Barnabas Yale

He petitioned Congress in 1838 for the abolition of slavery, about 30 years before the American Civil War, and was made Justice of the Peace of Martinsburg, New York.

In February 1807, Yale began practicing law in Martinsburg, New York, and stayed a member of the Lewis County Bar for 25 years.

[1] He was appointed Surrogate on June 6, 1820, and as such, was elected for a term of four years, and was allowed to deal with deeds and administer oaths in the same manner as a County judge.

[12] He was elected a vice-president of this society at its convention, and the event was reported on December 30, 1842, by the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, property of reformer William Lloyd Garrison.

[12] The Governor of New York Horatio Seymour, as well as the cofounder of the American Anti-Slavery Society William Lloyd Garrison, were part of the debates on the resolutions and the meeting lasted three days.

[12] Frederick Douglass was a key leader of the American Anti-Slavery Society, founded by Garrison and Tappan, who also served as its first president.

[2] She married Peter C. Anderson, great-grandson of Venetian writer Lorenzo Da Ponte, a partner of Mozart and Casanova, and builder of the first Italian opera in Manhattan.

Portrait of Barnabas Yale's nephew, Walter D. Yale, public notary and professor of the Bible for 30 years
A copy of The Liberator , an abolitionist newspaper in which Barnabas Yale is featured during the Utica convention
The World Anti-Slavery Convention of 1840 at Exeter Hall in London. William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan , founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society were participants
Lorenzo Da Ponte ' Opera House, on Leonard Street, New York, 1833