FOOTNOTES:
[37] 1, Chase, p. 393, sects. 1-7.
[38] 1, Chase, p. 555.
[39] Jeffries vs. Ankeny, 11, Ohio, p. 375.
[40] 2, Chase L., p. 1052.
[41] Curwen, p. 533.
[42] Revised Statutes of Ohio, vol. i. p. 60.
[43] Ibid., p. 111.
[44] Elliot's Debates, vol. i. p. 79.
[45] Sanford's Dred Scott Case, pp. 397-399.
[46] Howard's Reports, vol. xix. pp. 403-405, sq.
[47] Hurd, vol ii. p. 123.
[48] Terr. laws 1807-8, p. 423.
[49] Laws of 1817, ch. 3, sec. 52.
[50] See Hurd, vol. ii. p. 129.
[51] Revised Laws of Indiana, 1838.
[52] Session Laws, 1819, p. 354. R. S., 1833, p. 466.
[53] R. S., 1845, p. 154.
[54] Rev. St. of 1856, p. 780.
CHAPTER XI.
THE NORTHERN NEGROES.
Nominal Rights of Negroes in the Slave States.—Fugitive Slaves seek Refuge in Canada.—Negroes petition against Taxation without Representation.—A Law preventing Negroes from other States from settling in Massachusetts.—Notice to Blacks, Indians, and Mulattoes, warning them to leave the Commonwealth.—The Rights and Privileges of the Negro restricted.—Colored Men turn their Attention to the Education of their own Race.—John V. DeGrasse, the first Colored Man admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society.—Prominent Colored Men of New York and Philadelphia.—The Organization of the African Methodist Episcopal and Colored Baptist Churches.—Colored Men distinguish themselves in the Pulpit.—Report to the Ohio Anti-slavery Society of Colored People in Cincinnati in 1835.—Many purchase their Freedom.—Henry Boyd, the Mechanic and Builder.—He becomes a Successful Manufacturer in Cincinnati.—Samuel T. Wilcox, the Grocer.—His Success in Business in Cincinnati.—Ball and Thomas, the Photographers.—Colored People of Cincinnati evince a Desire to take Care of themselves.—Lydia P. Mott establishes a Home for Colored Orphans.—The Organization effected in 1844.—Its Success.—Formation of a Colored Military Company called "The Attucks Guards."—Emigration of Negroes to Liberia.—The Colored People live down much Prejudice.
IN 1850 there were 238,187 free Negroes in the slave States. Their freedom was merely nominal. They were despised beneath the slaves, and were watched with suspicious eyes, and disliked by their brethren in bondage.
In 1850 there were 196,016 free Negroes in the Northern States. Their increase came from [chiefly] two sources, viz.: births and emancipated persons from the South. Fugitive slaves generally went to Canada, for in addition to being in danger of arrest under the fugitive-slave law, none of the State governments in the North sympathized with escaped Negroes. The Negroes in the free States were denied the rights of citizenship, and were left to the most destroying ignorance. In 1780, some free Negroes, of the town of Dartmouth, petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts for relief from taxation, because they were denied the privileges and duties of citizenship. The petition set forth the hardships free Negroes were obliged to endure, even in Massachusetts, and was in itself a proof of the fitness of the petitioners for the duties of citizenship.
"To the Honorable Council and House of Representatives, in General Court Assembled, for the State of Massachusetts Bay, in New England:
"The petition of several poor negroes and mulattoes, who are inhabitants of the town of Dartmouth, humbly showeth:
"That we being chiefly of the African extract, and by reason of long bondage and hard slavery, we have been deprived of enjoying the profits of our labor or the advantage of inheriting estates from our parents, as our neighbors the white people do, having some of us not long enjoyed our own freedom; yet of late, contrary to the invariable custom and practice of the country, we have been, and now are, taxed both in our polls and that small pittance of estate which, through much hard labor and industry, we have got together to sustain ourselves and families withall. We apprehend it, therefore, to be hard usage, and will doubtless (if continued) reduce us to a state of beggary, whereby we shall become a burthen to others, if not timely prevented by the interposition of your justice and power.
"Your petitioners further show, that we apprehend ourselves to be aggrieved, in that, while we are not allowed the privilege of freemen of the State, having no vote or influence in the election of those that tax us, yet many of our color (as is well known) have cheerfully entered the field of battle in the defence of the common cause, and that (as we conceive) against a similar exertion of power (in regard to taxation) too well known to need a recital in this place.
"We most humble request, therefore, that you would take our unhappy case into your serious consideration, and, in your wisdom and power, grant us relief from taxation, while under our present depressed circumstances; and your poor petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray, etc.
"John Cuffe,
"Adventur Child,
"Paul Cuffe,
"Samuel Gray, [his x mark.]
"Pero Rowland, [his x mark.]
"Pero Russell, [his x mark.]
"Pero Coggeshall."Dated at Dartmouth, the 10th of February, 1780.
"Memorandum in the handwriting of John Cuffe:"This is the copy of the petition which we did deliver unto the Honorable Council and House, for relief from taxation in the days of our distress. But we received none.
John Cuffe."[55]
Not discouraged at the failure that attended the above petition, the indefatigable Paul Cuffe, addressed the following to the selectmen of his town the next year.
"A REQUEST.
