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| Illustration taken from "The American Anti-Slavery Almanac, 1838." |
"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."--Martin Luther King, Jr.
My maternal ancestors arrived in the Albemarle colony in the 1600s. Their grandchildren witnessed the birth of a new country and the establishment of the state of North Carolina in the 1700s, and their great-grandchildren emigrated to Tennessee around 1810. They were primarily upper, middle-class landowners who never joined the ranks of large
plantation owners. Some served in the War for Independence, and their descendants fought on both sides of the Civil War. They were mostly
honest, hard-working citizens and, like many people today,
provided for their children’s futures.
Today, we invest in college funds; our ancestors invested in property: land, horses, and,
in some cases, a slave for each of their children.
Late one night, I became fascinated with two-hundred-year-old microfilmed documents I found on a genealogical site. As I read the names of my ancestors on a Tennessee census, I could almost feel my patriarchs looking over my shoulder, pointing to this fact and that — the number of children, their ages, and at the far end of the sheet, tallies for slaves.
I sat back in my chair, staring at the tallies and wondering, "What were their slave names?" Deeper, horrific questions followed: Did my ancestors beat and neglect the enslaved families? Were women raped? Were their children sold?" With each question, the room darkened as if I were descending into a deep cave with
only a candle for light. In front of me on a glowing screen was an official document linking my ancestors with the sin of slavery, staining their legacy.
As my research continued over the years, I concentrated on the names of the slaves mentioned in my ancestors' wills. I shuddered when a will divided up slaves for the family members and emphasized that female slaves AND all children they might bear would belong to a certain white child. When I
stumbled upon a court settlement in Tennessee in which two toddlers were taken from their
mother and auctioned off to pay debts, I could not hold back the tears.
No matter how I tried to explain away my ancestor's participation in slavery --that it was the culture or "everyone did it"--I was haunted with guilt and sorrow. I began making a list of
recorded slave names that I planned to include in a genealogical book. Perhaps naming these 117 enslaved souls would validate their existence and be a step toward atoning my ancestors’
sins.
I don't mean "atonement" in the Christian sense of praying my ancestors out of hell, but rather making reparations for the injuries inflicted on generations of Black people. Perhaps I can make amends for the wrongs they inflicted on others by recognizing the history of slavery, supporting organizations focused on equality, and joining the arc of morality that bends toward social justice. I think my preacher grandpa had the same idea.
Mom's dad, J.C., a Methodist preacher, began his
career in Tennessee in the early 1930s.
He was a wonderful storyteller.
When the pastor of a local Black church invited him to preach for his
congregation on a Sunday night, J.C. enthusiastically agreed and brought his wife and children to the event. The next day, the Methodist Tennessee
Conference summoned J.C. to Nashville, admonished him for preaching at a "colored" church, and warned him to never do it again. Grandpa was furious. (No doubt, "Black" was not the word used by Southern white folks during World War II. The "n-word, Mom says, was used all the time.)
A few years
later, in 1949, J.C. relocated his family from Tennessee to join the Kansas
Conference. In the 1960s, he and Grandma often invited an African American woman to
stay at their home and sing at his all-white church. In 1970, when I was a young teen, the
conversation turned to interracial marriage. Grandpa looked me in the eye and said, “Cindy, your grandma and I wouldn’t care
if you dated a young colored man.” He said he would perform the ceremony
if we desired to get married. These were shocking statements at the time, coming from a man of his generation—especially one raised in the South —but I knew he meant them.
In some ways, Grandpa was atoning for the sins of his
slave-owning great-grandfathers by raising
African Americans up from the depths of slavery and Jim Crow to be on equal
status with any white man who might marry his granddaughter.
My empathy for African Americans and civil rights began in
1963 when I was nine years old, sitting in the basement of my all-white church,
anxiously imagining a bomb exploding --killing me—like the young girls in
Birmingham. For the next fifty years, while insulated in my white privileged life,
I occasionally wrote letters to
representatives when I heard stories of injustice, I politely asked those
forwarding racist jokes via email to stop sending them, and I gave my teenage children
keys to cars with no worries that they might be pulled over and terrorized for the color of
their skin.
I thought racism had nearly
vanished and hid in a few “hollers” of the deep south. Then, camera videos began educating me. When I watched the video of George
Floyd being tortured to death while his murderer (a police officer) stared defiantly at witnesses with no worry of being held accountable, I understood that the dark cave I had
wandered into while reading slaves’ names was called “racism” – and its
presence is more expansive and deeply entrenched than I had ever imagined.
