1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,400 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:17,920 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy V. Wilson, and I honestly, 4 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:20,919 Speaker 1: Tracy could not tell you how I stumbled across this topic. 5 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:24,119 Speaker 1: It's another one of those cases where I found it 6 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:27,159 Speaker 1: scrawled in a notebook and went, I should look that 7 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 1: up and see what that was. And I was like, heavens, 8 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:32,840 Speaker 1: I should have done this forever ago. Well, and it's 9 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: it's something that when you mentioned to me a couple 10 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:36,680 Speaker 1: of weeks ago that you were thinking about it. I 11 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: was like, that name rings a strange bell that I 12 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,040 Speaker 1: can't quite place, and then googled and went, oh, right, yeah, 13 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:45,959 Speaker 1: I feel like I've had this on my potentials too. Yeah. 14 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: So we're talking about free Frank mcwarder, and his story 15 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:51,800 Speaker 1: is a really unique one because he was the first 16 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:54,360 Speaker 1: black man in the United States to design a town 17 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 1: and plot it and establish a multiracial community there. And 18 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:02,040 Speaker 1: he did this despite having been born into slavery. And 19 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:06,160 Speaker 1: his story is one of remarkable perseverance and diligence both 20 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:09,320 Speaker 1: before and after he became a free man. Frank had 21 00:01:09,319 --> 00:01:13,039 Speaker 1: to work with incredible forethought and purpose to realize his 22 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:16,320 Speaker 1: goals for himself and his family. So Frank was born 23 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 1: in seventeen seventy seven, so during the Revolutionary War that 24 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:23,440 Speaker 1: was in South Carolina on a plantation near the Palacourt 25 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: River that would geographically be in present day Union County. 26 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:31,600 Speaker 1: Frank's mother, Judah, was an enslaved woman who had been 27 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:34,319 Speaker 1: kidnapped and taken from her home in West Africa. So 28 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 1: Frank was born enslaved. It's believed that the white owner 29 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:41,840 Speaker 1: of this plantation, who was a Scott's Irish man named 30 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:46,039 Speaker 1: George mcquarter, was Frank's biological father. There's not a lot 31 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:50,600 Speaker 1: of documentation regarding Frank's childhood, although he presumably was working 32 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:54,280 Speaker 1: with all the other enslaved people on this plantation from 33 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:57,800 Speaker 1: a really young age. Information on his mother, Judah and 34 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:02,160 Speaker 1: what her fate was really doesn't exist. No once Uh, 35 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: once Frank's story shifts, Judy gets completely lost in the 36 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 1: historical record because in SEV George mcquarter and just for context, 37 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:14,160 Speaker 1: because there are two different spellings of that name, UH 38 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:17,200 Speaker 1: is M C W H O R T E R. 39 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: He purchased a tract of land in Kentucky on the 40 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 1: Green River, and that same year we know that eighteen 41 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:27,200 Speaker 1: year old Frank was also in Kentucky, presumably having been 42 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:30,880 Speaker 1: brought there by mcquarter although there is actually some confusion 43 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:34,680 Speaker 1: in existing histories about whether Frank was sold to someone 44 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: in Kentucky or whether he was still with mcgwarder and 45 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: used to settle the new land that had been acquired. 46 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:43,160 Speaker 1: I think if you look at the evidence and the 47 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:47,080 Speaker 1: pattern recognition, he was still with George mcquarter uh and 48 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:49,840 Speaker 1: mcquarterer had four enslaved people that were doing this work, 49 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 1: and he was then able to purchase additional land in 50 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:56,680 Speaker 1: the following years, using that slave labor to settle it 51 00:02:56,760 --> 00:02:59,320 Speaker 1: for farming as well. And just to be clear, this 52 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:02,160 Speaker 1: was not land that was just vacant waiting for white people. 53 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:05,560 Speaker 1: This was Indigenous land that had been seeded through treaties 54 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:08,400 Speaker 1: or otherwise taken. I don't want to get sound like 55 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: they just sort of arrived and we're like, oh, empty land. No. 56 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:16,280 Speaker 1: It definitely definitely was part of that other problematic aspect 57 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:20,079 Speaker 1: of our history of just taking indigenous people's homes. Yeah, 58 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:22,400 Speaker 1: I went down a whole huge rabbit hole when I 59 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:25,760 Speaker 1: was first reading through this, Like about the history of 60 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:28,720 Speaker 1: of land rights in Kentucky, UM, which is kind of 61 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 1: outside the scope of this podcast, but uh, it was 62 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:35,080 Speaker 1: really interesting at the same time. So, the first year 63 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:37,560 Speaker 1: that Frank was in Kentucky, he met an enslaved woman 64 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 1: named Lucy who was enslaved by William Denham, and Denham's 65 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:46,520 Speaker 1: daughter was married to George mcquarter's brother, and that connection 66 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:49,360 Speaker 1: between the two families is how Frank and Lucy came 67 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:52,800 Speaker 1: to know one another. Like Frank, Lucy had been born 68 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 1: into slavery. She was born in seventeen seventy one. Although 69 00:03:57,120 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: the union had no legal standing, Frank and Lucy mayor 70 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 1: read at least in their own eyes in seventeen ninety nine, 71 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:05,760 Speaker 1: and by all accounts they were deeply in love and 72 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:08,720 Speaker 1: incredibly devoted to one another, although they were of course 73 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 1: not allowed to live together due to their enslaved status 74 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:14,920 Speaker 1: with two separate families. One of the things that we 75 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:18,360 Speaker 1: do not often discuss on the show is how people 76 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 1: who enslaved other people felt about these marriages, and it 77 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:25,680 Speaker 1: came up in one of the biographies of Frank, and 78 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: I thought was interesting to discuss because, in short, they 79 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:30,880 Speaker 1: kind of viewed it as a way