Elizabeth Johns Neall Gay (07 Nov 1819 – 09 Dec 1907 | Hingham MA – Hingham MA) poet, writer, Quaker, pacifist, abolitionist, Underground Railroad activist, one of several American Quaker women refused entrance to first World Anti-Slavery Convention in London UK [1840].

I often wish for a little of the fiery spirit that lives and thrives among the rocky fastnesses

and rough bleak hills of our Yankee Caledonia. Whether from our quiet temperament or from

near vicinity to the South and its influence, which always paralyzes whatever comes within

their reach that is good or true, that we are so far wanting in action, I cannot tell, but certainly

we are far in the rear. I am proud to have been one of that cursed yet thrice blessed little band

who ‘braved the fury of the seabed’ to attend a Christian Anti-Slavery gathering where drunkards

and gamblers were welcomed & honest truthful Women rejected and insulted. Letter to Lizzy

from John Greenleaf Whittier: ‘And to one whose home has been among the wild hills of the

North – where the cataract mocks the earth quake, and the giant streams go forth, where spirits

in robes of flame dance o’er our winter sky and to the many-voiced storm the Eagle make reply!

Pickard, John. B. Ed. The Letters of John Greenleaf Whittier. Vol. 1. Cambridge MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1975. https://archive.org/details/lettersofjohngre0001whit?q=%22Elizabeth+Neall%22

Women in Peace: Elizabeth Neall Gay. Retrieved 12 Oct. 2023. https://www.womeninpeace.org/g-names/2017/6/28/elizabeth-neall-gay