"To the Selectmen of the Town of Dartmouth, Greeting:
We, the subscribers, your humble petitioners, desire that you would, in your capacity, put a stroke in your next warrant for calling a town meeting, so that it may legally be laid before said town, by way of vote, to know the mind of said town, whether all free negroes and mulattoes shall have the same privileges in this said Town of Dartmouth as the white people have, respecting places of profit, choosing of officers, and the like, together with all other privileges in all cases that shall or may happen or be brought in this our said Town of Dartmouth. We, your petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray,
[Signed]
"John Cuffe,
"Paul Cuffe,"Dated at Dartmouth, the 22d of the 4th mo., 1781,"
As early as 1788 Massachusetts passed a law requiring all Negroes who were not citizens, to leave the Commonwealth within two months from the date of the publication of the law. It has been said, upon good authority, that this law was drawn by several of the ablest lawyers in the Bay State, and was intended to keep out all Negroes from the South who, being emancipated, might desire to settle there. It became a law on the 26th of March, 1788, and instead of becoming a dead letter, was published and enforced in post-haste. The following section is the portion of the act pertinent to this inquiry.
"V. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid [the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled], that no person being an African or Negro, other than a subject of the Emperor of Morocco, or a citizen of some one of the United States (to be evidenced by a certificate from the Secretary of the State of which he shall be a citizen), shall tarry within this Commonwealth, for a longer time than two months, and upon complaint made to any Justice of the Peace within this Commonwealth, that any such person has been within the same more than two months, the said Justice shall order the said person to depart out of this Commonwealth, and in case that the said African or Negro shall not depart as aforesaid, any Justice of the Peace within this Commonwealth, upon complaint and proof made that such person has continued within this Commonwealth ten days after notice given him or her to depart as aforesaid, shall commit the said person to any house of correction within the county, there to be kept to hard labor, agreeable to the rules and orders of the said house, until the Sessions of the Peace, next to be holden within and for the said county; and the master of the said house of correction is hereby required and directed to transmit an attested copy of the warrant of commitment to the said Court on the first day of their said session, and if upon trial at the said Court, it shall be made to appear that the said person has thus continued within the Commonwealth, contrary to the tenor of this act, he or she shall be whipped not exceeding ten stripes, and ordered to depart out of this Commonwealth within ten days; and if he or she shall not so depart, the same process shall be had and punishment inflicted, and so toties quoties."[56]
The following notice, with the subjoined names, shows that the cruel law was enforced.
NOTICE TO BLACKS.
The Officers of Police having made return to the Subscriber of the names of the following persons, who are Africans or Negroes, not subjects of the Emperor of Morocco nor citizens of the United States, the same are hereby warned and directed to depart out of this Commonwealth before the 10th day of October next, as they would avoid the pains and penalties of the law in that case provided, which was passed by the Legislature, March 26, 1788.
Charles Bulfinch,
Superintendent.By Order and Direction of the Selectmen.
Portsmouth—Prince Patterson, Eliza Cotton, Flora Nash.
Rhode Island—Thomas Nichols and Philis Nichols, Hannah Champlin, Plato Alderson, Raney Scott, Jack Jeffers, Thomas Gardner, Julius Holden, Violet Freeman, Cuffy Buffum, Sylvia Gardner, Hagar Blackburn, Dolly Peach, Polly Gardner, Sally Alexander, Philis Taylor.
Providence—Dinah Miller, Salvia Hendrick, Rhode Allen, Nancy Hall, Richard Freeman, Elizabeth Freeman, Nancy Gardner, Margaret Harrison.
Connecticut—Bristol Morandy, John Cooper, Scipio Kent, Margaret Russell, Phoebe Seamore, Phoebe Johnson, Jack Billings.
New London—John Denny, Thomas Burdine, Hannah Burdine.
New York—Sally Evens, Sally Freeman, Cæsar West and Hannah West, Thomas Peterson, Thomas Santon, Henry Sanderson, Henry Wilson, Robert Willet, Edward Cole, Mary Atkins, Polly Brown, Amey Spalding, John Johnson, Rebecca Johnson, George Homes, Prince Kilsbury, Abraham Fitch, Joseph Hicks, Abraham Francis, Elizabeth Francis, Sally Williams, William Williams, Rachel Pewinck, David Dove, Esther Dove, Peter Bayle, Thomas Bostick, Katy Bostick, Prince Hayes, Margaret Bean, Nancy Hamik, Samuel Benjamin, Peggy Ocamum, Primus Hutchinson.
Philadelphia—Mary Smith, Richard Allen, Simon Jeffers, Samuel Posey, Peter Francies, Prince Wales, Elizabeth Branch, Peter Gust, William Brown, Butterfield Scotland, Clarissa Scotland, Cuffy Cummings, John Gardner, Sally Gardner, Fortune Gorden, Samuel Stevens.
Baltimore—Peter Larkin and Jenny Larkin, Stepney Johnson, Anne Melville.
Virginia—James Scott, John Evens, Jane Jackson, Cuffey Cook, Oliver Nash, Robert Woodson, Thomas Thompson.
North Carolina—James Jurden, Polly Johnson, Janus Crage.
South Carolina—Anthony George, Peter Cane.
Halifax—Catherine Gould, Charlotte Gould, Cato Small, Philis Cole, Richard M'Coy.
West Indies—James Morfut and Hannah his wife, Mary Davis, George Powell, Peter Lewis, Charles Sharp, Peter Hendrick, William Shoppo and Mary Shoppo, Isaac Johnson, John Pearce, Charles Esings, Peter Branch, Newell Symonds, Rosanna Symonds, Peter George, Lewis Victor, Lewis Sylvester, John Laco, Thomas Foster, Peter Jesemy, Rebecca Jesemy, David Bartlet, Thomas Grant, Joseph Lewis, Hamet Lewis, John Harrison, Mary Brown, Boston Alexander.
