1535 words.

STORY 3 – JASPER THOMPSON’S EARLIEST ANCESTORS

Video link within the longer video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LJpJeIwFMw#t=6m22s

FLICKR 41 images
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimsurkamp/albums/72157686989491454

https://web.archive.org/web/20190612203644/https://civilwarscholars.com/2017/09/chapter-3-jasper-thompsons-earliest-ancestors-by-jim-surkamp/

With support from American Public University System (apus.edu). The sentiments expressed do not in any way reflect modern-day policies of APUS, and are intended to encourage fact-based exchange for a better understanding of our nation’s foundational values.

Jasper Thompson’s Destiny Day September 6, 1906 by Monique Crippen-Hopkins and Jim Surkamp TRT: 2:53:14 (in 25 chapters)
Video link: https://youtu.be/4LJpJeIwFMw

BEGIN CHAPTER 3 of 25 CHAPTERS – JASPER THOMPSON’S EARLIEST ANCESTORS

Jasper’s father, Solomon was but an infant in 1810. But there was also Fortune, Jasper’s grandfather, who was the gardener on the farm. There was Haney Richardson who with Fortune had and raised eight children along with Solomon.

Prospect Hill also benefitted from the contributions of Haney Richardson-Thompson’s parents at that same time – Boson (or “Boatswain”) and Hannah Richardson.((great-grandmother of Jasper Thompson)

And Haney Richardson’s grandparents – Furrow Sr. and Penny Richardson – were there at Prospect Hill too in 1810. These Thompsons likely worked at Prospect Hill first.

Jasper Thompson’s paternal, great grandfather and Solomon Thompsons grandfather worked at nearby Bullskin Farm, first developed by George Washington. His name also was Jasper Thompson. His wife’s identity is unknown.

Jasper Thompson the elder was working for John and Elizabeth Ariss, he a famed architect, who rented since 1786 from George Washington his Bullskin plantation, where they built a fine home, and also with the help of Jasper farmed another 700 acre parcel also rented from George.

Descendants of Jasper Thompson the elder were still enslaved by law because even though he was emancipated in 1813 by Elizabeth Ariss, the mother of his children, had not been. Her increase by the law then, remained enslaved.

Jasper Thompson – emancipated by name May 24, 1813 – “and all his increase,” but descendants Fortune and Solomon and the family were enslaved again.
Tradition followed in Virginia at that time that the increase would assume the status of the mother, not the father.

The wife of this earlier Jasper Thompsons is not known to Monique Crippen-Hopkins or the family, and this woman could have remained enslaved.

References:

1. Monique Crippen Hopkins genealogybreakingdownthewalls.blogspot.com 13 December 2013 Web. 20 January 2017.

2. Solomon Thompson, Jr. Thompson Collection
University of Kansas Libraries
Thompson Family Collection, Kansas Collection, RH MS 510, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries
etext.ku.edu 12 January 2010 Web. 20 December 2016.

3. email November 1, 2016 – to Jim Surkamp from John C. Allen, architectural historian, author of “Uncommon Vernacular” :

Ariss moves to Fauquier County in around 1765. Around 1768 he moves to Frederick (soon to be Berkeley).

Here’s where Ariss was living before moving to Rock Hall:
1772 Court order for Warner Washington and others to
inspect “road from flat rock by Mr. Thurston’s by
the head of Kate’s spring, into the road leading to the
bloomery below Mr. Ariss’s…” ((Is this Prospect
Hill?))

This is the Rock Hall lease. The portion of the farm that is where the stone building and house ruins are.

1786 March 13 – GW executes lease for 700 acres “on the
waters of the Bullskin” to “last for the lives of John
Airess and his present wife Elisabeth Ariss for L 60
per year.”

Standard lease printed format except that GW adds in
hand “withon 5 years of this indenture will Build if it’s
not already done a good Dwelling House at least
thirty by forty feet with brick or stone chimneys…”
GW’s other Bullskin leases were required to build
houses of 16 x 16 feet

Battaile Muse account book Jan 17 1786

Ariss must have built a fine house on GW’s land as the tax assessment in the Special House tax of 1798 states:
1798 1798 House Tax – John Ariss listed as a tenant of Gen.
George Washington in a house valued at $1,050, a
high value for the area. Harewood valued at $1,250

1798 1798 Slave Tax – John Ariss listed as overseer for
Thornton Washington Heirs

End of email from John C. Allen

4. Jefferson County, Wv Clerk:

Plat of the partition and division of lands of Hannah Washington, deceased, showing the redivision of Parcel #2 containting respectively 892 acres and 942 acres. Jefferson County Clerk, Deed Room, Charles Town, WV.
documents.jeffersoncountywv.org 10 October 2014 Web. 20 October 2016.

Plat number 28 Deed Book 11, Page 30 August 13, 1818
Plat of the partition and division of the lands of Richard H. L. Washington, Lot #1, 324 acres, conveyed to Bushrod Washington; Lot #2, 286 acres, conveyed to Herbert, and, Lot #3, 274 acres, conveyed to John A. Washington.
Jefferson County Clerk, Deed Room, Charles Town, WV.
documents.jeffersoncountywv.org 10 October 2014 Web. 20 October 2016.

Freedom Deed May 24, 1813 Deed Book 7, Page 484 Elizabeth Ariss
Jefferson County Clerk, Deed Room, Charles Town, WV.
documents.jeffersoncountywv.org 10 October 2014 Web. 20 October 2016.

Image Credits:

BEGIN CHAPTER 3 – JASPER’S THOMPSON’s EARLIEST ANCESTORS

1. Image Credits 3: FINAL
2. Jasper Thompson’s Earliest Ancestors FINAL
3. Banjo by Shana Aisenberg FINAL

4. From-genealogybreakingdownthewalls.blogspot.com Montage FINAL

CREDIT:

Monique Crippen Hopkins genealogybreakingdownthewalls.blogspot.com 13 December 2013 Web. 20 January 2017

5. Jasper’s father, Solomon was but an infant in 1810. But FINAL

CREDIT:

“Babywearing”…The African Trend That Made The Runways
anethnicnurse.com 15 September 2015 Web. 20 December 2016.

6. there was also Fortune, Jasper’s grandfather, FINAL

6.1 TITLE Hannah B. Washington division of estates FINAL

CREDIT:

Hannah B. Washington – division of estates – Deed Book 5 Page 353 – February 13, 1810 – Jefferson County Clerk.

7. who was the gardener on the farm – Fortune – Jasper’s gfather semblance only. FINAL

7.1 who was the gardener on the farm – Fortune – Jasper’s gfather semblance only. (Credit) FINAL

CREDIT:

Washington at Mount Vernon, 1797, Nathaniel Currier, 1852
Courtesy of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association
nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/fireandfreedom/exhibition2 5 January 2017 Web 20 January 2017

8. There was Haney Richardson (Credit) FINAL

CREDIT:

Solomon Thompson, Jr. Thompson Collection
University of Kansas Libraries
Thompson Family Collection, Kansas Collection, RH MS 510, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries
etext.ku.edu 12 January 2010 Web. 20 December 2016.

9. who with Fortune had and raised eight children along with Solomon. (Haney Richardson semblance) FINAL

CREDIT:

David Hunter Strother
“Betsey Sweet” April 11, 1856
images.lib.wvu.edu 22 September 2004 Web. 10 February 2017.

10. Prospect Hill also benefitted from the contributions of Haney Richardson-Thompson’s (farm scene most image) FINAL

10.1 Prospect Hill also benefitted from the contributions of Haney Richardson-Thompson’s (farm scene-Credit) FINAL

CREDIT:

Junius Stearns Washington as a Farmer at Mount Vernon
the-athenaeum.org 23 May 2002 Web. 20 December 2016.

11. parents at that same time – (Thompson Family Tree underlined) FINAL

CREDIT:

Solomon Thompson, Jr. Thompson Collection
University of Kansas Libraries
Thompson Family Collection, Kansas Collection, RH MS 510, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries
etext.ku.edu 12 January 2010 Web. 20 December 2016.

12. Boson (or “Boatswain”) (detail Tanner painting) FINAL

12.1 Boson (or “Boatswain”) (full Tanner painting) FINAL

CREDIT:

Henry Ossawa Tanner
The Banjo Lesson
the-athenaeum.org 23 May 2002 Web. 20 December 2016.

