USA > Illinois > Jersey County > History of Jersey County, Illinois > Part 17
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COLORED BOY PURCHASED FOR $100.00
Upon one of these trips, when returning with a wagon and team, conveying a white family, having stopped in Washington City for a short time, he crossed the Potomac River into Virginia, and while passing a plantation, heard the distressing cries of a child. These continued with such vehemence that he finally turned his horse and rode up to the dwelling house, to ascertain the occasion of the trouble, and, if possible, assist in its relief.
Upon inquiry, he was informed that a day or two before the master had sold the child's mother to a trader to be taken south, and that from the time that the mother had been taken away, the child had continued to cry and lament, and that they had been unable to do anything to assuage or quiet his grief, that they were afraid that the child would grieve himself to death.
After consultation over the matter for some time, Dr. Hamilton pur- chased the boy "George" for $100.00. His master's name being Wash- ington, from that time the boy, who was the subject of this sketch, was named "George Washington."
Dr. Hamilton took his purchase in his wagon, telling him he would take him south, and perhaps they might be able to find his mother. After a time the boy became reconciled, and was taken to the Mississippi plantation, and remained there until his new master finally concluded that the object of his experiment was a failure, in so far as it was intended to influence his neighbor planters to modify and ameliorate the inhuman treatment of their slaves was concerned.
At the time mentioned, and thence to the Civil War, the border states of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri, were the
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HISTORY OF JERSEY COUNTY
breeding grounds that furnished the slaves for the cotton, sugar and rice plantations of the "Black Belt" of the south. Slaves markets were then as common as horse and cattle markets are now. Slaves, male and female, were as openly examined and handled by traders and purchasers to ascertain as to the soundness of their bodies, muscles, limbs, teeth and eyes, as traders and purchasers now examine horses, mules and cattle. And in many instances breeders, in their anxiety to succeed financially, sold their own flesh and blood. Slave auctions were then held in all of the large cities of the slave states.
DR. HAMILTON GOES TO ILLINOIS
In 1830, Dr. Hamilton, having decided to give up his Mississippi experiment and remove to the north where social life and conditions were more congenial, went to the home of his nephew, Thomas M. Hamilton (grandfather of the writer), who, with his parents, had removed from Vermont to the Territory of Ohio, with the "Ohio Com- pany" in 1792, and settled upon the Muskingum River and remained there until the winter of 1817-18, when he built a flatboat and loaded his family and effects thereon, and went thence down the Muskingum and Ohio rivers to Cairo and up the Mississippi River to Kaskaskia, then the capital of Illinois Territory, and settled at New Design, in St. Clair County, as a neighbor to the noted Rev. James Lemen, who became their intimate friend and pastor, and for whom he voted as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, which formed the constitution under which the state was admitted to the Union. Mr. Lemen was elected as a dele- gate and after the state was admitted he was elected to the first and to several succeeding sessions of the Legislature, and by reason of his great ability and wide acquaintance with the leading men in public life in the new state, he exerted a powerful influence in securing the exclusion of slavery, under the constitution, and in the legislature sub- sequent to its adoption. The contests over the question of the rights of master and slave, in the new state were long and bitter, and the parties were very evenly divided, but Mr. Lemen was always found fighting for freedom. At the time of the adoption of the constitution there were a great many slaves held in the state, and the courts afterwards held that the constitution and statutes were not retroactive and that masters owning slaves at the time of the adoption of the constitution could hold . them and their children during their lives.
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DR. HAMILTON BUYS LAND IN JERSEY COUNTY
After a short rest at New Design, Dr. Hamilton and his nephew started on horseback for the purpose of seeking a location for permanent settlement. They went as far north as Springfield, west to Quincy and thence southward through the intervening country until they reached Otter Creek prairie, then in Greene, but now in Jersey County, where Dr. Hamilton purchased a section of land for a homestead, and where he afterwards settled and continued as his home until his death in 1834.
