Melinda,
Nova Scotia is on my most see list. A group of my Bowden ancestors, settled 
there around 1834 after leaving Virginia. I was in touch with some of the 
descendants, but have not heard from them in years.

Thank you for your insightful post.

Anita


>From: Melinda Skinner <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history         
>      <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Loving the slaves
>Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2007 19:44:53 +0000
>
>Loretta,
>You are right.  It is intriguing to read all the messages on this subject 
>and fascinatingly revealing.
>The problem is, there were too many cruel, even sadistic, slave holders; 
>and they-- when the horrible facts become known-- are held up as the evil 
>people they were.  Many who owned slaves worked as hard as those they 
>"owned" and treated them well.  Also, for some of those first-generation 
>Africans who were brought to America
>the situation they found themselves in as slaves to a reasonable (and 
>sometimes kind) master may have been an improvement over what they had been 
>through since their initial capture and resulting transport.  It is all so 
>relative to individuals, and we cannot assume every European was satanic or 
>that every African slave was mistreated.  That being said, there is no 
>question that slavery in any form by any people is wrong, cruel and-- even 
>taking the "times" into consideration-- many slave holders knew that in 
>their hearts.  They were too desperate for labor and/or too cowardly to 
>buck the established social set-up.  It is as wrong for people to say that 
>slavery was not so bad as it is to say that every slave was badly treated.  
>There is evidence for both sides of the story; and, if you only take one 
>side, that is not honest history.
>My 2 cents, as I travel to Nova Scotia (and found a handy wi-fi).
>--
>Melinda C. P. Skinner
>Richmond, VA
>
>
>  -------------- Original message ----------------------
>From: Loretta Kelldorf <[log in to unmask]>
> > List Readers:
> >
> > I find it very interesting that people today are having difficulty 
>believing
> > that it was possible  for some slave owners to love their slaves as 
>fellow human
> > beings!  They weren't pets. The love I have read about was nothing like 
>loving
> > one's pet.  The capacity to love is very different in every individual.  
>Some
> > people have a much greater capacity for loving than do others.   When 
>you read
> > about mean slave owners mistreating their slaves, you have no context 
>for that
> > slave-owner's relationship to other people...black or white. You might 
>consider
> > that.  The man that is mean  is likely to be mean to everyone. He/she 
>may
> > practice it a little differently depending on how they view the 
>intelligence and
> > reprisal capacity of the other person; but, they will spread their 
>meanness
> > around to everyone in one way or another.   Kind people spread their 
>kindness
> > the same way.
> >
> > Life was hard; it was rugged in earlier times.  Many people hardened 
>their
> > feelings and sensitivities in order to make life bearable because they
> > anticipated many losses and hurts in a lifetime.  Whatever level of
> > insensitivity they cultivated, it touched all of their relationships, 
>not just
> > the relationships with their  slaves.
> >
> > I have in my file the will of a lady in Sumner Co. TN who stated in the 
>will
> > that she was old; her sons were grown and already gifted with land when 
>they
> > married. Therefore she was willing that her total  considerable assets, 
>both
> > real and personal, be sold and the money used to relocate all her black 
>family
> > to Illinois or Ohio where they could be free. The money was to be used 
>to buy
> > them land and farm animals to furnish them a home and a means of 
>livelihood.
> >
> > When I visited (within the past six years)  the family home of this 
>lady, which
> > was built in 1808,  and talked to the present owner, he told me of 
>several
> > carloads of black people who arrived one day the summer before my visit. 
>  He
> > said they told him they had come to visit and pay respects to the estate 
>of the
> > lady  who had been responsible for re-locating their families to free 
>states and
> > gifting them with land and  a means of establishing and maintaining 
>themselves.
> > Respect, love and appreciation was part of the heritage of these black 
>people
> > who continued to think of the white family as their kinsmen.
> >
> > Kinsmen.  While many of you are reading wills of demeaning  
>relationships, I
> > have found numerous wills where the deceased has called his slaves his 
>"black
> > family".   That is evidence of a kind relationship to one's fellow man.
> >
> > There is another story in TN, of a soldier kin to the lady who left her 