Cape François—Casme Francisco and Nancy his wife, Mary Fraceway.
Aux Cayes—Susannah Ross.
Port-au-Prince—John Short.
Jamaica—Charlotte Morris, John Robinson.
Bermuda—Thomas Williams.
New Providence—Henry Taylor.
Liverpool—John Mumford.
Africa—Francis Thompson, John Brown, Mary Joseph, James Melvile, Samuel Bean, Hamlet Earl, Cato Gardner, Charles Mitchel, Sophia Mitchel, Samuel Frazier, Samuel Blackburn, Timothy Philips, Joseph Ocamum. France—Joseph ——
Isle of France—Joseph Lovering.
LIST OF INDIANS AND MULATTOES.
The following persons from several of the United States, being people of colour, commonly called Mulattoes, are presumed to come within the intention of the same law, and are accordingly warned and directed to depart out of the Commonwealth before the 10th day of October next.
Rhode Island—Peter Badger, Kelurah Allen, Waley Green, Silvia Babcock.
Providence—Polly Adams, Paul Jones.
Connecticut—John Brown, Polly Holland, John Way and Nancy Way, Peter Virginia, Leville Steward, Lucinda Orange, Anna Sprague, Britton Doras, Amos Willis, Frank Francies.
New London—Hannah Potter.
New York—Jacob and Nelly Cummings, James and Rebecca Smith, Judith Chew, John Schumagger, Thomas Willouby, Peggy Willouby, John Reading, Mary Reading, Charles Brown, John Miles, Hannah Williams, Betsy Harris, Douglass Brown, Susannah Foster, Thomas Burros, Mary Thomson, James and Freelove Buck, Lucy Glapcion, Lucy Lewis, Eliza Williams, Diana Bayle, Cæsar and Sylvia Caton, —— Thompson, William Guin.
Albany—Elone Virginia, Abijah Reed and Lydia Reed, Abijah Reed, Jr., Rebecca Reed and Betsy Reed.
New Jersey—Stephen Boadley, Hannah Victor.
Philadelphia—Polly Boadley, James Long, Hannah Murray, Jeremiah Green, Nancy Principeso, David Johnson, George Jackson William Coak, Moses Long.
Maryland—Nancy Gust.
Baltimore—John Clark, Sally Johnson.
Virginia—Sally Hacker, Richard and John Johnson, Thomas Stewart, Anthony Paine, Mary Burk, William Hacker, Polly Losours, Betsy Guin, Lucy Brown.
Africa—Nancy Doras.[57]
The constitutions of nearly all the States, statutes, or public sentiment drove the Negro from the ballot-box, excused him from the militia, and excluded him from the courts. Although born on the soil, a soldier in two wars, an industrious, law-abiding person, the Negro, nevertheless, was not regarded as a member of political society. He was taxed, but enjoyed no representation; was governed by laws, and yet, had no voice in making the laws.
The doors of nearly all the schools of the entire North were shut in his face; and the few separate schools accorded him were given grudgingly. They were usually held in the lecture-room of some Colored church edifice, or thrust off to one side in a portion of the city or town toward which aristocratic ambition would never turn. These schools were generally poorly equipped; and the teachers were either Colored persons whose opportunities of securing an education had been poor, or white persons whose mental qualifications would not encourage them to make an honest living among their own race; there were noble exceptions.
A deeply rooted prejudice shut the Negro out from the trades. He could not acquire the art of setting type, civil engineering, building machinery, house carpentering, or any of the trades. The schools of medicine, law, and theology were not open to him; and even if he secured admission into some gentleman's office, or instruction from some divine, the future gave him no promise. The white wings of hope were broken in an ineffectual attempt to move against the bitter winds of persecution, under the dark sky of hate and proscription. Corporations, churches, theatres, and political parties made the Negro a subject of official action. If a Negro travelled by stage coach, it was among the baggage in the "boot," or on top with the driver. If he were favored with a ride on a street car, it was in a separate car marked, "This car for Colored people." If he journeyed any distance by rail, he was assigned to the "Jim Crow" car, or "smoker," where himself and family were subjected to inconvenience, insult, and the society of the lowest class of white rowdies. If he were hungry and weary at the end of the journey, there was "no room for him in the inn," and, like his Master, was assigned a place among the cattle. If he were so fortunate as to get into a hotel as a servant, bearing the baggage of his master, he slept in the garret, and took his meals in the kitchen. It mattered not who the Colored man was—whether it was Langston, the lawyer, McCune Smith, the physician, or Douglass, the orator—he found no hotel that would give him accommodations. And forsooth, if some host had the temerity to admit a Negro to his dining-room, a dozen white guests would leave the hotel rather than submit to the "outrage!"
The places of amusements in all the large cities in the North excluded the Negro; and when he did gain admission, he was shown to the gallery, where he could enjoy peanut-hulls, boot-blacks, and "black-legs." Occasionally the side door of a college was put ajar for some invincible Negro. But this was a performance of very rare occurrence; and the instances are easily remembered.
