Moses and Sarah, bought and sold by Joseph Duncan ~ A Friend of Friends Friday

I recently spent a couple days at the library in Jonesborough, TN reviewing some of their microfilm records. I was startled to find two bills of sale recorded at the same November 1810 Session that involved a Joseph Duncan buying and selling two slaves. Duncan (either the Joseph born in 1751 or his son, Joseph, born 1788) purchased a man, Moses, and and woman, Sarah, in November 1809 and sold them two months later to Elias Bowman. The Duncans were closely associated with the Allison family, though I do not have Frank Allison listed in my database. Joseph the younger was married to Polly Allison, a daughter of Robert Allison.  

It is not a surprise the Duncans owned slaves. They appear in census records as slave holders. But they also signed a petition around the same time as these sales asking the State Legislature to abolish or reform the slave laws. Here they appear more as slave traders. 

November Sessions 1810

A Bill of Sale from Joseph Duncan to Elias Bowman for a Negro man named Moses and a Negro woman named Sarah, dated the 22d day of January 1810  Acknowledged in open court by Joseph Duncan & recorded            50  

November Sessions 1810

A Bill of Sale from Frank Allison to Joseph Duncan for two negroes a man named Moses and a woman named Sarah, dated 23 day of November 1809  Acknowledged in open court by Frank Allison & recorded          


Sources
      Washington, Tennessee, Quarterly Court Minute Books Minute Feb 1809-Jan 1826: 90, Joseph Duncan Bill of Sale, 22 Jan 1810; Washington County Library Roll No. 130_Washington. 

      Washington, Tennessee, Quarterly Court Minute Books Minute Feb 1809-Jan 1826: 93, Frank Allison Bill of Sale, 23 Nov 1809; Washington County Library Roll No. 130_Washington. 

Stephen Mahorney, 1827 Maryland - A Friend of Friends Friday

$50 REWARD
Ran Away from the subscriber, living about 40 miles west of Cumberland, Allegany co., Md. on the 16th inst., a Negro Man named STEPHEN; calls himself Stephen Mahorney. He is about 21 years old, about 5 foot 7 inches high, stout made, dark complexion, has a grum countenance & down look when spoken to. Had on when he went off a pair of grey cloth pantaloons, not much worn, a short brown country cloth coat, about half worn, which fits him very loose, shoes or bootees, of very strong leather, pegged and nailed with sparables, white yarn stockings, a country linen shirt, a good yellow striped summer jacket, and a half worn wool hat. He took with him a small black and white spotted Dog. He has no doubt made for Pennsylvania. The above reward will be given for securing him in jail so that I get him again, and all reasonable expenses paid if secured in the Cumberland, Frederick or Hagers-town Jail.
LEONARD SMITH.
April 26.       26-3w.

Leonard Smith is my husband's 2nd great-grandfather. A slave family named Mahawney, listed as belonging to Henry Mattingly, appear in Richard Koch's Western Maryland Catholics, 1819-1851. A cursory examination of census records showed no records for Stephen Mahorney, but the 1830 census includes a free colored Mahorney (or McHerney) family living south of Pittsburg, PA about 80 miles northwest of Smith's land in Maryland. In 1880 a 15 year old black male, Steven Mahorney, is enumerated in the Hagerstown, MD household of his grandfather Francis Nelson. This Steven is obviously not the same young man who fled more than 50 years earlier, but were I researching this man I would investigate a possible relationship.

Sources
     [Hagerstown, MD] Torch Light, "$50 Reward," 3 May 1827, p. 3, col. 3; digital images, GenealogyBank.com (accessed 7 Jul 2012), Historical Newspapers.
     Koch, Richard T., "Western Maryland Catholics, 1819-1851," database and images, Ancestry.com (accessed 7 Jul 2012); Register of Baptisms, p. 80, record for John Mahawney.
     1830 U.S. census, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, St. Clair, p. 209, line 15, Robt Mahorney; digital images, Ancestry.com (accessed 7 Jul 2012); citing NARA microfilm M19, roll 144. 
     1880 U.S. census, Washington, Maryland, Hagerstown, p. 66, Steven Mahorney; digital images, Ancestry.com (accessed 7 Jul 2012); citing NARA microfilm T9, roll 516.

Not So Long Ago or Far Away: Six Degrees to Slavery

I read a fun (and thought provoking) post last week.  Dionne at Finding Josephine wrote about finding relationships amongst the slave owners of her ancestors and relations and ended with a Six Degrees challenge concerning President Obama.

Growing up in New England I rarely thought about slavery.  It didn't escape me that life was more difficult for the African-Americans I knew (all two families in my New York suburban existence), but as long as I behaved as I believed I should that was enough for me.  I was even a little smug, believing that my 20th century immigrant and Union soldier southern ancestors shielded me from any "guilt".   Now, original sin notwithstanding, I don't believe in inherited guilt.   I am not responsible for the actions of my ancestors in war or peace.

But as I've considered how much some of their decisions have affected me, it's impossible not consider that slavery has too.  I'm grateful my grandparents came to America.  I'm grateful my ancestors stayed rooted in East Tennessee for centuries giving me a sense of home when my own life has involved so much movement.  And I'm grateful everyday for the man I married (ok, almost everyday).  Smartest move I ever made.

So am I also grateful my grandparents were white and could come here?  That my family stayed in Tennessee because some of them owned slaves who helped keep their standard of living at a level that allowed them to stay and afforded their children a leg up?  Am I grateful for the legacy of my husband's family of devout faith, Catholic education and oodles of southern charm that rested on a foundation of slave run plantations?  I am.

Hard not to feel shame there.  I may not be responsible, but I have surely benefited.

I can't change any of the past.  But I do want to see it clearly.  Slave owning isn't close to the whole story, but it's part of it.  So - Six Degrees to Slave Owning?  Unfortunately, I don't need anywhere near six.  In fact I can do six without much digging.

• My mother (b. TN) knew her grandmother Flora McAdams (b. 1867, IL) who knew her grandparents Thomas & Cynthia Stephenson McAdams (b. 1806 & 1817, TN) who were slave owners.  Three degrees.
• My mother (b. TN) knew her grandmother  Catherine Conway (b. 1865, TN) who knew her father Porter Conway (b. 1828, TN) who knew his father James Conway (b. 1802, TN) who was a slave owner.  Four degrees
• My mother (b. TN) knew her grandfather R.J. Williams (b. 1862, VA) who knew his father Granville Williams (b. 1820, VA) who was a slave owner.  Three degrees.  
• My mother-in-law (b. MD) knew her grandmother Mariah Lee Palmer (b. 1844, VA) who was a slave owner.  Two degrees.

I was startled to see that even the westward expansion side of the family can participate.  

• My father-in-law (b. WY) knew his grandfather Frank Clark (b. 1873, IA) who knew his father Andrew Clark (b. 1842, IL) who knew his grandfather Stephen Shelton (b. about 1799, NC or VA) who was a slave owner. Four degrees.
• My father-in-law (b. WY) knew his grandmother Eva Bonnell (b. 1869, KS) who knew her mother Mary Catherine Shouse (b. 1842, KY) who knew her father Benjamin Shouse (b. 1811, KY) who was a slave owner. Four degrees.  

What I find interesting is that my children, born much more than a century after Emancipation and decades after the Civil Rights Act passed are just as close as I am.  They know or knew everyone of my first degree connections. It's just not that long ago or far away.