>estate
> > to re-locate the black families,  that went to fight in the Civil War as 
>a
> > Confederate.  Every day that he was gone, his black "Mammy" sat on the 
>front
> > porch watching for him to return.  She kept the vigil every day until he 
>finally
> > did return.  She died soon after he came home.  This is genuine love of 
>one
> > human  for another human, not as pets, but as equal and worthy human 
>beings.
> >
> > There is in the Bedford County TN Heritage History book published within 
>the
> > last five years a story of a black man who followed his white slave 
>owner into
> > war. The soldier was a Confederate.  When he was wounded his black 
>servant cared
> > for him until he could travel and took him home to recuperate.  The 
>black
> > servant then went to fight in the Civil War for the Union! Fought with 
>the Union
> > Army for two years.  When the war was over, the black soldier then had a
> > pension.  The white family for whom he had been a slave was left 
>landless and
> > penniless by the war. The BLACK MAN TOOK THE WHITE FAMILY IN AND CARED 
>FOR THEM
> > AND PROVIDED FOR THEM.   Love is in the heart; not in the law.  
>Sensitivity is a
> > form of love.
> >
> > In my own family, my great grandmother's brother and his wife in TN   
>had in
> > their probate files lists of the expenses  encountered during their 
>illness.  We
> > are talking now about 1880.  When I read the lists of expenses hoping to 
>get a
> > clue to their last illness I was impressed by how many entries there 
>were for
> > items for "the black family".  While no specific names were given, how 
>much
> > better name can you have than to be called FAMILY?  There were no other 
>names in
> > the list, white or black.  The mention of the black family was to 
>differentiate
> > the expenses from their own personal expenses for whatever reason they 
>may have
> > needed to do that. I was touched that they gave equal concern and equal
> > provision to their black family.
> >
> > To be sure, the world is full of meanness. But it is also full of 
>kindness.
> > Where do you intend to put your focus?  If you want to change the way 
>the world
> > thinks, then inspect your own thinking. So many of you are full of anger 
>over
> > things past; you cannot do anything today to change what was.  Your 
>inspection
> > of meanness and speculation about how people may have felt a hundred or 
>two
> > hundred years ago is neither  productive nor constructive.  It is a 
>given that
> > Slavery is wrong in any time and in any place.  No thinking and feeling 
>person
> > argues the rightness of slavery in this enlightened time in which we 
>live today.
> > What people thought then is gone.  You need to deal with today.  Focus 
>on
> > positive education, positive instruction, positive goals.  That is what 
>changes
> > things in positive ways.   Of course black people have struggled.  Many
> > minorities of all colors have struggled. Pioneers struggled.  Struggle 
>is a
> > part of existence.   History is important and getting history correct is
> > important.  But, be careful where you place your emphasis.  Who is to 
>say you
> > have the right call on what is exactly right in history or the exactly 
>right way
> > to record it?  You are a filter the same as any other person.  Check 
>your
> > filters.  Concern yourselves with those things about which you can do 
>something
> > constructive.   Intellectual conversation can be constructive but it 
>shouldn't
> > beat the same dead horse to death again and again. What are you trying 
>to prove?
> > Some discussions can be concluded.
> >
> > Frankly, I am very tired of reading about your soapbox on slavery. It is 
>not the
> > only wrong thing that took place  in history!   Thinking of the 
>affection of one
> > white human being for a black human being  as being comparable to the 
>way we
> > feel about our pets is the last offense for me.   You are trying to
> > intellectualize emotions in the most cruelly unemotional way.  Where is 
>your
> > personal sensitivity? Let the real psychologist ponder the emotions of 
>affection
> > between  people.  Are there no  other subjects to intellectually inspect 
>and
> > enlarge upon  than slavery?
> >
> > Loretta Kelldorf
> > NOT a Historian but a fair genealogist
> > Education : Speech and Hearing Pathology
> >                  Psychology
> >                  Special Education w/ emotionally disturbed, mentally 
>retarded,
> > language-learning
> >                  disabled.
> > Lifetime pet owner  of many wonderful companions.

_________________________________________________________________
Make every IM count. Download Messenger and join the i’m Initiative now. 
It’s free. http://im.live.com/messenger/im/home/?source=TAGHM_June07