This Blog Post is supplemental to Descendants of Daniel Piper: The “Living Trust” they shared for over 100 years; in which I focus on the Piper Family sharing in a “living trust” created by Daniel Piper Sr. In this Blog Post I address slavery and some interesting contradictions in Sharpsburg, Maryland.
My Goal: Truth and Understanding versus pride and comfort zone in Ancestry
When I began my Ancestry Research, I assumed that sooner or later, I would run into an ancestor who owned slaves, particularly expecting to find one when I found a “well-to-do” branch (plantation) that originated in the South.
I’ve noticed that some families leave ancestors out of their trees who they are not proud of or if they do include them they leave out some details… I can’t leave out anything that I learn about my ancestors because they are the vehicles through whom I am learning history and I desire to get to know my ancestors, the “human” story. I believe that we cannot understand “why people do the things they do” - “the inhumanity of man” and work towards “do no harm and help people heal” unless we learn about the history of humanity. Often, I can understand even when I don’t like what I understand.
When I learned that the Piper family in Sharpsburg, Maryland owned slaves I was disturbed. I was relieved to find out that they only had a few (Daniel Sr and son Henry each owned one small family) and it appears that they were treated well and lived in a rather substantial building referred to as “the Slave Quarters” that was divided into sections with a loft; not the horrible shacks I’ve seen on plantations. However, based on the following information, the decision to own only a small family of slaves could have been purely economical (not "moral" as I would have liked it to be) since they were primarily grain farmers; judging by the size and construction of the barn they also had a large number of livestock. Source: http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/stagsere/se1/se5/022100/022145/pdf/msa_se5_22145.pdf
Henry Piper had a slave named Jeremiah Summers, born in 1849 on the Piper farm. I found several sources of biographical information for Jeremiah Summers because he was an important part of the history of slavery in Sharpsburg, Maryland; overall they contained the same information contained in the following entry. Source:
Early members of the chapel congregation included both town and farm dwellers. Many were former slaves, including several who were living on the farms of the Antietam battlefield at the time of the battle in September 1862. Jeremiah Cornelius Summers was born a slave in 1849 on the Henry Piper farm near Sharpsburg. At age thirteen, Jerry accompanied the Piper family when they abandoned their home as the Confederate army began to set up their line of defense across the farm’s fields and orchard. Two years later, in April of 1864, Jerry was “enlisted” into the Union army. Only fifteen years old and reportedly much loved by his owner Henry Piper, Summers was permitted to return home as the slave of a Union loyalist. After his emancipation in November 1864, Jerry continued working and living on the Piper farm, employed by Henry’s son Samuel (until 1899, note: that’s when Samuel moved to Hagerstown, occupation: Landlord). Henry Piper retired to his stone house in nearby Sharpsburg, where he employed another former Piper slave, Jerry’s brother, Emory Summers. Both Jerry and Emory Summers were active members of Tolson’s Chapel throughout their lives. In 1924, (information under his photo in accredited to the Boonsborough Museum of History states 1922)Fred W. Cross, a visitor to the Antietam Battlefield, took several photographs of Jerry Summers at his home located on Bloody Lane on the northern edge of the Piper farm. Cross described Summers as “the last of the slaves of Sharpsburg,” noting:
At Henry Piper’s death Jerry was given the use for life of a small cottage and garden plot facing the northerly stretch of the “Bloody Lane.”
