Last week’s column discussed the fact that in 1834 James Madison made the decision to sell a few of his enslaved people to his cousin William Taylor. He reconciled the act to a friend by stating that they consented to go, and he imagined that Taylor would do better by them than he could, presumably …
It is not a compilation of facts and figures for the sake of collecting and archiving data. Frankly, if that were the goal, we would be hard-pressed to push on. There is a depressing paucity of evidence of the particulars of the 1834 sale of a purported 16 men and women, all people of color …
Except for doing my part to insure a good/great turnout for a fascinating program to be held Sunday, Jan. 21 at 3 p.m. at The Arts Center In Orange about black baseball in Virginia, every waking hour of my day has been pledged to preparing for the upcoming odyssey to Louisiana. Well, in many ways …
For the first 30 or so years of her life, she was likely known only by her given name, Jenny. It was later that she would be given a surname that she would pass on to her descendants. Jenny plays an integral part in the discoveries thus far unearthed in the search for the Louisiana …
Lucy Lewis Thom married William Taylor in October, 1834 and relocated immediately following the wedding to his plantation on the Mississippi River in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana. According to Thom family history Lucy left her home place in Culpeper County on that “honeymoon” journey with a maid. See Part One published in the Culpeper Star …
The departure date is rapidly approaching. Last week I alluded to the considerable factors that fueled route decisions. The 16 whom I seek, left their home, their families—literally everything they had ever known—for a distant place that might as well have been the moon. Their knowledge of this place called Louisiana was either nonexistent or …
I have a few observations coupled with a few ponderings: no conclusions yet. On a good day- absent precipitation, health issues and reasonable temps- a group of this size might cover about 20 miles. There of course were other variables and we will talk about them later. It has been theorized that the involuntary travelers …
It is a rainy day and I have now relocated to New Orleans. It’s not all work, as you might imagine life in the Big Easy, but there are opportunities to further the research here and I am compelled to take advantage. To that end, I attended St. Augustine Catholic Church yesterday—a historic congregation founded …
The state of Louisiana’s trove of history is incomparable. A vast number of the historic structures have been preserved and there is no finer example than in the City of New Orleans. If all one did was spend the days ogling the buildings of the 18th and 19th centuries that rise from the narrow cobble …
After five weeks, I am heading north, but not before I spend a few more days “down south” and then a little time exploring in the Carolinas. I continue to be amazed with the amount of water in the lower southern states. Of course, I should be prepared having studied U.S. geography, but that was …