When courts and parties, corporations and companies had refused to accord the Negro the rights that were his due as a man, he carried his case to the highest earthly court, the Christian Church. He felt sure of sympathy and succor from this source. The Church had stood through the centuries as a refuge for the unfortunate and afflicted. But, alas! the Church shrank from the Negro as if he had been a reptile. If he gained admission it was to the "Negro pew" in the "organ loft." If he secured the precious "emblems of the broken body and shed blood" of his Divine Master, it was after the "white folks" were through. If the cause of the Negro were mentioned in the prayer or sermon, it was in the indistinct whisper of the moral coward who occupied the sacred desk. And when the fight was on at fever heat, when it was popular to plead the cause of the slave and demand the rights of the free Negro, the Church was the last organization in the country to take a position on the question; and even then, her "moderation was known to all men."
If the Negro had suffered from neglect only, had been left to solve the riddle of his anomalous existence without further embarrassment, it would have been well. But no, it was not so. Studied insolence jostled Colored men and women from the streets of the larger cities; mobocratic violence broke up assemblages and churches of Colored people; and malice sought them in the quiet of their homes—outraged and slew them in cold blood. Thus with the past as a haunting, bitter recollection, the present filled with fear and disaster, and the future a shapeless horror, think ye life was sweet to the Negro? Bitter? Bitter as death? Ay, bitter as hell!
Driven down from the lofty summit of laudable ambitions into the sultry plains of domestic drudgery and menial toil, nearly every ray of hope had perished upon the strained vision of the Negro. The only thing young Colored men could aspire to was the position of a waiter, the avocation of a barber, the place of a house-servant or groom, and teach or preach to their own people with little or no qualifications. Denied the opportunities and facilities of securing an education, they were upbraided by the press and pulpit, in private gatherings and public meetings, for their ignorance, which was enforced by a narrow and contracted public prejudice.
But "none of these things moved" the Negro. Undismayed he bowed to his herculean task with a complacency and courage worthy of any race or age of the world's history. The small encouragement that came to him from the conscientious minority of white men and women was as refreshing as the cool ocean breeze at even-tide to the feverish brow of a travel-soiled pilgrim. The Negro found it necessary to exert himself, to lift himself out of his social, mental, and political dilemma by the straps of his boots. Colored men turned their attention to the education of themselves and their children. Schools were begun, churches organized, and work of general improvement and self-culture entered into with alacrity and enthusiasm. Boston had among its teachers the scholarly Thomas Paul; among its clergymen Leonard A. Grimes and John T. Raymond; among its lawyers Robert Morris and E. G. Walker; among its business men J. B. Smith and Coffin Pitts; among its physicians John R. Rock and John V. DeGrasse; among its authors Brown and Nell; and among its orators Remond and Hilton. Robert Morris was admitted to the bar in Boston, on Thursday, June 27, 1850, at a meeting of the members of the Suffolk County Bar. The record is as follows:
"Resolved, That Robert Morris, Esq., be recommended for admittance to practice as a Counsellor and Attorney of the Circuit and District Courts of the United States.
"(Signed) Ellis Gray Loring, Chairman.
"Chas. Theo. Russell, Secretary."
John V. DeGrasse, M.D., an eminent physician of Boston was perhaps the most accomplished Colored gentleman in New England between 1850-1860. The following notice appeared in a Boston journal in August, 1854:
"On the 24th of August, 1854, Mr. DeGrasse was admitted in due form a member of the 'Massachusetts Medical Society.' It is the first instance of such honor being conferred upon a colored man in this State, at least, and probably in the country; and therefore it deserves particular notice, both because the means by which he has reached this distinction are creditable to his own intelligence and perseverance, and because others of his class may be stimulated to seek an elevation which has hitherto been supposed unattainable by men of color. The Doctor is a native of New York City, where he was born in June, 1825, and where he spent his time in private and public schools till 1840. He then entered the Oneida Institute, Beriah Green, President, and spent one year; but as Latin was not taught there, he left and entered the Clinton Seminary, where he remained two years, intending to enter college in the fall of 1843. He was turned from this purpose, however, by the persuasions of a friend in France, and after spending two years in a college in that country, he returned to New York in November, 1845, and commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Samuel R. Childs, of that city. There he spent two years in patient and diligent study, and then two more in attending the medical lectures of Bowdoin College, Me. Leaving that institution with honor in May, 1849, he went again to Europe in the autumn of that year, and spent considerable time in the hospitals of Paris, travelling, at intervals, through parts of France, England, Italy, and Switzerland. Returning home in the ship 'Samuel Fox,' in the capacity of surgeon, he was married in August, 1852, and since that time he has practised medicine in Boston. Earning a good reputation here by his diligence and skill, he was admitted a member of the Medical Society, as above stated. Many of our most respectable physicians visit and advise with him whenever counsel is required. The Boston medical profession, it must be acknowledged, has done itself honor in thus discarding the law of caste, and generously acknowledging real merit, without regard to the hue of the skin."
The Colored population of New York was equal to the great emergency that required them to put forth their personal exertions. Dr. Henry Highland Garnet, Dr. Charles B. Ray, and the Rev. Peter Williams in the pulpit; Charles L. Reason and William Peterson as teachers; James McCune Smith and Philip A. White as physicians and chemists; James Williams and Jacob Day among business men, did much to elevate the Negro in self-respect and self-support.
