By Kameron Daneshyar
The Masters-Taylor-Wilbur papers, found in the Manuscripts Division of the Clements Library, tell the story of multiple interconnected families from 19th-century America. The 618 items within this collection consist of 570 letters, 9 legal documents, and 39 financial records, all written between the years 1796-1857. The subject matter of these letters varies greatly; however, this specific letter was chosen to shed light on the incredible story of a formerly enslaved African-American man named Matthew Matthews.
This letter on display was written by Francis Markoe Jr. to Jeremiah Wilbur. Both Markoe and Wilbur were white American businessmen. At the time Markoe Jr. wrote this letter – March 7, 1835 – America’s culture and economy were still largely defined by slavery. The United States and most of its population still depended on and defended slavery, especially in the south, where Markoe Jr. lived. Despite slavery’s grip on the nation, some people chose to resist. Specifically, those subjected to the horrors of slavery chose to fight against this abhorrent system in various ways, but one method of resistance that is not often discussed was through enslaved people buying themselves and their families in order to attain legal freedom.
The story of Matthew Matthews is one such example of the efforts some enslaved people took in order to achieve liberation for themselves and their families. Matthew Matthews was once enslaved, but after his owner freed him, Matthews put all his energy towards trying to free the rest of his family. However, this proved to be an incredibly daunting task, as for him to get the financial resources he needed to buy his family from slavery, he needed to try to form a support network that could help him. This led to him eventually seeking the aid of Francis Markoe Jr. and Jeremiah Wilbur, and it is within this letter and multiple others that Markoe and Wilbur discussed what transactions could allow Matthews to legally purchase his children.
While Matthews’s story is indeed extraordinary, enslaved or formerly enslaved people freeing themselves or their families through purchase was not unprecedented. As historian Julia Bernier notes, some enslaved people managed to use their personal skills to make money on the side, which eventually allowed some of them to pay their enslavers enough to buy themselves, legally giving themselves freedom. However, Bernier argues that the processes of self-purchase and purchasing one’s family from slavery were so financially difficult and risky that many enslaved and formerly enslaved people were forced to rely on white benefactors, all just for a chance to have their families and rights as people restored. All of these overwhelming obstacles can be seen in the story of Matthews, as he worked tirelessly but eventually was only able to buy the freedom of three of his six children. Having to choose which of his children to free – having to choose which members of his family he could save from the unending intergenerational cycle of slavery – must have been an impossibly heartbreaking decision for him. But in his determination to reunite his family, Matthews displayed a powerful form of resistance, and even in a letter like this that describes Matthews through the words of others, the spirit of Matthew Matthews still shines through these pages.
Citations:
“Masters-Taylor-Wilbur papers,” 1796-1857, Mary Parsons and Philip Heslip, Manuscripts Division, William L. Clements Library, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Julia W. Bernier, “‘Never be Free Without Trustin’ Some Person’: Networking and Buying Freedom in the Nineteenth Century United States,” Slavery and Abolition, Vol 40, no. 2: 341-360.