13. and Hannah Richardson.(great-grandmother of Jasper Thompson) FINAL

13.1 and Hannah Richardson.(entire John Rose painting) FINAL

CREDIT:

Miss Breme Jones
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum,
Colonial Williamsburg 22 February 1997 Web. 20 January 2017

14. Music by Shana Aisenberg FINAL

15. And Haney Richardson’s grandparents (Montage family records) FINAL

16. Furrow Sr. and Penny Richardson – were there at Prospect Hill too in 1810.(Credits) FINAL

CREDIT:

Jefferson County Clerk;
Solomon Thompson, Jr. – Thompson Collection – University of Kansas Libraries

17. Furrow Sr. and Penny Richardson were there at Prospect Hill too in 1810.(Mount detail) FINAL

17.1 Furrow Sr. and Penny Richardson were there at Prospect Hill too in 1810.(Mount entire painting) FINAL

CREDIT:

William Sidney Mount
The Power of Music
the-athenaeum.org 23 May 2002 Web. 20 December 2016.

18. Furrow Sr. and Penny Richardson were there at Prospect Hill too in 1810. (Crowe painting Credit) FINAL

18.1 Furrow Sr. and Penny Richardson were there at Prospect Hill too in 1810. (Penny Furrow Jasper’s great great grandmother) (detail from above Crowe painting) FINAL

CREDIT:

Enslaved Waiting for Sale by Eyre Crowe
blog.encyclopediavirginia.org 30 March 2008 Web. 20 January 2017.

19. These Thompsons likely worked at Prospect Hill first. (plat) FINAL

CREDIT:

Deed Book 11, Page 30, Aug. 13, 1818, Jefferson County Clerk

20. but for Jasper Thompson’s great grandfather, father of Fortune and (Darley surveying) FINAL

20.1 but for Jasper Thompson’s great grandfather, father of Fortune and (African-American man in painting) FINAL

CREDIT:

Barbara Lombardi
A drawing of Washington as a young surveyor. history.org 22 February 1997 Web. 20 January 2017

GEORGE WASHINGTON (1732-1799). First President of the United States. Young George Washington as a surveyor on the American frontier. Steel engraving, 19th century, after Felix O.C. Darley. by Granger

21. grandfather of Solomon Sr. – who lived at another nearby Washington home, FINAL

CREDIT

Image of Solomon Thompson Sr – Monique Crippen-Hopkins

22. TITLE: Jasper Thompson’s paternal, great grandfather and Solomon Thompson’s grandfather worked at nearby Bullskin Farm, first developed by George Washington. His name also was Jasper Thompson. His wife’s identity is unknown.

23. bought and developed by George Washington since the early 1750s. (Bullskin Farm) FINAL

CREDIT:
Jim Surkamp

24. Jasper’s great grandfather was also “Jasper Thompson” (Rubens) FINAL

24.1 Jasper’s great grandfather was also “Jasper Thompson” (entire painting Rubens) FINAL

CREDIT:

Four Studies of the Head of a Negro
Peter Paul Rubens – Date unknown
the-athenaeum.org 23 May 2002 Web. 20 December 2016.

25. TITLE: Jasper Thompson the elder was working for John and Elizabeth Ariss, he a famed architect, who rented since 1786 from George Washington his Bullskin plantation, where they built a fine home, and also with the help of Jasper farmed another 700 acre parcel also rented from George. FINAL

26. (Correct “Ariss”) FINAL

26.1 Solomon Thompson Jr. Paper regarding Jasper Thompson the elder FINAL

CREDIT:
Solomon Thompson, Jr. – Thompson Collection – University of Kansas Libraries

27. TITLE Descendants of Jasper Thompson the elder were still enslaved by law because even though he was emancipated in 1813 by Elizabeth Ariss, the mother of his children, had not been. Her increase by the law then, remained enslaved. FINAL

28. Jasper Thompson – emancipated by name May 24, 1813 – “and all his increase,” FINAL

CREDIT:
Freedom Deed May 24, 1813 Deed Book 7, Page 484 Elizabeth Ariss- Jefferson County Clerk

29. babe again FINAL
The wife of this earlier Jasper Thompsons is not known to Monique Crippen-Hopkins or the family, and this woman could have remained enslaved.

CREDIT:

“Babywearing”…The African Trend That Made The Runways
anethnicnurse.com 15 September 2015 Web. 20 December 2016.

Chapter 4 Click Here https://civilwarscholars.com/uncategorized/chapter-4-3-washington-households-in-jefferson-county-1820-forward-by-jim-surkamp/

637 words.

STORY 4 – 3 WASHINGTON FAMILIES HERE – 1820 (begins at 8:53 within the longer video shown below) Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LJpJeIwFMw#t=8m53s

FLICKR 14 images
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimsurkamp/albums/72157686989250464

https://web.archive.org/web/20190612214310/https://civilwarscholars.com/2017/09/chapter-4-3-washington-households-in-jefferson-county-1820-forward-by-jim-surkamp/

With support from American Public University System (apus.edu). The sentiments expressed do not in any way reflect modern-day policies of APUS, and are intended to encourage fact-based exchange for a better understanding of our nation’s foundational values.

Jasper Thompson’s Destiny Day September 6, 1906 by Monique Crippen-Hopkins and Jim Surkamp TRT: 2:53:14 (in 25 chapters) Video link: https://youtu.be/4LJpJeIwFMw

BEGIN CHAPTER 4 OF THE 25 CHAPTERS OR STORIES WITHIN THE ABOVE, LONGER VIDEO – THREE WASHINGTON HOUSEHOLDS

Many of the Thompsons worked first at Prospect Hill. But when young Richard Henry Lee Washington, the owner of the 885 acre parcel, with its little main house, died a young bachelor, the 885 acres was divided three ways.

His property was divided among his sister and two brothers. But we do have a little, printed invitation to one of the Fairfaxes to come to a party at Prospect Hill. It was a dancing party and it was called for twelve noon and since the house was diminutive, they must have danced outdoors on the lawn. – John A. Washington

It appears that, with the division of the remaining Prospect Hill, Solomon Thompson, who was about eight years old then, became a part of John A. & Jane Charlotte Washington’s household and farm at Blakeley.

References:

Monique Crippen-Hopkins My Journey: Breaking down the walls
genealogybreakingdownthewalls.blogspot.com 13 December 2013 Web. 20 January 2017.

Galtcho Geertsema – surveyor and compiler of near complete records of land transactions in the eastern Panhandle prior to 1800.

The Washingtons of Jefferson County
By John Augustine Washington, Family Historian, Interview August 3, 2001. (John Washington died in 2020)
justjefferson.com 21 March 2004 Web. 20 January 2017

Wayland, John W. (1944). “The Washingtons and their Homes.” McClure Printing Company: Staunton, VA. hathitrust.org 26 August 2015 Web. 20 September 2016. p. 226.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89062493457;view=1up;seq=250226

Image Credits:

1. Image Credits 4 FINAL
2. 3 Washington Households in Jefferson County 1820 Forward FINAL
3. Forked Deer on Mandolin by Shana Aisenberg FINAL

4. 

5. Family Historian John A. Washington

CREDIT:
Jim Surkamp

6. 

7. Richard Henry Lee Washington (semblance only)

CREDIT:

Full Dress of a Gentleman, 1810. @Costume Institute of Fashion Plates, Met Museum
janeaustensworld.wordpress.com 7 September 2007 Web. 20 December 2016.
home page.

8. John A. Washington and plat of Richard Henry Lee Washington’s lands

CREDIT:
Jim Surkamp

Plat number 28 Deed Book 11, Page 30 August 13, 1818
Plat of the partition and division of the lands of Richard H. L. Washington, Lot #1, 324 acres, conveyed to Bushrod Washington; Lot #2, 286 acres, conveyed to Herbert, and, Lot #3, 274 acres, conveyed to John A. Washington.
Jefferson County Clerk, Deed Room, Charles Town, WV.
documents.jeffersoncountywv.org 10 October 2014 Web. 20 October 2016.

9. It was a dancing party and it was called for twelve noon and since the house was diminutive, they must have danced outdoors on the lawn. – John A. Washington

CREDIT:

quadrille_Prospect Hill
Members of the “Ton” dancing the Quadrille at Almack’s including, second from left, Sarah Villiers, Lady Jersey (1813)
Jane Austen Society of North America
jasna.org 11 November 1998 Web. 20 December 2016.

10. 

11.

