Dr. Aurelia Marvin

Dr. Aurelia Marvin

Aurelia Desiree Tolman was born in 1820 to Elijah and Florilla Tolman of Erie County, New York. Her father was one of the first settlers of the county and purchased a large tract of land there. In 1839, Aurelia married Dr. Harvey B. Marvin who had been born into a farming family in Vermont. By 1850 they were living in Evans, Erie County, New York. They had four children: Frances, Horace, LaDor and LaRay.

The family moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Aurelia and her daughter, Francis, were both practicing mediums, but Francis died in 1866 and Harvey died in 1870. By then, Horace, LaRay and LaDor were practicing homeopathic physicians and Spiritualists. Aurelia was one of the early women physicians, listing herself as a mental and physical healer. She continued her practice into the 1890s and was listed in the 1895 Grand Rapids Directory as Aurelia D. Marvin (widow of Harvey B. Marvin) physician, living at 264 E. Bridge Street in the city.

Aurelia Marvin died in 1903. In the Progressive Thinker, August 22, 1903, Lyman C. Howe wrote of Mrs. Dr. Aurelia Dewey Marvin whom he had known for forty years. He referred to her as a “remarkable psychic and healer of the sick.”  Her husband graduated as a regular physician but was one of the first in America to adopt homeopathic medicine. He was practicing in Buffalo when the the Fox sisters became prominent. “Mrs. Marvin became a medium, had visions, and soon developed remarkable powers for healing the sick by laying on of hands.”

One spirit, Howe said came to her and told her to change her pastor’s pro-slavery thoughts. “She had a long interview with her pastor, and was so inspired that, with the help of the spirits, she penetrated the prejudices of the preacher and completely revolutionized his political creed and all his preaching on the subject of slavery was reversed.”

Howe continued, “I knew a young man in Laona, who was paralyzed from his hips down, by a sunstroke, while in the army, serving his country. Physicians could not help him. As a last resort, and a forlorn hope, he went to the home of Dr. Marvin, then in Erie County, N. Y. He stayed four weeks, during which time Mrs. Marvin treated him without medicine, and he returned home perfectly cured. Many hundreds if not thousands, could testify of her powers from personal experience. I have been one that she has blessed in that way.”

Mrs. J. H. R. Matteson

Mrs. J. H. R. Matteson

Mrs. Matteson was born Antoinette Wealthy in Baden, Germany in 1847. Her parents came to the United States when she was 5 years old and lived in Water Valley, New York until they moved to Buffalo in 1857. Antoinette went to normal schools and married Judah Matteson in 1894. He was born in Vermont and sold publication subscriptions at the time of their marriage. By 1880, they were living in Buffalo with their five children, including Nellie, who would later aid in Antoinette’s business. Judah was listed as a musician.

Judah died in 1884. By that time, Antoinette had been practicing as a clairvoyant healer in Buffalo for over 10 years. She created psychic remedies made of roots, herbs, and bark. An advertisement in The Open Road, 1909, stated, “Between 60 and 100 people visit Mrs. J. H. R. Matteson at her home in Buffalo every day in the year; and in addition to this, Mrs. Matteson treats between 30 and 40 people every day in the year by mail. Why? Because she has cured their friends, who have sent them to her. Did you ever see between 60 and 100 patients waiting in an M.D.’s anteroom? Mrs. Matteson is not an M.D.; and of course, her enormous practice has time and again excited the envy of the “regulars” who can’t understand her success. The medical societies have had Mrs. Matteson brought before 14 Grand Juries in three different counties (Erie, Niagara, and Genesee) to indict her for practicing medicine without a license, but every Grand Jury has refused to indict her—though technically she is guilty of fracturing the law.”

Antoinette’s daughter, Nellie Whitcomb, was a life member of the New York State Spiritualists’ Association as a clairvoyant healer. Mrs. JHR Matteson’s Psychic Clairvoyant Remedies, was published and guaranteed by Nellie. When Antoinette retired, Nellie carried on her practice. “My daughter has been my assistant for thirty years, and, for more than twenty years, has carried on all outside work through correspondence, and can successfully fill my place.”

In 1910, Antoinette was living with her widowed daughters, Mary and Nellie, and widowed son-in-law, William White on Division Street. When she died at her home in 1913, according to her obituary, she had been a city resident for 56 years. She had been a long-time member of the East Aurora Spiritualist Church. “Mrs. Matteson was a firm believer in Spiritualism and did much to promote the belief and had a national reputation as a leader. She was especially notable for her charities, treating the poor if they could not afford it.”

Amelia H. Colby Luther

Amelia H. Colby Luther

Amelia Hunt was born in 1829 in New York to Zachariah and Amelia Hunt of Erie County. She married farmer Hylon Colby in 1849 and they had 4 children. By 1860, the family had moved to Lake County, Indiana where Hylon continued farming. Amelia became involved with the Spiritualist movement. In 1867, Mr. J. H. Luther wrote that Amelia was “a good woman and an earnest efficient worker in the field of Progress.” She was listed as a trance speaker appearing in Penville, Indiana in 1869.

