Episodes Nearest to April 1, 1825 to April 30, 1825: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Christian Women and Fashion
    date April, 1825map SUFFOLK, Massachusettstags Church/Religious-Activity, Women

    In an 1825 essay entitled "The Female Character," a Dr. Springs wrote "a Christian woman ought to be distinguishable by her simplicity." The desire for simplicity was a common trend seen in many Christian communities in the early to mid 1800's. For many, clothing choice reflected how a woman was viewed by her society. In early American Christian towns men wanted their wives and daughters to...

  2. The Murder that Shocked Fairfax
    date March 22, 1825map FAIRFAX, Virginiatags Crime/Violence, Health/Death

    William Simpson, a prominent slave trader who resided in Fairfax County, was murdered in Centreville, Virginia. He was brutally shot in the head with a pistol and stabbed. He was also robbed of a reported 1600. The notes were from the Bank of Virginia. His body was found dumped near a road. According to witnesses, Simpson and the man later revealed as his murderer, William F. Hoose, spent two days...

  3. Creek Attack
    date May 25, 1825map BALDWIN, Georgiatags Crime/Violence, Native-Americans, War

    In late April 1825, with the murder of William McIntosh and his brother Samuel Hawkins fresh on his mind, Benjamin Hawkins carefully rode his horses back towards his hometown of Montgomery, Georgia, in the fear of suffering a similar fate on his brother. Suddenly, he came upon a party of twenty Creek Indians within ten short steps of their horses. Frightened, a cousin of Hawkins? abruptly fired...

  4. Gooch on Slaveholding
    date February 23, 1825map HENRICO, Virginiatags African-Americans, Government, Race-Relations, Slavery

    In response to John Floyd (whom had written him in correspondence just six days prior), C.W. Gooch wrote a letter in the winter of 1825 on the issue of slaveholding in Virginia and the South. Gooch believed that the subject of slaveholding states rights' was not getting enough attention from southern politicians. Throughout the letter Gooch argued against the intrusive interference of our northern...

  5. A Missionary's View of the Choctaw Nation in 1825
    date February 15, 1825map INDIAN LANDS, Mississippitags Native-Americans, Church/Religious-Activity

    In February of 1825 the Western Recorder published an extract from a letter describing the current state of the Choctaw Indians. The missionary L.S. Williams wrote the letter in December of 1824 after having lived with the Choctaw for almost eight years. He wrote that the human nature he saw in the Choctaw nation was lower than any he had previously witnessed. He regarded the Indians as ignorant,...

  6. Reverend L. D. Dewey Writes to Support Colonization
    date June, 1825 to 1825map BALTIMORE, Marylandtags Slavery, Race Relations

    As the Reverend L. D. Dewey wrote to Reverend W. M'Kenney from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, he reflected upon his observations from the African colony he had just visited. The letter he produced in June 1825 portrayed sentiments expressed throughout the nation at the time on African colonization. He described the colony of Haiti in the most positive light, depicting the colony as a haven...

  7. Affairs of the Creek Indians
    date June 21, 1825map BALDWIN, Georgiatags Crime/Violence, Native-Americans, Race-Relations, War

    Few men had the leadership skills of General William McIntosh. His illustrious military career included leading the Creeks against the British in the War of 1812, defeating the Upper Creek Indians against their Lower Creek foes in the Creek Civil War, and heading a national police force to continue the fight against the Upper Creeks. Yet, these military conquests also created many enemies, especially...

  8. Marriage as an Institution in the Antebellum South
    date 1825map HANOVER, Virginiatags Church/Religious-Activity, Women

    Helen Lane and Arthur S. Johns requested the presence of John Ambler and his family to their Tuesday morning wedding in the area of Louisa and Hanover counties. The bride's family sent out the invitation and they requested that the Ambler family attend the wedding. The ceremony was scheduled for Tuesday morning at nine am.

    Weddings traditionally took place within the community and then...