GEORGE WASHINGTON BROUGHT TO ILLINOIS
Dr. Hamilton returned to Mississippi and closed up his farming operations and prepared to remove to his new location in Illinois. He took his twenty-eight slaves to Cincinnati and manumitted them, being required to give bond that none of them should become a public charge. He brought George and a man and his wife, of his former slaves, with him to his new home. The man for work on the farm, and his wife for housekeeper, he being a widower, and his family consisting of himself and one son. His intention then was to educate George and send him to Liberia, as a missionary to his own race. This plan was frustrated, however, by reason of the death of Dr. Hamilton, November 19, 1834, his son having died previously. In his will, dated October 20, 1834, there is the following provision :
FUND FOR FIRST FREE SCHOOL
"Believing in the very great importance of primary schools, and desiring that my friends and relations in this neighborhood should re- ceive the benefit of them, I give and bequeath four thousand dollars for the establishment of a primary school, viz .: two thousand dollars to be appropriated to the erection of a building suitable for a school and for a place of public worship, and two thousand dollars to constitute a fund for the support of a teacher" "and I desire my executors to oversee the erection of said building."
FIRST FREE SCHOOL IN 1835
The nephew, Thomas M. Hamilton, and his brother-in-law, Gilbert Douglas, were named executors, and from this bequest, the original
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HISTORY OF JERSEY COUNTY
"Stone Schoolhouse" was erected in 1835. It was the first free school in Illinois, and its fame extended far beyond the limits of the state. Many emigrants in those days eame from states farther east, and settled in this neighborhood. They often remarked, that before reaching the east line of the state, upon inquiry for the road to the "Stone Sehool- house," the people all seemed to know at once where it was located, and would readily give them the correct directions. (Powell vs. Board of Education, 97 Ill. 375.)
This original school building was two stories high, built of stone. The main floor was divided by a hall, containing a stairway leading to the second floor. There were two schoolrooms on the first floor and the second floor was used for Sunday school, church and other public gatherings. The Baptist Church of which George was a member, occu- pied' said second floor of this school building, for its regular church services from the time of its erection until the completion of its church edifiee, in 1872. There George had the privilege of sitting under the preaching of Revs. James and Moses Lemen, John M. Peck. Elijah Dod- son, John Brown, Elihu Palmer, Justus Bulkley, Benjamin B. Hamilton, and many others of the leading ministers of his denomination. The first seats were slabs, smooth side up, with two inch auger holes through them, and wooden pins driven therein, and sawed off the proper length for legs, and no backs. At the time of the erection of this school build- ing, there was not, within the present limits of Jersey County, a meet- ing house exclusively for public worship. Religious serviees prior to this time had been held in private houses, or in the open air, at camp meetings, and other places.
HAMILTON PRIMARY SCHOOL INCORPORATED IN 1839
By act of the General Assembly of 1839, this school was incorporated as the Hamilton Primary School with a district four miles square, and the trustees were given the authority to use the district and common school fund, due to said district, in support of their sehool, and making the Stone Schoolhouse the center of the distriet. In 1873, this school building was taken down and a new and more modern one was crected upon the same site.
George resided within the limits of this district, from the time he was brought to this state by his former master, until his death, and his tomb is about 300 feet from the site of the old Stone Schoolhouse.
Monument to Dr. Silas Hamilton, Otterville Erected by George Washington (Colored)
Hamilton Primary School (1835)-First Free School in Illinois Original Drawing by Hugh Ware Cross
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HISTORY OF JERSEY COUNTY
GEORGE ATTENDED HAMILTON SCHOOL
From the time of its organization, this school was known and recog- nized as one of the most efficient and successful institutions of learning in the state. Here George attended and received a good common school education, and among his fellow students, and those who succeeded him, are many who have since risen to places of distinction in professional, business and social life in this and other states; among whom a few might be named as follows, to-wit: Hon. Stephen V. White, his sister, Mrs. Jane (White) Allen, his wife, Eliza (Chandler) White, her sisters, Mary A. (Chandler) Hamilton, Amy (Chandler) Shaw, and Virginia (Chandler) Titcomb; Judge Reuben Noble, his wife, Harriett (Douglas) Noble; Caleb and William Noble; Jacob, William P. and John W. Terry ; Leverett B. and Gilbert D. Sidway; John G., Dr. Charles and Henry E. Dougherty ; Judge Balfour Cowan; John W. Utt; Benjamin Wed- ding; Edwin Van Horne; Judge Leander Stillwell; Dr. John T. Curtis; Robert T. Brock ; Milton J. Hull ; Jesse K. Cadwallader ; Thomas A. Casc; Dr. Joseph O. Hamilton; Rev. Benjamin B. Hamilton and his son, Surgeon-General Dr. John B. Hamilton.
