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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