Garafilia Mohalbi

Garafilia Mohalbi was born to a prominent Greek family on the island of Psara. Her parents were killed in 1824 during the Destruction of Psara by the Turks. Mohalbi and her sisters were kidnapped and sold into slavery. At the age of ten, she was working as a slave to a Turkish family in Smyrna.

At a bazaar in Smyrna, she met American merchant Mr. Langdon and begged him to rescue her from bondage. He purchased her from the family. He adopted her as his daughter. He arranged for Garafilia to sail to Boston, where she would live with his family. Her sisters were also freed from slavery and sent to live in Europe.{{Cite book|last=Colvin's|first=Mrs. A. S.|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Mrs_A_S_Colvin_s_Weekly_Messenger/gZgcAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=garafilia|title=Greek Youth-Garafilia Molhalbey|year=1827|volume=1|series=2|page=290|publisher=J. W. Rowland and Wm Green Printers|location=Washington D.C. |author-link=|quote=Greek Youth—Garafilia Mohalbey„ an unfortunate Greek female, twelve years of age, whose freedom was purchased of the Turks, by a Bostonian. arrived at Boston on Sunday, in the brig Suffolk, from Smyrna. Her father and mother were murdered at Scio, and herself and two sisters, were carried to Smyrna and sold. The same gentleman who purchased Garafilia, also became the purchaser of her sisters. They were taken by two Europeans, who have humanely made provision for their education. The child is represented to be interesting in her appearance, and though she has learned only enough of the English language, to say yes and no, discovers a good mind and amiable disposition. The little stranger has been received into the family of a gentleman in Boston, whose humanity and philanthropy are proverbial, and, whose constant care and attention will be that of a father and a friend.—N.Y Adr}}

Mohalbi became a student at the Ursuline Convent School in Charlestown, a neighborhood in Boston. She died of tuberculosis on March 17, 1830, at the age of thirteen.{{sfn|Gimber|1831|p=9}}

After her death, Garafilia Mohalbi became well known in the media in Boston, New England, and eventually the entire world. American painter and miniaturist Ann Hall created a miniature portrait of the Greek slave girl.

The miniature portrait later was produced as a popular engraving by Edward Gallaudet. His second cousin was Elisha Gallaudet, he engraved the first US coin, the 1776 Continental Dollar.{{Cite book|last=Allen|first=Charles Dexter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZT6yDwAAQBAJ&dq=ELISHA+GALLAUDET+son+engraver&pg=PA82|title=American Book-Plates|year=1894|pages=82|publisher=Macmillian and Co|location= Boston, MA|author-link=}}{{Cite web |last=Staff Writers|date=2012 |title=Coinage under the Articles of Confederation |url=https://library.princeton.edu/capping-liberty/case/4 |accessdate= April 17, 2025|archive-date = April 17, 2025

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250417180159/https://static-prod.lib.princeton.edu/capping-liberty/case/4/

|url-status = live

|publisher=Princeton University}} The portrait of Garafilia Mohalbi was Ann Hall's most popular artwork.{{cite encyclopedia|last=Herringshaw|first=Thomas William|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EjABAAAAMAAJ&dq=Garafilia+Mohalbi&pg=PA17|encyclopedia=Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography|title=Hall, Ann |year= 1914|publisher= American Publishers Association|series=Haas-Lytton |volume=3 |page=17|location= Chicago, Il|author-link=}}

In 1831, Lydia Sigourney wrote a poem for The Youth's Keepsake A Christmas and New Year's Present. She had not yet published any books.{{sfn|Gimber|1831|p=13}} In 1835, Sigourney published Zinzendorff, and Other Poems, which featured the same poem, entitled "Garafilia Mohalby".{{Cite book|last=Sigourney|first=Lydia Howard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ngMUAAAAIAAJ&dq=Lydia+Howard+Sigourney++Garafilia&pg=PA212|title=Zinzendorff and Other Poems|year=1835|pages=212|publisher=Leavitt, Lord & Co|location=New York, NY |author-link=}} See {{ws|Garafilia Mohalby}}

In 1843, 19th-century American poet Hannah Flagg Gould was inspired by Ann Hall's miniature portrait, of which she had an engraving. She wrote a poem, "Garafilia's Picture", which was featured in her book The Golden Vase A Gift for the Young.{{Cite book |last=Gould|first=Hannah Flagg|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Golden_Vase/1k0EAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Garafilia%27s%20Picture |title=The Golden Vase A Gift for the Young|year=1843|pages=214-217|publisher=Benjamin B. Mussey|location= Boston, MA |author-link=|quote=Garafilia's Picture}} Sarah Josepha Hale American writer, and Activist best known for Thanksgiving in 1853 featured an article in her book Woman's Record Or, Sketches of All Distinguished Women about Garafilia.{{Cite book|last=Buell|first=Sarah Josepha|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Woman_s_Record/13UEAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=garafilia|title=Woman's Record Or, Sketches of All Distinguished Women, from "the Beginning" Till A.D. 1850|year=1853|page=431|publisher=Harper Brothers |location= New York, NY |author-link=|quote=Mohalbi Garafilia}}

