Josiah and I lived together in Philadelphia for 38 years. We grew old together, watched our children grow up, welcomed grandchildren, and built a legacy from the impossible situation we found ourselves in.
I died on March 15, 1895, exactly 38 years after leaving Virginia. Pneumonia quickly took me; my last words to Josiah, as he held my hand, were, “Thank you for seeing me, for loving me, for making me whole.”
Josiah died the next day, March 16, 1895. The doctor said his heart had simply stopped, but our children knew the truth. He couldn’t live without me, just as I couldn’t live without him. We were buried together in Eden Cemetery in Philadelphia, under a shared headstone that read: Ellaner and Josiah Freeman. Married in 1857, died in 1895. A love that defied the impossible.
Our five children all lived successful lives. Thomas became a doctor. William became a lawyer and fought for civil rights. Margaret became a teacher and educated thousands of black children. James became an engineer and designed buildings throughout Philadelphia. Elizabeth became a writer.
In 1920, Elizabeth published a book, “My Mother, the Brute, and the Love That Changed Everything.” It told our story. That of a white woman deemed unfit for marriage, and a brute defined as such by the society of enslaved men. And how a desperate father’s radical solution gave birth to one of the most beautiful love stories of the 19th century.
Historical records attest to everything. Josiah’s freedom papers, his marriage certificate, the founding of Freeman’s Forge in Philadelphia in 1857, our five children—all documented in Philadelphia birth records—my improved mobility thanks to orthopedic devices, documented in personal letters. We both died in March 1895, just one day apart, and were buried in Eden Cemetery. Elizabeth’s book, published in 1920, became an important historical document on interracial marriage and disability in the 19th century. The Freeman family preserved detailed records, Colonel Whitmore’s letters, and Josiah’s freedom papers, donated to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1965. Our story has been studied as an example of both the history of disability rights and the history of interracial relationships during the slavery era.
This was the story of Elellanar Whitmore and Josiah Freeman. A woman deemed unfit for marriage by society because of her wheelchair. A man deemed a brute by society because of his size. And the unprecedented decision of a desperate father that gave them both everything they needed: freedom, love, and a future no one thought possible.
Twelve men rejected Elellanor before her father made the extraordinary decision to marry her to a slave. But beneath Josiah’s imposing exterior lay a kind and intelligent man, who secretly read Shakespeare and treated Elellanor with more respect than any free man ever had.
Their story challenges everything. Prejudices about disability, race, and what makes someone worthy of love. Elellanar wasn’t “broken” because her legs didn’t work. She was brilliant, capable, and strong. Josiah wasn’t a brute because of his size. He was poetic, thoughtful, and extraordinarily kind.
And Colonel Whitmore’s decision, shocking as it was, demonstrated a radical understanding that his daughter needed love and respect more than social approval. He freed Josiah, gave them money and connections, and sent them north to build the life Virginia would never allow.
They lived together for 38 years, raised five successful children, built a thriving business, and died just one day apart because their love was so deep that neither could have survived without the other.
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