Philadelphia early ranked among her foremost leaders of the Colored people, William Whipper, Stephen Smith, Robert Purvis, William Still, Frederick A. Hinton, and Joseph Cassey. From an inquiry instituted in 1837, it was ascertained that out of the 18,768 Colored people in Philadelphia, 250 had paid for their freedom the aggregate sum of $79,612, and that the real and personal property owned by them was near $1,500,000. There were returns of several chartered benevolent societies for the purpose of affording mutual aid in sickness and distress, and there were sixteen houses of public worship, with over 4,000 communicants. And in Western Pennsylvania there were John Peck, John B. Vashon, Geo. Gardner, and Lewis Woodson. Every State in the North seemed to produce Colored men of marked ability to whom God committed a great work. Their examples of patient fortitude, industry, and frugality, and their determined efforts to obtain knowledge and build up character, stimulated the youth of the Negro race to greater exertions in the upward direction.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church was organized as early as 1816. Its churches grew and its ministry increased in numbers, intelligence, and piety, until it became the most powerful organization of Colored men on the continent. The influence of this organization upon the Colored race in America was excellent. It brought the people together, not only in religious sympathy, but by the ties of a common interest in all affairs of their race and condition. The men in the organization who possessed the power of speech, who had talents to develop, and an ambition to serve their race, found this church a wide field of usefulness.
The Colored Baptists were organized before the Methodists, [in Virginia,] but their organization has always lacked strength. The form of government, being purely Democratic, was adapted to a people of larger intelligence and possessed of greater capacity for self-government. But, notwithstanding this fact, the "independent" order of Colored Baptists gave the members and clergymen of the denomination exalted ideas of government, and abiding confidence in the capacity of the Negro for self-government. No organization of Colored people in America has produced such able men as the Colored Baptist Church.
In Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan, Colored men distinguished themselves in the pulpit, in the forum, in business, and letters. William Howard Day, of Cleveland, during this period [1850-1860] Librarian of the Cleveland Library and editor of a newspaper; John Mercer Langston, of Oberlin; John Liverpool and John I. Gaines, of Cincinnati, Ohio, were good men and true. What they did for their race was done worthily and well. At the Ohio Anti-Slavery Convention, held at Putnam on the 22d, 23d, and 24th of April, 1835, the committee on the condition of the "people of Color," made the following report from Cincinnati:
The number of Colored people in Cincinnati is about 2,500. As illustrating their general condition, we will give the statistics of one or two small districts. The families in each were visited from house to house, taking them all as far as we went:
Number of families in one of these districts 26
" of individuals 125
" of heads of families 49
" of heads of families who are professors of religion 19
" of children at school 20
" of heads of families who have been slaves 39
" of individuals who have been slaves 95
Time since they obtained their freedom, from 1 to 15 years;
average, 7 years.
Number of individuals who have purchased themselves 23
Whole amount paid for themselves $9,112
Number of fathers and mothers still in slavery 9
" of children 18
" of brothers and sisters 98
" of newspapers taken 0
" of heads of families who can read 2EMPLOYMENT OF HEADS OF FAMILIES.
Common laborers and porters 7
Dealers in second-hand clothing 1
Hucksters 1
Carpenters 2
Shoe-blacks 6
Cooks and waiters 11
Washer-women 18Five of these women purchased themselves from slavery. One paid four hundred dollars for herself, and has since bought a house and lot worth six hundred dollars. All this she has done by washing.
Another individual had bargained for his wife and two children. Their master agreed to take four hundred and twenty dollars for them. He succeeded at length in raising the money, which he carried to their owner. "I shall charge you thirty dollars more than when you was here before," said the planter, "for your wife is in a family-way, and you may pay thirty dollars for that or not take her, just as you please." "And so," said he (patting the head of a little son, three years old, who hung upon his knee), "I had to pay thirty dollars for this little fellow six months before he was born."
Number of families in another district 63
" of individuals 258
" of heads of families 106
" of families who are professors of religion 16
" of heads of families at school 53
" of newspapers taken 7
Amount of property in real estate $9,850
Number of individuals who have been slaves 108
" of heads of families who have been slaves 69
Age at which they obtained their freedom, from 3 months to
60 years; average, 33 years.
Time since they obtained their freedom, from 4 weeks to 27
years; average, 9 years.
Number of heads of families who have purchased themselves, 36
Whole amount paid for themselves $21,515.00
Average price $597.64
Number of children which the same families have already
purchased 14
Whole amount paid for these children $2,425.75
Average price $173.27
Total amount paid for these parents and children $23,940.75
Number of parents still in slavery 16
" of husbands or wives 7
" of children 35
" of brothers and sisters 144These districts were visited without the least reference to their being exhibited separately. If they give a fair specimen of the whole population (and we believe that to be a fact), then we have the following results: 1,129 of the Colored population of Cincinnati have been in slavery; 476 have purchased themselves, at the total expense of $215,522.04, averaging for each, $452.77; 163 parents are still in slavery, 68 husbands and wives, 346 children, 1,579 brothers and sisters.
There are a large number in the city who are now working out their own freedom—their free papers being retained as security. One man of our acquaintance has just given his master seven notes of one hundred dollars each, one of which he intends to pay every year, till he has paid them all; his master promises then to give him his free papers. After paying for himself, he intends to buy his wife and then his children. Others are buying their husbands or wives, and others again their parents or children. To show that on this subject they have sympathies like other people, we will state a single fact. A young man, after purchasing himself, earned three hundred dollars. This sum he supposed was sufficient to purchase his aged mother, a widow, whom he had left in slavery five years before, in Virginia. Hearing that she was for sale, he started immediately to purchase her. But, after travelling five hundred miles, and offering all his money, he was refused. Not because she was not for sale, nor because he did not offer her full value. She had four sons and daughters with her, and the planter thought he could do better to keep the family together and send them all down the river. In vain the affectionate son pleaded for his mother. The planter's heart was steel. He would not sell her, and with a heavy heart the young man returned to Cincinnati. He has since heard that they were sold in the New Orleans market "in lots to suit purchasers."
