Gibbons, Abby Hopper (1801–1893)
Gibbons, Abby Hopper (1801–1893)
American philanthropist, abolitionist, and Civil War nurse. Born Abigail Hopper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on December 7, 1801; died in New York City on January 16, 1893; daughter of Isaac Tatum Hopper; attended Friends' schools; married James Sloan Gibbons (an author and abolitionist), in 1833; children: six.
Born into a strong Quaker family, Abigail Gibbons assisted her father in the formation of the Isaac T. Hopper Home for discharged prisoners. During the Civil War, she and her daughter rendered valuable service as nurses in the Federal camps and hospitals in Washington, D.C. Her home in New York was sacked in the riots of July 1863 because of her prominence as an abolitionist and her activities in the Manhattan Anti-Slavery Society. When the conservative Quakers disowned her husband and father for their work in the abolitionist movement, Gibbons stood up in the meeting and resigned her membership.
In 1871, she helped found the Protestant Asylum for Infants, and it was chiefly through her efforts that the New York State reformatory for women and girls was established by the legislature in 1872, an act which was considered Gibbons' crowning achievement. She had lobbied for the bill for a very long time, even appearing before the legislative committee at age 91. The Life of Abby Hopper Gibbons Told Chiefly through Her Correspondence was edited by her daughter and published in 1897.