to expand their 80 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:35,760 Speaker 1: property holdings. Particularly for the person who claimed ownership of 81 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:39,280 Speaker 1: a woman who was enslaved, this could be viewed as 82 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:43,680 Speaker 1: lucrative because her children would automatically become their property. Uh 83 00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:46,400 Speaker 1: And in eighteen hundred, Frank and Lucy did have their 84 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:49,200 Speaker 1: first child, a daughter, and they named that daughter Judah, 85 00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:53,160 Speaker 1: after Frank's mother. George mcwardur hired Frank out to other 86 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:57,240 Speaker 1: landowners in Kentucky who needed labor on their own properties 87 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 1: and their own farms. And at this point in history, 88 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:04,600 Speaker 1: this rough area of Kentucky wasn't populated with many people 89 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: who had their own enslaved workforce. In eighteen hundred, the 90 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,760 Speaker 1: reported numbers were a hundred and seventy nine thousand, eight 91 00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:15,720 Speaker 1: hundred seventy three white residents in Kentucky and forty thousand, 92 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:19,960 Speaker 1: three hundred forty three enslaved people. In Pulaski County, where 93 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:23,400 Speaker 1: mcquarter's property was, there were two thousand, nine hundred twenty 94 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:26,000 Speaker 1: eight white residents on record and two hundred thirty two 95 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:29,240 Speaker 1: enslaved people. And that meant that a strong young man 96 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: like Frank was really in demand as rented labor and 97 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:36,479 Speaker 1: as a consistent revenue stream. Form AC quarter who kept 98 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:41,240 Speaker 1: purchasing hundreds and hundreds of acres of land at a time. Yeah, 99 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:44,920 Speaker 1: using the money that he was making renting Frank out 100 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:47,880 Speaker 1: as labor um as well as other people. But it 101 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:51,719 Speaker 1: is interesting and I think those those numbers when you 102 00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:55,440 Speaker 1: get to Pulaski County being so small, you realized that 103 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 1: this really was an area that was not heavily populated 104 00:05:59,880 --> 00:06:03,159 Speaker 1: all at the time. At some point in the early 105 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:06,880 Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds, Frank made an arrangement with mcgwarder that Frank 106 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:09,920 Speaker 1: could hire himself out as a laborer in his limited 107 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:12,400 Speaker 1: free time, So that meant that Frank could make his 108 00:06:12,440 --> 00:06:15,080 Speaker 1: own money, but as part of the arrangement, it also 109 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:17,480 Speaker 1: meant that he had to pay an annual fee to 110 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:21,200 Speaker 1: mcwarder for allowing him to do so. And in some 111 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 1: cases people who owned enslaved people made more money from 112 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:27,440 Speaker 1: these monthly payments than they did hiring out their enslaved 113 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:31,279 Speaker 1: workforce themselves. And since the area still needed a lot 114 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:34,479 Speaker 1: of labor because there were still a lot of white 115 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 1: people moving in and trying to set up farms, Frank 116 00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:42,120 Speaker 1: always had work in This arrangement actually would have been illegal, 117 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:45,720 Speaker 1: but in eighteen o two, Kentucky law changed to allow 118 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:49,640 Speaker 1: the direct hire of an enslaved person. However, it was 119 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:52,480 Speaker 1: still technically illegal, but both the laborer and the hirer 120 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:54,280 Speaker 1: just had to pay a fine. No one was going 121 00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:57,800 Speaker 1: to go to jail over it. This was still even 122 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:01,760 Speaker 1: paying those fines cheaper for these people than hiring free labor. 123 00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:04,560 Speaker 1: So it was a popular way for landholders to get 124 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:08,080 Speaker 1: their property cleared and settled and ready for crops. George 125 00:07:08,120 --> 00:07:10,840 Speaker 1: mcgorder didn't stay in the same place for long. He 126 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:14,640 Speaker 1: moved from his initial Pulaski County, Kentucky homestead to another 127 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:17,240 Speaker 1: one in Wayne County, and then he moved to Tennessee. 128 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:20,360 Speaker 1: But unlike when he made the move from South Carolina 129 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 1: to Kentucky, he didn't take Frank with him when he 130 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:28,400 Speaker 1: moved to Tennessee, although he was still enslaving Frank. The 131 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: mindset of mcgworder and all this is really not known, 132 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:34,960 Speaker 1: but one avenue of speculation is that he knew Frank 133 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 1: wouldn't try to escape and leave his family behind, and 134 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:42,360 Speaker 1: so he trusted him to take care of his property. Eventually, 135 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:45,520 Speaker 1: mcgwarder was aware that Frank had a plan of saving 136 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:48,880 Speaker 1: up to purchase his family's freedom, and he probably thought 137 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:52,600 Speaker 1: that Frank would never actually accomplish this task, but keeping 138 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:55,840 Speaker 1: that hope alive for him meant that Frank would keep 139 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 1: working both on the mcquarterer properties and on his own sidework. 140 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:03,240 Speaker 1: It's the stable enough situation that George mcquarter clearly did 141 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:05,440 Speaker 1: not think it was much of a gamble to leave 142 00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 1: Frank behind. Yeah, there is a lot of speculation about 143 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:13,720 Speaker 1: their relationship and what it was, and whether mcwarder knew 144 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:18,080 Speaker 1: that he was probably his biological son and what that was, 145 00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:21,760 Speaker 1: but we honestly cannot know. Uh. In the early eighteen hundreds, 146 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:24,840 Speaker 1: the demand for saltpeter was on the rise. It could, 147 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:26,960 Speaker 1: of course be used for a number of things, but 148 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: had become particularly important in the manufacture of gunpowder. That's 149 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:33,559 Speaker 1: something we talked about in our Antoine Lovoisier episode back 150 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:39,720 Speaker 1: in and Frank was insightful. He saw this rising market, 151 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:42,440 Speaker 1: and he knew that saltpeter was being mined from caves 152 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:45,440 Speaker 1: in the area. So he set up his own small 153 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:49,360 Speaker 1: business as Saltpeter Works, and he worked mcquarter's land during 154 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:51,960 Speaker 1: the day, and he worked in his small business at night, 155 00:08:52,400 --> 00:08:54,920 Speaker 1: mining the mineral nighter and then boiling it down to 156 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:58,080 Speaker 1: get the desired sodium nitrate in the War of eighteen 157 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:01,840 Speaker 1: twelve contributed to demand, and Frank was very busy rising 158 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:05,640 Speaker 1: to meet it. Two important things happened in eighteen fifteen 159 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:10,360 Speaker 1: that affected Frank's situation. First, the War of eighteen twelve ended, 160 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:13,600 Speaker 1: although the demand for salt peter didn't drop off immediately. 