CREDIT

Monique Crippen-Hopkins

12. The Thompsons & The Washingtons Montage FINAL

CREDIT:

Wayland, John W. (1944). “The Washingtons and their Homes.” McClure Printing Company: Staunton, VA. hathitrust.org 26 August 2015 Web. 20 September 2016. p. 226.

13. Blakeley Farm parcels

CREDIT:

Galtcho Geertsema

14. Farming at Blakeley

CREDIT:

Life of George Washington by Junius Stearns loc.gov 16 June 1997 Web. 20 September 2016.

Chapter 5 Click Here https://civilwarscholars.com/uncategorized/chapter-5-who-all-owned-mount-vernon-the-adults-by-jim-surkamp/

610 words.

STORY OR CHAPTER 5 – “WHO ALL” OWNED MOUNT VERNON? (VIDEO BEGINS AT 10:22 IN THE MUCH LONGER VIDEO SHOWN BELOW)
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LJpJeIwFMw#t=10m22s

FLICKR 18 images
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimsurkamp/albums/72157689467002275

https://web.archive.org/web/20190612210935/https://civilwarscholars.com/2017/09/chapter-5-who-all-owned-mt-vernon-the-adults-by-jim-surkamp/

With support from American Public University System (apus.edu). The sentiments expressed do not in any way reflect modern-day policies of APUS, and are intended to encourage fact-based exchange for a better understanding of our nation’s foundational values.

BEGIN CHAPTER 5 (OF 25 CHAPTERS OR STORIES) – WHO ALL OWNED MT. VERNON

Six adult family members owned Mount Vernon after Lawrence Washington.

One or all of these last three also lived from about 1820 through the mid 1850s at Blakeley in Jefferson County.

After the death in 1752 of its owner, Lawrence Washington 7:43 The Mount Vernon mansion had six adult owners up to its sale in 1858:
Anne Washington (1728-1761)
George Washington owned it from 1761 to 1799
Mount Vernon’s last 3 owners . . .
Made Blakeley their “personal” home
John Augustine Washington II owned 1829-1832
Jane Charlotte Washington 9:22 Owned until 1855
Jane Charlotte’s son John owned till 1858.

References:

The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association
mountvernon.org 11 November 1996 Web. 20 October 2016.

Image Credits: (includes images in sequence from the video)

1. Image Credits 5: FINAL
2. Who All Owned Mt. Vernon (the adults) FINAL
3. Shana Aisenberg on Mandolin Playing “Lorena” FINAL

4.

CREDIT:

The East Front of Mount Vernon attributed to Edward Savage (American, 1761 – 1817), c. 1787-1792, oil on canvas, H-2445/A, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, Bequest of Helen W. Thompson.
the-athenaeum.org 23 May 2002 Web. 20 October 2016.

5.

CREDIT:

Lawrence Washington – (Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association)
It is possible the portrait was painted by Gustavus Hesselius, an itinerant painter working out of Annapolis, Maryland.
mountvernon.org 11 November 1996 Web. 1 October 2016.

6.

CREDIT:

Anne Fairfax Washington Lee (widow of Lawrence) (1728-1761)
Anne Fairfax as a Shepherdess by Philippe Mercier. Date painted- c.1750 Oil on canvas, 124 x 100 cm Collection: Fairfax House No. 27, Castlegate, York, England
geni.com 30 November 2013 Web. 1 October 2016. Managed by: Holly Dianne Faulkner.

7.

7.1

CREDIT:

Washington and Lafayette at Mount Vernon, 1784 (also known as The Home of Washington after the War)- Louis Remy Mignot – 1859. Owner/Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art – New York, NY (United States – New York) Dates: 1859. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Washington_and_Lafayette_at_Mount_Vernon,_1784_by_Rossiter_and_Mignot,_1859.jpg

8.

8.1

CREDIT:

The official portrait of Supreme Court Justice Bushrod Washington(1762-1829)
wikipedia.org 27 July 2001 Web. 1 October 2016.

9.

9.1

CREDIT:

Google Maps

Wayland, John W. (1944). “The Washingtons and their Homes.” McClure Printing Company: Staunton, VA.
babel.hathitrust.org 26 August 2015 Web. 20 September 2016.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89062493457;view=1up;seq=136;size=75

10.

CREDIT:

1335 Studio of John Miers – Unknown man – Silhouette painted on plaster – Early 1800s
Trade Label No. 11 – Painted by John Field. The plaster slab has been cut to fit the frame, which is not original.
profilesofthepast.org.uk 22 August 2013 Web. 20 December 2016.

11.

CREDIT:

Kitchen at Mount Vernon – Eastman Johnson – 1857 mountvernon.org Gift of Annie Burr Jennings, Vice Regent for Connecticut, 1937 Conservation courtesy of Mike and Patti Sipple

https://emuseum.mountvernon.org/objects/6118/kitchen-at-mount-vernon;jsessionid=3193DDA4257AB4F043CEF6B8341FF049

12.

12.1

CREDIT:

Jane Charlotte Washington – Jefferson County Historical Society Magazine – 2007

Image of page 1 of Jane Charlotte’s Washington’s Will
JCBW Will Book 14 Page 341 9/17/1855
wvgeohistory.org 5 October 2010 Web. 1 October 2016.

13.

CREDIT:

Eastman Johnson, The Old Mount Vernon, 1857, oil on board, M-4863, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, Purchased with funds courtesy of an anonymous donor and the Mount Vernon Licensing Fund, 2009

https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/humboldt/online/eastman-johnson-mount-vernon

14.

CREDIT:

John Augustine Washington III (1821-1861)- Mount Vernon Ladies Association
mountvernon.org 11 November 1996 Web. 20 October 2016.

15.

CREDIT:

Early view of Mansion ca. 1858 – N. S. Bennett
mountvernon.org 11 November 1996 Web. 20 October 2016.

Chapter or Story 6 Click Here https://civilwarscholars.com/uncategorized/chapter-6-blakeley-claymont-by-jim-surkamp/

1345 words.

CHAPTER OR STORY 6 (OF 25 CHAPTERS IN THE LONGER VIDEO SHOWN BELOW) – BLAKELEY & CLAYMONT, BEGINNING AT ABOUT 13:18
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LJpJeIwFMw#t=13m18s

FLICKR 42 images
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimsurkamp/albums/72157686988987354

https://web.archive.org/web/20190612204456/https://civilwarscholars.com/2017/09/chapter-6-blakeley-claymont-by-jim-surkamp/

With support from American Public University System (apus.edu). The sentiments expressed do not in any way reflect modern-day policies of APUS, and are intended to encourage fact-based exchange for a better understanding of our nation’s foundational values.

BEGIN CHAPTER 6 of 25 CHAPTERS OR STORIES IN THE ABOVE, LONGER VIDEO – BLAKELEY & CLAYMONT

When Richard died unmarried in 1817, his acres went one-third to Blakeley (the second John A. Washington),

one third to Claymont (Bushrod Corbin Washington),

and one-third to his sister, Mary Lee Washington, who was the wife of a lawyer named Noblet Herbert.

Perhaps with this transfer of 274 acres of Richard Washington’s going to Blakeley some of the Thompsons of Prospect Hill also went over to help at this newly-minted 892-acre farm site of the future inheritors of Mt Vernon, John Augustine Washington II and his remarkable wife, Jane Charlotte Blackburn Washington. Buildings needed building and the womb of Mrs Washington was a busy place.

Jasper’s dad, Solomon, went to Blakeley where for the next fifty years he helped the homesteads prosper at Blakeley. Prospect Hill and Claymont.

Claymont, the massive home, built by the brother of John Augustine, Bushrod Corbin Washington faced Blakeley a short distance from across the Bullskin Run.

Bushrod conveniently had married his beloved Anna Maria Tomasina Blackburn Washington, Jane Charlotte’s sister.

The heart of an affectionate husband pays to her this tribute, that in all relations of her life her conduct was exemplary, and her character lovely and attractive. Her spirit by nature was amiable, ardent yet gentle. By the grace of her Redeemer.

SOLOMON WORKED CLAYMONT & BLAKELEY FARMS, BUT STILL HAD “PEOPLE” AT PROSPECT HILL

Two of Solomon’s siblings, Matilda and Richard, kept up residence at Prospect Hill until they died many years later, sharing the residence and work load from before, during and after the Civil War with the final Washington family owner Bushrod Washington Herbert, a peaceable insurance man who left the smallish main house, barn, a small graveyard and outbuildings of Prospect Hill to Matilda Thompson, provided she didn’t marry.

