User:Mboothtracy/sandbox

Frederick Palmer (F. P.) Tracy (February 22, 1815 - October 9, 1860) was born in Scotland, Windham, Connecticut and died in Lowville, Lewis, New York. He was a prominent Methodist minister, theologian, abolitionist, orator, editor, lawyer, and politician in the mid-1800’s. He played an important role in the abolitionist movement in New England. He first came to prominence as an aide to Reverend Timothy Merritt who asked him to respond to an article published in the Zion's Herald in 1837 written by Professor and Reverend Daniel Whedon, a Methodist Minister who had quoted the Bible to justify slavery under certain circumstances. , Elliott, History of the Great Secession from the Methodist Episcopal Church in the Year 1845, 170. And F. P. Tracy (Scrutiny), “The Scripture Argument,” Zion’s Herald, August 9, 1837, 125-26. On June 6, 1837 Tracy was appointed Secretary of the abolitionist preachers of the New England Conference.

A group of Methodist ministers and laymen met at Tracy’s home in Lynn, Massachusetts on August 30, 1838 to assist in a project to promote the emigration of Christian settlers to Oregon, resulting in the formation of the “Oregon Provisional Emigrating Society.” The purpose of the society was to establish Christian American settlements in Oregon that would promote the well-being of native Indian tribes. The motto of the society inscribed in its journal was: “Our object the elevation of the Indian Race – Our means a Christian settlement in Oregon.” Tracy’s interest in protecting Indians in Oregon and sending emigrants who would assist in bringing their economy and agriculture up to a more productive level reflects his concern over any population subjected to enslavement and abuse. The society created a periodical originally named The Oregonian and renamed two months later as The Oregonian and Indian’s Advocate. Tracy was named editor, as well as the society’s secretary.

Tracy was one of the Methodist minister abolitionists, along with Orange Scott and Amos A. Phelps who split from William Lloyd Garrison and the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society (MASS) in 1839 to form the Massachusetts Abolition Society (MAS). At the time, Tracy was the minister of the Methodist Church in Lynn, Massachusetts. Tracy was appointed Chair of MAS and Corresponding Secretary from 1844 to 1845. Part of the split was a difference of opinion over the role of violence as a legitimate means of achieving abolition as a last resort, including slaves’ right to use violence to obtain liberty which was favored by members of the new organization.

By 1840 Tracy had left the ministry to pursue abolitionism through politics. He joined the Liberty Party and was named editor of the Liberty Party’s anti-slavery newspaper, The People’s Advocate in May 1841. In 1847 he was named editor of the Cayuga New Era. The weekly newspaper was aimed at healing divisions within the Democratic Party on the question of slavery extension. In 1848 Tracy was named editor of the Free Soil Party’s new weekly party newspaper, the Free Soil Pioneer.

He moved to California in 1849 where he studied law and became the City and County Attorney of San Francisco. He was admitted to the bar in 1851 and started a law practice with Francis Alfred Fabens, a fellow New Englander and an 1838 Harvard Law graduate. In 1854, Tracy returned to Massachusetts to bring his wife, Emily Stone Tracy (1815-1892) and their four surviving children to San Francisco: Mary Louis Tracy (1839-1919), Frederick William Tracy (1842-1909), Grace Emeline Tracy (1844-1857), and Thomas Garnier Tracy (1845-1897). Mary Louise Tracy married John Swett (1830-1913) the father of the California public school system. F. P. Tracy’s granddaughter, Emilie Tracy Young Swett (1863-1892), was an American poet.

F. P. Tracy was a founder of the California Republican Party. Tracy and Col. Edward Dickinson Baker were considered the leading orators of the California Republican Party. Tracy's renowned "Pioneer Celebration Speech" is cited as an exemplary illustration of oratorical reading and the art of public speech. Tracy was Chair of the Republican California delegation to the Republican Convention of 1860. He served on the Committee on Resolutions and Platform and was one of five members of the sub-committee to draft the Party's platform.

Tracy was initially buried in Lynn, Massachusetts, but two years later on March 22, 1862 his body was re-interred in San Francisco at the Lone Mountain Cemetery, a cross country move that was paid for by the Odd Fellows and Masons. In 1877 his friends paid tribute by erecting a 23-foot obelisk of polished Placer County marble at the cemetery. In the 1930s his body was re-interred in the Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma, San Mateo, California. Fittingly, his will stated that he wanted his funeral service to “be conducted by a minister of the Methodist church who never apologized for slavery.”