161 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:18,000 Speaker 1: The second was that George mcquarter died. Now while mcquarter's 162 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:20,960 Speaker 1: children said that George had intended for Frank to be 163 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:24,360 Speaker 1: manumented upon his death, and he had also told Frank 164 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:27,760 Speaker 1: that there had never been any formal will written up 165 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:32,880 Speaker 1: that specifically said that. So mcquarter's airs filed a manumission 166 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:36,640 Speaker 1: document that wasn't really that at all, stated that they 167 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:39,680 Speaker 1: intended to quote set at liberty and give freedom to 168 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:43,160 Speaker 1: a Negro slave named Frank in the state of Kentucky 169 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:47,280 Speaker 1: late the property of George mcquarter deceased if said negro 170 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:51,080 Speaker 1: gave Abner mcquarter the sum of five hundred dollars as 171 00:09:51,120 --> 00:09:54,720 Speaker 1: the price of his freedom. But that same document said 172 00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:57,720 Speaker 1: that they also wanted him to keep tending the farm 173 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:01,560 Speaker 1: in Kentucky as a condition of this array, basically making 174 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:05,000 Speaker 1: a loophole where he couldn't really be free. They also 175 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:07,400 Speaker 1: didn't think he had nearly enough money to pay that 176 00:10:07,559 --> 00:10:14,280 Speaker 1: five hundred dollar fee. Yeah, it's uh. It's interesting because 177 00:10:14,280 --> 00:10:17,720 Speaker 1: they did file documentation, which was not always common, but 178 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:20,480 Speaker 1: they also did it in a way that was really 179 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:26,760 Speaker 1: um strictly beneficial to themselves and not upholding what everybody 180 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:30,400 Speaker 1: believed that George mcwarder had actually wanted. But two years 181 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:34,880 Speaker 1: after mcward's death, Frank did buy freedom, although he did 182 00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:38,000 Speaker 1: not buy it for himself, but instead for his wife Lucy. 183 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:40,720 Speaker 1: He paid eight hundred dollars so that she could be 184 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:44,200 Speaker 1: free first. That was considered a very large sum. In 185 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:47,160 Speaker 1: the seventeen years since they had declared themselves husband and wife, 186 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:50,200 Speaker 1: Lucy and Frank had had thirteen children together, although only 187 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:54,160 Speaker 1: four of those children had survived to adulthood. In freeing Lucy, 188 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:57,240 Speaker 1: Frank was ensuring that any future children they had would 189 00:10:57,280 --> 00:11:00,440 Speaker 1: not be born into slavery, and this was actually a 190 00:11:00,559 --> 00:11:03,720 Speaker 1: rather urgent matter for the couple because Lucy was pregnant 191 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:06,800 Speaker 1: at the time. Now it is unclear if anyone outside 192 00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:09,480 Speaker 1: of Lucy and Frank knew this information when the transaction 193 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:13,000 Speaker 1: took place in April eighteen seventeen, but when their son, 194 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:15,880 Speaker 1: Squire was born in September of that year, he was 195 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:19,440 Speaker 1: born a freeman. That eight hundred dollars paid to William 196 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:22,319 Speaker 1: Denham for Lucy's release, which as I said, was considered 197 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:25,840 Speaker 1: a very high amount, has led to speculation that Denham 198 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:28,320 Speaker 1: may have actually been aware that Lucy was carrying a child. 199 00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:31,319 Speaker 1: In a moment, we will talk about how life for 200 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:35,320 Speaker 1: Frank and Lucy changed after Lucy's freedom had been bought. First, 201 00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:46,200 Speaker 1: we're going to pause for a quick sponsor break. The 202 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:49,480 Speaker 1: start of a free life for his family meant that 203 00:11:49,559 --> 00:11:53,080 Speaker 1: even though Frank himself was still enslaved, he had a 204 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:57,400 Speaker 1: wider range of options at earning money. Lucy, as a freewoman, 205 00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:00,280 Speaker 1: could legally do things that Frank could not, even she 206 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:03,480 Speaker 1: was a woman, and she was just as enterprising as 207 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:07,280 Speaker 1: her husband. Because the area of Kentucky where they lived 208 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:11,560 Speaker 1: and worked for decades was still considered frontier, enslaved people 209 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:14,080 Speaker 1: knew how to do a lot of things. They kind 210 00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:17,560 Speaker 1: of had to be jack of all trades. And just 211 00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:20,840 Speaker 1: as Frank could clear land and build houses and farm 212 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:24,880 Speaker 1: and mine, among other skills, Lucy had learned to tend fields, 213 00:12:24,880 --> 00:12:27,520 Speaker 1: but also how to weave and to spin and to knit, 214 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:30,360 Speaker 1: and she used those skills to make additional money for 215 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:32,800 Speaker 1: the family, so she would make handicrafts and sell them, 216 00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:35,720 Speaker 1: among other things. And she also took in laundry, and 217 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:38,679 Speaker 1: Frank continued to produce saltpeter on the side, and the 218 00:12:38,679 --> 00:12:41,440 Speaker 1: two of them saved as much as they could with 219 00:12:41,559 --> 00:12:45,640 Speaker 1: the intent of expanding their families freedom. Two years after 220 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:49,280 Speaker 1: Lucy became a free woman, Frank purchased his own freedom. 