Based on some very interesting research that came about through a VHF
grant to the Mary Ball Washington Museum and Library, I am writing an
article about two bachelor brothers who emancipated there 41 slaves
with the provision (in effect) that they be sent to Liberia. This
was done in 1855.
I was fortunate to already have in my files several letters from this
same period written by other emancipated slaves from Virginia, which
provide some very good descriptions of the voyage, arrival and
subsequent lives there.
One of the writers, Randall Kilby, always sent regards to his wife
and daughter in Virginia, and in the same letters talked about his
wife and son in Liberia. This indicates he had two wives, one freed
and one not.
My question, therefore, is how to treat this topic in the article. I
realize there were not legal marriages for slaves in this period, and
families were broken up for many reasons. Were multiple "marriages"
part of the slave culture, or is this an anomoly?
One interesting aspect of this research was that in the inventory of
the estate of the suviving brother (James Kelley) the slaves are all
listed by first name in this order: Men, boys, Women, girls. They
are assigned a value but no other personal information is given. The
estate file shows the payment for their voyage aboard the ship Elivra
Owen. The ship's manifest for that voyage provides much more detailed
information. The emancipated slaves are listed with surnames and
grouped by families, with ages.
I would prefer to have letters from one of these families, but in the
absence thereof I will have to substitute the Kilby letters as
descriptive of the overall experience.
Any and all input on this topic is greatly welcomed.
The article will appear in the next issue of the Northumberland
County Historical Society's annual *Bulletin*.
Many thanks,
Craig Kilby
Lancaster, VA
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