Unbound
1847 · Washington DC
by Will S.
Washington DC, 1847. Unbound. Very good. This four-page letter is datelined “Washington City January 9. 1847”. It was written by William S. to his wife Mary. A transcript will be provided.
In it, William describes the current status of the renewal of their contract, probably for mail delivery routes, with the U.S. Post Office.
More importantly, he also informs her of a scheme he has hatched to lure some of the 383 slaves manumitted by John Randolph, a member of Mary’s extended family, to voluntarily return to slavery from their freedom in Ohio. After a twelve-year court battle over Randolph’s will, the court had finally determined that the manumission was legally binding.
With regard to the postal contract, the letter reads in part:
“I have the unwelcome intelligence to communicate that . . . although our offer was eleven thousand Dollars . . . lower than we now get . . . we were still underbid four thousand four hundred Dollars [and] the old Contractors . . . may induce the PM Genl to award us [only] a part of the States. . ..”
He reports he sent a message to other members of the Randolph and anticipated that they would renounce their claim on some property, perhaps their share of the slaves identified in the disputed will.
“I sent a message . . . by a distant cousin of yours to Richmond . . . and got a letter from [another cousin] stating that his mother was in Cumberland . . . and that he had no doubt she would give it up and her daughter had the birthright to it. If they will give it up I shall make an arrangement with Lawyer Wick.”
He then advises her of his plan to lure some of the Randolph Freedpeople back to slavery in Virginia just six months after they had departed.
“The Mr. Randolph by whom I sent the message to Richmond thinks if I would go into the part of Ohio where John Randolph’s negroes are settled that I could get as many of them I want merely by saying to them that you are one of the Randolph family – one old woman in particular he recommends, she was Mr Randolph’s cook – her name is Queen – she has two sons. I intend to find out where they are and when I return go and see them. . ..” . Although neither Queen nor any other of the freedpeople accepted William’s offer (if he ever made one), the reason they might have been willing to voluntarily return to bondage in Virginia was that they had encountered far more hostility, uncertainty, and danger in Ohio than they had on Randolph’s plantation. As part of his will, Randolph had directed 3200 acres be purchased for their settlement in Mercer County, Ohio. The Freedpeople left Roanoke in June 1846 by wagon train to Kanawha where they boarded a steamboat for Cincinnati. There, they journeyed in smaller vessels up the Miami-Erie Canal to Mercer County. At New Bremen, an armed mob of German immigrants prevented their landing, formally declaring, “We will not live among Negroes, as we have settled here first . . . we will resist the settlement . . . to the fullest extent of our means, the bayonet not excepted.” The Freedpeople dispersed into smaller groups and, despite their trepidations, settled into more accepting communities in Miami and Shelby counties.
The Randolph Clan was the most powerful and wealthy family in 18th century Virginia. William, an orphan, settled in Virginia in 1699 and along with his wife, Mary, had so many important offspring that they have been referred to as “the Adam and Eve of Virginia.” Descendants included Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, “Light Horse” Harry Lee, and Robert E. Lee.
An oligarch by nature, John Randolph none-the-less served as a Senator, multiple terms as a member of the House of Representatives, and an ambassador to Russia. Although a believer in white supremacy, he opposed slavery in principle but found it was required to operate his huge tobacco plantation in Roanoke.
(For more information, see Gregory’s “A Madman’s Will: John Randolph, 400 Slaves, and the Mirage of Freedom” and Mathias’s “John Randolph’s Freedmen: The Thwarting of a Will” both in the May 1973 edition of The Journal of Southern History. See also “Adam and Eve of Virginia” at the Haywood County Line website, and Randolph’s The Randolph's of Virginia. )
An exceptionally scarce account of a plan to convince the Randolph Freedpeople to give up their freedom and return to slavery in Virginia. At the time of listing, nothing related to the Randolf Freedpeople is for sale in the trade. The Rare Book Hub reports that neither has anything ever appeared at auction. OCLC shows that an incomplete bound collection of records from the court case that granted the group freedom and funded their move to Ohio is held by the University of Virginia. . (Inventory #: 010495)
In it, William describes the current status of the renewal of their contract, probably for mail delivery routes, with the U.S. Post Office.