References:

Monique Crippen-Hopkins – “My Journey Breaking down the Walls.” genealogybreakingdownthewalls.blogspot.com 12 December 2013 Web. 20 January 2017.

Galtcho Geertsema – surveyor who ammassed all plats of Washington family property transactions through time in the eastern Panhandle and a complete re-transcription of all early deed transactions up to 1800.

Jane Charlotte Blackburn Washington
Birth: Aug. 23, 1786
Prince William County
Virginia, USA
Death: Sep. 6, 1855
Mount Vernon
Fairfax County
Virginia, USA
wife of John Augustine Washington

Family links:
Spouse:
John Augustine Washington (1789 – 1832)*

Children:
Anna Maria Thomasina Blackburn Washington Alexander (1817 – 1850)*
George Washington (1818 – 1827)*
Christian Scott Washington (1820 – 1820)*
John Augustine Washington (1820 – 1861)*
John Augustine Washington (1821 – 1861)*
Richard Scott Blackburn Washington (1822 – 1910)*
findagrave.com 5 December 1998 Web. 20 January 2017.

Beeline chapter NSDAR. (1981). “Tombstone Inscriptions Jefferson County 1687-1980.” p. 379
Charles Town, Wv: HBP, Inc. p. 379.

Wayland, John W. (1944). “The Washingtons and their Homes.” McClure Printing Company: Staunton, VA. hathitrust.org 26 August 2015 Web. 20 September 2016. p. 226.

Image Credits:

1. Image Credits 6: FINAL
2. Blakeley & Claymont FINAL
3. Music by Cam Millar FINAL

4. When Richard died unmarried in 1817, his acres went one-third to Blakeley FINAL
CREDIT: Google Maps

5. (the home of the second John A. Washington),

5.1 (the home of the second John A. Washington) (close-up), FINAL

5.2 (the home of the second John A. Washington), (overall & Wayland image) FINAL

CREDIT: Galtcho Geertsema

6. one third to Claymont (Bushrod Corbin Washington’s) FINAL

CREDIT: ‘Claymont Court’, Jefferson County, W. Va.
Date: 1936. wvhistoryonview.org 9 October 2010 Web. 20 June 2016.

7. one third to Claymont (Bushrod Corbin Washington’s)(plat) FINAL

7.1 one third to Claymont (Bushrod Corbin Washington’s)(plat Claymont only) FINAL

CREDIT: Galtcho Geertsema

8. 

9. 

9.1 But building Blakeley and making its lands and household productive for John and Jane Washington – who would own Mt. Vernon in about ten years – was primary. (Solomon, wheat field)

9.2

CREDIT: Solomon Thompson, courtesy Monique Crippen Hopkins; Cutting hay with a scythe THE IOWA AGRICULTURIST
For the Farm, Garden & Household iowahist.uni.edu start date unavailable Web. 20 January 2017.

10. Buildings needed building (cutting timber) FINAL

CREDIT: Crayon, Porte (Strother, D. H.). “The Mountains – Pt. VII.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Volume 46, Issue: 275, April, 1873, Cornell Digital Library – The Making of America. 19 July 2011. Web. 29 January 2014. p. 680 – Delusive Industry

11. and the womb of Mrs. Washington was a busy place (Jane Charlotte)

11.1 and the womb of Mrs. Washington was a busy place (Jane Charlotte & children 1)

11.2

CREDIT: (Anna Maria born 1817 – George 1818 – Christian 1820 – Augustine 1821 – Richard 1822) – Jane Charlotte Washington and her Family – from “Mrs. J.A.W.” courtesy Augustine and Patty Washington by John Gadsby Chapman The George Washington Masonic National Memorial Assoc.)

Jane Charlotte Blackburn Washington
Birth: Aug. 23, 1786
Prince William County
Virginia, USA
Death: Sep. 6, 1855
Mount Vernon
Fairfax County
Virginia, USA
wife of John Augustine Washington

Family links:
Spouse:
John Augustine Washington (1789 – 1832)*

Children:
Anna Maria Thomasina Blackburn Washington Alexander (1817 – 1850)*
George Washington (1818 – 1827)*
Christian Scott Washington (1820 – 1820)*
John Augustine Washington (1820 – 1861)*
John Augustine Washington (1821 – 1861)*
Richard Scott Blackburn Washington (1822 – 1910)*
findagrave.com 5 December 1998 Web. 20 January 2017.

Beeline chapter NSDAR. (1981). “Tombstone Inscriptions Jefferson County 1687-1980.” p. 279
Charles Town, Wv: HBP, Inc. p. 379.

12.

12.1 Young Solomon, Jasper’s dad, helped the homesteads prosper.(Solomon Thompson’s written name) FINAL

CREDIT: Fresh Eggs by Thomas Waterman Wood the-athenaeum.org 23 May 2002 Web. 20 December 2016.

Appraisement, Inventory Thos B. Washington personal estate, Will Book 14, Page
140. wvgeohistory.org 5 October 2010 Web. 1 October 2016.
– Jefferson County Clerk

13. Banjo by Shana Aisenberg FINAL

14. Young Solomon, Jasper’s dad, helped the homesteads prosper.

CREDIT: Title: Plowing in South Carolina / Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper Oct. 20, 1866 from a sketch by Jas. E. Taylor.
loc.gov 2 March 2000 Web.20 September 2016.

15. Claymont, the massive home, built by the brother of John Augustine

CREDIT: Claymont Court; 4 February 2007 (original upload date)
Author User:Sevenofnine7o9 – commons.wikimedia.org 24 June 2004 Web. 20 January 2017.

16. faced Blakeley across the Bullskin Run

CREDIT: potomacaudubon.org/Cool-Spring-Preserve 11 February 2017 Web. 17 February 2017.

17. 

CREDIT: Tombstone marker of Bushrod Corbin Washington at Zion Episcopal Church, Charles town, WV;

18. 

19. Rodney Jantzi Plays “When Swallows Homeward Fly” on a harmonium FINAL

20. Zion Episcopal Church

20.1 Zion Episcopal Churchyard

CREDIT: zionepiscopal.net 19 July 2008 Web. 20 January 2017.

21. Bushrod had conveniently married

CREDIT: Silhouette of a Southern Gentleman
by Samuel Metford, ca. 1840 williamsamericanart.com 23 February 2001 Web. 10 April 2017.

22. Anna Maria Tomasina Blackburn Washington (1790-1833) (semblance only)

CREDIT: Kennedy, John P. (1856). “Swallow barn; or, A sojourn in the Old Dominion.” revised edition. New York, NY: G. P. Putnam & Sons. Internet Archive. archive.org 26 January 1997 Web. 20 January 2014.
p. 39 – Semblance Anna Maria Tomasina Washington.

23. Her great great great grandmother (Betsy Wells) FINAL

23.1 Her great great great grandmother (Betsy Wells) FINAL

CREDIT: Jim Surkamp

23.2 The face of Anna Maria Tomasina Washington’s tombstone FINAL

24. Transcription from part of Anna Maria Tomasina Washington’s tombstone

25. 

26.

CREDIT: Dinah, Portrait of a Negress Eastman Johnson – circa 1866-1869 Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina, Gift of Kathleen Hammer and Arthur Seelbinder https://courses.bowdoin.edu/there-is-a-woman-in-every-color-2021/patterns-of-visibility/dinah-portrait-of-a-negress/

27.

28.

29. Richard Thompson (1819-1922) Semblance only

CREDIT: Kennedy, John P. (1856). “Swallow barn; or, A sojourn in the Old Dominion.” revised edition. New York, NY: G. P. Putnam & Sons. Internet Archive. archive.org 26 January 1997 Web. 20 January 2014.
p. 448 – Semblance Richard Thompson.

30. TITLE: THE THOMPSONS LIVED FOR MANY YEARS AT PROSPECT HILL WITH BUSHROD WASHINGTON HERBERT, A DESCENDANT OF THE SISTER OF RICHARD HENRY LEE WASHINGTON. FINAL

31. 

CREDIT: signature of Bushrod Washington Herbert, Deed Book 23, P. 419. Aug. 23, 1839 – Jefferson County Clerk.

Chapter or Story 7 Click Here https://civilwarscholars.com/uncategorized/chapter-7-grandmother-jane-by-jim-surkamp/

2688 words.