221 00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:53,520 Speaker 1: Mcward family demanded an additional three hundred dollars on top 222 00:12:53,559 --> 00:12:55,960 Speaker 1: of the five hundred dollars that they had stipulated in 223 00:12:55,960 --> 00:13:00,760 Speaker 1: their manumission documents. In eighteen twenty, on a federal insis record, 224 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:04,800 Speaker 1: Frank listed himself without a last name, opting instead to 225 00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 1: be recorded in the ledger as free Frank. That was 226 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:11,760 Speaker 1: largely a matter of practicality. Including the word free in 227 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:15,360 Speaker 1: his name helped to establish to everyone that he was 228 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:18,520 Speaker 1: not enslaved, and as a measure to help prevent being 229 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:22,200 Speaker 1: kidnapped by anybody claiming that they did not know that 230 00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:24,640 Speaker 1: he was a freeman. We have talked in other episodes 231 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:30,120 Speaker 1: of the show about laws that encouraged basically the kidnapping 232 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:33,720 Speaker 1: of of free black people, whether they had ever been 233 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:36,360 Speaker 1: enslaved or not, to so called return them to slavery 234 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:40,199 Speaker 1: and freedom came with some new problems, particularly because this 235 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:44,080 Speaker 1: was still a sparsely populated area so small town mindset, 236 00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:47,640 Speaker 1: and it became widely known that Frank had spent a 237 00:13:47,679 --> 00:13:51,400 Speaker 1: total of sixteen hundred dollars on his and Lucy's freedom 238 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:55,200 Speaker 1: in the course of two years. This, of course, led 239 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:58,920 Speaker 1: to speculation that Frank might have more money, which led 240 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:01,319 Speaker 1: to one of Denim's to Chldren, attempting to sue the 241 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:05,520 Speaker 1: couple in eighty three, after William Denham had died. The 242 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:08,400 Speaker 1: suit was for the sum of two hundred twelve dollars, 243 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:12,120 Speaker 1: which William's descendant, Obadiah Denham, claimed had been loaned to 244 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:14,640 Speaker 1: the couple in the years between when Lucy became a 245 00:14:14,679 --> 00:14:18,320 Speaker 1: free woman and when they purchased Frank's freedom. The couple 246 00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:21,920 Speaker 1: took the tech of not denying it because they knew 247 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:24,600 Speaker 1: that would not work, so instead they pled that Lucy, 248 00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:28,160 Speaker 1: under the law of fem coucher, where a woman's legal 249 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:32,400 Speaker 1: obligations are automatically transferred to her husband, had no responsibility 250 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:36,000 Speaker 1: for such an agreement and Frank, being enslaved at the time, 251 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:40,000 Speaker 1: could not enter into any legal contracts. She's a pretty 252 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:44,000 Speaker 1: ingenious approach to defense. This case bounced around through a 253 00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:46,360 Speaker 1: number of courts. It went through appeals and then got 254 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:49,320 Speaker 1: sent back to lower courts, but ultimately the ruling was 255 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:52,480 Speaker 1: in favor of free Frank, and in some of those 256 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:55,720 Speaker 1: documents his wife is listed as free Lucy. That case 257 00:14:55,840 --> 00:14:59,440 Speaker 1: was significant in several ways. First, that established that a 258 00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:03,240 Speaker 1: free back woman could be considered legally married even if 259 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:06,720 Speaker 1: her husband was enslaved, because she was outside the bounds 260 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:11,360 Speaker 1: placed on enslaved people by state law, those laws would 261 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:14,800 Speaker 1: have restricted their legal marriage. It also established that the 262 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:21,480 Speaker 1: civil obligations of transferred responsibility associated with fem coverture could 263 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:24,040 Speaker 1: be applied to free black women in this kind of 264 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:27,120 Speaker 1: a situation. Also, just for clarity, you will also just 265 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:30,600 Speaker 1: hear that kind of adapted that phrase to coverture when 266 00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:34,000 Speaker 1: we had Stephanie Jones Rodgers on she used that terminology, 267 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:37,000 Speaker 1: but it's the same thing. It is also worth noting 268 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:40,160 Speaker 1: that it was intensely brave for this couple to fight 269 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:43,000 Speaker 1: this whole thing in court in Kentucky, which was a 270 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:46,880 Speaker 1: slave state. Another factor in this case was that one 271 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:50,280 Speaker 1: of their sons, who was called Young Frank, was enslaved 272 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:53,000 Speaker 1: at the time by Obadiah Denim, having been born when 273 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:57,120 Speaker 1: Lucy was still considered the Denim's property, and Denim had 274 00:15:57,120 --> 00:15:59,480 Speaker 1: threatened that he would sell the twenty one year old 275 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:03,520 Speaker 1: Young Rank as a means of intimidation. However, during all 276 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:06,520 Speaker 1: of this case, Young Frank was able to make an 277 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:09,200 Speaker 1: escape and he fled to Canada, and with the young 278 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:14,320 Speaker 1: man gone, Denham had lost his most significant intimidation tactic. Incidentally, 279 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:18,280 Speaker 1: five years later, Free Frank traded his Saltpeter operation to 280 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:22,080 Speaker 1: Obadiah Denim in exchange for menu mission for Young Frank, 281 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:26,040 Speaker 1: so that transaction giving up his Salt Peter business was 282 00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:29,120 Speaker 1: not a move of desperation. It was one of so 283 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:31,880 Speaker 1: many actions that Free Frank had taken as part of 284 00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:36,000 Speaker 1: a much larger plan. As the eighteen twenties unfolded, Frank 285 00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:39,040 Speaker 1: and Lucy had decided that they wanted to leave Kentucky 286 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:42,840 Speaker 1: entirely and move their family to a free state. There 287 00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:45,880 Speaker 1: were multiple factors that fed into this decision. Other than 288 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:49,600 Speaker 1: the obvious desire to live outside of a slave state, 289 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:53,160 Speaker 1: He and Lucy had three children who had been born free. 290 00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:55,760 Speaker 1: They were growing up in a place where their future 291 00:16:55,840 --> 00:16:59,960 Speaker 1: was precarious at best, and even as a freeman, Frank 292 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:05,120 Speaker 1: knew that his own future was justice fragile. As Pulaski 293 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:08,879 Speaker 1: County had become more populated over the years, the economic 294 00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:13,160 Speaker 1: opportunities for Frank and Lucy had dwindled. There was more competition, 295 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:17,080 Speaker 1: the demand for Saltpeter had dropped off. Frank had wisely 296 00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:20,680 Speaker 1: diversified his income streams, and he made money through farming 297 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:23,639 Speaker 1: and land speculation. But he really knew those sources of 298 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:26,920 Speaker 1: money we're going to get tighter and tighter. Frank and 299 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:30,399 Speaker 1: Lucy did not hide their intentions to leave Pulaski County. 