In 1870, Amelia listed her profession as a lecturer in the census. Three of her teenaged children were at home working on the farm.  Apparently, the marriage did not last. Hylon remarried in 1875 and Amelia continued with her lectures. During June and July of 1878 in Winchester, Indiana a publication announced: “She will answer calls to lecture or hold grove meetings anywhere in the state. She is accompanied by Mrs. O. Smith, who is reputed to be a fine singer and guitarist.” She married James H. Luther in Indiana in 1887.

Amelia was more than just a Spiritualist minister and trance lecturer, she was an abolitionist, suffragist, free thinker, and traveled throughout the country giving lectures in both trance and normal states. She named the Cassadaga Lake Free Association which later became Lily Dale, and she was one of the founders of Camp Chesterfield. According to the Anderson Daily Bulletin, May 20 1954, there was a gathering of over 50 Spiritualists in 1885 who met in Andreson, Indiana. They organized the Indiana Association of Spiritualists or Chesterfield Spiritualist Camp. Amelia and her husband James were members.

During the 1880-90s, Amelia lectured at many locations including at Crown Point, Indiana, the Ladies’ Industrial Society of the Boston Spiritual Temple and in 1895 at Berkeley Hall where she gave a lecture entitled “If the is no God, what force in the universe creates matter?” In 1885 she spoke at Neshaminy Falls Spiritualist Camp; the topic was “Crime: Its cause and remedy.”

Amelia was described in the Banner of Light, vol. 63 no. 7, 28, April 1888 as a “tall, well-kept, white-haired lady of apparently about fifty years, in a clear tone and with much fervor and animation held the audience, without manuscript, for over an hour.” Her article in the publication spoke about Rev. Mills, the religious hierarchy that ministers support, and his uninformed opinion about female Spiritualists. “As the church teaches, the less we know the more we believe, and the more we believe the less we know.” She continued, “Spiritualism came to protect human life and reason, and that grandest of all things human, woman, the mother of nations. It is an established fact. It demands investigation. Dare anybody say it has not stood the test of the greatest scientific minds? This is not the only age when these great truths were known. Let mediums live and there will be produced some of the most remarkable phenomena ever known. The reverend gentleman knows that as Spiritualism marches on his business is gone.”

Amelia H. Luther died 26 Dec 1897 in Muncie, Indiana after making a large impact on Spiritualism.

Benjamin F. Lee

Benjamin F. Lee

Captain Benjamin F. Lee was born 1835 in the state of New York and enlisted to fight with the Union in the Civil War in August of 1862, in Geneva, New York.  He was in the 126th Infantry, wounded and imprisoned at Harpers Ferry in September 1862, and discharged in 1864. Benjamin moved to Sandusky about 6 years after the war where he practiced law with Judge Cooper K. Watson. He was elected prosecuting attorney in 1873 and served one term.

Benjamin invested in the Arizona Gold Mining Company and lost his entire investment. By 1880, according to the Sandusky, Ohio census, he was a 45-year-old lawyer and border living at a hotel run by H. W. Powers. By that time, Benjamin was interested in the Spiritualist movement. He became involved with the development of the Lake Brady Spiritualist camp in Mantua, Ohio and was listed as a Mantua attorney in 1892.

In 1896, Benjamin was President of the Brady Lake Spiritual Association. “This association has in view the establishment of a camp or resort, where thought may be fully expressed and as freely criticized; where the lowest may look for aid and aspire to become the highest; where goodness, purity, wisdom and all the attributes of the truthful soul may be taught and practiced; and where spiritualism in its most comprehensive application shall be fostered.”

Unfortunately, tragedy befell him. The Akron Beacon Journal, 22 Apr 1898, wrote: “The cottage of Captain Benjamin F. Lee, president of the Lake Brady Spiritualists’ Association was burned to the ground Thursday Evening and this morning the charred remains of the captain were found in the ruins.

“The cottage was the finest at the lake and was occupied by Captain Lee the year round. It was finely furnished and contained a valuable library of several hundred volumes. A number of boys discovered the fire at 7:30 o’clock last evening. When they arrived at the cottage they found the rear part in flames. Breaking in the front door they called for Lee but failed to receive an answer. They were driven out by the flames and the cottage was soon entirely consumed without any of its contents being saved. The loss will be close to $1,500.”

Coroner said he probably fainted because of preexisting heart problems and knocked over lamp. At the time of his death, he was well-known among Spiritualists throughout the country, and especially in Akron. He had lived in both Cleveland and Mantua.

Elizabeth Sanford Kinne

Elizabeth Sanford Kinne

Elizabeth B. Price was born in 1828 in Vermont, one of the seven children of John and Asenath Price. The family moved their home to Three Rivers, St. Joseph County, Michigan. Elizabeth married Lewis Sanford about 1845 and they had a daughter and two sons before Lewis died in Sumner, Tennessee during the Civil War in 1863. Elizabeth eventually married physician Andrew Kinne in 1877 in Cook County, Illinois. By 1880, they were living in Colon, Michigan with her son L. W. Sanford. Elizabeth was listed in the census as a physician at that time.

