In this day and age, newspapers rarely print fiction. Of course, there is the occasional magical story written by a third grade class that appears every once a week in the Arts and Entertainment section of the paper, but for the most part, fictional stories of real substance are not published in newspapers anymore. This was not the case in the 1800's. Appearing in The Valley Star each week was...
On September 3, future abolitionist Fredrick Douglass successfully impersonated a sailor and gained access to a train ride toward freedom. Unlike most slaves, Douglass was literate and could therefore taste the pleasures of freedom. This desire was also augmented by his location in the upper south. While such a position “eased some of the burdens of bondage,' it also increased one's...
In 1838 Iveson Lewis Brookes received a letter from his cousin, P.B. (signed with only initials) informing him that his nephew, P.B.'s son, might be moving to Augusta, Georgia for a job. Augusta was near the plantation Iveson was managing for his son in Jasper and Jones counties. We can tell from the letter that Iveson and P.B. were not particularly involved in each others' lives because...
Women must be ladies first, opined The Raleigh Register. In the event of tea this afternoon, there was a young woman partaking in activities that had attained epidemic proportions in the Raleigh city area: which is the disgusting, and vulgar act of snuff dipping. An activity that had previously been specific to males in the community, appeared to have caught on with women once thought of as respectable...
On November 9th, 1837, Mrs. Pamela Burr wrote a letter to Mary Lyon, a leader of the women’s rights leader and educator, urging her to consider her two daughters for admission to Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. The letter describes the qualifications of two young girls, Caroline and Mary Burr, in detail. Mrs. Burr says that she is not extremely wealthy but could pay tuition...
Finally, Daniel Wiggins decided to take a chance. After numerous invitations from an old Annapolis, acquaintance, Thomas Randal, the wheelwright and millwright from Maryland made the trip south to assess Jefferson, Leon, and Gadsden counties for himself. Wiggins needed a boat, a train, and a horse carriage to complete the 900 mile journey from Annapolis to Belmont, Randall's plantation just...
Unlike the Presbyterian or Episcopal Church, the Methodist Church in the 1830s did not require that its clergy be educated. In fact, education was sometimes frowned upon, particularly on the frontier where ministers rode around preaching to small communities. These ministers, called circuit riders, led a particularly dangerous life traveling through undeveloped areas. Because of the lifestyle of...
At long last George T. Ward would have his satisfaction. Ward blamed his younger brother's death on Augustus Alston. Ward's anger had been building for months but soon he would have a chance to quench insatiable desire for revenge. The venue was none other than Tallahassee's unofficial dueling ground Houston's Hill. For Ward, Alston's actions disrespected his family and violated...
As a result of increasing tensions and violence between Missouri Mormons and other populations, Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued a decree calling for their removal, and , if necessary , extermination. People charged the Mormons to be blasphemous, and suspected a Mormon plot to take over the country. When the state of Missouri failed to protect their settlements, Mormon leaders such as Sidney Rigdon...
Under Virginia law, it was legal to brand slaves on the hand until 1838. Branding on the hand was particularly important as an effective way of ensuring the failure of any future attempt at escaping bondage. On June 16, 1838, The Colored American reported that the court of Norfolk Borough had removed those odious relics of the barbarous age, the shackles and staples by which the hand of the criminal...