By the will of Samuel Gist, his slaves were emancipated and William F.
Wickham and Carter B. Page, of Richmond, appointed trustees to acquire
land in some one of the free states on which to provide homes for the
newly manumitted freedmen. Accordingly, these trustees purchased two
tracts of land in Brown County, Ohio, one containing one thousand and
the other twelve hundred acres at a cost of $4400.00.[86]
In 1819, the freedmen, consisting of one hundred and thirteen from
Hanover County and one hundred and fifty from Goochland and Amherst
Counties, were transported to Ohio and settled on the lands purchased,
as above indicated, by the trustees.
The facts are meagre with respect to the reception accorded these
negroes and the measure of success which attended the colonization.
From the best information obtainable, it seems that they were treated
in no very friendly manner and that, in time, the negroes lost most of
the lands provided for them by their former owner.
Edward Coles, of Albemarle County, inherited from his father a large
number of slaves. Determining to give them their freedom, he conducted
them in April, 1819, to Illinois, where he established them in their
own homes near the town of Edwardsville, giving to each head of a
family a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of land.[87] Mr. Coles,
like many other Virginians, who attempted a like emancipation, not
only incurred the great pecuniary loss resulting from the liberation
of his slaves and the expenses of their removal and establishment, but
he incurred the ill will and opposition of the inhabitants of the
state in which they settled.
The biographers of Abraham Lincoln, Nicolay and Hay, referring to the
attitude of the people of Illinois towards free negroes, record:
"Even Governor Coles, the public-spirited and popular politician,
was indicted and severely fined for having brought his own freedmen
into this state and having assisted them in establishing themselves
around him upon farms of their own."[88]
Mr. Coles was a neighbor and friend of Jefferson, Madison and Monroe.
He was Madison's private secretary and was appointed by President
Monroe Registrar of the Land Office at Edwardsville, Ill., in March,
1819, a position of influence and importance. Three years later he was
elected Governor of the state and his career as such was notable for
the great part he bore in defeating the movement to change the state
constitution of Illinois so as to permit the introduction and
maintenance of slavery within that state. In 1832 Governor Coles
removed to Philadelphia where he lived until his death. When Virginia
seceded, his son, Roberts Coles, volunteered in her service and was
killed at the Battle of Roanoke Island.
By his will, admitted to probate on the 20th of November, 1826, John
Ward, Sr., of Pittsylvania, emancipated all of his slaves, giving to
each of them over fifteen years of age twenty dollars, except to
certain enumerated ones, to whom the sum of one hundred and fifty
dollars each was bequeathed.[89] In April, 1827, these freedmen,
emancipated under the will of Ward (seventy in number), were
transported to Ohio and settled in Lawrence County.[90]
By his will, John Randolph of Roanoke, who died in 1833, emancipated
all of his slaves and directed his executor, Judge William Leigh, to
transport them to some one of the free states and settle them upon
lands which he was directed to purchase for the purpose. The will
bequeathed the sum of thirteen thousand dollars to defray the expenses
incident to their colonization and to pay for the land.
Howe in his _Historical Collections of Ohio_ (Edition of 1891) says:
"In 1846 Judge Leigh, of Virginia, purchased 3200 acres of land in
this settlement for the freed slaves of John Randolph of Roanoke.
These arrived in the Summer of 1846 to the number of about four
hundred but were forcibly prevented from making a settlement by a
portion of the inhabitants of the county. Since then acts of
hostility have been commenced against the people of this settlement
and threats of greater held out if they do not abandon their lands
and homes."
"From a statement in the county history issued in 1882 we see that a
part of the Randolph negroes succeeded in effecting a settlement at
Montezuma, Franklin Township, just south of the reservoir."[91]
By his will which was probated March 23, 1848, John Warwick, of
Amherst County, Virginia, emancipated all his slaves, and in like
manner bequeathed his whole estate to create a fund for removing them
to one of the free states, purchasing farms, and establishing them in
their new homes. The testator indicated that he preferred Indiana as
the place of residence for his slaves.[92] Dr. David Patteson, of
Buckingham County, was appointed executor and charged with the duties
of settling the estate and removing the freedmen to their new homes.
Before arrangements for their removal to Indiana could be perfected,
that state adopted its constitution of 1851, whereby free negroes and
mulattoes were inhibited from coming into the state. Accordingly Dr.
Patteson purchased for the ex-slaves a large tract of land in Ohio,
near Kenton, and thither they were transported and settled in their
new homes. The inventory of Mr. Warwick's estate shows that at the
time of his death he owned seventy-four slaves.[93]
By his will, admitted to probate July 9th, 1849, Sampson Sanders, of
Cabell County, emancipated all of his slaves and directed his
executors to provide for their colonization "in the State of Indiana,
or some one of the free states of the United States."[94] The testator
bequeathed to these slaves the sum of fifteen thousand dollars, out of
which fund should be paid the amount necessary for the purchase of
land for their homes, the balance to be distributed among them. Before
the intentions of the testator could be carried into effect, Indiana
enacted a law denying to freed negroes the privileges of settling in
that state. Accordingly these freedmen were carried to Cass County,
Mich., where they were settled in homes purchased for them under the
provisions of the will of their former owner. This colony seems to
have succeeded, and many of the descendants of the former slaves of
Sanders are to-day living upon the lands purchased by his bounty.[95]