In the 1850s, Carl Hause commissioned Carl Gartner to compose a mazurka for piano to honor the Greek slave girl Garafilia.{{cite web

|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2023809583/

|title= Garafilia Mazurka

|publisher= Nathan Richarson at the Musical Exchange

|author= Carl Gartner

|location= Boston, MA

|date= January 19, 1855

|accessdate= April 16, 2025

|archive-date = April 16, 2025

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250416184812/https://www.loc.gov/item/2023809583/

|url-status = live

}} Carl Gartner and Carl Hause had a popular trio in the Boston area; they also taught music.{{Cite Journal |last=Dwight|first=J.S. |date=May 19, 1855 |title=The German Trio Carl Gartner, Carl Hause, H Jungnickle |work=Dwight's Journal of Music, A paper of Art and Literature|volume=7|issue=7|series=163|page=55|location=Boston, MA |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yyNGAQAAMAAJ&dq=carl+gartner+pianist&pg=PA55 |access-date=April 17, 2025}}

Many ships were named after Garafilia, they were located at different ports. Some include Honolulu, Baltimore and Rio de Janeiro.{{Cite book|last=Alexander|first=William De Witt|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Brief_History_of_the_Hawaiian_People/rQ8bAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=217|title=A Brief History of the Hawaiian People|year=1891|page=217|publisher=American Book Company|location= New York, NY |author-link=|quote=}}{{Cite book|last=Johnson|first=Peter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5HZHAQAAIAAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=RA7-PA147&dq=Garafilia&hl=en&source=newbks_fb#v=onepage&q=Garafilia&f=false|title=Testimony of Peter Johnson, One of the Crew of the Brig Porpoise|department=United States Congressional Serial Set Volume 543|year=1891|page=147|publisher=US Congress|location= Washington, D.C |author-link=|quote=}} Parents began to name their children after the popular subject, and some people changed their names to Garafilia Mohalbi.{{Cite book|last=Vinton|first=John Adams|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=swVaAAAAMAAJ&dq=Garafilia&pg=PA287|title=The Vinton Memorial, Comprising a Genealogy of the Descendants of John Vinton of Lynn, 1648|year=1858|page=287|publisher=S.K. Whipple and Company|location= Boston, MA |author-link=|quote=}}

The popularity of the Greek slave story was circulating throughout the United States. Prominent American sculptor Hiram Powers traveled to Europe to see the slave trade. While in Florence he began to sculpt the popular sculpture The Greek Slave. Many other artists adapted the subject matter which inspired The Slave Market by Jean-Léon Gérôme, The Slave Market by Gustave Boulanger, and The Slave Market by Otto Pilny, in the latter part of the 19th century.

In 1851, Christophoros Plato Kastanes published his book which features a chapter about his experience as a runaway slave from Chios in war-torn Greece.{{sfn|Kastanes|1851|p=92}} The book became extremely popular in the United States and multiple editions were published. Harriet Beecher Stowe in The Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, alludes to using the Greek slave girl as inspiration for Uncle Tom's Cabin by writing: "I was in Smyrna when our American consul ransomed a beautiful Greek girl in the slave-market. I saw her come aboard the brig 'Suffolk', when she came on board to be sent to America for her education".{{cite book |last=Stowe |first=Harriet Beecher |date=1853 |title=A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin |volume=1 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Key_to_Uncle_Tom_s_Cabin/kp4eAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=smyrna |location=London, UK |publisher=Sampson Low, Son & Co |page=377}} The girl was purchased in the same place as Garafilia, and had a similar story.

Other Greek–Americans who were former slaves include Christophorus Castanis, George Colvocoresses, Joseph Stephanini, and Halet Logotheti.{{Cite news|url=https://www.demetrimusic.com/archive/logotheti.pdf|title=The Little Greek Boy|publisher=Willard Badger and Royal L. Porter|at=|work=American Traveller, Volume 3, No. 55|date=January 8, 1828|access-date=April 16, 2025|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240407172148/https://www.demetrimusic.com/archive/logotheti.pdf|archive-date=April 7, 2024|location=Boston, MA |quote=}}

• Dance of Zalongo
• Mary Mildred Williams
• James Jakob Williams

{{reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Gimber |first=Stephen Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ASsTAAAAIAAJ&dq=Garafilia+Mohalbi&pg=PA9 |title=The Youth's Keepsake A Christmas and New Year's Present |publisher=Carter and Hendee|location=Boston, MA |year=1831|author-link=}}
• {{Cite book |last=Kastanes |first=Christophoros P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S3JZAAAAcAAJ&dq=christophorus+kastanes+runaway+slave&pg=PA92 |title=The Greek Exile, Or, a Narrative of the Captivity and Escape of Christophorus Plato Castanis |year=1851 |publisher=Lippincott, Grambo, & Company |location=Philadelphia, PA |author-link=Christophorus Castanis}}
• {{Cite news |last= |date=September 8, 1829 |title=The Slave Market at Constantinople |work=Vermont Gazette, Volume 20, No. 39 |publisher=Vermont Gazette |at=p. 1 |agency=Genealogy Bank |url=https://www.demetrimusic.com/archive/slave.pdf |accessdate=April 15, 2025 |archive-date=April 15, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250415132916/https://www.demetrimusic.com/archive/slave.pdf |url-status=live}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mohalbi, Garafilia}}

Category:1817 births

Category:1830 deaths

Category:Greek emigrants to the United States

Category:Greek slaves from the Ottoman Empire

Category:19th-century slaves from the Ottoman Empire

Category:19th-century American people of Greek descent

Category:19th-century deaths from tuberculosis

Category:Tuberculosis deaths in Massachusetts

Category:Child deaths from disease