GEORGE ACCUMULATES PROPERTY
From thic time of his removal to this state George resided with Dr. Silas Hamilton, as a member of his family. After Dr. Hamilton's death, George made his home with the family of Gilbert Douglas (whose wife wås a sister of Dr. Hamilton) until manhood. Thereafter George pur- sued the business of farming on his own account, and so continued, with such industry, ability, prudence and frugality, that at the time of his death his estate, after the payment of all debts, expenses of administra- tion, and the $1,500.00 legacy for the erection of a monument to his former master, Dr. Silas Hamilton, was about $7,000.00.
FUND FOR EDUCATION OF COLORED PERSONS
George was never married and left no known relatives. During his lifetime he did not seem to care to associate with the people of his own race. He left a nuncupative will in which, after providing for the pay- ment of his debts, and for the monument for his former master, he provided that the residue of his estate should be used for the education of "colored persons, or Americans of African descent." The residue,
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with accrued interest, now amounts to more than $20,000.00, and the income therefrom is being devoted to assisting "colored persons, or Americans of African descent," to acquire a higher education. From four to six such persons have been assisted in taking courses in colleges, continuously for many years.
By an act of the Legislature in the sessions of 1865, to carry into effect the nuncupative will of George Washington, colored, deceased, the state of Illinois relinquished all of its rights to the said estate by way of escheat. (2 Private Laws, 1865 (Feb. 16), page 251.)
THE GEORGE WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL FUND
In 1880, the circuit court of Jersey County, Ill., appointed a board of trustees to manage and administer the said trust fund under the direction of said court, to which a report is required to be made annu- ally. In said decree this fund is designated as "The George Washington Educational Fund." The county superintendent of schools and the principal of the Jerseyville high school are required to be members of this board of trustees. Besides those mentioned the present trustees are Henry L. Chapman, Marcus E. Bagley, Allen M. Slaten and Oscar B. Hamilton. Henry L. Chapman is president, and A. M. Cheney is sec- retary and treasurer. Either of the two last named can give any in- formation with reference to said fund and the management thereof. Annual examinations are held for the selection of beneficiaries of the fund. In these examinations not only the educational, but also the moral standing and character of the applicant is taken into con- sideration.
"BLACK GEORGE"
The subject of this sketch in the community where he resided, was always known as George, but by persons outside, he was frequently called "Black George." In person he was of medium height, about five feet eight inches, weight about 160 pounds, color clear blue black, with the flat nose, thick lips, and kinky hair that are indicative of the pure African.
In early life he was converted and became a member of the Baptist Church, of which he remained a true and consistent member until his death. He was always active in church work, as janitor of church and Sunday school, a great deal of the time furnishing the fuel, as well as
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making the fires and sweeping. Being an excellent singer, he was always to be depended upon to lead the singing. He was assistant super- intendent, and taught a class in Sunday school. The writer was for a considerable time, a pupil in his Sunday school class, and can say that he never sat under a teacher better versed in the Bible, more conscientious in teaching, or who possessed more implicitly, the confidence and respect of his pupils.
George was unobtrusively cordial and companionable with his friends, but was quite diffident and retiring among strangers, or those with whom he was not well acquainted. He was never obtrusive or forward, either in public or in his home. On the contrary, if strangers were present at mealtime, George was always occupied with his chores about the barn until the family and guests had finished, and then he came in quietly and took his meal alone. At other times he ate with the family. On one occasion, at threshing time, the men all came in to dinner, George with the rest, when one of the men who had formerly lived in the south, stepped back and said to his host, he would not eat with a d-d nigger. The host replied, "all right you can wait." The company then all sat down with George and ate their dinners, without further question or quibble.