Elizabeth was listed in the directory of Deceased American Physicians (1804-1929) as an Allopath and other sources refer to her as a magnetic healer. Magnetic healing was a popular curative at the time. Both she and Andrew were active in the Spiritualist community, attending camp meetings at Lake Park and South Haven in the 1890s. In 1893, Andrew conducted a séance test and the couple traveled from Illinois to Missouri to visit her children.

Andrew died in 1895 at 72 years old, but Elizabeth continued her work as a doctor and magnetic healer from her home in Dwight, Illinois. On February 21, 1913, The Kansas City Times published Elizabeth’s obituary. It stated that, “Mrs. Elizabeth B. Kinne, 86 years old, the mother of E.J. Sanford, former president of the Union Depot Company, died of heart failure at her home in Excelsior Springs last night. Mrs. Kinne was a pioneer physician in Illinois, having started a practice in Dwight more than sixty years ago. She moved to Excelsior Springs ten years ago.” She was buried at Mt. Washington cemetery.

Jennie Hagan Jackson

Jennie Hagan Jackson

An article in The Light of Truth vol. 13, no. 4, 1893 wrote that Jennie Bennitt Hagan Jackson was born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1860. Her father passed away when she was only ten months old. Mrs. Janet Hagans’s sister, Jane Hoyt, came to live with them and the women purchased a small cottage in South Royalton, Vermont. During the winter of 1863-64, Jennie began showing signs of mediumistic ability. All her relatives were Spiritualists, including her mother and aunt who were mediums.

Jennie said that “she felt when spirit hands touched and caressed her, what she heard when they laughed in her company, and many other things of interest. At four years of age, she saw and heard much, but was so weak and frail they dared not urge her development on either spirit or mortal side.”

Once in school, she began to see spirits, including Dr. Hoyt, her father, and Mr. Jasper Arren, an Englishman. Hoyt promised that Jennie would “never want for the comforts of life” but her health remained poor. Her mother and aunt sat in a silent circle on Thursday nights, hoping to heal her and aid in her development. When she was 11, she had a hemorrhage in her lungs and her family feared the worst would happen. The spirits were protecting her and she recovered before they moved to Nebraska in 1873. There she regained her health and attended school. She gave her first public lecture when she was 13 in Arlington, Nebraska.

Jennie continued to lecture while in trance and gave impromptu poems on subjects given to her by the audience. In 1875, she travelled to Wisconsin and Ohio where she had relatives. She lectured almost every night. She was also involved in the temperance movement. In 1876, she returned to Vermont with her mother. She attended school while going to adjoining towns to lecture.

In 1887, she joined the Lake Pleasant Camp meeting for the first time. Other camp meetings followed, and she travelled as far west as Missouri and Iowa, and even went to Canada. In 1891 at the Lily Dale camp meeting, she was married to Bradford D. Jackson of Grand Rapids Michigan.

Jackson was born in Sullivan, Ohio and was a landscape and scenic view photographer who began his career taking portraits in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “A vast audience took part in the ceremony, and all joined in good will, love, and harmony toward the newly wedded pair.” They lived in Grand Rapids with Jennie’s mother. “Mrs. Jennie B. Hagan Jackson is continuing her work, and her husband is a great aid to her, whose profession is that of an artist and photographer. There new line is in connection with a stereopticon and finely illustrated lectures from photographic views which Mr. Jackson makes.” They were putting together a book of views of various Spiritist camp meetings. An album still exists that contains photos taken at four camps: Onset Bay Grove (Wareham, MA), Lake Pleasant (Montague, MA), Nickerson’s Grove (Harwich, MA) and Queen City Park (South Burlington, VT).

By 1898, Jennie was a Spiritualist leader in Fort Worth Texas, building a spiritual center. Attendance was large and prospering. Bradford filed for divorce in 1899, citing “cruelty and desertion” as the cause. Jennie quickly married Horace Daniel Brown, a traveling salesman, the following year. They maintained an inn. The same year, Jennie attended the International Jubilee at the Golden Jubilee Celebration of Spiritualism in Rochester, New York. Jennie and Cora L. V. Richmond gave impromptu poems from a subject given by the audience, including “The Sinking and Rising of the Maine”, and for an encore “Mountain and Valley.”

Jennie died in 1907 in El Campo, Texas while still in charge of a parish. The Randolf Vermont Herald and News, February 7, 1907, wrote, “At an early age Mrs. Brown developed a marvelous intuitive faculty of mind, empowering her to deliver a strong and well composed poem, upon any subject given her without premeditation or hesitation and always very gracefully.  In later years she commenced to lecture and preach and had become noted as an interesting speaker.” Jennie got blood poisoning from an injured knee and died a few days the injury, leaving a “fine estate and beautiful home.” Horace Brown died a decade later.