STORY 8 – THE ENSLAVED PERSON’s BYWORD WAS . . (FREEDOM – “GETTING CLEAR”)
TRT: 23:23 (BEGINS WITHIN THE MUCH LONGER VIDEO SHOWN BELOW)
Video link: https://www.youtube.comwatch?v=4LJpJeIwFMw#t=23m23s

https://web.archive.org/web/20190612210504/https://civilwarscholars.com/2017/09/chapter-8-the-enslaved-persons-byword-by-jim-surkamp/

FLICKR 61 images
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimsurkamp/albums/72157686988512854

With support from American Public University System (apus.edu). The sentiments expressed do not in any way reflect modern-day policies of APUS, and are intended to encourage fact-based exchange for a better understanding of our nation’s foundational values.

BEGIN CHAPTER 8 OR STORY (OUT OF 25) – The Enslaved Person’s Byword by Jim Surkamp.

Owning other human beings for Grandma Jane was distressing.

The Enslaved person’s byword
You COULD escape north and NEVER wanted to be sold south.

Escaping from the enslavers was quite doable in Jefferson County before the Civil War.

You just had to get across at night the Shenandoah River with the help of Goins, a free African American ferry boat man taking people over to the famed Shannondale Springs resort, known as a hotbed of abolitionist leanings.

You started near to the resort at the freed African-American community called Bushy Ridge, then on to Chambersburg Pa. or on to Chatham Ontario – hiding by day and traveling especially on the moonless nights

In fact, in the months after the John Brown Raid in October, 1859, over six hundred enslaved persons DID escape from mostly the southeastern part of the County, according to the U.S Census Slave Schedules reported the following August in 1860. No other County in the area reported any such escapes in that year’s Census form. Even two of John Brown’s raiders, one Osborn Anderson wrote about taking successfully a similar route to Chambersburg.

The raid, one could surmise, panicked the enslavers here and many began hiring off their human property south or selling them South. Breaking up a family at auction, was an intense fear, something Jane Charlotte Washington would not do.

While these Mount Vernon Washingtons never repudiated slavery outright, much to the imagined dismay of their great and far-sighted ancestor, Jane Charlotte Washington and her two sisters regularly freed some people, tried to educate as many as possible and used all their influence and considerable resources to protect and keep families in tact.

References:

Anderson, Osborne. (1861). “A Voice from Harper’s Ferry: A Narrative of Events at Harper’s Ferry; with Incidents Prior and Subsequent to its Capture by Captain Brown and His Men.” Boston MA: self-published. https://archive.org/details/voicefromharpers01ande

Ellen Brooks – Annie Marmion (1959). Under Fire An Experience in the Civil War. edited and compiled by William Vincent Marmion Jr.

“The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom” by Wilbur H. Siebert, The Macmillan Company, 1898. https://archive.org/details/cihm_13617/page/n7/mode/2up

Surkamp, Jim (2011). “POST: Free, Black Families in Jefferson County, Va. Towns” civilwarscholars.com 21 June 2011 Web 10 June 2017.

Surkamp, Jim (2011) “POST: 602 Enslaved Counted in 1860 as “Escaped.” (698 words). civilwarscholars.com 21 June 2011 Web 10 June 2017.

Thompson, Michael D. (1984). ”Calendar and Index to Recorded Survey Plats in Jefferson County, West Virginia (Virginia) Courthouse, 1801-1901.” Charles town, WV: Jefferson County Historical Society. p. 166.

United States. Bureau of the Census; United States. National Archives and Records Service. (1967). Population schedules of the eighth census of the United States, 1860, Virginia [microform] – Volume Reel 1392 – 1860 Virginia Federal Population Census Schedules Slave – Henrico, James City, Jefferson, Kanawha, King George, King and Queen, and King William Counties. Publisher Washington D.C.: Gov’t Printing Office. Jefferson county, Virginia. archive.org 26 January 1997 Web. 20 January 2014. p. 299 http://www.archive.org/stream/populationschedu1392unix#page/n298/mode/1up

Image Credits: (includes images from the video in sequence as they appear in the video)

1. Chapter 8: FINAL
2. The Enslaved Person’s Byword FINAL
3. Harmonica by Dave Hellyer FINAL

CREDIT: Drafting the Letter by Edward Lamson Henry – circa 1871 https://19thcenturyusapaint.blogspot.com/2012/06/edward-lamson-henry-ctd.html

5. Owning other human beings

CREDIT:
Edward Lamson Henry – circa 1871 https://19thcenturyusapaint.blogspot.com/2012/06/edward-lamson-henry-ctd.html

6. for Grandma Jane

CREDIT:
Edward Lamson Henry – circa 1871 https://19thcenturyusapaint.blogspot.com/2012/06/edward-lamson-henry-ctd.html

detail John Gadsby Chapman’s “Mrs. J.A.W.”
National Masonic Memorial

7.

CREDIT:
Edward Lamson Henry – circa 1871 https://19thcenturyusapaint.blogspot.com/2012/06/edward-lamson-henry-ctd.htm

8.

CREDIT: Edward Lamson Henry – circa 1871 https://19thcenturyusapaint.blogspot.com/2012/06/edward-lamson-henry-ctd.htm

9. 

10. 

11. In a field working

CREDIT: detail Washington as a Farmer at Mount Vernon Junius Brutus Stearns – 1851 https://archive.org/details/junius-brutus-stearns-george-washington-as-farmer-at-mount-vernon

12. Nicholas Roper

CREDIT: Nicholas O. Roper – courtesy Shelley Murphy

13. William Dotson

CREDIT: William Dotson – James Taylor and the Taylor Family

14. 

14.1 Ellen Brooks

CREDIT: Ellen Brooks – Marmion, Annie P. (1959). “Under Fire: An Experience in the Civil War.” edited and compiled by William Vincent Marmion, Jr.

15.

CREDIT: Monique Crippen-Hopkins

16.

CREDIT: Mary Goins – courtesy Dr. Shelley Murphy

17.

CREDIT: Sukey Richardson – Middleway Conservancy Association wvgeohistory.org

18. TITLE The enslaved person’s byword was

19. FREEDOM

CREDIT: A Ride for Freedom – The Fugitive Slaves Eastman Johnson – circa 1862 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Ride_for_Liberty_%E2%80%93_The_Fugitive_Slaves

20.

CREDIT: A Ride for Freedom – The Fugitive Slaves Eastman Johnson – circa 1862 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Ride_for_Liberty_%E2%80%93_The_Fugitive_Slaves

21.

CREDIT: A Ride for Freedom – The Fugitive Slaves Eastman Johnson – circa 1862 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Ride_for_Liberty_%E2%80%93_The_Fugitive_Slaves

22. 

22.1

CREDIT: Apple Maps

22.2

CREDIT: Map of Jefferson County, Virginia; Summary: Shows Jefferson County before the formation of West Virginia in 1863. Contributor Name: Brown, S. Howell.
Created / Published: [S.l., s.n.,] 1852. https://www.loc.gov/item/2005625308/

Shannondale Springs by Dr. William F. Theriault jeffersonhlc.org
http://jeffersoncountyhlc.org/index.php/history-of-shannondale-springs-by-william-d-theriault-ph-d/

22.3

CREDIT: C. Burton, Charles. “Shannondale Springs, Virginia.”Engraved and printed by Fenner, Sears & Co. in London, September 1, 1831; drawing C. Burton, New York. National Register of Historic Places Nomination form wvculture.org p. 14 https://web.archive.org/web/20181024140108/http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/pdf/jefferson/98000289.pdf

22.4

CREDIT: Shannondale Springs by Dr. William F. Theriault jeffersonhlc.org
http://jeffersoncountyhlc.org/index.php/history-of-shannondale-springs-by-william-d-theriault-ph-d/

Jefferson County Museum, Charles Town, WV.

photo of Shannondale Springs ferry boatman circa 1894
civilwarscholars.com 9 June 2011 Web. 20 December 2016.

22.5

Map 1860
Compiled from “The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom” by Wilbur H. Siebert, The Macmillan Company, 1898.[1]
wikipedia.org 27 July 2001 Web. 20 December 2016.

23. 

23.1

Reference: Bushy Ridge Plats No.25, 380, 395
Thompson, Michael D. (1984). ”Calendar and Index to Recorded Survey Plats in Jefferson County, West Virginia (Virginia) Courthouse, 1801-1901.” Charles town, WV: Jefferson County Historical Society. p. 166.

CREDIT: Apple Maps

23.2

CREDIT: Dismal Swamp by Thomas Moran wikipedia.org https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Slave_Hunt,_Dismal_Swamp,_Virginia_by_Thomas_Moran.JPG

24. 

