Ruby Reuben 1798 1878 (1 results)

Condition: Very Good. Written in brown ink on one side of a small scrap of paper. (11 x 6 cm.). Paper lightly browned -- perhaps torn from a ledger or receipt book. Ragged along left and bottom edges. Other side blank except for a minor calculation. Reuben Ruby, an African American, is credited as the successful owner and operator of Maine's first hack business in Portland, Maine. His financial success helped him assume a leadership position in Portland's black community. Ruby helped form the Maine Anti-Slavery Society in 1834 and the Portland Union Anti-Slavery Society in 1841 and was a founding member ot Portland's Abyssinian Meeting House. He is also credited with active involvement in the underground railroad aiding fugitive slaves. He also participated in the California Gold Rush and is said to have profited from those efforts. We do not know who Sarah Brown was. The use of "Dr" at the end of her name seems suggestive.