Joseph Cassey
French West Indies-born American businessman and abolitionist (1789–1848)
Joseph Cassey (c. 1789–1848) was a French West Indies-born American businessman, abolitionist activist and Underground Railroad conductor. He also worked as a barber, and as well as a wig maker, perfumer, and money-lender. He lived in the historic Cassey House in Society Hill, and was active in the African-American elite community in Philadelphia.
Early life
Joseph Cassey was born in 1789 in French West Indies (in the present-day Caribbean region). He moved to Philadelphia some time before 1808. He was a member of African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, then located at 5th and Adelphi Streets.
In 1825, Cassey married Amy Matilda Williams from New York City, and they had 8 children. His father in-law was Peter Williams Jr., an African-American Methodist Episcopal priest and abolitionist.
The public source identifies “Joseph Cassey” as french West Indies-born American businessman and abolitionist (1789–1848). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Joseph, Cassey and French.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q65658834. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1789, 1848, 1808 and 1825.
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This entry incorporates text from “Joseph Cassey” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.