HELPED THE POOR
If there was sickness in a poor family in the community, George seemed to learn of it intuitively, and but a short time would elapse until his team was on the way to the woods for fuel, which was delivered ready prepared for the fire, and if there was need of food, that also was supplied by him. This was all done by him, in a quiet, kindly, Christian spirit, and no one ever heard him mention or allude to his connection therewith. He was the "grave digger" for the community. When there was a death in the neighborhood, no matter what the weather might be, George took his spade and dug the grave, for which he never made any charge, and had no expectation of fee or reward.
VICE PRESIDENT OF DEBATING SOCIETY
An incident occurred in the early fifties which demonstrated the esteem in which George was held in his own community, and also, the difference in sentiment there, from which it was in other parts of the country. For many years a debating society was carried on at the
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"Old Stone Schoolhouse," in which many of the leading citizens par- ticipated. On one of these occasions, several prominent citizens from Jerseyville, the county seat of the county, were present by invitation to take part in the contest. The president being absent, and George, being vice president, was called upon to preside, which he did, with credit to himself and the society. The visitors were very much shocked at being called upon to address and be presided over by a "nigger" as chairman. As a result the next week's issue of the Jerseyville organ of these politicians had a column article therein, ridiculing the meeting, and especially the "Black Cloud" that hovered over it, which created a great deal of feeling and excitement throughout the county at the time. Of course, in this controversy, George's neighbors stood by him, as it was their duty to do, inasmuch as it was their fault, and not his, that he was vice president of the society.
GEORGE ASSAULTED IN GRAFTON, ILLINOIS
In the presidential campaign of 1860, the question of the extension of slavery into the territories was the main issue, and upon this issue the voters of the country were divided. The Democrats favoring, the Rc- publicans opposing such extension. There was a great Democratic meet- ing and barbecue at Grafton, and many thousands of people were therc. It so happened that George on that day took a load of wheat to market, and as he entered the town, a half drunken rabble assaulted him with stones and gravel. They seemed to think it was all right and proper to have some sport with a "nigger." Hon. William Shephard, him- self a prominent Democrat, and one of the leaders in the meeting, being present, denounced the outrage, and threatened condign punish- ment upon any person who attempted a repetition of it. Notwithstand- ing his political affiliations and prejudices, Mr. Shephard had known and done business with George for many years, was his friend and would not see him mistreated or humiliated, regardless of his color.
PUT IN JAIL IN CALHOUN COUNTY
While George was living at the Douglas farm, one of the horses was stolen, and parties were sent in different directions in search for the stolen property. Under this arrangement George was sent to Calhoun County, where the public sentiment was very strong against the colored race. It was on the state line, only the Mississippi River separating it
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from the slave state of Missouri. Many slaves from that state, from time to time crossed the river, and thence found their way to the "under- ground railroad," and through that means reached Canada. But woe to the colored man or woman, whether fugitive slave or not, that fell into the hands of the people of that county. If they could be kidnapped or smuggled across the river, regardless of law or justice, they were sure of a trip to the cotton fields of the south, where a man like George was worth at least $2,000.00. George was arrested by these people as a . runaway "nigger," and put in the jail at Gilead, then the county seat of that county. This jail was constructed of large logs, hewed square and laid on top of each other, dowelled together with wooden pins. The sides, bottom and top were made of the same kind of timbers, the only means of entry was a hole in the top of a ladder. George had been in this jail for a day or two, when Clarence M. Hamilton, being then in business in Gilead, hearing there was a runaway "nigger" in jail, went up to take a look at him, and then made the discovery that it was George, with whom he was well acquainted, and he thereupon took the necessary steps to secure his release. This was a very narrow escape for George, and he never ventured into that county again. If those parties had succeeded in getting George across the river into Missouri, this sketch would never have been written.
