Emily Goodridge Grey

Emily O. Goodridge Grey (~1834 – 1916) was an early Black settler and abolitionist who lived in St. Anthony, Minnesota. She is most well known for her role in the freedom case of Eliza Winston. She was the daughter of William Goodridge, a prominent abolitionist and conductor on the Underground Railroad.

Biography Grey was born in Pennsylvania to abolitionist parents. Her father was formerly enslaved, and had won his freedom in 1821. He worked as a barber, was a newspaper distributor, helped to build Centre Hall, and was involved in railroading. Her father also helped freedom seekers escape their masters, openly from his home in York.

Grey settled in Old St. Anthony with her husband Ralph Toyer Grey, whom she married in 1855. Ralph was a barber, well-educated, and a skilled public speaker. Barbers held an important role in free Black communities, as they offered both economic mobility and served as a social hub for the local Black (and often abolitionist) communities. He moved to St. Anthony to start a barbershop in 1855 and Emily followed him in 1857 with their son William, traveling by rail, steamboat, and stagecoach.

Grey ran her own business as a seamstress. She was a member of St. Anthony's First Congregational Church, where Reverend Charles Secombe preached against slavery. Grey worked with local abolitionists, such as W.D. Babbit, Ariel S. Bigelow, and William S. King, to free Winston. On August 21, Grey, Babbit, and Grey's white friend Mrs. Gates, filed a complaint which asserted that Winston was being "restrained of her liberty by her master." They, along with the Hennepin County Sheriff, delivered a writ of habeas corpus to where Winston was staying on Lake Harriet with her enslavers. Grey stayed with Winston as Winston testified in court. A mob damaged the Grey family home following the court's ruling in favor of Winston's freedom.

Grey died in Minneapolis on January 16, 1916, at age eighty-two.