Cincinnati produced quite a number of business men among her Colored population.
HENRY BOYD
was born in the State of Kentucky, on the 14th day of May, 1802. He received some instruction in reading and writing. He was bound out to a gentleman, from whom he learned the cabinet-making trade. He developed at quite an early age a genius for working in all kinds of wood—could make any thing in the business. He came to Ohio in 1826, and located in Cincinnati. He was a fine-looking man of twenty-four years, and a master mechanic. He expected to secure employment in some of the cabinet shops in the city. Accordingly, he applied at several, but as often as he applied he was refused employment on the ground of complexional prejudice. In some instances the proprietor was willing that a Colored man should work for him, but the white mechanics would not work by the side of a Colored man. In other cases it was quite different. The proprietors would not entertain the idea of securing the services of a "Black mechanic." So it was for weeks that Mr. Boyd sought an opportunity to use his skill in the direction of his genius and training; but he sought in vain. Disappointed, though not disheartened, he turned to the work of a stevedore, which he did for four months. At the expiration of this time he found employment with a house-builder. Within six months from the time he began work as a builder he had so thoroughly mastered the trade that he quit working as a journeyman, formed a co-partnership with a white man, and went into business. The gentleman with whom he joined his fortunes was a mechanic of excellent abilities, and acknowledged the superior fitness of Boyd for the business.
As a builder he succeeded first-rate for four years. But his color was against him. His white partner would make the contracts, secure the jobs, and then Boyd would come forward when the work was to be done. He had an abundance of work, and always finished it to the entire satisfaction of his patrons. It is impossible to estimate just how many houses he built, but the number is not small. He had made a beginning, and secured some capital. He did not like the builder's trade, and only entered it at the first from necessity—as a stepping-stone to his own trade, for which he had a great deal of enthusiasm. In 1836, ten years after his arrival in Cincinnati, he engaged in the manufacture of bedsteads. For six years he carried on this business—found a ready market and liberal pay. He brought to his business some of the oldest buyers in the bedstead line, and had a trade that kept him busy at all seasons of the year. His very excellent business habits won for him many friends, and through their solicitations he enlarged his business by manufacturing all kinds of furniture. He put up a building on the corner of Eighth Street and Broadway, where he carried on his manufacturing from 1836 till 1859, a period of twenty-three years. His business required four large buildings and a force of skilful workmen, never less than twenty, frequently fifty. He used the most approved machinery and paid excellent wages.
His manufactory presented, perhaps, what was never seen in this country before or since. His workmen represented almost all the leading races. There were Negroes, Americans, Irishmen, Scotchmen, Englishmen, Frenchmen, and men of other nationalities. And they didn't bite each other! Their relations were pleasant.
He was burned out three times, but he rebuilt and went ahead. He was doing such an extensive business that some thought it advisable to destroy his buildings. His losses were very heavy, yet he kept right on, and kept up his business for some time; but finally had to yield at the last fire, when he had no insurance.
He invented a machine to turn the rails of a bed, but being a Colored man he could not take out a patent. He, therefore, had one taken out in the name of a white gentleman. "The Boyd bedstead" sold throughout the United States then, and was popular for many years after he quit the business.
He has been engaged in several different businesses since he quit manufacturing, and for the last nine years has been in the employ of the city.
SAMUEL T. WILCOX.
In 1850 Samuel T. Wilcox decided to embark in some business venture in Cincinnati. Accordingly he built a store on the northeast corner of Broadway and Fifth streets. He at once occupied it as a grocer. In those days fancy groceries were not kept. But Mr. Wilcox opened a new era in the business. He introduced fancy articles, such as all varieties of canned fruit, choice liquors, cigars, first quality of hams, all kinds of dried fruit, the best brands of sugars, molasses, and fine soaps. He made a specialty of these, and succeeded admirably.
His trade was divided between two classes—the finest river packets and the best families of the city. His customers were the very best families—people of wealth and high standing. And perhaps no grocer of his times in Cincinnati did so large a business as Samuel T. Wilcox.
His business increased rapidly until he did about $140,000 of trade per year! This continued for six years, when his social habits were not favorable to permanent success. He had been sole owner of the business up to this time. He sold out one half of the store to Charles Roxboro, Sr.; thus the firm name became "Wilcox & Roxboro." The latter gentleman was energetic and business-like in his habits. He cast his courage and marvellous tact against the high tide of business disaster that came sweeping along in the last days of the firm. He resorted to every honorable and safe expedient in order to avert failure. But the handwriting was upon the wall. He failed. Wilcox had begun business with $25,000 cash. He had accumulated $60,000 in real estate, and had transacted $140,000 of business in a single year! He failed because his life was immoral, his habits extravagant, and his attention to business indifferent.
ALEX. S. THOMAS.
This gentleman came to Cincinnati in 1852, where he made the acquaintance of a Colored gentleman of intelligence, J. P. Ball, who was in the daguerrian business at Nos. 28 and 30 West Fourth Street. Mr. Thomas became affianced to Miss Elizabeth Ball, sister of J. P. Ball; and after they were married, Mr. Thomas accepted the position of reception clerk for his brother-in-law. He filled this position with credit and honor for the space of one year. It was now 1853. Daguerrotypes were all the "rage." Photography was unknown. Mr. Ball had an excellent run of custom, and was making money rapidly.
