1. Photius Fisk, known as Photius Kavasales or Kavasalis, was a Greek-American statesman, botanist, philanthropist, clergyman, abolitionist, and civil rights activist.
69 Facts About Photius Fisk
1. 2.
Photius Fisk is known for lobbying to end flogging in the US Navy.
3.
Photius Kavasalis Fisk was born on the island of Hydra.
4.
Photius Fisk moved to Malta to live with his older brother Athanasius.
5.
Photius Fisk's uncle consulted a local priest and wanted a full explanation of the biblical study his nephew would learn in America.
6.
Photius Fisk invited them to his house on their next vacation.
7.
Photius Fisk enjoyed an amazing summer riding on horseback in Vermont.
8.
Photius Fisk returned to Amherst in the fall and he was informed by the President of Amherst College Heman Humphrey that he was expelled.
9.
Photius Fisk was back in Malta with his uncle Panages Maneses, who secured a position for Photius Fisk in the newly formed Greek government.
10.
The Photius Fisk took a ship called the Helene to Aegina, where he was instructed to wait for the outcome of the Battle of Navarino.
11.
Photius Fisk wanted to travel back to the United States to finish his education, so he found a captain traveling to New York.
12.
However, the ship never made it to New York City, and instead Photius Fisk was stranded on the Caribbean island of Martinique.
13.
Photius Fisk was horrified, and formed a deep personal hatred for slavery; he already had been taught about the horrors of Ottoman slavery when he was a child, and the institution instilled fear in him, and seeing slavery firsthand reinforced the horror.
14.
Photius Fisk was able to find passage to New York from the island, but first had to stop in Wilmington, North Carolina.
15.
In 1828, Photius Fisk found himself stranded in New York City without any money.
16.
Photius Fisk worked as a pharmacist on Greenwich Street in Manhattan.
17.
Photius Fisk stayed in New York City for several years.
18.
Photius Fisk attended revival meetings and met Samuel Hanson Cox, an abolitionist minister who integrated his congregation, allowing African-American members.
19.
Photius Fisk's church was called the Laight Street Church and was located at the corner of Laight and Varick streets.
20.
Photius Fisk was invited to become a member of the Congregationalist church.
21.
Photius Fisk devoted the rest of his life to the gospel ministry and the abolitionist cause.
22.
Photius Fisk was accepted on full scholarship by Dr Rev Samuel Hanson Cox.
23.
Photius Fisk stayed at the institution for three years as they prepared him for the Gospel ministry.
24.
Photius Fisk was no longer under the restriction he once experienced in New England, and freely enjoyed his summer vacations.
25.
Photius Fisk noted that Photius was adventurous, and went under the falls to retrieve a stone.
26.
Photius Fisk did not like Halifax, Vermont, because of the cold weather.
27.
Photius Fisk was very open about his views on slavery which created animosity with some officers.
28.
Photius Fisk collected the specimens for Amherst College and other institutions in the United States.
29.
Photius Fisk arrived in Hydra, Greece and found some of his relatives.
30.
Photius Fisk was looking for his mother's sister but she was dead.
31.
Photius Fisk found his first cousin living in poverty and gave her all his money.
32.
Photius Fisk traveled to Athens and met Rev Jonas King.
33.
Photius Fisk was back in the United States in 1845 and he was assigned chaplain of the Washington Navy Yard.
34.
Photius Fisk went to Washington because he wanted to lobby members of the government for abolitionist causes.
35.
Photius Fisk joined the group of chaplains and tirelessly lobbied to abolish the practice.
36.
Six months before the bill was passed Photius Fisk was reassigned to the Frigate Raritan.
37.
Photius Fisk gained a reputation in the Navy for his work on the flogging legislation.
38.
Photius Fisk still conducted scientific exploration of minerals and plants.
39.
Photius Fisk collected the butterfly orchid Psychopsis papilio from Saint Thomas, which he carefully guarded.
40.
Photius Fisk kept careful notes of his observations of the plants.
41.
When Photius Fisk visited the local town sometimes people shouted angry slurs and spit on him.
42.
Photius Fisk was afraid of having problems with the local slave owners and he frequently kept to himself.
43.
Photius Fisk stayed secluded reading and playing with his pet animals and birds.
44.
Photius Fisk kept constant communication with abolitionists, namely Samuel L Southard and Joshua Reed Giddings.
45.
Photius Fisk paid to erect a monument for abolitionist Captain Daniel Drayton in 1857.
46.
Photius Fisk was very close to William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Theodore Weld, Parker Pillsbury, and other anti-slavery agitators.
47.
Photius Fisk donated large sums of money to the abolitionist cause.
48.
In May 1859, Photius Fisk was with John Brown in Boston.
49.
Photius Fisk donated one hundred dollars to Brown and his cause.
50.
Photius Fisk obtained his autograph which was presented to the Kansas Historical Society.
51.
Around 1861, Photius Fisk donated a substantial amount of money to abolitionist William Shreve Bailey.
52.
Photius Fisk was instrumental in funding abolitionist causes during the American Civil War.
53.
Photius Fisk was retired by order of Abraham Lincoln on July 18,1864.
54.
Photius Fisk contributed large sums of money to Berea College and the Holley School at Lottsburgh, Virginia.
55.
Photius Fisk entertained many abolitionist friends, such as William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Theodore Weld, James Redpath, and Parker Pillsbury.
56.
Photius Fisk provided for the local poor and gave anything that he grew to the destitute.
57.
Photius Fisk's farm was open to people of every color, race, and condition.
58.
Photius Fisk divided his time between helping the needy and local newspapers.
59.
Photius Fisk spent time with Wendell Phillips and other friends.
60.
Photius Fisk withdrew six thousand dollars to travel all over the world namely Greece.
61.
Photius Fisk originally intended to travel all the way to China but his trip was cut short.
62.
Photius Fisk visited his relatives and again gave them money.
63.
Photius Fisk was afraid the markets would collapse, and he traveled back to the United States.
64.
Photius Fisk brought back artwork, pictures, relics of antiquity, marine shells, and mineral specimens.
65.
When Photius Fisk returned to the United States, he made large financial donations towards anti-slavery monuments, such the monument erected by the anti-slavery society for Charles Turner Torrey.
66.
Photius Fisk continued issuing Republican circulars, but on November 30,1875, his printing press was burned, so Photius contributed a sizeable amount of money for Bailey to continue his printing business.
67.
In 1884, Chaplain Photius Fisk donated one thousand dollars to the Paine Memorial Company which owned the Paine Memorial building, the home of the Boston Investigator.
68.
Photius Fisk donated his valuable collection of pictures and artifacts which he collected in Europe and the United States.
69.
Photius Fisk contributed to the tuitions of poor students attending Harvard, Yale, Amherst, and Dartmouth Colleges.