  9. The Birth of the Petersburg Benevolent Mechanics Association
    date 1825map DINWIDDIE, Virginiatags Economy, Education

    A cold January day in 1825, 32 Petersburg men gathered in a Petersburg Tavern with the future on their minds. The skilled merchants of Petersburg formed the Benevolent Mechanics Association. They were made up of a variety of skilled craftsmen which included tailors, blacksmiths, watchmakers, bookbinders, tanners, and more. The first initiative of the Association was purchasing a library for apprentices...

  10. Plantation Women
    date 1825map FELICIANA, Louisianatags Women

    Life on a plantation during the nineteenth century has been dramatized by the movies today to show a picturesque world. In reality, it could be a very harsh world to live in where the profits were not always as high as expected and tragedies often occurred. Caroline Merrick remembered a very early childhood that was fraught with such tragedy. At an early age on a plantation in Louisiana, her mother...

  11. Ghost Story: The Strange Case of the McChesney Household
    date 1825map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Race-Relations, Slavery

    It was 1825, and strange happenings were occurring around the house of Dr. John McChesney in Augusta County, Virginia. According to the Annals of Augusta County, a historical record of the County, it all had started when Maria, one of Dr. McChesney's enslaved children, came to dinner one night very much frightened, apparently having been chased by an old woman with her head tied up....

  12. Transportation of US Mail Between Baltimore and Philadelphia
    date 1825map BALTIMORE, Marylandtags Government, Migration/Transportation

    On January 29th, 1825, Postmaster General John McLean wrote a letter to Henry Clay, Speaker of the House of Representatives, explaining the horrible traveling conditions that had to be endured to carry the mail between Baltimore, Maryland, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. McLean discussed the horrendous traveling circumstances during the winter and spring seasons when crossing the different rivers...

  13. The Impact of Illness
    date August 22, 1825map RICHMOND, Virginiatags Health/Death

    When Nancy Carr, the grand-niece of Thomas Jefferson, wrote to her good friend Elizabeth Coatler, of Spotsylvania, on August 22, 1825, the tone of her writing was a somber one. Carr had just returned from nursing her cousin, Maria, who was sick with a fever. The threats of illness and death were prominent in her words. At this time, the term "fever" was used to describe almost every kind of dangerous...

  14. Liberation of Slaves and Colonization in Liberia in 1825
    date September 3, 1825map PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvaniatags Slavery, African-Americans

    In 1825, Christian groups and colonization societies in America advocated for freed African Americans to colonize land in Liberia as an alternative to emancipate slaves in America. Religious groups expressed their sentiments in publication including the Christian Register, which published an article in an issued dated September 3, 1825. The article argued for the transportation of slaves to...

  15. Daniel Raymond and Anti-Slavery Maryland
    date September 24, 1825map BALTIMORE, Marylandtags Anti-slavery, Maryland

     

    In Maryland in 1825, an anti-slavery candidate emerged from the city of Baltimore named Daniel Raymond. Seeking a position in the Maryland General Assembly, Raymond was highly publicized in the anti-slavery circles in Maryland. One such publication, the Genius of Universal Emancipation and Baltimore Courier touted Raymond’s disdain for slavery and his support of gradual emancipation....

  16. The Marquis de Lafayette Visits Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia
    date October 19, 1824 to October 27, 1824map NORFOLK CITY, Virginiatags Arts/Leisure, Economy, Urban-Life/Boosterism, War

    Although a Frenchmen, the Marquis de Lafayette was a man dear to the hearts of many Americans in the early nineteenth century. He led American troops into battle during the Revolution, had sustained a wound at the Battle of Brandywine, and was instrumental in encouraging the participation of the French forces in the siege of Yorktown which led to the surrender of the British in 1781. Lafayette was...

  17. The Backcountry of Central Mississippi
    date October 16, 1825map MADISON, Mississippitags Agriculture, Health/Death

    In a letter to his brother, Dr. Philip Klipstein the postmaster of New Baltimore Virginia, Elijah Thomhill recounted the perils of Mississippi living: Times now are very sickly, ie it was in the latter part of the summer but it is now getting more healthy. I have had a spell of the ague and fever. John also has been sick- George has been sick with the bilibious(?) fever and been well almost ever...