As operator, Mr. Ball soon discovered that Mr. Thomas was a man of quick perception, thorough, and entirely trustworthy. He soon became familiar with the instrument, and in 1854 began to "operate." He continued at the instrument during the remainder of the time he spent at 28 West Fourth Street. He shortly acquired the skill of an old and well-trained operator; and his success in this department of the business added greatly to the already well-established reputation of the gallery.
Mr. Thomas was not satisfied with being a successful clerk and first-class operator. He wanted to go into business for himself. Accordingly he opened a gallery at No. 120 West Fourth Street, near the "Commercial," under the firm name of "Ball & Thomas." The rooms were handsomely fitted up, and the building leased for five years.
In May, 1860, a severe tornado passed over the city, destroying much property and several lives. The roof of the Commercial [Potter's Building] was carried away; part passed over the gallery of Ball & Thomas, while part went through the operating room, and some fragments of timber, etc., penetrated a saloon in the rear of the photographic gallery, and killed a child and a woman. The gallery was a complete wreck, the instruments, chemicals, scenery, cases, pictures, carpets, furniture, and every thing else, were ruined. This was in the early days of the firm. All their available capital had been converted into stock, used in fitting up the gallery. Ball & Thomas were young men—they were Colored men, and were financially ruined. Apparently their business was at an end. But they were artists; and many white families in Cincinnati recognized them as such. Their white friends came to the rescue. The gallery was fitted up again most elaborately, and was known as "the finest photographic gallery west of the Alleghany Mountains."
This marked a distinct era in the history of the firm, and many persons often remarked that the luckiest moment in their history was when the roof of the Commercial building sat down upon them. For years the best families of the city patronized the famous firm of Ball & Thomas. They had more business than they could attend to at times, and consequently had to engage extra help. These were years of unprecedented success. One hundred dollars a day was small money then. The firm became quite wealthy. After spending fifteen years at 120 they returned to 30 West Fourth Street, where they remained until May, 1874.
Photographers move considerable, and it is seldom that men in this business remain in one street or building as long as Ball & Thomas. They passed twenty-one of the best years of the firm in Fourth Street. This is both a compliment to the public and themselves. It shows, on the one hand, that Colored men can conduct business like white men, and, on the other hand, if Colored men have ability to carry on any kind of business, white people will patronize them.
The old stand at 30 West Fourth Street was fitted up anew, and business began with all the wonted zeal and desire to please the public which characterized the firm in former years. The rooms were at once elegant and capacious. Their motto was to do the best work at the cheapest rates. But as in all other businesses, so in photographic art, there was competition. And rather than do poor work at the low rates of competitors, they decided to remove to another locality. Accordingly, in May, 1874, they moved into No. 146 West Fifth Street. The building was leased for a term of years. It was in no wise adapted to the photographic business. The walls were cut out, doors made, stairs changed, skylight put in, chemical rooms constructed, gas-fixtures put in, papering, painting, and graining done, carpets and new furniture ordered. It cost the firm more than $2,800 to enter this new stand.
The first year at the new stand was characterized by liberal custom and excellent work. The old customers who were delighted with the work done at 30 West Fourth Street, were convinced that the firm had redoubled its artistic zeal, and was determined to outdo the palmy days of Fourth Street. The business, which at this time was in a flourishing condition, was destined to suffer an interruption in the death of Thomas Carroll Ball, the senior member of the firm. It was at a time when the trade demanded the energies of both gentlemen. But Death never tarries to consider the far-reach of results or the wishes of the friends of his subject. The business continued. Ball Thomas, the son of Mr. A. S. Thomas, who had grown up under the faithful tuition of his father, now became a successful retouching artist. For the last two years Mr. Thomas has conducted the business alone. He is now doing business at 166 West Fifth Street, and it is said that he is doing a good business.
The Colored people of Cincinnati evinced not only an anxiety to take care of themselves, but took steps early toward securing a home for the orphans in their midst.
In ante-bellum days there was no provision made for Colored paupers or Colored orphans. Where individual sympathy or charity did not intervene, they were left to die in the midst of squalid poverty, and were cast into the common ditch, without having medical aid or ministerial consolation. There was not simply studious neglect, but a strong prohibition against their entrance into institutions sustained by the county and State for white persons not more fortunate than they. At one time a good Quaker was superintendent of the county poorhouse. His heart was touched with kindest sympathy for the uncared-for Colored paupers in Cincinnati. He acted the part of a true Samaritan, and gave them separate quarters in the institution of which he was the official head. This fact came to the public ear, and the trustees of the poorhouse, in accordance with their own convictions and in compliance with the complexional prejudices of the community, discharged the Quaker for this breach of the law. The Colored paupers were turned out of this lazar-house on the Sabbath. The time to perpetuate this crime against humanity was indeed significant—on the Lord's day. The God of the poor and His followers beheld the streets of Christian Cincinnati filled with the maimed, halt, sick, and poor, who were denied the common fare accorded the white paupers! There was no sentiment in those days, either in the pulpit or press, to raise its voice against this act of cruelty and shame.