Facts about Jeremiah Cornelius Summers
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=109065656&ref=acom
Find A Grave *photo: Courtesy Washington County Historical Society
Jeremiah Cornelius Summers
B: 1849, Washington County, Maryland
D: 11/8/1925, Washington County, Maryland
Burial: Tolsons Chapel Cemetery; Sharpsburg, Washington Co, Maryland
Spouse: Susan Ellen Keets Summers 1849-1940
Children:
Carlina Summers Jackson 1871-1893
Alice A Summers 1873-1950
Two newspaper clippings from the Morning Herald (Hagerstown, MD): Obituary, pub. 12/10/1925 and "Do You Remember" pub. 12/9/1970
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=109065656&ref=acom
Find A Grave *photo: Courtesy Washington County Historical Society
Jeremiah Cornelius Summers
B: 1849, Washington County, Maryland
D: 11/8/1925, Washington County, Maryland
Burial: Tolsons Chapel Cemetery; Sharpsburg, Washington Co, Maryland
Spouse: Susan Ellen Keets Summers 1849-1940
Children:
Carlina Summers Jackson 1871-1893
Alice A Summers 1873-1950
Two newspaper clippings from the Morning Herald (Hagerstown, MD): Obituary, pub. 12/10/1925 and "Do You Remember" pub. 12/9/1970
Emory W. Summers, Sr. (brother of Jeremiah)
B: 12/27/1858
D: 7/3/1941
Spouse: Fannie Mary Sewell 1864-1936
Children: Emory William Summers Jr 1880-1953
Burial: Tolson's Chapel Cemetery; Sharpsburg, Washington Co, Maryland
B: 12/27/1858
D: 7/3/1941
Spouse: Fannie Mary Sewell 1864-1936
Children: Emory William Summers Jr 1880-1953
Burial: Tolson's Chapel Cemetery; Sharpsburg, Washington Co, Maryland
Emory William Summers Jr
B:1880
D: 2/18/1953
Burial: Tolson's Chapel Cemetery; Sharpsburg, Washington Co, Maryland
Note: there is an Obituary and a photo of an impressive headstone for Emory Jr and his wife Annie. All members of the Summer’s family are buried at Tolson's Chapel Cemetery in Sharpsburg.
B:1880
D: 2/18/1953
Burial: Tolson's Chapel Cemetery; Sharpsburg, Washington Co, Maryland
Note: there is an Obituary and a photo of an impressive headstone for Emory Jr and his wife Annie. All members of the Summer’s family are buried at Tolson's Chapel Cemetery in Sharpsburg.
About Slavery in Sharpsburg, Washington County, Maryland
[2] Contradictions and Divided Loyalties Slavery on the Antietam Battleground. A Companion Guide to the Auto Tour for School Groups http://www.nps.gov/anti/learn/education/upload/Contradictions-and-Divided-Loyalties.pdf
Introduction:
America’s Civil War was a complicated period of contradiction and divided loyalties. Divided by the south’s economic dependence on slave labor, desire in the north to limit the institution of slavery, and the issue of the rights of states to pursue their chosen path, the heated debate of decades degenerated into war in 1861.
Straddling the opposing sides both politically and geographically was the border state of Maryland
Maryland, of all the states, was a puzzle. Despite the legislative efforts of the powerful slaveholding minority, the majority of Maryland’s population was less committed to the institution of slavery. Yet among that majority could be found numerous individuals who took advantage of slave labor, including many who would declare themselves loyal to the Union. Reluctance among Maryland’s southern sympathizers to support secession placed the state somewhere in between north and south politically as well.
The institution of slavery is still one which is shrouded in mystery. Though information is often scarce, research has uncovered fragments of the lives of those who held slaves and those who were enslaved. With this we can begin to develop a broader picture of the people who were affected by slavery in Maryland.
[2] Contradictions and Divided Loyalties Slavery on the Antietam Battleground. A Companion Guide to the Auto Tour for School Groups http://www.nps.gov/anti/learn/education/upload/Contradictions-and-Divided-Loyalties.pdf
Introduction:
America’s Civil War was a complicated period of contradiction and divided loyalties. Divided by the south’s economic dependence on slave labor, desire in the north to limit the institution of slavery, and the issue of the rights of states to pursue their chosen path, the heated debate of decades degenerated into war in 1861.