300 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:33,520 Speaker 1: They started telling people quite a while in advance, and 301 00:17:33,560 --> 00:17:37,200 Speaker 1: this was in part to protect their children who remained 302 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:41,200 Speaker 1: enslaved in Kentucky. Frank wanted to make it very very 303 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:43,919 Speaker 1: clear to the white people enslaving his family that he 304 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:48,600 Speaker 1: had every intention of purchasing his children's freedom. Frank and 305 00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:51,960 Speaker 1: Lucy were, of course, terrified that something could happen after 306 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:55,760 Speaker 1: they moved, that their surviving children, Judas, Sally, and Solomon 307 00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:58,479 Speaker 1: could potentially be sold to someone else, and that they 308 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:01,399 Speaker 1: would then lose track of them. But their hope was 309 00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:04,440 Speaker 1: that in making all of these plans openly and being 310 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:07,480 Speaker 1: very friendly about it, and maintaining assurances that they were 311 00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:09,800 Speaker 1: going to make enough income in Illinois where they planned 312 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:12,320 Speaker 1: to move to make good on their intentions, that they 313 00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:14,959 Speaker 1: would give the people who were holding their family members 314 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:17,800 Speaker 1: lives in their hands confidence that they had a sure 315 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:22,200 Speaker 1: sale in the future. Frank, ever, the planner, secured attractive 316 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:25,600 Speaker 1: land in Pike County long before he left for Illinois. 317 00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:28,960 Speaker 1: He made a trade or sale deal with a doctor 318 00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:32,280 Speaker 1: Elliott there, and this deal free Frank got a hundred 319 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:35,720 Speaker 1: and sixty acres of Illinois land, and in exchange, Dr 320 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:38,840 Speaker 1: Elliott got a parcel of Frank's land in Kentucky plus 321 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:44,280 Speaker 1: two hundred dollars. This was again all very transparent to everyone, 322 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:47,600 Speaker 1: careful signaling on Frank's part to the community that he 323 00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:50,480 Speaker 1: was leaving that he would be back for his remaining 324 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:53,960 Speaker 1: enslaved children, and to the community that he was moving 325 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:57,400 Speaker 1: to that he was a man with financial stability who 326 00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:00,680 Speaker 1: was serious about settling there. All, they sold off his 327 00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:03,480 Speaker 1: remaining assets in Kentucky for the money that he would 328 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:06,280 Speaker 1: need to get his new property up and running and 329 00:19:06,359 --> 00:19:09,800 Speaker 1: productive as a farm. All of this prep to move 330 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:12,320 Speaker 1: to Illinois was in line with the way that Frank 331 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:15,160 Speaker 1: tended to live and plan anyway, but there were very 332 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:19,080 Speaker 1: clear legal reasons for it as well. Illinois required that 333 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:21,960 Speaker 1: a free black man moving into the state needed to 334 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:25,159 Speaker 1: file their manumission documents and had to pay a bond 335 00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:29,040 Speaker 1: of one thousand dollars. That payment was intended to ensure 336 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:31,080 Speaker 1: that the person would stay out of trouble and would 337 00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:34,000 Speaker 1: not become a burden to the state, and Free Frank 338 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:36,840 Speaker 1: was in a fairly unique position to have the financial 339 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:42,440 Speaker 1: liquidity and the paperwork from mcward's family to meet these requirements. Yeah, 340 00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:45,760 Speaker 1: these kinds of requirements were not unique to Illinois, and 341 00:19:45,840 --> 00:19:50,080 Speaker 1: folks are wondering um He also had a written character 342 00:19:50,119 --> 00:19:53,280 Speaker 1: references prepared, another requirement that had been added to the 343 00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:57,360 Speaker 1: list for entry and to Illinois. Frank's official character document 344 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:01,400 Speaker 1: was stated September seven thirty and signed by nineteen residents 345 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:05,840 Speaker 1: of Pulaski County. It reads, in part quote, whereas free Frank, 346 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:08,800 Speaker 1: a man of color, intends leaving this state and we're 347 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:11,679 Speaker 1: moving to the state of Illinois. We therefore state that 348 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:14,080 Speaker 1: we have known Frank for many years, some of us 349 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:16,800 Speaker 1: upwards of twenty years, and that he has always been 350 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:20,720 Speaker 1: an honest, industrious man, punctual to his word in all 351 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:24,240 Speaker 1: of his dealings. The statement also details how Frank worked 352 00:20:24,359 --> 00:20:27,640 Speaker 1: diligently first to free his wife, then to free himself, 353 00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:31,200 Speaker 1: and states that quote Lucy has always sustained a good 354 00:20:31,280 --> 00:20:35,040 Speaker 1: character as a virtuous industrious woman. So in the fall 355 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:39,520 Speaker 1: of eighteen thirty, Frank, Lucy, and their freeborn children, Squire 356 00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:43,720 Speaker 1: Commodore and Lucy Anne, moved to Illinois in covered wagons 357 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:47,640 Speaker 1: loaded with farming tools to start a new life. Free 358 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:50,000 Speaker 1: Frank was fifty three at this time and Lucy was 359 00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:53,720 Speaker 1: fifty nine, and their freed son, Young Frank, had returned 360 00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:56,560 Speaker 1: to Kentucky from Canada after Free Frank had obtained his 361 00:20:56,600 --> 00:20:59,840 Speaker 1: manumission documentation, and he got things ready and moved with 362 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,200 Speaker 1: them as well. This entire trip had to be so 363 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:07,880 Speaker 1: thoughtfully planned. A black family traveling by wagon from Kentucky 364 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:11,000 Speaker 1: to Illinois would just not be safe if they had 365 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:14,000 Speaker 1: trusted the wrong ferryman on a river where if they 366 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:16,800 Speaker 1: drove through the wrong area, Free Frank and his family 367 00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:20,560 Speaker 1: could very well have been enslaved again. Aside from that, 368 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:23,320 Speaker 1: there was the real threat of bandits, and they had 369 00:21:23,359 --> 00:21:26,280 Speaker 1: to survive during this journey over the course of a winter. 