During news coverage of protests following Mr.
Floyd’s murder, I witnessed white men asking forgiveness while kneeling before
a group of African Americans. I join them in apologizing for my ancestors' participation in slavery and for my years of ignorance and complacency.
To atone for the sins of my ancestors and myself, I am supporting social justice organizations and candidates who promise equal rights. I will attend community events focused on race
relations. I will listen. I will pray.
And as I discover victims of the 18th and 19th-century slave trade among the
records of my ancestors, I will publish their names. . . because their lives
mattered.
Slaves of My Southern
Ancestors
North Carolina
1736 Will of Robert Rogers
1. Child Called Nan”
2. Jack
3. Moll & her future children
4. boy named Crimson.”
1751 Will of George Wynns
5. Gessaname [sic]
6. Toby
7. Pompey
8. Peter
9. Bell
10. Harry
11. Jemima
12. Cotton (girl)
13. Hagar
14. Jimmy
15. Cezar
16. Hannah
17. Cate
18. Issac
19. Charles
20. Moll
21. Tom
22. Priscilla
23. Caesar,
24. Codar [sic]
25. Mingo
26. Anna
27. Rachael
28. Arthur
29. Robin
30. Jesseminia [sic]
31.
Mingo
|
32.
Ginne
33.
Ginne’s future 1st child
34.
Ginne’s future
2nd child
35.
Sam (boy)
36.
Old woman Bev
1795 Will of Richard
Tayloe #1
37.
Vilet [sic]
38.
George
39.
Boco (boy)
40.
Moll
41.
Tiller (girl)
42.
Bridget
43.
Barby [sic]
44.
Boof or Coof ?
45.
Cherry
46.
Bett
47.
Elisha (boy)
48.
“little Hanner”
(girl)
49.
Hanner (woman)
50.
Lucy (girl)
1811 Will of Watkin Wm Wynns
51.
Meading [sic]
(boy)
52.
Glosent [sic] (boy}
53.
Betty “and all
that may proceed from her body”
54.
Jack
55.
Simon
56.
Cherry
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Tennessee
1828 Division of
Property -- Thomas Wynn’s heirs Name of slave & value
57.
Solomon $500
58.
Betty &
child $350
59.
Dave $450
60.
Joe $550;
61.
Esther $350
62.
Grace $350
63.
Miriam $150
64.
Alfred $325
65.
Drury $250
66.
Mireny [sic]
$200
67.
Boatswain $320
1833 - 42 Deeds for slave property -- Hyman Tayloe
68.
Anthony 3 yrs
old
69.
George (child)
70.
Henry
71.
Phyllis
72.
Luke “a man
slave for life”
1838 Will of Rich.Tayloe
#2
73.
Antony
74.
Clabourn [sic]
75.
Ginny
76.
Venus
77.
Ebeline
1839
Deed for slaves—Hardison Daniel
78.
Lucy $250 (child)
79.
Ebeline $250
(Child)
1843 Rental of
Slaves—Benjamin Tayloe
80.
Nat $35/yr
81.
George $42/yr
82.
Letty Ann
$52/yr
83.
Randle (50 yrs)
84.
Henry (40 yrs)
85.
John Ross (30
yrs)
86.
Little Henry (19 yrs)
87.
George ( 17
yrs)
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88.
Peter (13 yrs)
89.
Lucy (20 yrs)
90.
Polly (40 yrs)
91.
Jenny Ann (40
yrs)
92.
Almarenda (20
yrs)
93.
Venus (20yrs)
94.
Eveline (18
yrs)
95.
Hester (16 yrs)
96.
Josephine (14
yrs)
97.
William 11
(yrs)
98.
Washington (8
yrs)
99.
Randle (6 yrs)
100.
Robert (6yrs)
101.
Betsy Cherry (6
yrs)
102.
Luisa (4 yrs)
103.
Allie (4 yrs)
104.
Emma (2 yrs)
105.
Tom (2 yrs)
106.
Lot (one yr)
107.
boy Rise? (one yr)
108.
Cora (9 mo.)
1859 Collateral for a Loan Hardison Daniel
109.
Mary (45 yrs)
110.
Claborne (20
yrs)
111.
Lucy (19 yrs)
112.
Hicks (15)
113.
Henry (14)
114.
Simon 13)
115.
Adaline (13)
1861 Auction for Debts –Hardison Daniel
116.
