Oct 12, 2017 Orange County Review
The work of the African American Descendants’ Quest is never ending and far more work than one researcher can possibly accomplish. I have re-launched research on a remarkable story by anyone’s standard. The working title is the “Louisiana 16.”
You may wonder what the fuss is all about. Think on this: if your ancestors, though relegated to a state of obscurity, were consistently characterized as lazy and shiftless with no ambition or will, lacking any family values as well as a deficient intellect, would you accept that without question? Would you not want to explore the basis for that portrayal?
Consider also the loss of familial heritage resulting from the sale of enslaved people and the subsequent wrenching apart of thousands of black families, many who will be forever lost. But not all!
For those immersed in this challenging, disheartening, uplifting, frustrating and gratifying undertaking, it is a quest for truth and reconciliation.
Let’s get to it.
Last winter, the Montpelier Foundation funded an initial investigation into the facts that surrounded the sale of a purported 16 slaves by James Madison to William Taylor in 1834. Archived correspondence related to James Madison, Dolley Madison and William Taylor indicated that the sale was Madison’s last resort to raise funds to satisfy his debts— the effort garnered limited success. The enslaved were sold to William Taylor and relocated to a plantation in Louisiana. There was a single first name mentioned and we approximated the age of those who were selected as workers in an up-and-running sugar and cotton operation. An analysis of the record allows a reasonable speculation as to when the transaction took place and their approximate period of travel. That was the sum of the data when the project began.
The research conducted last winter was extremely beneficial. However, there are Louisiana repositories begging for examination, places to explore and people to interview before this researcher is satisfied. It is that very work that I now undertake on my own.
Documentation in the Orange County Courthouse regarding the sale is non-existent.
In Louisiana, as in other states, slave holders were taxed on the number of slaves and one would expect to find records of this nature. Also, one piece of legislation in the early 1830s required Louisiana residents to report to the local judges whenever they brought slaves in from another state for personal use rather than sale. New research strives to discover documents in Louisiana that recorded the sale or the registration of the slaves purchased by Taylor from Madison.
The 1870 Census for the relevant parish in Louisiana finds several individuals living near or next to William Taylor’s plantation whose names correspond accurately with the names of slaves identified in Taylor’s diary and in his will.
The same census indicates birth years matching those that we had estimated and the place of birth was Virginia. Is that enough to state unequivocally that these few were from Montpelier? Unfortunately, the answer is “no.”
I am haunted by the question, “How did they get from Orange to the plantation in Louisiana?” Did they travel by boat, on foot or a combination of the two? I have a theory that requires a comprehensive examination of Louisiana law in 1834. Regardless of findings, I will be driving both hypothesized routes.
We may never have more than a preponderance of evidence, but not all potential records have been declared non-existent. Today’s column is barely the tip of the iceberg and I intend to keep you duly informed, including the identification of living descendants now on my radar.
Until next week, be well.
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