Rowland Thomas

Born at Rokeby in Ferrisburgh, Vermont, in 1796, he grew up in a Quaker family and later married Rachel Gilpin after the two met while studying at Nine Partners, a Quaker boarding school in New York. Back at Rokeby, he managed the family’s sheep farm and mills, but public reform work increasingly became the focus of his life.

He was an early and outspoken opponent of slavery in Vermont and a founding member of the Ferrisburgh Anti-Slavery Society. Rokeby became a well-known haven where freedom seekers could find shelter, work, and practical help, and the large body of letters connected to his efforts has helped preserve an unusually detailed record of that work.

Today, his legacy is closely tied to Rokeby Museum, a National Historic Landmark that tells the story of the Robinson family and the Underground Railroad. His life also shaped the world of his son, the writer Rowland Evans Robinson, linking family history, reform, and literature in one remarkable Vermont household.