Did You Know?
William de Fleurville (1807-1868) :
The influence of aN Ayisyen in the Decision Making Process of President Lincoln to emancipate the enslaved Africans in the United States
William de Fleurville (also known as “Florville”) was a Haitian-born businessman who met Mr. Lincoln in New Salem in 1831. After Mr. Lincoln helped him attract clients in that community, Fleurville moved to Springfield where he eventually opened barbershop across from the State House and served as Mr. Lincoln’s barber for 24 years.
According to Lincoln scholar Lloyd Ostendorf, “A local newspaper editor claimed only two men in Springfield understood Lincoln, his law partner William H. Herndon, and his barber, William Florville.” 2 Historian Benjamin Quarles noted: “Fleurville’s shop was the informal social center for the men of the community; it was ‘Lincoln’s second home,’ before his marriage in 1842.
Mr. Lincoln handled Fleurville’s legal affairs and was his attorney in a legal title case. He wrote Charles R. Welles in 1852: “I am in a little trouble here. I am trying to get a decree for our ‘Billy the Barber’ for the conveyance of certain town lots sold to him by Allen, Gridly and Prickett. Shortly before he left Springfield for his Cooper Union speech in February 1860, Mr. Lincoln asked a friend to handle the problem: “William Florville, a colored barber here, owns four lots in Bloomington, on which I have been paying the taxes for him several years, but which I forgot [to] do, though under promise, when I was at Bloomington last.
“President Lincoln came to rely on Fleurville in other ways. According to Gossie Harold Hudson, “When Lincoln left Springfield for Washington, Billy agreed to take care of the president’s property, a promise when he faithfully kept.” Fleurville wrote President an encouraging letter in late December 1863 after Mr. Lincoln had recovered from a bout of variloid – believing “it might not be improper for one so humbler in life and occupation to address the President of the United States – In that letter Fleurville addressed the plight of his oppressed people with clarity, he wrote: “The Oppressed will Shout the name of their deliverer, and Generations to Come, will rise up and call you blessed.”
An American History Project: I want to acknowledge the Lehrman Institute!
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