In the 1820s-1830s slavery was the law of the land. Slave ownership emerged as a status symbol among the American gentry, particularly in the South. In the 1830s, pockets of resistance to slavery emerged among the social consciousness of some circles of the white American elite. While they found slavery morally abhorrent, many felt that the best that could be achieved in the short term was to limit its spread. As if in anticipation of this social trend, the framers of the 1787 Northwest Ordnance included language that expressly forbad slavery in the new territories. Article 6 of the Ordnance held that:There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said Territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted: provided, always, that any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid.(1)Clearly, compliance with the Ordnance meant that chattel slavery was not allowed in the Northwest Territories, which included land that eventually became the United States Lead Mines. However, in 1787 three classes of slaves already existed in the territory: those that had been held by British owners since the adoption of Jay’s Treaty of 1783; those held by French settlers prior to the cession of French territorial claims to the British; and those who emigrated to the Northwest and brought their slaves with them.(2) An examination of the United States Census of 1830 for the Lead Mine Region underscored these practices.
In Jo Daveiss County, the census taker recorded 28 slaves and 31 free blacks. Some 29 households, or 9% of the total households surveyed, claimed at least one slave and/or one free black. Thomas Killian had 6 free blacks in his household; George Davenport had four slaves. One free black man, known only as Winfred, lived with a black female, presumably his wife. The remaining 26 households had three or less slaves and/or free blacks. Some listed large numbers of people in their “family,” an indication that slaves may be part of the reason why. Among these were William Bennett William P. Tilton, John Bliss, Stephen H. Webb, and Thomas Jordan. Galena and Lead Region notables like James Soulyard, James Strode, John Atchinson and William Sublett all listed one or more slaves or free blacks.
In Iowa County, the census official counted 19 slaves and 20 free blacks. About fifteen households, or 3% of the total surveyed, claimed at least one slave and/or one free black (Iowa County had a large number of households which consisted of a single Caucasian male.) Col. Henry Dodge claimed five slaves and four free blacks; James Morrison owned six slaves; Michael Shelby, a free black man, lived with his family of five. James H. Gentry claimed two slaves, as did John B. Terry and Henry Gratiot. Notations for George Wallace Jones indicate no slaves or free blacks, yet other information including Jones’ own writings clearly established that he and his wife kept “a dozen or fifteen” slaves at Sinsinawa Mound. It is interesting to note that the census taker counted four males in William S. “Billy” Hamilton’s household, all between the ages of 25 and 30. This statistic may include Hamilton’s trusted black servant Barney Norris.(3)
Information about the slave/free black population of the Lead Region is sparse. In Galena, the April 11, 1829 edition of the Miners’ Journal carried an advertisement for “Titus,” a black runaway “about five feet—inches high, 24 years of age, light complexion, or might be called by some a dark mullatto.”(4) Henry Dodge had inherited two or perhaps three black families from his father’s estate. George Wallace Jones recalled that when Dodge left Missouri he promised to manumit those slaves who accompanied him to the new territory after five years of service.
Salina Dodge recalled that during the Black Hawk War, Dodge’s slaves and free blacks looked after the family while Dodge himself was away. ________, a Dodge granddaughter, remembered_________ . The 1840 U. S. census indicated that six free blacks were still associated with the Dodge family—four men and two women(5)
Dodge not only manumitted the three black families— Earley, Wesley and Tobey— he also granted each family 40 acres and a cabin. Upon his retirement from
public life, Dodge and his wife Christiana spent their winters with their son Augustus in Burlington, Iowa, and returned to Mineral Point in the summer. There, Dodge “received weekly visits from his former slaves and provided for their needs with money and provisions.” Many of the former slaves continued to live and work the land provided for them by the Dodges. For example Dodge’s personal servant John “Joe” Tobey accompanied him on the many campaigns of the Black Hawk War and both west to the Rocky Mountains and east to Washington D. C. For years afterward, John Tobey lived in his cabin south of present-day Dodgeville and was a favorite of the local historians. Another servant named Leah lived with the Dodges until her death. Many descendants of the Earleys, Wesleys and Tobeys moved away to Illinois or Iowa; others were still lived in the vicinity of Dodge’s Grove into the 1920s. Several lie buried in a small grave yard west of Dodge’s Grove, which today is lost to the ravages of time.(6)
We have already mentioned "Billy" Hamilton’s devoted body servant Barney Norris. It was Barney who accompanied Hamilton when the latter closed Hamilton’s Diggings and journeyed west to ply the gold-fields of California. When Hamilton died unexpectedly in 1853, Norris returned to Galena, where writer H. Scott Wolfe claimed he "became sexton of South Presbyterian Church, and a janitor in the public schools and the Post Office building." Norris lived to a ripe old age. On the occasion of his 75th birthday, Galena's notables presented him with a gold-headed cane.(7)
Late in his life, George Wallace Jones recalled: "I had liberated Paul, his three nephews, his sister Charlotte, and some seven, or eight other slaves whom I brought from the South, at their own request, to Sinsinawa Mound." One of General Jones's former slaves continued to make his home for a time near Sinsinawa Mound"
He had a large infusion of Caucasian blood, and bore the name of Proctor. He was respectable in appearance and occupation, and is remembered distinctly by former residents of Fairplay. He afterward removed to Dubuque, Iowa. It is pleasant to close this part of our narrative with these words from Alonzo Cragin, Esq., of Joplin, Missouri, formerly of Dubuque: "It was stated that the General was a kind master, and I believe it." (8)It is interesting to note that neither Henry Dodge, nor George Wallace Jones were the largest slaveholders in the region. According to an 1836 census, the federal government held sixteen slaves at Fort Crawford on the Mississippi River. Doubtless most if not all served as officer servants.
Notes.
1. Supplement to the First Volume of the Columbian Magazine, Philadelphia, 1787.
2. John N. Davidson, “Negro Slavery in Wisconsin.” (Milwaukee: Parkman Club, 1896) p. 104. Online facsimile at: http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/search.asp?id=1559 Visited on: 10/25/2007. Cited hereinafter as “Davidson.”
3. Davidson, pp. 104. In the 1836 census, Jones claimed 10 slaves in his "family." Both Hamilton and Norris were over the age of thirty at the time of the 1830 census.
4. Lucy Eldersvelt Murphy, A Gathering of Rivers, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000, p. 213, n 123.
5. Davidson, p. 126; “A Woman’s Pioneer Story.” Evening Wisconsin, February 20, 1897.
6. Edna Meudt. "A Respectful look at Henry Dodge— 150 Years Later." Wisconsin Academy Review. Madison: Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, 1977, p. 4; Davidson, pp. 125-6.
7. Scott Wolfe. “His Whole Life Vindicated.” Galena Historical Society.
8. Negro Slavery in Wisconsin and the Underground Railroad.
