Stillman Luther Lothrop was born on 1811, the only son of a prosperous gilder and looking glass manufacturer and anti-slavery activist often called Deacon Stillman Lothrop (1780-1858). When Deacon Lothrop died, his son inherited his wealth, but the money was to go, after the son’s death to the American Baptist Free Mission Society “to be devoted to the education of the free colored people.” The Deacon was an active follower of William Lloyd Garrison and as such denounced the majority of Christian churches that refused to criticize slavery. With other Garrisonians the Deacon protested attacks on African Americans during riots in Cincinnati.[1] Like Hannah Robbins and Rev. Samuel May, the Deacon was an active member of the Middlesex County Anti-Slavery Society and served as its vice president for a term, at a time when the group protested the mistreatment of their fellow member Charles L. Remond on the Eastern railroad because of his race.[2]

The Deacon’s son Stillman Luther Lothrop had been educated at Brown University and the Newton Theological Seminary for the ministry. Although he “fully sympathized with his father” in his abolitionist views he was a person of fragile health who was less outspoken than his father. He was remembered by family genealogists as “a man of culture and refinement, great originality of thought, and remarkable conversational powers.”[3]

Stillman Luther Lothrop married Eli Robbins’ daughter, Abigail,  (b. 1814-d. 1903) in December 1839 and he was listed in the Stone Building’s Historic Structures Report as purchasing the Stone Building and living in the Stone Building “for a number of years.” Their residential period is listed as starting around 1840 and in the 1840s Robbins Hall was called Lothrop’s Hall.[4]

Stillman took an interest in some ante-bellum reforms and experiments in addition to anti-slavery work, and he took his sister-in-law Julia Robbins to visit Brook Farm, the utopian community founded in West Roxbury upon Fourierist principles. Neither was inclined to join the community, however.

The Lothrops’ time in the Stone Building needs to be documented further. Eli Robbins’ bankruptcy in the late 1830s required that his properties be put in the names of several family members, so it is not clear who decided what speakers to invite or what happened in the Lyceum Hall in the 1840s. In Lexington Abigail gave birth to Stillman Follen Lothrop in May 1841 and later to son George in 1846.[5] In 1844 Stillman Luther Lothrop announced the opening of the East Lexington Institution, which was to be a coeducational “Seminary,” in which he would serve as Secretary and Treasurer and an Instructor of English Literature and Science.[6]

In 1851 Julia Robbins, according to her biographer,  “felt that Abigail depended too much on her mother’s generosity and kindness made possible by Julia’s hard work on the farm.”[7] Stillman was evidently not one to help run the farm or the Robbins’ businesses, and Abigail was accustomed to leave all such work with her sisters Julia and Ellen while expecting to be given a large share of their farm’s harvest. According to Julia, her mother Hannah “works so hard waiting on [the} Lothrops” that she became cross with other family members.[8]

Stillman abandoned his family under circumstances that are unclear, leaving Julia, Ellen, and other family members to support Abigail and look after her aging mother Hannah. He traveled south for his health and died of yellow fever in St. Croix in the West Indies in 1859.[9]

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[1] At a meeting of the Cambridgeport Anti-slavery Society, the Deacon agreed to gather petitions to protest attacks on Black citizens in Cincinnati, Guilt of Slavery—Impiety of the Nation—Cincinnati Riot. The Liberator (1831-1865); Oct 22, 1841; 11, 43; ProQuest pg. 171; Rev. E.B. Huntington, A Genealogical Memoir of the Lo-Lathrop Family Memoir in this country as far as known (Ridgefield, Conn.: Privately Printed by Mrs. Julia M. Huntington, 1884),  Sixth Generation, p. 358.

[2] Middlesex Co. A.S. Society, April 29, 1842, The Liberator; Guilt of Slavery—Impiety of the Nation—Cincinnati Riot. The Liberator (1831-1865); Oct 22, 1841; 11, 43; ProQuest pg. 171; Middlesex Co. Anti-Slavery Society. The Liberator (1831-1865); May 5, 1843; 13, 18; ProQuest pg. 70  

[3] A Genealogical Memoir of the Lo-Lathrop Family Memoir, p. 377.

[4] Anne Grady, Historic Structures Report.

[5] Stillman Follen, A Genealogical Memoir of the Lo-Lathrop Family Memoir, p. 393.

[6] “Ad, “East Lexington Institution,” Christian Register (1843-1850); Apr 20, 1844; 23, 16; ProQuest pg. 63; Advertisement 3; Ad, Christian Register (1843-1850); May 4, 1844; 23, 18; ProQuest pg. 72; Advertisement 3 — No Title Christian Register (1843-1850); Jun 22, 1844; 23, 25; ProQuest pg. 100.

[7] Mary Keenan, In Haste, Julia, pp. 78-79;  For legal and other conflicts within the Robbins family see In Haste,   114-117,121-122,

[8]

[9] A Genealogical Memoir of the Lo-Lathrop Family Memoir, p. 378.

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