Lydia P. Mott, an eminent member of the Society of Friends and an able leader of a conscientious few, espoused the cause of the motherless, fatherless, and homeless Colored children of this community. She attracted the attention and won the confidence of the few Abolitionists of this city. She determined to establish a home for these little wanderers, and immediately set to work at a plan. The late Salmon P. Chase was then quite young, a man of brilliant abilities and of anti-slavery sentiments. He joined himself to the humane movement of Lydia P. Mott, with the following persons: Christian Donaldson, James Pullan, William Donaldson, Robert Buchanan, John Liverpool, Richard Phillips, John Woodson, Charles Satchell, Wm. W. Watson, William Darnes, Michael Clark, A. M. Sumner, Reuben P. Graham, Louis P. Brux, Sarah B. McLain, Mrs. Eustis, Mrs. Dr. Stanton, Mrs. Hannah Cooper, Mrs. Mary Jane Gordon, Mrs. Susan Miller, Mrs. Rebecca Darnes, Mrs. Charlotte Armstrong, Mrs. Eliza Clark, Mrs. Ruth Ellen Watson, and others. Six of the gentlemen and four of the ladies were white. Only six of this noble company are living at this time.
The organization was effected in 1844, and the act of incorporation was drawn up by Salmon P. Chase. It was chartered in February, 1845, the passage of the act having been assured through the personal influence of Mr. Chase upon the members of the Legislature.
The first Board of Trustees under the charter were William Donaldson, John Woodson, Richard Phillips, Christian Donaldson, Reuben P. Graham, Richard Pullan, Charles Satchell, Louis P. Brux, and John Liverpool. But one is alive—Richard Pullan.
The first building the Trustees secured as an asylum was on Ninth Street, between Plum and Elm. They paid a rental of $12.50 per month. The building was owned by Mr. Nicholas Longworth, but the ground was leased by him from Judge Burnet. The Trustees ultimately purchased the building for $1,500; and in 1851 the ground also was purchased of Mr. Groesbeck for $4,400 in cash.
During the three or four years following, the institution had quite an indifferent career. The money requisite to run it was not forthcoming. The children were poorly fed and clothed, and many times there was no money in the treasury at all. The Trustees were discouraged, and it seemed that the asylum would have to be closed. But just at this time that venerable Abolitionist and underground railroader, Levi Coffin, with his excellent wife, "Aunt Kitty," came to the rescue. He took charge of the institution as superintendent, and his wife assumed the duties of matron. Through their exertions and adroit management they succeeded in enlisting the sympathy of many benevolent folk, and secured the support of many true friends.
It was now 1866. The asylum building presented a forlorn aspect. It was far from being a comfortable shelter for the children. But a lack of funds forbade the Trustees from having it repaired. They began to look about for a more desirable and comfortable building. During the closing year of the Rebellion a large number of freedmen sought the shelter of our large Northern cities. Cincinnati received her share of them, and acted nobly toward them. The government authorities built a hospital for freedmen in a very desirable locality in Avondale. At this time (1866), the building, which was very capacious, was not occupied. The Trustees secured a change in the charter, permitting them, by consent of the subscribers, to sell the Ninth Street property, and purchase the hospital building and the accompanying six acres in Avondale. The Ninth Street property brought $9,000; the purchase in Avondale, refitting, etc., cost $11,000, incurring a debt of $2,000.
During the first twenty-two years of the institution much good was accomplished. Hundreds of children—orphans and friendless children—found shelter in the asylum, which existed only through the almost superhuman efforts of the intelligent Colored persons in the community, and the unstinted charity of many generous white persons. The asylum has been pervaded with a healthy religious atmosphere; and many of its inmates have gone forth to the world giving large promise of usefulness. An occasional letter from former inmates often proves that much good has been done; and that some of these children, without the kindly influence and care of the asylum, instead of occupying places of usefulness and trust in society, might have drifted into vagrancy and crime.
Amidst the struggle for temporal welfare, the Colored people of Cincinnati were not unmindful of the interests and destinies of the Union. A military company was formed, bearing the name of Attucks Guards. On the 25th of July, 1855, an association of ladies presented a flag to the company. The address, on the part of the ladies, was delivered by Miss Mary A. Darnes. Among many excellent things, she said:
"Should the love of liberty and your country ever demand your services, may you, in imitation of that noble patriot whose name you bear, promptly respond to the call, and fight to the last for the great and noble principles of liberty and justice, to the glory of your fathers and the land of your birth.
"The time is not far distant when the slave must be free; if not by moral and intellectual means, it must be done by the sword. Remember, gentlemen, should duty call, it will be yours to obey, and strike to the last for freedom or the grave.
"But God forbid that you should be called upon to witness our peaceful homes involved in war. May our eyes never behold this flag in any conflict; let the quiet breeze ever play among its folds, and the fullest peace dwell among you!"
While the great majority of the Colored people in the country were bowing themselves cheerfully to the dreadful task of living among wolves, some of the race were willing to brave the perils of the sea, and find a new home on the West Coast of Africa. Between the years of 1850-1856, 9,502 Negroes went to Liberia, of whom 3,676 had been born free. In 1850, there were 1,467 manumitted, while 1,011 ran away from their masters.
Notwithstanding the many disadvantages under which the free Negroes of the North had to labor, they accomplished a great deal. In an incredibly short time they built schools, planted churches, established newspapers; had their representatives in law, medicine, and theology before the world as the marvel of the centuries. Shut out from every influence calculated to incite them to a higher life, and provoke them to better works, nevertheless, the Colored people were enabled to live down much prejudice, and gained the support and sympathy of noble men and women of the Anglo-Saxon race.