24.1 In fact, in the months after the John Brown Raid in October, 1859,

24.2 Bushy Ridge was a stop on the Underground Railroad that led North to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania and was similar to the route taken by one of John Brown’s raiders, Osborn Anderson, who lived to write about his escape.

CREDIT: Osborn Perry Anderson
wikipedia.org 27 July 2001 Web. 1 October 2016.

24.3 No adjacent Virginia counties reported such great numbers in escapees as the number reported to the to the U.S. Census-taker in Jefferson County as of the summer of 1860.

NOTE: Should read: “Nearly 600 enslaved persons”

CREDIT:

1860 Census – “Population schedules of the eighth census of the United States, 1860, Virginia [microform] (Volume Reel 1355 – 1860 Virginia Federal Population Census Schedules – James City and Jefferson Counties).” Beginning page Jefferson County.

United States. Bureau of the Census; United States. National Archives and Records Service. (1967). Population schedules of the eighth census of the United States, 1860, Virginia [microform] – Volume Reel 1392 – 1860 Virginia Federal Population Census Schedules Slave – Henrico, James City, Jefferson, Kanawha, King George, King and Queen, and King William Counties. Publisher Washington D.C.: Gov’t Printing Office. Jefferson county, Virginia. archive.org 26 January 1997 Web. 20 January 2014. p. 14.
http://www.archive.org/stream/populationschedu1392unix#page/n310/mode/1up

p. 15. http://www.archive.org/stream/populationschedu1392unix#page/n312/mode/1up

Cookus Page 16 Slave Schedule title column 6 fugitive
p. 16. http://www.archive.org/stream/populationschedu1392unix#page/n313/mode/1up
p. 19. http://www.archive.org/stream/populationschedu1392unix#page/n316/mode/1up

Free, Black Families in Jefferson County, Va. Towns
civilwarscholars.com 21 June 2011 Web 10 June 2017

25. No other County in the area reported escapes in such very high numbers in that year’s Census form.

CREDIT: Shenandoah Valley William Louis Sonntag, Sr. – 1859-1860 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shenandoah_Valley_William_Louis_Sonntag.jpeg

26. 

26.1

CREDIT: detail Leisure and Labor
Frank Blackwell Mayer – 1858 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frank_Blackwell_Mayer_-Leisure_and_Labor–2014.136.111-_Corcoran_Gallery_of_Art.jpg

27. Voices – Alice Bort, Laura First, Ardyth Gilbertson FINAL

28. 

28.1

CREDIT: “Slave Auction at Richmond, Virginia”
Eyre Crowe (1824-1910) Source: Illustrated London News. Date:
September 27, 1856 http://www.virginiamemory.com/online-exhibitions/exhibits/show/to-be-sold/item/406 

28.2

CREDIT: Slaves Waiting for Sale by Eyre Crowe, an English painter who arrived in Richmond, March 1853,
blog.encyclopediavirginia.org 30 March 2008 Web. 20 January 2017.

28.3

CREDIT: A Visit from the Old Mistress Winslow Homer – 1876
the-athenaeum.org 23 May 2002 Web. 20 December 2016.

29.

CREDIT: Montage: The Washington Family, Apple Maps, mountvernon.org

29.1

CREDIT: Jean-Antoine Houdon · Bust of George Washington
mountvernon.org 11 November 1996 Web. 1 October 2016.

30. Jane Charlotte Washington and her two sisters, Christian Blackburn and Anna Maria Blackburn Washington, regularly bought the freedom for some people, tried to educate as many as possible and used their influence to keep families in tact.

CREDIT: A Visit from the Old Mistress Winslow Homer – 1876
the-athenaeum.org 23 May 2002 Web. 20 December 2016.

30.1 

CREDIT: A Visit from the Old Mistress Winslow Homer – 1876
the-athenaeum.org 23 May 2002 Web. 20 December 2016.

30.2

CREDIT: Crayon, Porte. (Strother, David H.) “Our Negro Schools” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, New York, NY: Harper and Bros. Volume 49 Issue 292 (September, 1874). pp. 457-468.
hathitrust.org p. 458 – Charley https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31210014814410&view=1up&seq=472&q1=Charley

30.3

CREDITS: John Gadsby Chapman – “Mrs. J.A.W.” – National Masonic Memorial; 1860 Census; Blakeley home – wikipedia.org

31.

CREDIT: Woman with a Cane William Aiken Walker – Date unknown https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Aiken_Walker_-_A_woman_with_cane.jpg

33.

CREDIT: Title: Life of George Washington–The farmer / painted by Stearns ; lith. by Régnier, imp. Lemercier, Paris.
loc.gov 16 June 1997 Web. 20 September 2016.

IMPORTANT: CLICK HERE (followed by CHAPTER OR STORY 9) https://civilwarscholars.com/uncategorized/important/

CHAPTER OR STORY 9 CLICK HERE https://civilwarscholars.com/uncategorized/chapter-9-george-johnson-gets-clear-by-jim-surkamp/

Click Here to see and explore the original civilwarscholars.com website as it appeared under the auspices of American Public University System and created by Jim Surkamp

Posts were made regularly between June, 2011 thru May 29, 2021, totaling over one million words of sourced content with over 20,000 illustrations. The illustrations can also be found at Jim Surkamp’s location at Flickr as stories and also on the Jim Surkamp channel on youtube with over 500 videos.
Additions to the current site will be only occasional and not pursued as much because of a shift in interests of Jim Surkamp to a broader range of historical subjects. Enjoy – Jim

Intermission to VIDEO OF JASPER THOMPSON’s DESTINY DAY SEPTEMBER 6, 1906 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LJpJeIwFMw#t=27m28s

CHAPTER OR STORY 9 – CLICK HERE https://civilwarscholars.com/uncategorized/chapter-9-george-johnson-gets-clear-by-jim-surkamp/

5163 words

CHAPTER or STORY 9 – THE SOBER FACTS, BUT GEORGE JOHNSON “GETS CLEAR” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LJpJeIwFMw#t=25m06s

https://web.archive.org/web/20190612203021/https://civilwarscholars.com/2017/09/chapter-9-the-sober-facts-but-george-johnson-gets-clear-by-jim-surkamp/

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With support from American Public University System (apus.edu). The sentiments expressed do not in any way reflect modern-day policies of APUS, and are intended to encourage fact-based exchange for a better understanding of our nation’s foundational values.

Click Here and it will take you to the start of this story within the much longer story and video. START: 25:06 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LJpJeIwFMw#t=25m06s

THE DARKER SIDE SOME SAW:

But others in Jefferson County, like the enslaved George Johnson saw the darker side of slavery and and struck out for his freedom and Life.

Records show that in the darker recesses of Jefferson County, cruelties were quietly administered by some.

Col Robert Lucas having a horse stampeded, thereby dragging a returned runaway to his death whose foot was tied to the horse.

Or the old man at the poor farm on Leetown Road in the 1930s with but one hand, the other cut off by a half-mad overseer who thought it worthy punishment for – “lying.”

Or Bertha Fox Jones’ recorded account of her ancestor, Mary Fox at the Bower who was last seen being whipped in an open wagon that drove away for refusing to be a brood woman.

George Johnson who was raised in Harper’s Ferry and later escaped and established a home in Chatham, Ontario, wrote:

“I was raised near Harper’s Ferry. I was used as well as the people about there are used.

“My master used to pray in his family with the house servants, morning and evening. I attended these services until I was eighteen, when I was put out on the farm, and lived in a cabin.

“We were well supplied with food. We went to work at sunrise, and quit work between sundown and dark. Some were sold from my master’s farm, and many from the neighborhood. If a man did any thing out of the way, he was in more danger of being sold than of being whipped. The slaves were always afraid of being sold South. The Southern masters were believed to be much worse than those about us. I had a great wish for liberty when I was a boy. I always had it in my head to clear.”

He went on:
“Whipping and slashing are bad enough, but selling children from their mothers and husbands from their wives is worse. At one time I wanted to marry a young woman, not on the same farm. I was then sent to Alabama, to one of my masters’ sons for two years. When the girl died, I was sent for to come back. I liked the work, the tending of cotton, better than the work on the farm in Virginia,–but there was so much whipping in Alabama, that I was glad to get back.”

References:

GEORGE JOHNSON – pp. 52-54.