370 00:21:27,119 --> 00:21:30,080 Speaker 1: Even after they arrived after months of traveling, they would 371 00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:33,320 Speaker 1: still have to settle the land and faced racism that 372 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:36,919 Speaker 1: was still pervasive in free states. Yeah, this is a 373 00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:40,080 Speaker 1: good time for an aside. Free states were not really free. 374 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:43,919 Speaker 1: The divide between states where slavery was legal and states 375 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:46,280 Speaker 1: where it was not is often kind of simplified in 376 00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:48,160 Speaker 1: a way that makes it easy to think of free 377 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:51,320 Speaker 1: states is more welcoming to black people than they were. 378 00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:55,320 Speaker 1: In moving to Illinois, Free Frank and his family may 379 00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:58,840 Speaker 1: have had a reduced chance of being captured and kidnapped 380 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:02,080 Speaker 1: and enslaved once again, but they also still lived twenty 381 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:04,640 Speaker 1: miles from a slave state, and it was very, very 382 00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:07,200 Speaker 1: common for black people to be captured in free states 383 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:10,119 Speaker 1: and taken to slave states. And even aside from that 384 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,119 Speaker 1: very real danger, free Frank did not have much in 385 00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:15,760 Speaker 1: the way of rights when he moved to Illinois. The 386 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:20,520 Speaker 1: eighteen eighteen Illinois Constitution forbade black men from voting, from 387 00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:24,959 Speaker 1: serving in the militia, from serving as surers, from testifying 388 00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:29,080 Speaker 1: in court cases against white people and from having access 389 00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:33,240 Speaker 1: to public education. And then there were all those requirements 390 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:36,000 Speaker 1: we mentioned just a short while ago, which were specifically 391 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:40,600 Speaker 1: designed to keep free black people from moving into the state. Additionally, 392 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:44,720 Speaker 1: the state supported the ideology of the American Colonization Society, 393 00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:48,480 Speaker 1: which wanted to resettle free black people in Africa. This 394 00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:52,320 Speaker 1: was yet another tactic intended to curtail black immigration and 395 00:22:52,359 --> 00:22:56,200 Speaker 1: settlement in the state. But despite all of those barriers, 396 00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:59,760 Speaker 1: Frank had seen the potential to acquire property and build 397 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:03,000 Speaker 1: a life in Illinois, and he was undaunted. And we're 398 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:04,840 Speaker 1: going to talk about how things played out once he 399 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:07,399 Speaker 1: and the family got there. After we paused for a 400 00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:19,359 Speaker 1: word from our sponsors. When Free Frank arrived in Illinois 401 00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:22,480 Speaker 1: with the intent to settle in Hadley Township, he first 402 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:25,000 Speaker 1: went to the Pike County Clerk to file all of 403 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:28,480 Speaker 1: that required paperwork, And in Free Frank's case, he was 404 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:31,840 Speaker 1: expected because his land purchase had already been recorded, so 405 00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:34,560 Speaker 1: they knew that he and his family was coming. And 406 00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:38,399 Speaker 1: then the entire Frank family put all of the experience 407 00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:42,240 Speaker 1: they had from settling farms for their white enslavers to 408 00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:45,880 Speaker 1: work getting their own farm in order. In the first year, 409 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:49,240 Speaker 1: they just focused on subsistence farming and storing enough food 410 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:51,720 Speaker 1: to get them through the next winter, and then they 411 00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:55,679 Speaker 1: started focusing on cash farming. In the following years, Lucy 412 00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:58,720 Speaker 1: and Frank, who were Baptists, found a certain degree of 413 00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:01,680 Speaker 1: social and religious access updance from some of the neighboring 414 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:05,320 Speaker 1: white farmers through their regular attendance of services at one 415 00:24:05,359 --> 00:24:09,160 Speaker 1: of the settlers homes nearby. Free Frank was, as has 416 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:13,080 Speaker 1: been obvious, enterprising. In eighteen thirty four, he realized that 417 00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:15,879 Speaker 1: there was a need for a road to Atlas to 418 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:18,840 Speaker 1: the west so that produce and livestock could be shipped 419 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:22,880 Speaker 1: along the river, so he started clearing one himself. Once 420 00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:25,240 Speaker 1: he had the road cleared, all the farmers started to 421 00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:28,080 Speaker 1: use it. In eighteen thirty six, the State Act was 422 00:24:28,119 --> 00:24:30,800 Speaker 1: passed to complete the road and make it a public highway. 423 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:34,080 Speaker 1: In eighteen thirty five, in the midst of all of that, 424 00:24:34,119 --> 00:24:37,359 Speaker 1: Frank made a return trip to Kentucky, having saved up 425 00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:40,200 Speaker 1: enough money to purchase the freedom of his son Solomon. 426 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:43,199 Speaker 1: But when he got to Pulaski County, he discovered that 427 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:45,560 Speaker 1: Solomon had been sold one of the things he and 428 00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:48,560 Speaker 1: Lucy had been afraid of, but Free Frank was able 429 00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:51,679 Speaker 1: to locate the purchaser who lived nearby, and he was 430 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:54,560 Speaker 1: able to convince him to let him secure his son's 431 00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:58,280 Speaker 1: freedom for the price of five fifty dollars. Also in 432 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:00,760 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty five, Free franc A quired a plot of 433 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:04,280 Speaker 1: land from the federal government for a hundred dollars that 434 00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:08,000 Speaker 1: was eighty acres in size. While he planned to continue 435 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:12,000 Speaker 1: to make land investments, his biggest priority had been freeing 436 00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:15,520 Speaker 1: Solomon for using his money, and he continued for years 437 00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:19,040 Speaker 1: to balance the goals of freeing his remaining family members 438 00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:21,320 Speaker 1: and ensuring that he was building a life and a 439 00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:24,400 Speaker 1: home for them once they were free. But that particular 440 00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:28,000 Speaker 1: plot of land would become significant as his landholdings grew 441 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:31,080 Speaker 1: and Free Frank worked to establish himself and his family 442 00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:33,920 Speaker 1: in their new state. He became aware that it was 443 00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:36,040 Speaker 1: going to be really beneficial to him if he could 444 00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:39,320 Speaker 1: adopt a legal surname as a means of ensuring that 445 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:41,600 Speaker 1: no one could question the deeds on any of his 446 00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:45,040 Speaker 1: property or any other of his legal dealings. So in 447 00:25:45,119 --> 00:25:47,800 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty six, he petitioned to have his name legally 448 00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:50,760 Speaker 1: changed to Frank mcwarder. In this case, he left the 449 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:53,240 Speaker 1: H out of that last name. That's a variation on 450 00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:57,040 Speaker 1: the spelling of the person who had enslaved him. There 451 00:25:57,040 --> 00:25:59,960 Speaker 1: has been so much speculation over this choice, but there 452 00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:02,800 Speaker 1: is no real record of Frank's actual line of thought 453 00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:06,400 Speaker 1: and what led him to that decision. Clearer though, we're 454 00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:10,000 Speaker 1: Frank's legal desires. As soon as the name change was complete, 455 00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:13,280 Speaker 1: Frank mcgworder made a second petition to request that he'd 456 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:16,840 Speaker 1: be given additional legal rights, including the right to purchase 457 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:20,119 Speaker 1: property in that name and to participate in legal actions. 