orig. Lydia Maria Francis
born Feb. 11, 1802, Medford, Mass., U.S.
died Oct. 20, 1880, Wayland
U.S. abolitionist and author.
She was raised in an abolitionist family and was greatly influenced by her brother, a Unitarian clergyman. She wrote historical novels and published a popular manual, The Frugal Housewife (1829). After meeting William Lloyd Garrison in 1831, she became active in abolitionist work. Her Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans (1833) was widely read and induced many to join the abolitionist cause. From 1841 to 1843 she edited the National Anti-Slavery Standard . Her home was a stage on the Underground Railroad .