Vol. 39, No. 4 Summer 2004 Kentucky Ancestors

Vol. 39, No. 4Summer 2004kentucky ancestorsgenealogical quarterly of the KentuckyHistoricalSocietyKentuckyAfrican AmericanImmigrants toLiberia, 1820-43Abstracts from theKentucky Statesman,March 20, 1850The Alvey Family ofEngland, Maryland,and Kentucky,Part Five

Vol. 39, No. 4Summer 2004kentucky ancestorsgenealogical quarterly of the KentuckyHistoricalSocietykentucky ancestorsThomas E. Stephens, EditorDan Bundy, Graphic DesignadministrationKent Whitworth, DirectorJames E. Wallace, Assistant DirectorBetty Fugate, Membership Coordinatorresearch and interpretationmanagement teamNelson L. Dawson, Team LeaderKenneth H. Williams, Program Leaderboard oftrusteesDoug Stern, Walter Baker, Lisbon Hardy, MichaelHarreld, Lois Mateus, Dr. Thomas D. Clark, C.Michael Davenport, Ted Harris, Ann Maenza,Bud Pogue, Mike Duncan, James E. Wallace, Maj.Gen. Verna Fairchild, Mary Helen Miller, RyanHarris, and Raoul CunninghamKentucky Ancestors (ISSN-0023-0103) is published quarterly by the Kentucky Historical Society and is distributedfree to Society members. Periodical postage paid at Frankfort, Kentucky, and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Kentucky Ancestors, Kentucky Historical Society, 100 West Broadway, Frankfort, KY40601-1931.Please direct changes of address and other notices concerning membership or mailings to the Membership Department, Kentucky Historical Society, 100 West Broadway, Frankfort, KY 40601-1931; telephone (502) 564-1792.Submissions and correspondence should be directed to: Tom Stephens, editor, Kentucky Ancestors, Kentucky Historical Society, 100 West Broadway, Frankfort, KY 40601-1931.The Kentucky Historical Society, an agency of the Commerce Cabinet, does not discriminate on the basis of race,color, national origin, sex, age, religion, or disability, and provides, on request, reasonable accommodations, including auxiliary aids and services necessary to afford an individual with a disability an equal opportunity to participatein all services, programs, and activities.KentuckyHistoricalSociety

contentsvol. 39, no. 4/summer 2004Kentucky African American Immigrants to Liberia, 1820-43Dr. Adell Patton Jr. . 174Abstracts from the Kentucky Statesman, March 20, 1850Transcribed by Thomas H. Appleton Jr. 182The Alvey Family of England, Maryland, and Kentucky, Part FiveRobert Lee Alvey Sr. 189Queries . 203Book Notes . 205Announcements . 207Mystery Album . 208Surname Index, Volume 39 . 209on the cover: This detail of an 1870 map by “D. McClelland” shows the settlement sites of freed Kentuckyslaves in Liberia. The state sent 193 immigrants to Liberia in 1833 and 1840-41, one of whom—Alfred FrancisRussell—served as president of the republic in 1883 and 1884. The sites, shown at center, came to be known asKentucky and Clay-Ashland. The entire map can be viewed on the American Memory portion of the Library ofCongress Web site, www.loc.gov. The article Kentucky African American Immigrants to Liberia, 1820-43, beginson page 174. (Courtesy Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress)