458 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:23,840 Speaker 1: The State of Illinois General Assembly approved the petitions, and 459 00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:27,040 Speaker 1: he went from free Frank to Frank mcgworder, and all 460 00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:29,280 Speaker 1: of his children were given that last name as well, 461 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:33,520 Speaker 1: and his legal rights as a free black man expanded considerably. 462 00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:37,760 Speaker 1: In eighteen thirty six, after his name changed, Frank mcwarter 463 00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:41,080 Speaker 1: submitted a platte for a new township on the land 464 00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:44,000 Speaker 1: he had purchased from the government, and that was where 465 00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:47,919 Speaker 1: he founded New Philadelphia. The town plaque that he registered 466 00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:50,480 Speaker 1: with the state featured a hundred and forty four plots 467 00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:54,359 Speaker 1: with a connected roadway system, and starting in April of 468 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:57,920 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty seven, the lots of New Philadelphia began to sell, 469 00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:01,080 Speaker 1: and the purchasers of those laws were a mix of 470 00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:04,600 Speaker 1: black and white. New Philadelphia was the first town in 471 00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:07,280 Speaker 1: the US planned and established by a black man, and 472 00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:10,359 Speaker 1: as it developed, it was integrated, with black and white 473 00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:13,720 Speaker 1: residents living side by side and the children all attending 474 00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:17,760 Speaker 1: one school. It was not entirely integrated. The cemeteries were 475 00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:21,680 Speaker 1: still segregated. As the town grew, Frank once again looked 476 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:24,680 Speaker 1: to the future in terms of ensuring his family's welfare. 477 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:27,840 Speaker 1: He wanted to make sure that if anything happened to him, 478 00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:32,040 Speaker 1: Lucy would be protected and could inherit his land. So 479 00:27:32,119 --> 00:27:35,720 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty nine, Frank and Lucy were finally legally 480 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:40,800 Speaker 1: married under Illinois state law in an actual formal ceremony. 481 00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:43,800 Speaker 1: When Frank was asked during the ceremony if he would love, 482 00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:46,960 Speaker 1: cherish and support his bride, he replied, why, God, bless 483 00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:50,200 Speaker 1: your soul. I've done that for the last forty years. 484 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:54,280 Speaker 1: The sweetest thing uh New Philadelphia continued to grow in 485 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:56,800 Speaker 1: the years leading up to the Civil War, though the 486 00:27:56,840 --> 00:27:59,400 Speaker 1: region on that border of Illinois in the slave state 487 00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:02,560 Speaker 1: of Missouri. It was in a state of conflict between 488 00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:08,360 Speaker 1: pro slavery factions and abolitionists. Even so, New Philadelphia, still 489 00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:11,760 Speaker 1: a small farming community, made it through the war and 490 00:28:12,119 --> 00:28:15,960 Speaker 1: saw a bit of a surgeon residence. After emancipation in 491 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:18,639 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty five, the town was at its largest, with 492 00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:22,200 Speaker 1: one hundred sixty residents and a variety of small businesses. 493 00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:26,200 Speaker 1: The promise of a railroad in Pike County, Illinois, offered 494 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:30,000 Speaker 1: hopes for even greater prosperity, but when the rail line 495 00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:32,199 Speaker 1: was laid at the end of the eighteen sixties, it 496 00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:36,520 Speaker 1: bypassed New Philadelphia. While many households hung on there. This 497 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:40,440 Speaker 1: ultimately doomed the small town. It just was obsolete. New 498 00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:44,360 Speaker 1: Philadelphia slowly declined as the nineteenth century progressed, and by 499 00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:47,000 Speaker 1: the middle of the eighteen eighties there weren't many members 500 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:50,960 Speaker 1: of the village left. In the half century from eighteen 501 00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:55,120 Speaker 1: ninety to nineteen forty, New Philadelphia really vanished into history, 502 00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:59,360 Speaker 1: as abandoned buildings spelled down and wild native flora grew 503 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:02,440 Speaker 1: over the cross and the roads. Frank had lived in 504 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:05,120 Speaker 1: New Philadelphia for the remainder of his life until he 505 00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:09,040 Speaker 1: died on September seven, eighteen fifty four. Throughout the years 506 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:13,600 Speaker 1: from eighteen seventeen to eighteen fifty seven, Frank mcwardo worked 507 00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:16,160 Speaker 1: tirelessly to keep his family together and to free the 508 00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:19,120 Speaker 1: ones who had been enslaved. You'll notice that's three years 509 00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:22,840 Speaker 1: past when he died, but we will explain Ultimately he 510 00:29:22,920 --> 00:29:26,680 Speaker 1: had personally purchased the freedom of nine people, including Lucy 511 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:30,800 Speaker 1: and himself, and this included grandchildren that his daughters had 512 00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:34,360 Speaker 1: while they were enslaved. Judah, Lucy and Frank's oldest daughter, 513 00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:38,240 Speaker 1: was finally freed when she was fifty, but even after 514 00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:41,800 Speaker 1: he died, Frank's family continued his efforts to free the 515 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:46,360 Speaker 1: entire family. Seven more people, Frank and Lucy's grandchildren and 516 00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:49,080 Speaker 1: great grandchildren were freed with the money that he had 517 00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:52,080 Speaker 1: left behind and from sales of land that he had 518 00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:54,880 Speaker 1: left his children uh in those three years after his 519 00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:58,360 Speaker 1: death and over the years, the general tally is that 520 00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:03,520 Speaker 1: the family's freedom had cost thousand dollars again in eighteen fifties. Total. 521 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:07,040 Speaker 1: That is a great deal more today. In recent years, 522 00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:11,280 Speaker 1: New Philadelphia has been the focus of ongoing archaeological projects 523 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:15,000 Speaker 1: and efforts to have it recognized for its historical significance. 