I arrived in St. Catharine’s about two hours ago.
[April 17, 1855]

I was raised near Harper’s Ferry. I was used as well as the people about there are used. My master used to pray in his family with the house servants, morning and evening. I attended these services until I was eighteen, when I was put out on the farm, and lived in a cabin. We were well supplied with food. We went to work at sunrise, and quit work between sundown and dark. Some were sold from my master’s farm, and many from the neighborhood. If a man did any thing out of the way, he was in more danger of being sold than of being whipped. The slaves were always afraid of being sold South. The Southern masters were believed to be much worse than those about us. I had a great wish for liberty when I was a boy. I always had it in my head to clear. But I had a wife and children. However, my wife died last year of cholera, and then I determined not to remain in that country.

When my old master died, I fell to his son. I had no difficulty with him, but was influenced merely by a love of liberty. I felt disagreeably about leaving my friends, — but I knew I might have to leave them by going South. There was a fellow-servant of mine named Thomas. My master gave him a letter one day, to carry to a soul-driver. Thomas got a man to read it, who told him he was sold. Thomas then got a free man to carry the letter. They handcuffed , the free man, and put him in jail. Thomas, when he saw them take the free man, dodged into the bush. He came to us. We made up a purse, and sent him on his way. Next day, the man who had carried the letter, sent for his friends and got out. The master denied to us that he intended to sell Thomas. He did not get the money for him. Thomas afterward wrote a letter from Toronto to his friend.

I prepared myself by getting cakes, etc., and on a Saturday night in March, I and two comrades started off together. They were younger than I. We traveled by night and slept by day until we reached Pittsburgh. When we had got through the town, I left the two boys, and told them not to leave while I went back to a grocery for food. When I returned, they were gone, — I do not know their fate. I stopped in that neighborhood two nights, trying to find them — I did not dare to inquire for them. The second night, I made up my mind to ask after them, but my heart failed me. I am of opinion that they got to Canada, as they knew the route. At length I was obliged to come off without them.

I think that slavery is not the best condition for the the refugee; or a black. Whipping and slashing are bad enough, but selling children from their mothers and husbands from their wives is worse. At one time I wanted to marry a young woman, not on the same farm. I was then sent to Alabama, to one of my master’s sons for two years. “When the girl died, I was sent for to come back. I liked the work, the tending of cotton, better than the work on the farm in Virginia, — but there was so much whipping in Alabama, that I was glad to get back. One man there, on another farm, was tied up and received five hundred and fifty lashes for striking the overseer. His back was awfully cut up. His wife took care of him. Two months after, I saw him lying on his face, unable to turn over or help himself. The master seemed ashamed of this, and told the man that if he got well, he might go where he liked. My master told me he said so, and the man told me so himself. Whether he ever got well, I do not know: the time when I saw him, was just before I went back to Virginia.

Drew Benjamin. (1856). “A North-side View of Slavery: The Refugee: Or, The Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada …” archive.org
pp. 52-54 – George Johnson’s account
https://archive.org/details/northsideviewofs00drew/page/52/mode/2up

Other escape accounts from Benjamin Drew’s book of interviews with persons from Jefferson County

WILLIAM GROSE: pp. 82-87

I was held as a slave at Harper’s Ferry, Va. When I was twenty-five years old, my two brothers who were twelve miles out, were sent for to the ferry, so as to catch us all three together, which they did. We were then taken to Baltimore to be sold down south. The reason was, that I had a free wife in Virginia, and they were afraid we would get away through her means. My wife and two children were then keeping boarders; I was well used, and we were doing well. All at once, on Sunday morning, a man came to my house before I was up, and called me to go to his store to help put up some goods. My wife suspected it was a trap: but I started to go. When I came in sight of him, my heart failed me; I sent him word I could not come.

On inquiry in a certain quarter, I was told that I was sold, and was advised to make my escape into Pennsylvania. (83) I then went to my owner’s, twelve miles, and remained there three days, they telling me I was not sold. The two brothers were all this time in jail, but I did not then know it. I was sent to the mill to get some offal— then two men came in, grabbed me and handcuffed me, and took me off. How I felt that day I cannot tell. I had never been more than twenty miles from home, and now I was taken away from my mother and wife and children. About four miles from the mill, I met my wife in the road coming to bring me some clean clothes. She met me as I was on horseback, handcuffed. She thought I was on the farm, and was surprised to see me. They let me get down to walk and talk with her until we came to the jail: then they put me in, and kept her outside. She had then eight miles to go on foot, to get clothes ready for me to take along. I was so crazy, I don’t know what my wife said. I was beside myself to think of going south. I was as afraid of traders as I would be of a bear. This was Tuesday.

The man who had bought us came early Wednesday morning, but the jailer would not let us out, he hoping to make a bargain with somebody else, and induce our owners to withdraw the bond from the man that had us. Upon this, the trader and jailer got into a quarrel, and the trader produced a pistol, which the jailer and his brother took away from him. After some time, the jailer let us out. We were handcuffed together: I was in the middle, a hand of each brother fastened to mine.
We walked thus to Harper’s Ferry: there my wife met me with some clothes. She said but little; she was in grief and crying. The two men with us told her they would get us a good home. We went by the cars to (84) the Baltimore — remained fifteen days in jail. Then we were separated, myself and one brother going to New Orleans, and the other remained in B. Him I have not seen since, but have heard that he was taken to Georgia. There were about seventy of us, men, women, and children shipped to New Orleans. Nothing especial occurred except on one occasion, when, after some thick weather, the ship came near an English island, the captain then hurried us all below and closed the hatches. After passing the island, we had liberty to come up again.

We waited on our owners awhile in New Orleans, and after four months, my brother and I were sold together as house servants in the city, to an old widower, who would not have a white face about him. He had a colored woman for a wife — she being a slave. He had had several wives whom he had set free when he got tired of them. This woman came for us to the yard, — then we went before him. He sent for a woman, who came in, and said he to me, ” That is your wife. I was scared half to death, for I had one wife whom I liked, and didn’t want another, — but I said nothing. He assigned one to my brother in the same way. There was no ceremony about it — he said ” Cynthia is your wife, and Ellen is John’s.” As we were not acclimated, he sent us into Alabama to a watering-place, where we remained three months till late in the fall — then we went back to him. I was hired out one month in a gambling saloon, where I had two meals a day and slept on a table ; then for nine months to an American family, where I got along very well; then to a man who had been mate of a steamboat, and whom I could not please.

After I (85) had been in New Orleans a year, my wife came on and was employed in the same place, (in the American family). One oppression there was, my wife did not dare let it be known she was from Virginia, through fear of being sold. When my master found out that I had a free-woman for a wife there, he was angry about it, and began to grumble. Then she went to a lawyer to get a certificate by which she could remain there. He would get one for a hundred dollars, which was more than she was able to pay: so she did not get the certificate, but promised to take one by-and-by. His hoping to get the money kept him from troubling her, — and before the time came for her taking it, she left for a distant place. He was mad about it, and told me that if she ever came there again, he’d put her to so much trouble that she would wish she had paid the hundred dollars and got the certificate. This did not disturb me, as I knew she would not come back any more.

After my wife was gone, I felt very uneasy. At length, I picked up spunk, and said I would start. All this time, I dreamed on nights that I was getting clear. This put the notion into my head to start — a dream that I had reached a free soil and was perfectly safe. Sometimes I felt as if I would get clear, and again as if I would not. I had many doubts. I said to myself — I recollect it well, — I can’t die but once ; if they catch me, they can but kill me: I’ll defend myself as far as I can. I armed myself with an old razor, and made a start alone, telling no one, not even my brother. All the way along, I felt a dread — a heavy load on me all the way. I would look up at the telegraph wire, and dread that the news was going on ahead of me. At one time I was on a canal-boat — it did not seem to go (86) fast enough for me, and I felt very much cast down about it ; at last I came to a place where the telegraph wire was broken, and I felt as if the heavy load was rolled off me, I intended to stay in my native country,— but I saw so many mean-looking men, that I did not dare to stay. I found a friend who helped me on the way to Canada, which I reached in 1851.

I served twenty-five years in slavery, and about five I have been free. I feel now like a man, while before I felt more as though I were but a brute. When in the United States, if a white man spoke to me, I would feel frightened, whether I were in the right or wrong; but now it is quite a different thing, — if a white man speaks to me, I can look him right in the eyes — if he were to insult me, I could give him an answer. I have the rights and privileges of any other man. I am now living with my wife and children, and doing very well. When I lie down at night, I do not feel afraid of over-sleeping, so that my employer might jump on me if he pleased. I am a true British subject, and I have a vote every year as much as any other man. I often used to wonder in the United States, when I saw carriages going round for voters, why they never asked me to vote. But I have since found out the reason, — I know they were using my vote instead of my using it — now I use it myself. Now I feel like a man, and I wish to God that all my fellow-creatures could feel the same freedom that I feel. I am not prejudiced against all the white race in the United States, — it is only the portion that sustain the cursed laws of slavery.

