Spiritualism in Waterville
Our November 13th program to be held at the Wakeman Hall at 7 pm is titled “Spiritualism in America” which reminds us that Waterville has a close connection to this movement in the 1860s. Nathan Waldo Daniels, born 1836, came from New York to Waterville about 1850 with his mother Susan Curtis Daniels and brother Waldo Daniels. His father, Dr. Jared Daniels died in a house fire in 1849. Susan’s daughter from her first marriage (also named Susan) was Dr. Welcome Pray’s wife, so the move to Waterville was to be close to family. The boys finished their schooling, went on to college with Waldo becoming a medical doctor and Nathan studied law. Both practiced in Toledo. Nathan married a woman named Henrietta and had a child, also named Waldo born 1858. Henrietta died soon after the birth and Nathan in 1858 moved to New Orleans to seek employment, leaving his child with his mother who was then living in the Reed house next to the school on South Street. This house today is the Reed-Ullrich house at South and River Road on the historic walking tour. Nathan returned to Waterville several times a year the rest of his life to visit his mother and young son but never took the boy to live with him.
In New Orleans Nathan became a strong advocate for both free and enslaved blacks which, of course, put him at odds with some of the locals. When the Civil War broke out in 1861 Nathan, a staunch abolitionist, joined the Union Army and soon was placed in charge of an all-black regiment of Union soldiers in or around New Orleans in Louisiana. During his frequent trips to Washington D.C. to advocate for his troops he also became deeply involved in the Spiritualism movement. Spiritualism is the belief that it is possible to communicate with the spirits of deceased loved ones. To some it is proof of God’s promise of life after death and Nathan Daniels in his diary writings refers to it as “his religion.” The concept was especially popular during wars when many young sons, husband, or brothers and friends were killed or died from disease. Certain people were thought to be “gifted” with the ability to reach across “the divide” to contact those spirts eager to communicate with loved ones and often held seances to attempt to do that for (usually) small groups of people.
March of 1865 the President’s wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, invited a celebrated spirit artist, Mr. W.P. Anderson and his wife, along with Nathan Waldo Daniels to a séance in the Green Room of the Whitehouse to try to communicate with young Willie Lincoln who had died in 1862. Also while in Washington Nathan met a striking and popular twenty-five year old Cora Hatch, one of the most famous medium and trance lecturers of the 19th century. The two were married December 8, 1865 and traveled together on the lecture circuit. Nathan also worked in post-war reconstruction advocating for the newly freed African-Americans in Louisiana. He eventually procured a government position in New Orleans but on October 7, 1867 he died in a yellow fever epidemic along with a newborn daughter. Cora was also ill but survived and continued her “calling” through two more husbands.
Note: Information for this article comes from Mrs. C.P. (Kitty) Weaver who found the Daniels diaries in her attic, researched and published them. She visited Waterville and the Archives in her research and donated a copy of her book “Thank God My Regiment an African One” The Civil War diary of Colonel Nathan W. Daniels to Waterville Historical Society’s Archives. The original Nathan Waldo Daniels papers were donated to the Library of Congress by Mrs. Weaver, have been digitized and can be found online at “The Civil War Diary of Col. Nathan W. Daniels”.