John (2 yrs old)
117.
Martha
(toddler)
Hardison Daniel was a
first cousin to my 4x great-grandfather David Daniel, who also owned at least
two slaves (names unknown at this time).
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Note: Since slaves
often took the surnames of their masters, it is helpful to know that my
ancestors’ surnames might have multiple spellings (sometimes on the same
document): Daniel (Daniell); Tayloe
(Taylor): Swain (Swann or Swane); and Wynns (Wynne or Winn).
--submitted by C. Burr
Sources:
Illustration
Child, Lydia Maria (1802-1880); Child, David Lee (1794-1874); Gay, S. Howard, Inscriber; Southard, Nathaniel, Ed. "The American Anti-Slavery Almanac, for 1838." Vol. I. No. 3, p. 21. American Almanac Collection (Library of Congress) DLC; American Anti-Slavery Society.
Documents
· 1736 Will of Robert Rogers of Chowan
Co NC: (North Carolina, Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998 for
Robert Rogers, Original Wills, County “not stated.”)
· 1751 Will of George
Wynns of Chowan/Bertie Co NC: (North Carolina, Wills and Probate
Records, 1665-1998 for Geoge [sic] Wynns, [county]Not Stated, Secretary of
State Original Wills, Tomes, Joshua – Zimmerman, Jno)
·
1754 Will of John Wynns
of Bertie Co NC : (North Carolina, Wills and Probate
Records, 1665-1998 for John Wynns [county]Not Stated, Secretary of State
Original Wills, Tomes, Joshua – Zimmerman, Jno )
· 1763 Will of James Swain of Tyrrell Co NC :
(North Carolina, Wills and Probate Records,
1665-1998 for James Swain, Tyrrell, (Original record.)
· 1786 Will of Robert Daniel of
Tyrrell/Martin Co NC: (North Carolina, Probate Martin Co., Wills
Vol I and II, p. 127-8 – Robert Daniel
p. 527).
· 1795 Will of Richard Tayloe #1 of Bertie Co NC: (North Carolina, Wills and Probate Records,
1665-1998 for Richard Tayloe, Bertie County, Wills and Estate Papers,
1663-1978, image 68460-68462. Found on Ancestry.com.)
· 1801 Will of Abraham Tayloe of Bertie Co NC:
(North Carolina, Superior Court, Bertie County, Wills, bk E, pp. 135-139) (Abraham Tayloe)
· 1811 Will of Watkin Wm Wynns of
Martin Co NC: (North Carolina, Wills and Probate Records,
1665-1998 for Watkin W Wynns, Martin, Wills, Vol 1-2, 1774-1868.)
· 1828 Division of Property -- Thomas
Wynn’s heirs of Stewart Co TN: (Tennessee. Stewart
County Court House, Probate Records, Bonds & Settlements, Vol B. pp. 225.)
· 1833 -45 Deeds for slaves -- Hyman Tayloe of Stewart Co TN: (Stewart County Court House, Register
of Deeds, Library Deed Books, Vol 10, p 532; ibid. Vol.11, p 116; ibid. Vol 13,
p. 466; ibid. Vol. 14, p 308; ibid. Vol 15, p 49.)
· 1838 Will of Richard Tayloe #2 of
Stewart Co TN: Tennessee, Stewart County Court House,
Register of Deeds, Library Deed Books, Vol. 10, pp. 255-6.)
· 1839 Deed for slaves—Hardison Daniel
of Stewart Co TN: (Tennessee. Stewart County Court House,
Register of Deeds, Library Deed Books, Vol. 13, p. 217.)
· 1843 Rental of Slaves—Benjamin Tayloe
of Stewart Co TN: (Long,
Jim. Stewart County, Tennessee Guardian Records, 1806-1842. p. 378.)
· 1852 Inventory of Slaves & Ages
--Elizabeth (Tayloe) Mockbee of Stewart Co TN: (Tennessee. Stewart County Court House, Probate Records, Bonds
& Settlements vol xx, pp. 142-44 & 146-150.)
1859 Collateral
for a Loan Hardison Daniel of Stewart Co TN: (Tennessee. Stewart County Court
House, Register of Deeds, Library Deed Books, Vol. 21, p. 55.)
· 1861
Auction for Debts –Hardison Daniel of Stewart Co TN: (Tennessee. Stewart County Court House, Register
of Deeds, Library Deed Books, Vol. 22,
p. 69.)
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