Did Our Family Own Slaves?
Yes. There are several references to slaves found in researching our family, all from the Hathaway line (Nana's mother's ancestors).
Here is information about slavery in our family's past.
Marian and Agnes Wilder were the daughters of
Flora Gamble, the daughter of
Sarah Jane Hathaway, the daughter of
Martha Isabel Hagerty, the daughter of
Elinor Crawford, the daughter of
Mary Wiggins, the daughter of
Charity Pribble, the daugher of
Thomas Pribble Sr., the son of
Stephen John Pribble, the son of
Thomas Pribble
Thomas Pribble, the first known ancestor of Stella, Flora and Alice Gamble to come to America, was himself an indentured servant. He bound himself over to a man in London's Wapping district, named Robert Shanks, for a period of four years, to be served in Maryland. At the end of this time, he was granted his freedom, and he became a planter of tobacco. The land that Thomas Pribble settled is now part of the US Army Proving Grounds at Aberdeen, Maryland. He is believed to have died in 1704, in modern day Harford County near Joppa Town, Maryland.
Here is a copy of his indenture papers
Here is a transcript of the same indenture papers
Marian and Agnes Wilder were the daughters of
Flora Gamble, the daughter of
Sarah Jane Hathaway, the daughter of
Martha Isabel Hagerty, the daughter of
Elinor Crawford, the daughter of
Mary Wiggins, the daughter of
Charity Pribble, the daugher of
Thomas Pribble Sr., the son of
Stephen John Pribble, the son of
Mary Buchnall Pribble Buchannon
Mary Buchnall Pribble Buchannon was Sarah Jane Hathaway's great great great great great grandmother.
She married first Thomas Pribble (above), who immigrated to Maryland from England around 1684 or 1685, settling near the Gunpowder River of today's Harford County just north of Baltimore. After his death in 1704, she married again to Archibald Buchannon. In 1730, Mary Buchnall Pribble Buchannon gave her grandson, Thomas Pribble Sr., the great great great grandfather of Sarah Jane Hathaway, “one yaw [ewe] and lamb” . Thomas was six years old. In the same will, Thomas’s father, [Stephen] John Pribble, inherited a slave woman by the name of Sarah from his mother Mary, as well as the right to half of Sarah’s future children, to be divided with John’s half brother Archibald Buchannon Jr. and himself. Stephen John Pribble also inherited a horse named “Strawbald” from his mother. Steven John was Sarah Jane Hathaway’s great great great great grandfather. In this will, Mary Bucknall Pribble Buchannon also stipulated that “…at or upon my death that my servant man James Hill shall be made a freeman”. (1730 will). The race of James Hill isn’t given, but as he had a surname I’d imagine he was a white in indentured slavery. But this is conjecture on my part.
In 1732, Mary Buchnall Pribble Buchannon revised her earlier will as follows:
Stephen John Pribble’s sister Elizabeth received a horse named “Prince”. Mary left Thomas’s cousin (Elizabeth’s daughter) Hannah a “mulatto boy named Will and one heifer age of three years old”.
Mary left Stephen John’s sister Sarah Poloke “one blue bedstead and furniture thereunto belonging and one sealskin trunk, a pair of bodices , a looking glass. I likewise give unto my grandson, Joseph Poloke (Thomas’s cousin) a mulatto boy named John and likewise a yew and a lamb.”
Mary left Stephen John’s sister Anne Hawkins a “blue serge petticoat and I likewise give unto my granddaughter Elizabeth Hawkins (Thomas’s cousin)…the daughter of Robert Hawkins a mulatto boy named Tom to be delivered to her at the age of fourteen 7 months old” (sic). (1732 will).
Elizabeth, Sarah and Anne were Charity Pribble Wiggins’s great aunts.
So as of 1732, the ancestors of Sarah Jane Hathaway had the followng slaves:
A woman named Sarah, owned by Stephen John Pribble, her future offspring to be divided between Stephen and his half brother.
A servant man named James Hill to be made a freeman upon her death.
A mulatto boy named Will.
A mulatto boy named John.
A mulatto boy named Tom.
For those who read this who are a little younger, mulatto is the old name for mixed race, half black and half white.
Marian and Agnes Wilder were the daughters of
Flora Gamble, the daughter of
Sarah Jane Hathaway, the daughter of
Martha Isabel Hagerty, the daughter of
Elinor Crawford, the daughter of
Mary Wiggins, the daughter of
Charity Pribble, the daugher of
Mary Elizabeth Teagarden, the daughter of
Abraham Teagarden
An unrelated note: Jack Teagarden, the great jazz musician, was also a descendant of Abraham Teagarden.
Charity Pribble (or Preble) married Edward Wiggins. Her uncle, William Teagarden purchased a slave man in 1779 for 1016 pounds. From the sale list of these slaves, one might believe that this sale was of a slave family, a man, a woman, a girl and a boy. They were sold to different owners.
In 1817 Charity Pribble Wiggins’ brother Thomas Pribble Jr. purchased six slaves at Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia). The names of the slaves are known. They were: Argo, Ephraim, Epha, Green, John, and Tanner. This is the last known instance of slaves being bought or used in our extended family, and would have been within the living memory that Sarah Jane Hathaway might herself have known.
As late as the early 1900's, the Pribble Cemetery in Wirt County, West Virginia still had identifiable slave graves in it.
Marian and Agnes Wilder were the daughters of
Flora Gamble, the daughter of
Sarah Jane Hathaway, the daughter of
Martha Isabel Hagerty, the daughter of
Elinor Crawford, the daughter of
Edward Crawford, the son of
Alexander Crawford
Alexander Crawford. The great great great grandfather of Stella, Flora and Alice Gamble apparently owned at least one slave as late as 1800, in Brooke County, Virginia (now West Virginia), according to census records.
So in our direct family line, there are at least six people known who were slaves, as late as 1800. In the extended family, there were at least six more, those being bought in 1817, so slavery existed in the extended family well into the 19th century.