More importantly, he also informs her of a scheme he has hatched to lure some of the 383 slaves manumitted by John Randolph, a member of Mary’s extended family, to voluntarily return to slavery from their freedom in Ohio. After a twelve-year court battle over Randolph’s will, the court had finally determined that the manumission was legally binding.
With regard to the postal contract, the letter reads in part:
“I have the unwelcome intelligence to communicate that . . . although our offer was eleven thousand Dollars . . . lower than we now get . . . we were still underbid four thousand four hundred Dollars [and] the old Contractors . . . may induce the PM Genl to award us [only] a part of the States. . ..”
He reports he sent a message to other members of the Randolph and anticipated that they would renounce their claim on some property, perhaps their share of the slaves identified in the disputed will.
“I sent a message . . . by a distant cousin of yours to Richmond . . . and got a letter from [another cousin] stating that his mother was in Cumberland . . . and that he had no doubt she would give it up and her daughter had the birthright to it. If they will give it up I shall make an arrangement with Lawyer Wick.”
He then advises her of his plan to lure some of the Randolph Freedpeople back to slavery in Virginia just six months after they had departed.
“The Mr. Randolph by whom I sent the message to Richmond thinks if I would go into the part of Ohio where John Randolph’s negroes are settled that I could get as many of them I want merely by saying to them that you are one of the Randolph family – one old woman in particular he recommends, she was Mr Randolph’s cook – her name is Queen – she has two sons. I intend to find out where they are and when I return go and see them. . ..” . Although neither Queen nor any other of the freedpeople accepted William’s offer (if he ever made one), the reason they might have been willing to voluntarily return to bondage in Virginia was that they had encountered far more hostility, uncertainty, and danger in Ohio than they had on Randolph’s plantation. As part of his will, Randolph had directed 3200 acres be purchased for their settlement in Mercer County, Ohio. The Freedpeople left Roanoke in June 1846 by wagon train to Kanawha where they boarded a steamboat for Cincinnati. There, they journeyed in smaller vessels up the Miami-Erie Canal to Mercer County. At New Bremen, an armed mob of German immigrants prevented their landing, formally declaring, “We will not live among Negroes, as we have settled here first . . . we will resist the settlement . . . to the fullest extent of our means, the bayonet not excepted.” The Freedpeople dispersed into smaller groups and, despite their trepidations, settled into more accepting communities in Miami and Shelby counties.
The Randolph Clan was the most powerful and wealthy family in 18th century Virginia. William, an orphan, settled in Virginia in 1699 and along with his wife, Mary, had so many important offspring that they have been referred to as “the Adam and Eve of Virginia.” Descendants included Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, “Light Horse” Harry Lee, and Robert E. Lee.
An oligarch by nature, John Randolph none-the-less served as a Senator, multiple terms as a member of the House of Representatives, and an ambassador to Russia. Although a believer in white supremacy, he opposed slavery in principle but found it was required to operate his huge tobacco plantation in Roanoke.
(For more information, see Gregory’s “A Madman’s Will: John Randolph, 400 Slaves, and the Mirage of Freedom” and Mathias’s “John Randolph’s Freedmen: The Thwarting of a Will” both in the May 1973 edition of The Journal of Southern History. See also “Adam and Eve of Virginia” at the Haywood County Line website, and Randolph’s The Randolph's of Virginia. )
An exceptionally scarce account of a plan to convince the Randolph Freedpeople to give up their freedom and return to slavery in Virginia. At the time of listing, nothing related to the Randolf Freedpeople is for sale in the trade. The Rare Book Hub reports that neither has anything ever appeared at auction. OCLC shows that an incomplete bound collection of records from the court case that granted the group freedom and funded their move to Ohio is held by the University of Virginia. . (Inventory #: 010495)
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