Amy & Isaac Post: Spiritualist Reformers

Although the Spiritualist movement has no one single founder, perhaps the most influential couple that set the direction for American Spiritualism were Amy and Isaac Post.

 Amy Post was born Amy Kirby in 1802. She belonged to a family who were members of the Religious Society of Friends, (sometimes shortened to Friends, or Quakers). Isaac Post was born in 1798, also to a Quaker Family.

In 1821 he married Amy's eldest sister, Hannah Kirby. In 1827 Hannah fell extremely ill and Amy moved to Hannah and Isaac's home to assist with caring for their children. Hannah passed away shortly after, and Amy stayed with Isaac to assist with caring for the children. Amy and Isaac eventually married, and moved to Rochester on North Plymouth Ave (their home was located at the current site of the Hochstein School of Music), Isaac went into business as a Pharmacist; the couple had four children, Jacob, Joseph, Matilda, and Willet.

Amy and Isaac were devout Quakers; the Quaker movement started in England in the late 1600's with the teachings of George Fox. Quakers believe that each individual can experience God directly, as an inner light, and that one should live a life of simplicity, truth, equality, and peace. At the time, Quakers were also known for their habit of wearing plain clothes, familiar speech, and refusal to swear oaths.

Amy and Isaac became dissatisfied with their fellow Quakers, when their community voiced that they felt the couple was becoming too worldly due to engaging in political activities. Although all Quakers promoted Abolitionism and Women's Suffrage, most preferred to do so from a distance.

Amy and Isaac disaffiliated with their group and joined a more liberal Quaker Meeting which was closer to their own personal belief that it was a moral duty to engage with society in movements in order to promote causes that might bring about peace and reform, rather than disengaging from society. Both Amy and Isaac were committed to Women's Suffrage and Abolitionism.

The couple were friends with suffragettes Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony. The couple attended the Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention, and assisted in organizing the Rochester Women's Rights Convention.

Both Amy and Isaac were also extremely active Abolitionists, and were two of the founding members of the Western New York-Anti Slavery Society. They hosted several speakers in their home in Rochester who they became life long friends with, such as Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and William Cooper Nell.

With the assistance of Frederick Douglass, their home became a stop on the underground railroad, at one point offering sanctuary to 20 individuals. On a trip to Canada, Amy became good friends with Harriet Jacobs, and encouraged her to write her autobiography, which she later did in 1861 as Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

During all of this, the Posts took in the two young daughters of the Fox family of Hydesville, a small village just outside Rochester. The girls had become famous over night for their ability to communicate with spirits of the dead through rapping noises and knocks. Amy and Isaac encouraged the girls to develop their gifts, and accompanied them with their older sister Leah to demonstrate mediumship at Corinthian Hall in Rochester. Amy and Isaac quickly became devoted Spiritualists.

According to the testimony of Leah Fox, one evening when the girls first arrived in Rochester the spirits continued to knock constantly and persistently through out the night. The next morning they were visited by Isaac Post who suggested that the perhaps the spirits would explain what they wanted if they called out the alphabet and allowed for them to spell their messages through the knocks. This was the first message given by the spirits in Rochester, New York:

"Dear Friends, you must proclaim these truths to the world. This is the dawning of a new era; and you must not try to conceal it any longer. When you do your duty, God will protect you, and good spirits will watch over you."

Early Spiritualism as a religious movement was incredibly influenced by the Quaker beliefs and practices of the Posts. Their dedication to reform became a hallmark of early Spiritualism,
to be a Spiritualist was to be a Reformer. To be a Spiritualist was a statement that you were committed to bettering the world and uplifting the oppressed

Isaac in particular felt moved to develop his own mediumship, and found that he was gifted as a Writing Medium and practiced Automatic Writing. He published a book in 1852 called Voices From the Spirit World, the work contained letters he received through Automatic Writing from the Spirits of various individuals such as Quaker leaders George Fox, Elias Hicks, and others figures such as Benjamin Franklin.

These Spirits gave their blessings to Spiritualists, offered hope and consolation to a positive existence in the Spirit World, and offered courage and admonitions to continue to work for the causes of Reform to aid in assisting the world as the work of God. Other Spirits such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson offered their own encouragement, and warnings of the evils of racism, slavery, and social inequality; explaining that they were now repentant for not having advocated peace and abolitionism in life.

In 1883 Amy post and a close circle of eight friends began the Rochester Spiritualist Society, with Amy voted in as Vice-President. The Society regularly met at the Post home on Sophia Street regularly for public demonstrations of mediumship, and lectures from local speakers and other well known Spiritualists. In 1885 the Rochester Spiritualist Society hosted an "anniversary meeting" to "commemorate the thirty seventh anniversary of the Modern Spiritualism." In 1886 the society converted two upper rooms of Amy Posts home into a library and reading room, which was "supplied with the works of leading Free Thinkers such as Voltaire, Thomas Paine, and others." The library was free and was open to the public.

Isaac passed away in 1872, and Amy passed away in 1889. The graves of Amy and Isaac Post are in Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, NY. Amy and Isaac Post dedicated their entire lives to helping others, and uplifting society through acts of loving-kindness, and a passionate dedication to the belief that we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves.

We at the Rochester Spiritualist Society have taken the same name as the society that was first began in the home of the Post family here in Rochester, New York, not only to simply honor the memory of these amazing trailblazers, but to show our dedication to modeling our own actions on the lives of these remarkable Spiritualists.

Like Amy and Isaac Post, those of us in the Rochester Spiritualist Society hope to be guided by the inner light that connects us all, with the guidance of the ministry of angels, in order that we might uplift our community, and bring love, light, and hope, wherever it may be needed.

Yours In Friendship,
Stephen G.