Here ‘s something I want to say to the colored people in the United States: You think you are free there, but you are very much mistaken: if you wish to be free men, I hope you will all come to Canada as soon (87) as possible. There is plenty of land here, and schools to educate your children. I have no education myself, but I don’t intend to let my children come up as I did. I have but two, and instead of making servants out of them, I’ll give them a good education, which I could not do in the southern portion of the United States. True, they were not slaves there, but I could not have given them any education.

I have been through both Upper and Lower Canada, and I have found the colored people keeping stores, farming, etc., and doing well. I have made more money since I came here, than I made in the United States. I know several colored people who have become wealthy by industry — owning horses and carriages, — one who was a fellow-servant of mine, now owns two span of horses, and two as fine carriages as there are on the bank. As a general thing, the colored people are more sober and industrious than in the States: there they feel when they have money, that they cannot make what use they would like of it, they are so kept down, so looked down upon. Here they have something to do with their money, and put it to a good purpose.

I am employed in the Clifton House, at the Falls.
Drew, pp. 82-87.
https://archive.org/details/northsideviewofs00drew/page/82/mode/2up

Adams, Julia D. (1990). “Between the Shenandoah and the Potomac: Historic Homes of Jefferson County, West Virginia.” Charles Town, West Virginia: The Jefferson County Historical Society, p. 121.

Recorded interviews with Bertha Fox Jones and Norman McDonald https://justjefferson.com/16Day.htm

Robert Lucas entry
US Census 1860 Virginia Jefferson Shepherdstown Page 28 – fold3.com
https://www.fold3.com/image/75222890/?terms=robert%20Lucas

Julia S. Blickenstaff; Carmen Creamer; Don Wood; Beverley Grove; Galtjo Geertsema (December 13, 1994) “National Register of Historic Places Nomination: Jefferson County Alms House” (pdf). National Park Service.

CHAPTER OR STORY 10 CLICK HERE https://civilwarscholars.com/uncategorized/chapter-10-jasper-begins-his-life-1844-by-jim-surkamp/

1857 words

STORY 10 – JASPER THOMPSON BEGINS LIFE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LJpJeIwFMw#t=28m47s

https://web.archive.org/web/20190612195342/https://civilwarscholars.com/2017/09/chapter-10-jasper-is-born-1844-by-jim-surkamp/

With support from American Public University System (apus.edu). The sentiments expressed do not in any way reflect modern-day policies of APUS, and are intended to encourage fact-based exchange for a better understanding of our nation’s foundational values.

FLICKR 29 images
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CLICK HERE. This will take you to the beginning of this video within the much longer video – START: 28:47 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LJpJeIwFMw#t=28m47s
PRECEDED BY: Intermission VIDEO START: 27:28
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LJpJeIwFMw#t=27m28s

In January, 1844 Jasper Thompson was born to Solomon Thompson and Eliza Gray Thompson.

The family’s written records show Eliza was the daughter of Harry Gray and Phanny (Fanny) Mitchell.

Jasper was born at a location that Jasper himself simply called, in his official enlistment form for the United States Colored Troops later on – as “Harper’s Ferry.”

Researching the lives of the enslaved is hard – because only first names are in most records and no courthouse death records in Jefferson County existed there for before 1853.

But Jasper Thompson may have well been the (quote) negro boy named Jasper (end quote) that Jane Charlotte Washington, then the owner of Mount Vernon, cited in her will and gave, in the parlance of the time, to the son of her prematurely deceased eldest daughter, Anna Maria Tomasina Alexander.

Anna Maria had married Doctor William F. Alexander and they began making house and making farm.

The couple began making house, renting a small structure from John Humphreys just east of Charles Town off the Harper’s Ferry Road, called Walnut Hill.

References:

1. Jasper Thompson USCT 23rd infantry regiment service record,p. 18
fold3.com 16 September 2011 Web. 20 October 2016.

2. Video of Monique Crippen Hopkins – April, 2016 – Perry Room, Charles Town Library, Charles Town, West Virginia

3. Jefferson County Clerk Deed Room, Charles Town, WV.

ID 57780 Washington, Jane C. 9/17/1855
Jefferson County, WV, Will Book 14 Pages 341-345
Jefferson County VA/WV Index to Wills, Vol. 1, 1801 – 1970
Page 341, View Pages 342-343, View Pages 344-345

4. Allen, John C. (2011). “Uncommon Vernacular: The Early Houses of Jefferson County, West Virginia 1735-1835.” Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Press. pp. 228 & 324.

5. John C. Allen email – January 5, 2016. (Mr. Allen is the author of “Uncommon Vernacular,” a book on structures in Jefferson County, Va. prior to the advent of the railroad).

On Tue, Jan 5, 2016 at 6:07 PM, John Allen wrote:
Jim,
My estimate of the construction date of the main part of Walnut Hill is ca. 1845. This main block is the front section shown in the HABS photo in my book (pg. 324). Here’s why I called it the Humphreys-Alexander House:

In 1820, the property’s owner, Thomas Wilson, was assessed as having $100 in buildings. That’s a very modest building, probably a one- or two-room cabin. In 1825 when the property passed to John Humphreys the assessment was $110 – no change, just inflation.

In 1827 the assessment rose to $1000 for “new wing on old house.” That new wing is the back wing of the current house. it was not a house, just a wing. Two years later his assessment rose by $300 for “new stone kitchen”. This is the back addition to the aforementioned wing. There is a clear photo of these two sections in the second HABS photo of the building (at Library of Congress website, not in my book). Still, these were service wings to a main house.

In 1839, the property was sold to W.F. Alexander. In 1841, Alexander’s building assessment dropped from $1,410 to $1,200. This drop reflects the demolition of the original house, while the newer wing and it’s kitchen addition remained. In 1850 Alexander’s assessment rose to $2,000 showing that the front section (again pictured in the book) had been completed. This main section of the house is a very substantial, stone central-hall house with very nice interior detailing of that 1850 period. So, that’s my take on the house. The back is Humphreys and the front is Alexander.

CHAPTER OR STORY 11 – CLICK HERE https://civilwarscholars.com/uncategorized/chapter-11-ones-work-in-1850-by-jim-surkamp/

991 words.

CHAPTER OR STORY 11 – A YEAR’S WORK IN 1850 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LJpJeIwFMw#t=31m28s

https://web.archive.org/web/20190817082359/https://civilwarscholars.com/2017/09/chapter-11-a-years-work-in-1850-by-jim-surkamp/

FLICKR 63 images
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With support from American Public University System (apus.edu). The sentiments expressed do not in any way reflect modern-day policies of APUS, and are intended to encourage fact-based exchange for a better understanding of our nation’s foundational values.

Click Here. This will take you to the beginning of this story within the longer video START: 31:28 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LJpJeIwFMw#t=31m28s

A Year’s Work in 1850:

JANUARY – Hauling Firewood

JANUARY – Cooking

JANUARY – Making shoes and boots

FEBRUARY – Hauling Fodder

FEBRUARY – Hauling Water

MARCH – Mockingbird

APRIL – Plowing corn ground

MAY – Planting corn

MAY – Washing Sheep & Shearing Sheep

JUNE – Altering Lambs

JUNE – Hoeing Corn

JULY – Cutting and Cradling Hay

JULY – Nooning

AUGUST – Hauling & stacking wheat

AUGUST – Shucking Corn

SEPTEMBER – At Market

SEPTEMBER – Cutting & Collecting Wood

OCTOBER – Sowing Red Clover

OCTOBER – Apples

NOVEMBER – Hog butchering

DECEMBER – Making warm clothes from linsey-woolsey

References:

Aglionby, Charles. “The Day Book Kept By Charles Aglionby at Mount Pleasant, Charles Town, Jefferson County, Virginia.” 6 March, 1861 to 1 January, 1866.” Transcribed by Francis John Aglionby (1932-2002). With permission from Julia Aglionby. (Available at the Jefferson County Museum, Charles Town, WV). Print.

CHAPTER OR STORY 12 CLICK HERE https://civilwarscholars.com/uncategorized/chapter-12-jasper-thompson-grows-up-by-jim-surkamp/