Several years ago, I started looking into my family history. I’ve always wanted to know more about my ancestors and their origins, but it can be tough to trace your ancestry when your ancestors lived through slavery. Genealogy has always been fascinating to me. I always joke that if I had a past life, I was probably the keeper of village secrets – an ancient being inhabiting an old tree in some remote, mysterious location. More often than I care to admit, I’ve found myself feeling jealous of those who are featured on genealogical research shows like “Who Do You Think You Are?” and “Finding Your Roots.” So, you cannot possibly imagine how excited I was when, two years ago, I discovered that one of my ancestors had written a slave narrative.

The discovery happened completely by accident, and the narrative details some of the events that took place in the lives of my 6^th great grandfather, my 5^th great grandfather, my 4^th great grandfather, and my 3^rd great grandmother. That’s crazy! It’s been so hard to find information on my family that goes back before the mid 1800s, and so it blows my mind that I have a written account in my hand that details the stories of ancestors I never thought I’d find. You know that writing prompt we all get in middle or high school that says, “If you could sit down and talk with any dead person, who would it be and why?” I always want to sit down and talk with my ancestors. This narrative gives me the opportunity to feel a bit like I’ve done that.

Since it’s Black History month, I thought I’d spend the next few blog posts recounting the story that unfolds in this narrative – it’s got the longest title – “The Story of Mattie J. Jackson: Her Parentage, Experience of Eighteen Years in Slavery, Incidents During the War, Her Escape from Slavery: A True Story.”

Mattie begins her story by talking about her great-grandfather (my 6^th great-grandfather). She doesn’t know his name, so we’ll just be creative and call him “No-Name Jackson”. No-Name was “captured and brought from Africa” (no specific nation is mentioned), and served as a slave in New York for a slave-owner whose last name was Jackson. No-Name had a son who was born in New York – my 5^th great-grandfather. We don’t know his name, but I call him “Frostbite Jackson,” – you’ll see why.

Frostbite served as a slave in New York for thirty years before he was granted freedom and given property. Unfortunately, he was tricked by a White man who pretended to want to do business with him. The man convinced Frostbite to join him in speculation in Missouri and become wealthy. On the trip to Missouri, Frostbite fell ill with fever and went unconscious. When he woke up, the man who’d promised to be his partner had stolen Frostbite’s free papers and sold him into slavery in St. Charles, Missouri.

Frostbite attempted suicide by running away into the woods, hoping to starve and freeze to death. He was caught within a day but lost the use of his appendages due to frost-bite. He was of little use to his new slave-owner, but remained there and married a woman who was in the “same station in life.” Together, they had one son – my 4^th great grandfather and Mattie’s father – Westly Jackson.

The story that Mattie tells begins to pick up with her account of her parents. Mattie describes how her father was twenty two when he married her mother – Ellen Turner, my 4^th great grandmother. At first, though Westly and Ellen were owned by different slave-owners, they lived in the same neighborhood. Together they had three daughters. Their first daughter, Sarah Ann, died either as an infant or toddler. Their second daughter, Mattie Jane, is the author of this narrative. And their third daughter, Esther, is my direct ancestor (3^rd great grandmother).  

Five years into their marriage, in 1851, Ellen’s slave-owner (Charles Canory) moved his household to Bremen, Missouri and Westly and Ellen were separated as a result. Westly and Ellen were permitted to see one another once a week, but suddenly Westly’s slave-owner sold him to another slave-owner whose location would separate them entirely. It was at this point that Westly and Ellen planned to escape with their daughters to a free state. The night before Westly was to be delivered to his new slave-master, he was allowed to visit one last time with Ellen and their daughters. It was on this night that Westly made his escape. The plan was to escape to freedom and secure a way for Ellen and the girls to follow. Unfortunately, that’s not how things worked out.

Westly made it to Chicago, and became a preacher. Mattie mentions that her parents did not know about the underground railroad, and every attempt Westly made at securing freedom for his family was derailed. Westly died before the start of the civil war. Ellen, my 4^th great-grandmother, was left with two small daughters to look out for, but didn’t give up on her intentions to escape to a free state. I’ll share a little more in my next post about their attempts to escape slavery and the craziness that followed.  

Do you know your ancestors? I’d love to hear any stories you want to share about them!