Thanks in part to the records in the Library of Virginia, I recently found
new information about another enslaved man not far from Richmond, who
escaped twice from the deep south and wrote a fictionalized account of some
of his adventures, though he actually left out the more interesting parts.
The early years of his life in Virginia are still a puzzle, though, which I
hope some researcher can figure out some day.
Shadrach Wilkins was owned by the Joseph Janey family of Monte Verde
plantation, Essex County, but was sold to Alabama in 1834 after helping in
an attempt to poison neighbors, Dr. and Mrs. A. G. D. Roy. He escaped as far
as Baltimore, was recaptured, sold to New Orleans, and escaped again finally
to New York and overseas.
While in New York going by the name of James Williams, he dictated a book to
the American Anti-Slavery Society, but fictionalized enough of the details
that for years, people assumed the book was a fake memoir and the people he
mentioned didn't exist.
In fact, he changed the locations but kept most of the white people's real
names, so when investigators at the time, and historians later, looked for
corroboration in Powhatan County, Virginia, or Greene County, Alabama, they
could find none. He was actually enslaved in Essex County, Virginia, and
Dallas County, Alabama.
Here's the puzzle, though. Now that he's been identified as a real person,
we know Shadrach first shows up in the 1832 estate inventory of Joseph
Janey, living at Monte Verde plantation at Bowler's Wharf (Center Cross),
Essex County Virginia. But who owned him before Janey? In his narrative, he
says he grew up owned by George Lorimer/Larimer/Larrimore--clearly not true,
as he didn't meet Larimer until Larimer married Janey's step-daughter.
Some of the things he mentions in the narrative indicate connections to the
Loretto and Tappahannock areas of Essex County and the Hunter and
Brockenbrough families--and possibly also the Brockenbroughs that lived in
Richmond--but nothing that can be pinned down for certain. I'm hoping that
some day, someone will run across mention of him in connection with whoever
owned him before the Janeys, probably some family in Essex County.
Here's a link to the Google Books version of the new information:
http://books.google.com/books?id=zatAAQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover
And LSU Press's page about it:
http://lsupress.org/books/detail/narrative-of-james-williams-an-american-slave/
Hank Trent
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Helms, Bari (LVA)" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2013 6:53 AM
Subject: [VA-HIST] New blog: "12 Years a Slave"
The release of the film 12 Years a Slave had us talking at Out of the Box.
The film gives a human face to slavery, as do many of the records at the
Library of Virginia. Today’s post looks at the story of one woman seeking to
escape slavery in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1850.
http://www.virginiamemory.com/blogs/out_of_the_box/2013/12/04/12-years-a-slave/
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