Phelps married Phoebe Harris of Albany, New York, she was the sister of U.S. Senator Ira Harris.[5] On September 14, 1845 their son Charles Harris Phelps was born.[5] Charles physically abused his wife and had her committed to an insane asylum following a confrontation about his extramarital affairs. Charles also attempted to deprive his wife of access to their children. Phoebe took her daughter and fled to a Quaker family but Charles tracked them down and brought them back, so Phoebe sought help from Susan B. Anthony. Anthony spirited the mother and daughter out of town, working to find a safe and confidential place for them. Anthony faced backlash from prominent reformers including Wendell Phillips and William Lloyd Garrison. Massachusetts law gave entire guardianship over children to fathers, and Phillips and Garrison argued that Anthony should obey the law and stay out of the domestic dispute. Anthony refused to reveal Phoebe and her daughter's location. However, Charles was relentless and his agents eventually recaptured the daughter. Phoebe never saw her daughter again.[6]
^ abcdefghijklmnHarvard Graduates' Magazine Association (December 1902), The Harvard Graduates' Magazine Vol XI No. 42, Boston, Massachusetts: The Harvard Graduates' Magazine Association, p. 305
^ abcdeBrown, Edgar M. (1859), Annual Register of the Executive and Legislative Department of the Government of Massachusetts, 1859, Boston, Massachusetts: Alfred Mudge & Son Printers, p. 4
^Poole, Alexis (1856), Poole's Annual Register of the Executive and Legislative Department of the Government of Massachusetts, 1856 Tenth series, Boston, Massachusetts: Dutton and Wentworth Son Printers, p. 4
^Brown, Edgar M. (1861), Annual Register of the Executive and Legislative Department of the Government of Massachusetts, 1861, Boston, Massachusetts: Wright & Potter Printers, p. 4
^ abcdefghijklmChandler, Alfred Dupont (1909), Harvard College Class of 1868 Secretary's Report No. 8 186-1908, Boston, Massachusetts: E. O. Cockayne, p. 111
^Conking, Winifred (2017). Votes for Women: American Suffragists and the Battle for the Ballot. Chapel Hill: Algonquin. pp. 75–77. ISBN9781616207342.