207

HISTORICAL ANNOTATION 835

an intimate friendship in 1856 that lasted twenty-eight years. During that time
Douglass and Assing corresponded regularly. When in the United States, Assing was
a regular visitor at the Douglass home in Rochester. She was friendly with his chil-
dren, although his wife, Anna Murray, did not approve of her husband's relationship.
Douglass and Assing often appeared in public together, but no contemporary public
speculation questioned the propriety of their relationship. Following Anna Murray
Douglass's death in 1882, Assing hoped that she might become Mrs. Frederick
Douglass. However, in January 1884, while Assing was in Europe, Douglass married
his secretary, Helen Pitts. Becoming increasingly more ill, possibly with cancer, and
despondent from Douglass's rejection, Assing committed suicide in a Paris park on
21 August 1884. She left her entire estate to Douglass. Christoph Lohmann, ed.,
Radical Passion: Ottilie Assing's Reports from America and Letters to Frederick
Douglass (New York, 1999), 69, 329-62; Diedrich, Love across Color Lines, 7, 23,
38, 56, 184, 368, 371.

241.12 B. F. Blackall] Burton F. Blackall (c. 1833-1901), an expert electrician
based in Rochester, was married to Sarah C. Blackall, a friend of Susan B. Anthony.
Blackall gained a national reputation for his technical skills and worked for a number
of electrical businesses, including the Gamewell Fire Alarm Company. At the time of
Douglass's telegram following John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, Blackall and his
family lived on Alexander Street in Rochester. In 1875 the Blackalls moved to
Rowley Street after purchasing a lot from Douglass's daughter, Rosetta Douglass
Sprague. Throughout his lifetime Douglass remained close friends with the Blackalls,
particularly their daughter Gertrude, from whom Douglass received the gold pen that
he used to write Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. Rochester Democrat &
Chronicle, 1 May 1901; Victoria Sandwick Schmitt "Rochester's Frederick Douglass,
Part Two," RH, 67:1-55 (Fall 2005).

241.29 Johnston] In a speech delivered in Washington, D.C., on 2 May 1883,
Douglass recounted his connection to John Brown and his flight from authorities fol-lowing the failure of the Harpers Ferry raid. In this speech Douglass acknowledged
the assistance of a "Mr. Johnson" in traveling from Hoboken, New Jersey, to his
Rochester home without detection. No other details survive to identify this individual.
Speech File, reel 19, frames 352-63, FD Papers, DLC; Douglass Papers, ser. 1,
5:635.

241.30 Paterson] Paterson is a city in northeastern New Jersey at the falls of the
Passaic River. Seltzer, Gazetteer of the World, 1437.

241.30 Erie railroad] The Erie Railroad was originally chartered in 1832, with its
route runnrng from south of Albany, New York, to west of Buffalo. The Erie Railroad
was initially restricted to the state of New York, although it would eventually expand
from Jersey City, New Jersey, to Chicago, Illinois. Edward Hungerford, Men of Erie:
A Story of Human Effort (NewYork, 1946), 7, 19-20.

241.33 Lieutenant-Governor Selden] Born in Lyme, Connecticut, Henry Rogers
Selden (1805-85) settled in the Rochester area in 1825 to practice law. Politically, he