Straddling the opposing sides both politically and geographically was the border state of Maryland
Maryland, of all the states, was a puzzle. Despite the legislative efforts of the powerful slaveholding minority, the majority of Maryland’s population was less committed to the institution of slavery. Yet among that majority could be found numerous individuals who took advantage of slave labor, including many who would declare themselves loyal to the Union. Reluctance among Maryland’s southern sympathizers to support secession placed the state somewhere in between north and south politically as well.
The institution of slavery is still one which is shrouded in mystery. Though information is often scarce, research has uncovered fragments of the lives of those who held slaves and those who were enslaved. With this we can begin to develop a broader picture of the people who were affected by slavery in Maryland.
Washington County
Washington County serves as a case study of Maryland as a “middle ground.” Directly bordered by both northern and southern states, its population was politically divided between Union supporters and southern sympathizers. Slavery was practiced on a small but significant scale in a population generally assumed to be anti-slavery.
In 1850, about 9% of Washington County’s population was enslaved. The farms around Sharpsburg were typical of the region where the primary crop was wheat, supplemented Washington County with corn, oats, and rye. Seasonal crops like wheat and corn did not require the year around labor that slavery provided. Most farmers relied on seasonal hired labor.
By comparison, in southern Maryland the St. Mary’s County population was 43% slave in 1850. The tobacco farms there resembled the large plantations of their southern neighbors, reliant on the labor of slaves to tend to the longer growing season of the demanding tobacco plant.
Washington County serves as a case study of Maryland as a “middle ground.” Directly bordered by both northern and southern states, its population was politically divided between Union supporters and southern sympathizers. Slavery was practiced on a small but significant scale in a population generally assumed to be anti-slavery.
In 1850, about 9% of Washington County’s population was enslaved. The farms around Sharpsburg were typical of the region where the primary crop was wheat, supplemented Washington County with corn, oats, and rye. Seasonal crops like wheat and corn did not require the year around labor that slavery provided. Most farmers relied on seasonal hired labor.
By comparison, in southern Maryland the St. Mary’s County population was 43% slave in 1850. The tobacco farms there resembled the large plantations of their southern neighbors, reliant on the labor of slaves to tend to the longer growing season of the demanding tobacco plant.
The Farms of the Antietam
The Antietam Battlefield was the scene of one of the bloodiest battles in United States history. The Union victory at Antietam in September 1862 precipitated Lincoln’s issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves in the rebellion states. Note:referred to as the “preliminary” Emancipation Proclamation because it freed only the slaves of the South but not the slaves of the North (Union Loyal States); it is said the purpose of this “preliminary” proclamation was to enlist the “promised to be freed” slaves to fight in Union armies.Living on the farms which served as the bloody battlefield, were respected men and women, their children, and their slaves. The lives of all were impacted by the September 17, 1862 battle.
These are the stories of some of the farmers of the Antietam Battlefield. Despite close family relationships among neighbors and despite common religious backgrounds generally opposed to slavery, they each developed widely different approaches to slavery.
These are the stories of the African Americans both slave and free who lived on the Antietam Battlefield. While Lincoln’s proclamation freed the southern slaves, it did not free the slaves in the border state of Maryland. They would continue to live in bondage until 1864, when they were freed by the state of Maryland. In the years after their emancipation several of the freedmen stayed as employees of their former masters, others moved away in search of work.
*Map: Sharpsburg district, Washington County, Maryland 1859, Library of Congress *illustrates the vast acres of land owned by those who farmed on what became the Antietam Battlefield; including my ancestor, Daniel Piper Sr.
Stop 1: The Dunker Church
One of the great ironies of the Battle of Antietam was the location of the Dunker Church as the focal point of the two opposing armies. The Dunkers, or Church of the Brethren, were a pacifist sect, steadfastly opposed to the war.