Kentucky African AmericanImmigrants to Liberia, 1820-43By Dr. Adell Patton Jr.Dr. Patton, a 1959 graduate of Kentucky State University in Frankfort, received his Ph.D. in African Historyfrom the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1975. He is a professor of history at the University of Missouri-St.Louis. Dr. Patton wishes to acknowledge the assistance of Dr. Henry E. Cheaney, along with Jennifer SpearmanSimms and Paul Wilmarth, staff members at University of Missouri-St. Louis Faculty Resource Center.The African diaspora remains a neglected themein the genealogy of Kentucky African Americanimmigrants to Liberia, West Africa, from 1820 to1843. “Diaspora” refers to a scattering or dispersal ofpeople from their “homeland.” It has three parts:The voluntary or forceful immigration from the“homeland” (some 15 million slaves taken fromAfrica to the Western Hemisphere), the assimilationand identity in the alien and oftentimes hostileterritory, and the “return” to the “homeland,” whichcan be either psychological or actual physical movement. Through time the Kentucky African Americanimmigrants to Liberia experienced all of thesemanifestations.It all began with the formation of the AmericanColonization Society (ACS) at Washington, D.C., in1816. As one may recall, the Haitian Revolutionfrom 1790-1804 not only freed some 500,000 slavesthat resulted in not only the restructuring of thesocial classes, but in creating the second republic inthe Western Hemisphere, it sent shock waves andundermined the confidence of the financial systemsof Europe in regard to investing in slavery. Hence,the first avowed purpose of the ACS was to providesupport for the removal of free born and the newlyemancipated from the various slave states to Liberia,which formed auxiliary societies to the ACS.This restructuring of the Haitian social classes andits resulting shock waves undermined the confidenceof the financial systems of Europe in regard toinvesting in slavery. The first avowed purpose of theACS was to provide support for the removal of thefree born and newly emancipated from the variousU.S. slave states to Liberia, which formed auxiliarysocieties to the ACS. The Kentucky ColonizationSociety was formed in 1829, and three years laterhad 31 affiliates, a number exceeded by only Virginiaand Ohio.One Kentucky emigrant to Liberia was MillyCrawford, an “octoroon” (one-eighth black) fromLexington, who passed through Frankfort on March10, 1833. An example of what has been called the“Scandalous Paradox,” Crawford wrote that manywomen were serving as heads of the families thatincluded children of slave owners.1Crawford followed a circuitous route from Kentucky to Liberia. From Frankfort, she and her fourchildren—Sinthia, Gibert, George, and Henry—setout for Louisville, where they boarded the river boatMediterranean. Upon arriving in New Orleans, theywere joined by 27 other immigrants, “6 from TN, 19from OH, 2 from New Orleans.”The group boarded the brig Ajax on April 20,1833, for Liberia. White missionaries A.H. Savageand H.D. King, agents for the Tennessee Colonization Society, spearheaded their embarkation: “Thecost of the expedition ( 5,000) was defrayed by theAmerican Colonization Society with a donation of 2,300 from KY Colonization Society. Cholera,whooping cough, or a bowel disorder forced the brigto put for many days at a West Indian island and 30Cartographic Laboratory, University of Wisconsin-MadisonWest Africa in the Eighteenth and NineteenthCenturies2004 Kentucky Ancestors V39-4174

Kentucky African American Immigrants to Liberia, continued(mostly children) died during the passage.”2Ship records show that 119 passengers fromKentucky arrived in Liberia on July 11, 1833: “16born free, the rest manumitted—24 by Richard Bibb(a white clergyman from Logan Co. who gave themclothes & 400); 12 by William O. Dudley (aplanter in Adair Co.); and 7 by Mary O. Wickliffe ofLexington, Kentucky. The settlers were put underquarantine upon arrival by Dr. Mechlin who thensent them to Caldwell & Millsburg on the St. Paul’sRiver (formerly Bassa country) where 26 soon died,2 others returned to the US, and 1 migrated to[Freetown] Sierra Leone.”3 Much of this data isreflected in the list.By 1832, Kentucky had a slave population of170,130, which amounted to 25 percent of the totalpopulation.4 The state sent 193 immigrants toLiberia in 1833 and 1840-41, which amounted to4.3 percent of the total.5Although 4,571 emigrants arrived between 1820and 1843, mortality had reduced the population toonly 1,819 by the latter year, giving the settlementits reputation as the “Black Man’s Grave.”6The Kentucky groups settled at Caldwell on theCartographic Laboratory, University of Wisconsin-MadisonLanguages and Ethnic Groups in Liberialeft bank of the St. Paul River and Millsberg on theright bank and later at Bassa and Monrovia.Monrovia became the capital of Africa’s first republicwhen Liberia was founded in 1847.Wickliffe-Preston Family Papers, Box 39,University of Kentucky Special Collections and ArchivesMilly Crawford on her way to Liberia from Lexington KentuckyA letter to Mary Owen Todd Russell WickliffeMarch 10 1833 Saterday nightMy Dear Misstress we have all arrived at frankfort in safety and health little George Lucy and all the children are well. My dear Misstress how shall we thank you for all your kindness too us. We sometimes despondbeing all females and children haveing no male protecter of our own. but we try to put our trust in the Almighty and go on in his srength. whatever betide us. My Dear Mystress you have done your whole duty. andmay the [Almighty] bless and reward you a thousand fold. Lucy all love and thanks to you for your goodness careand kindness to us all. the children all desires me remember them to Mystress.Mystress we all desire you thank Mayster for his goodness and kindness to us.I hope the Lord will bless him give our love to miss Margaret miss Mary Mys Sally Wooly [Robert Wickliffe’sthree living white children] and all our friends. the Lord has raised up manny friend to us in fankford we aretreated with so much kindness by all who see us. the gentleman at whose house we now lodge Mr Gray trets uswith the utmost kindness - he had us all in his dining room prayed with and for us - the gentleman you wrotetoo received your letter recommending us to him he took us home with him gave us supper and we returnedagain mr grays you will hear again from us att Louisville May the bless preserve and reward you for all kindnessis the prare of your unworthy but affecunate servantMilly C1752004 Kentucky Ancestors V39-4