  18. A New Route to New Orleans
    date October 24, 1825map HINDS, Mississippitags Government, Migration/Transportation

    In late October of 1825, Secretary of War James Barbour wrote from Washington to the governor of Mississippi soliciting his help. Two military surveyors were to examine a new route from Rock Fish Gap in the Shenandoah Mountains of Virginia through Knoxville, Tennessee and down through the state of Mississippi on towards New Orleans. These men, Captain Poupin, a topographer and engineer and his...

  19. Robbery in Jackson
    date September 11, 1824 to September 12, 1824map INDIAN LANDS, Tennesseetags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Race-Relations, Slavery

    Although Jackson was one of the largest cities in Tennessee, it was not one of the most dangerous. However, in September 1824, two little boys from a well-known family in the area, the Joshua Haskell's family, were accosted by a runaway slave on their way to school. He first spoke to them then grabbed their dinner-basket. Fortunately, he let them leave and the two little boys managed to arrive...

  20. Methods of Shipment and Transportation throughout the South
    date November 21, 1825map ADAMS, Mississippitags Migration/Transportation

    The country is new, timber plenty, cheep, convenient; and consequentially we have, on good terms, the best materials for building bridges and causeways stated the author of a Mississippi newspaper article. People began settling throughout the east coast, transforming transportation into an extremely important part of life. Consequently, as the economy began to bloom, items needed to be brought to...

  21. Annabella Porter Sells Cotton to Joseph Gammill
    date June 21, 1824 to September 21, 1824map MORGAN, Georgiatags Agriculture, Economy, Women

    During the summer of 1824, Annabella Porter sold seven bales of cotton to Joseph Gammill. She grew the cotton on her and her husband's plantation, Poplar Grove in Morgan County. The bales sold in two different bundles. The first totaled 1,399 lbs and the second added to 1,012 lbs, and Gammill paid 184.96 and 105.63, respectively. Mrs. Porter also subtracted on several charges because she paid...

  22. Crop Diversity in Agricultural Virginia
    date July 31, 1824map RICHMOND, Virginiatags Agriculture, Economy

    "You wish to know how the Virginians live" wrote L.W. Howe to his brother John, of Enfield, Massachusetts on July 31, 1824. In meeting his brother's request, L.W. certainly provided an extensive account of the principal facets of life in the state of Virginia. Not only did he recount that the preferred beverage of the state was Whiskey, but he was mystified by the details of cooking...

  23. Creditors, Debtors and Land Disputes
    date January 7, 1826map WASHINGTON, Virginiatags Economy, Law

    Mathew Buchanan's letter in 1826 nervously mentioned intelligence that Thomas Edmiston's heirs were trying to take over his land in Washington County, Virginia. He would not give up his land without a fight, but one small problem arose. He had no proof that he owned it. Buchanan found out that land dealings could get nasty. Initially, he had partnered with Thomas Edmiston to purchase a piece...

  24. Virginia Gazette: Epic of a Small-Time Newspaper
    date January 7, 1826map FAUQUIER, Virginiatags African-Americans, Agriculture, Arts/Leisure, Economy, Race-Relations, Slavery

    A man swept into a dimly lit tavern and muttered, "Whiskey," in a hoarse voice before collapsing into a creaky wooden chair. On the table next to him lay a folded newspaper with the day's date. He snatched up the paper, the Virginia Gazette, and began leafing through it. He nodded to himself when he read that in North Carolina some planters held a contest to see whose slaves could...

  25. The Election of 1824 in the Seminole Nation
    date 1824map Florida, Floridatags Government, Politics, Native-Americans, Race-Relations

    After the First Seminole War and the United States' acquisition of Florida, the U.S. Government encouraged the self-governance of the Seminoles as a united tribe. As 1823 turned to 1824, Neamathla was the head chief of the Seminole Nation. This would not last, however. By July, he had been removed by the United States because of growing tension between him and the governor of the Florida territory,...