and had a number of careers (in addition to professional anti-slavery lecturer) such as hat manufacturer, and sheep farmer. Buffum died in 1859 at Raritan Bay Union (near Perth Amboy, New Jersey), the utopian community cofounder by his daughter Rebecca.