524 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:19,560 Speaker 1: Frank and Lucy mcwarter's descendants have been involved in those efforts, 525 00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:22,520 Speaker 1: ensuring that the family's history is part of that discussion, 526 00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:25,800 Speaker 1: and New Philadelphia was listed on the National Register of 527 00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:29,640 Speaker 1: Historic Places in two thousand five. In two thousand nine, 528 00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:34,000 Speaker 1: it was designated a National Historic Landmark. The National Park 529 00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:37,479 Speaker 1: Service made it part of their National Underground Railroad Network 530 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:40,640 Speaker 1: to Freedom program in ten and it is believed to 531 00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:43,840 Speaker 1: have been part of that network, but national park status 532 00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:48,760 Speaker 1: for the site has remained elusive. In a preliminary reconnaissance 533 00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:51,880 Speaker 1: survey of New Philadelphia was conducted by the National Park 534 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:55,680 Speaker 1: Service and their recommendation was that the site had issues 535 00:30:55,720 --> 00:31:00,000 Speaker 1: of feasibility for needed staffing and also creating quote opportunity 536 00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:03,320 Speaker 1: used for public enjoyment at the site, although it was 537 00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:06,640 Speaker 1: also noted that the site holds special meaning for people, 538 00:31:06,800 --> 00:31:09,480 Speaker 1: so it should be supported through quote local, state, and 539 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:13,000 Speaker 1: or nonprofit efforts to continue to preserve and interpret the 540 00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:18,360 Speaker 1: story of New Philadelphia. Free Frank, Yeah, and they're really 541 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:23,440 Speaker 1: cool legacy. Yeah. I love that story. It's one of 542 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:28,000 Speaker 1: those things where, um, on the one hand, you wanna 543 00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:30,360 Speaker 1: find it uplifting and amazing, and on the other you're 544 00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:33,400 Speaker 1: like this person had to do so much to to 545 00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:38,640 Speaker 1: get to like level. Yeah. Well, and it it illustrates 546 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:41,720 Speaker 1: for me that there were a lot of different ways 547 00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:49,160 Speaker 1: that enslaved people resisted what was happening. Like, uh, we 548 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:51,320 Speaker 1: have talked about a lot of different things on the 549 00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:56,160 Speaker 1: show about people um escaping from slavery, about people liberating 550 00:31:56,200 --> 00:32:00,280 Speaker 1: themselves from slavery, about slave uprisings, like a a lot 551 00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:04,240 Speaker 1: of different ways um to resist and to have agency. 552 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:06,760 Speaker 1: And this is one of the examples of how that 553 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:11,640 Speaker 1: could be really complicated because like Frank was doing so 554 00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:14,880 Speaker 1: much to free himself and his family, but in order 555 00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:16,560 Speaker 1: to do that, like he kind of had to buy 556 00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:19,160 Speaker 1: into the system, Like he had to pay money into 557 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:23,040 Speaker 1: the system that was enslaving him, which is uh, like 558 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:25,360 Speaker 1: it's that has come up on the show before. I 559 00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:28,200 Speaker 1: feel like it came up in the Frederick Douglas episode, 560 00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:33,080 Speaker 1: but I could be misremembering um that Like like that 561 00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:37,080 Speaker 1: that was criticized sometimes within abolitionist communities of like why 562 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:39,520 Speaker 1: are you why are you buying into this in order 563 00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:41,960 Speaker 1: to free your family because it was like it was complicated, 564 00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:46,240 Speaker 1: that was the option that he had. Yeah, yeah, Um, 565 00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:50,520 Speaker 1: I'm kind of bummed it's not a national park, but 566 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:52,880 Speaker 1: you never know. I suppose it could happen in the future, 567 00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:58,880 Speaker 1: but I'm I'm not. I'm not expecting it. UM. I 568 00:32:58,920 --> 00:33:02,000 Speaker 1: have a very briefless their mail. Uh. This is from 569 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:04,600 Speaker 1: our listener, Eric, and it refers to both episodes that 570 00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:07,440 Speaker 1: you've done the research on and one that I worked on, 571 00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:10,040 Speaker 1: and he writes, thank you for two things. One for 572 00:33:10,120 --> 00:33:13,240 Speaker 1: doing a segment on the public universal friend a personage 573 00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:15,840 Speaker 1: who mostly turns up an anecdotal history books such as 574 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:18,040 Speaker 1: those by Carl Karmer, or we get a picture of 575 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:22,680 Speaker 1: someone vague and eccentric driving about in a moon shaped carriage. Uh. 576 00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:26,000 Speaker 1: And then two for to mon Bay marvelous. I have 577 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:28,440 Speaker 1: been three seasons and have found that season four is 578 00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:31,760 Speaker 1: currently streaming on the BBC. The Game of Thrones comparison 579 00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:33,880 Speaker 1: is apt. No character is to be trusted or to 580 00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:37,920 Speaker 1: be underestimated. Keep up the very fine work, Eric, and 581 00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:41,280 Speaker 1: I mostly wanted to do this to say, like, uh 582 00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:44,680 Speaker 1: for two Monbai, don't don't thank me except unless you're 583 00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:48,120 Speaker 1: thanking me for bringing it to your attention, because I 584 00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:50,520 Speaker 1: think I technically have a credit on it that show 585 00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:53,680 Speaker 1: under the I Heart distribution. But that is all John 586 00:33:53,720 --> 00:33:56,760 Speaker 1: Dryden's work and his amazing team, so they put together 587 00:33:56,760 --> 00:33:58,920 Speaker 1: something early special there. If you have not checked it out, 588 00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:01,440 Speaker 1: you should do it um. If you would like to 589 00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:03,200 Speaker 1: write to us, you should also do that. You can 590 00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:06,240 Speaker 1: do that at History Podcast at iHeart radio dot com. 591 00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:08,560 Speaker 1: You can also find us on social media as Missed 592 00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:11,280 Speaker 1: in History. If you would like to subscribe to the podcast, 593 00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:13,759 Speaker 1: it is easy, Peasy, rice and Cheesy, you can do 594 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:15,880 Speaker 1: that on the I heart Radio app, at Apple podcast 595 00:34:16,040 --> 00:34:23,000 Speaker 1: or wherever it is you listen. Stuff you Missed in 596 00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:25,799 Speaker 1: History Class is a production of I heart Radio. For 597 00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:28,560 Speaker 1: more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart 598 00:34:28,640 --> 00:34:31,759 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 599 00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:32,480 Speaker 1: favorite shows.