Biddy, Mary, Anne, Dick, Charity, Terry, Poll, Videlia, Nace, Bob, Sictory, Theresa Charity, Violetta, Monica, Henny, Millie, Pat, Nace, Young Moll, Old Moll, Rachel, Jerry, Sue, Hagoe, George, Head, Peter, Anne, Daniel, Peggy, Jane.
The question of whether my ancestors enslaved people was never really something I considered. My Kentucky ancestors were poor, country farmers, hardly situated to enslave anyone. That was done by wealthy plantation owners, people with money, and my ancestors were neither. I guess in the back of my mind, I knew it could be possible that some of my long ago ancestors, who had been in the mid-Atlantic states since the mid-1600s, had enslaved a person or two, but while tracing my genealogy, it wasn't anything I investigated. I had researched my family for years and had never seen anything that indicated that they were enslavers.
But then again, I had never really looked. I hadn't really thought about it. I would pour over censuses and wills and find the names of my great-great-grandparents and their parents and children and brothers and sisters, but unless the names were directly connected by blood to me, I skipped right over them.
So when the question arose whether any of us knew if our ancestors enslavers or not, I didn't raise my hand. I suspected it could have been possible, but I didn't know for sure, so I didn't answer. Now I do.
Biddy, Mary, Anne, Dick, Charity, Terry, Poll, Videlia, Nace, Bob, Sictory, Theresa Charity, Violetta, Monica, Henny, Millie, Pat, Nace, Young Moll, Old Moll, Rachel, Jerry, Sue, Hagoe, George, Head, Peter, Anne, Daniel, Peggy, Jane.
In the days after the cookout, I logged into my Ancestry account and looked at the censuses again. At first, I didn't find any evidence of slavery in my family, and I was relieved. Then I saw one ancestor enslaved one person; another enslaved two. And I knew it was just a matter of time until I found more.
I googled one of my fifth-great grandfather's names, and a link popped up to a website of the early colonial settlers of Maryland and Virginia. I clicked on it, and it led me to his will. The date was 1812. I read it.
He left Biddy to his daughter in Kentucky. They were both already here, but in addition, he willed half of her "issue" to his granddaughter and the other half to his son-in-law. I had to read that twice and then again and again. He gave her children away before they were even born??? Mary went to his other daughter and Anne to his wife. Charity and Dick, however, were to be sold, and some of the money from their sale went to another daughter and the rest to pay debts. I had seen parts of Henry's will before, but I had never read it beyond where it listed his children, and now I was horrified. I thought of the small community of enslaved people on Henry's farm, and I thought how their lives would be upended, and everything they knew would be wiped away. And what in the world happened to poor Charity and Dick?
With the same website, I was able to read the transcribed wills of a number of my ancestors, and many of them enslaved people. Name after name. Some with ages, some with monetary values, "girl," "boy," "woman," "man."
And there was this:
“Item I give and bequeath one Negro man called Peter and one called Anne to my son JOHN and the first child she bares to my beloved daughter, Mary.”
"My beloved daughter..." What if Anne's first child was a beloved daughter too?
What trauma, just from everyday living. What utter lack of agency. How did people live like this? How had none of this ever occurred to me before?
Since finding the first names until now, I have been on a mission to find all of the names of the people my ancestors enslaved. I know there are more. I cannot let them be lost to history. I'd like to find their descendants and see what happened to them. To say, "I'm sorry." Until then, I will make sure they are not forgotten. Say their names with me...
Biddy, Mary, Anne, Dick, Charity, Terry, Poll, Videlia, Nace, Bob, Sictory, Theresa Charity, Violetta, Monica, Henny, Millie, Pat, Nace, Young Moll, Old Moll, Rachel, Jerry, Sue, Hagoe, George, Head, Peter, Anne, Daniel, Peggy, Jane.
note: edited January 2023 to update language to enslaved and enslavers.