GEORGE'S JUDGMENT UPON BUSINESS MATTERS
George's judgment upon ordinary business matters was regarded as sound, and he was frequently consulted by his neighbors, of which the following is an illustration : An old German had secured a judgment against a party before a justice of the peace for about $7,000.00. He called upon the justice and was told that an execution had been issued and given to the constable, but had not yet been returned, and that he had better see the constable. A few days later he saw the constable, and he told him he had returned the execution with the money to the justice and that he had better see him. This puzzled the old German, and after having tried for some time ineffectually to unravel the matter, he went to George about it and explained that he had gone to the justice and that he got no money, and he must sce the constable, "so I see the con- stable, and he say he paid the money to the justice, now, George, you shall shust tell me which is the rascal." Of course George told him if he would see the justice again he would get his money without any fur- ther trouble, which he did.
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LEFT $1,500.00 FOR MONUMENT FOR FORMER MASTER
George was buried in the old cemetery, north of the Presbyterian Church, in Otterville, Ill., beside the graves of Dr. Silas Hamilton, his former master, and Gilbert Douglas, and a stone tomb had been erected enclosing the three graves. The location is 300 or 400 feet from the site of the "Old Stone Schoolhouse," and a like distance from the monument erected to his former master, from the bequest of $1,500.00 left by George for that purpose, and upon which there are the follow- ing inscriptions :
On the scroll above base block :
"Erected by George Washington Born in Virginia a Slave Died at Otterville, Ill., Apr. 15, 1864. A Christian Freeman." On the base block :
"To the memory of Dr. Silas Hamilton, His former Master. Born in Tinmouth, Vt., May 19, 1775. Died at Otterville, Ill., Nov. 19, 1834. Having in his lifetime given freedom to Twenty-eight Slaves. At his death bequeathed four thousand dollars for the erection and endowment of the Hamilton Primary School."
HAMILTON
These inscriptions cover the lives of two men. The subject of this sketch had observed carefully and thoughtfully the life and character of his former master, to whom he owed the opportunity of himself be- coming a "Christian Freeman." He had himself participated in and had observed the benefits resulting to the community from the gift of the "Old Stone Schoolhouse," and the endowment of Hamilton Primary School that had brightened and broadened the lives of those coming under its influence for thirty years.
EARLY SCHOOLS OF ILLINOIS
At the time of the establishment of this school, there was not a free school anywhere in this part of the state. What few schools there were,
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were maintained by subscription, the teacher boarding around among the patrons, and in the main they were of a very inferior grade. Later free schools were established by law throughout this and most other free states, so that in 1864, at the time of George's death, there was no necessity for him to follow the example of his former master and pro- vide for the free education of "white" children, for the reason that they were already duly provided for by law.
At that time the Civil War was at its most critical stage. Millions of soldiers were arrayed in deadly conflict, contending for the mastery. The Union forces were striving to re-establish the national authority throughout the slave states, and their enemies were contending for the establishment of those states as an independent government.
There were 4,000,000 slaves in those states, and the perpetuation of African slavery was one of the foundation principles in the constitution of the new government sought to be established therein. There was not a free school for the education of "colored" children in all of that territory and George was well aware of that fact.
President Lincoln had issued his Emancipation Proclamation, Janu- ary 1, 1863, which, in the event of the success of the Union army, would set all of those slaves free; but in case their enemies were successful, that proclamation would have been wholly futile.
These were the conditions existing at the time of George's last illness and death. He must act, in the disposition of his estate, with reference to the conditions then existing. After mature consideration, he de- termined, so far as possible, to follow the example of his former master, and devote the substance of his estate to the establishment of a fund for the education of the people of his own race. Since the organization and operation of this fund there has been a large number of colored people, male and female, assisted through college courses, and thereby have become ministers, physicians, lawyers, teachers, etc., and who have been, and still are, devoting their own lives in assisting their own people in fitting themselves to intelligently and honorably occupy the position of "American Freemen," and his work will continue through coming generations. The work possible to be accomplished by this fund might appear to be small, when compared to the magnitude of the needs of the race to be supplied, but might it not be possible that in the future some of the many people of wealth, seeking an opportunity to accomplish the greatest amount of good to a race of people, and thereby honor and perpetuate the memories of themselves or others, may make additions
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