Hannah Peirce Cox was an American teacher and abolitionist.
Background
Hannah Peirce Cox was a daughter of Jacob and Hannah (Buffington) Peirce, was born on November 12, 1797 in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States.
Bayard Taylor praised the peace and beauty of its landscape and Whittier testified to its hospitable air of prosperity. Here she lived, her character influenced by her environment. Of Quaker stock, she was of the fifth generation of her family in America, George Peirce having come over from England with William Penn in 1684, and the Buffingtons also having been early Quaker colonists.
In 1731 George Peirce had purchased land in East Marlborough township, Chester County, where seven generations of his family were to live. Jacob Peirce’s farm, “Longwood, ” contained two hundred acres of rich soil and woodland. Prosperous, public-spirited, and intelligent, he built the first school-house in the neighborhood and the brick house where Hannah was born, lived, and died.
Education
Hannah was early left fatherless, and her education was directed by her brother Jacob, “ a man of fine intellect and a member of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. ” She studied for a time at the Westtown Boarding School, developing a love of nature, sympathy for the oppressed, and positive ethical views.
Career
After a brief career as teacher Hannah married, apparently in 1820 or 1821, J. Pennell. In 1823 she married John Cox, of near-by Willistown, a fanner and, like herself, a Friend of high character. Four years were passed in Willistown; Cox then purchased “Longwood, ” the Peirce homestead, which was thereafter their home. The Liberator and poems of Whittier’s interested them in the antislavery movement; the burning of Pennsylvania Hall in 1838 quickened their zeal. Thenceforth Mrs. Cox labored unceasingly for the African Americans.
Her husband and she conducted a station of the Underground Railroad, cooperating with Thomas Garrett at Wilmington, Delaware. Fugitive slaves were received, generously fed and clothed, and conducted northward by Cox or his sons, often with thrilling attendant incidents. The Coxes formed life-long friendships with Lundy, Garrison, Whittier, Lucretia Mott, and many other anti-slavery advocates who enjoyed their hospitality.
From the anti-slavery interest ultimately sprang a liberal movement organized as “The Progressive Friends of ‘Longwood. ’ ” Many notable reformers, from as far as Boston, attended its yearly meeting; these Mrs. Cox and her husband gladly entertained, “Longwood” becoming a center of cultured effort for reform. At the Coxes’ golden wedding, September 11, 1873, eighty-two guests were present and “The Golden Wedding of Longwood” was contributed by Whittier and “A Greeting from Europe” by Bayard Taylor.
Achievements
Hannah Peirce Cox was remembered for her participation in the abolitionist movement. She was instrumental in the foundation of “The Progressive Friends of ‘Longwood. ’ ”
Religion
Cox was a member of the Society of Friends.
Views
Mrs. Cox interested herself in current social movements for emancipation, temperance, peace, the abolition of capital punishment, and woman’s betterment, exerting a strong influence on all whose lives touched hers.
Connections
Hannah was married first to J. Pennell, who was killed in an accident. In 1823 she married John Cox. Two sons and two daughters were born to them.