The Dunker’s strong stand against slavery created an irony as well among their brethren farming in the Sharpsburg area. The official church position stated: . . that no member, neither brother nor sister, shall purchase or sell negroes, and keep none for slaves. … if there were members having slaves, … that they might hold them in a proper way… for the slaves to earn the money they had cost, and then, with the counsel of the church, they are to be set free, with a good suit of clothing …
Several prominent Washington County Brethren owned slaves, including Samuel Mumma, Sr. who donated the land on which the little Dunker Church stood. David Long, an active member in the Manor Church congregation, was reported to have purchased slaves at Hagerstown auctions for the purpose of manumission (to be set free). It may be that Samuel Mumma was similarly motivated. Manumission (wikipedia): is the act of a slave owner freeing his or her slaves. Different approaches developed, each specific to the time and place of a society’s slave system. The motivations of slave owners in manumitting slaves were complex and varied. (merriam-webster): formal emancipation from slavery.
No church membership in the Sharpsburg area was without slaveholders in the decades leading up to the Civil War. Among the leading members of the Sharpsburg Methodist congregation was Dr. Augustin A. Biggs, physician, Union supporter, and owner of three slaves in 1860, all of them over the age of 65. Daniel Piper, a member of the German Reformed congregation in Sharpsburg, owned five slaves in 1850. Among the Sharpsburg Lutherans was Henry S. Blackford, owner of three slaves in 1860. Note: the years (highlighted above) represent a Census, prior to the Civil War and emancipation slaves were listed on slave schedules (considered “property”) not the “household” Censuses.
Stop 1: The Dunker Church
One of the great ironies of the Battle of Antietam was the location of the Dunker Church as the focal point of the two opposing armies. The Dunkers, or Church of the Brethren, were a pacifist sect, steadfastly opposed to the war.
The Dunker’s strong stand against slavery created an irony as well among their brethren farming in the Sharpsburg area. The official church position stated: . . that no member, neither brother nor sister, shall purchase or sell negroes, and keep none for slaves. … if there were members having slaves, … that they might hold them in a proper way… for the slaves to earn the money they had cost, and then, with the counsel of the church, they are to be set free, with a good suit of clothing …
Several prominent Washington County Brethren owned slaves, including Samuel Mumma, Sr. who donated the land on which the little Dunker Church stood. David Long, an active member in the Manor Church congregation, was reported to have purchased slaves at Hagerstown auctions for the purpose of manumission (to be set free). It may be that Samuel Mumma was similarly motivated. Manumission (wikipedia): is the act of a slave owner freeing his or her slaves. Different approaches developed, each specific to the time and place of a society’s slave system. The motivations of slave owners in manumitting slaves were complex and varied. (merriam-webster): formal emancipation from slavery.
No church membership in the Sharpsburg area was without slaveholders in the decades leading up to the Civil War. Among the leading members of the Sharpsburg Methodist congregation was Dr. Augustin A. Biggs, physician, Union supporter, and owner of three slaves in 1860, all of them over the age of 65. Daniel Piper, a member of the German Reformed congregation in Sharpsburg, owned five slaves in 1850. Among the Sharpsburg Lutherans was Henry S. Blackford, owner of three slaves in 1860. Note: the years (highlighted above) represent a Census, prior to the Civil War and emancipation slaves were listed on slave schedules (considered “property”) not the “household” Censuses.
Stop 6: The Mumma Farm
Samuel Mumma, Sr., his wife Elizabeth (Miller) Mumma, and their eleven children lived on this 150-acre farm… Also living on the Mumma farm in 1850 were two slaves, Lucy Young, age 28 and Lloyd Wilson, age 2. In 1856, Samuel set free his two slaves. Samuel was known as a pious man and well loved among his brethren. His reasons for owning slaves, despite his Dunker beliefs, are unfortunately not revealed by the historic record. Due to the apparently short period of ownership however, it appears that manumission may have been his motivation.
Samuel Mumma, Sr., his wife Elizabeth (Miller) Mumma, and their eleven children lived on this 150-acre farm… Also living on the Mumma farm in 1850 were two slaves, Lucy Young, age 28 and Lloyd Wilson, age 2. In 1856, Samuel set free his two slaves. Samuel was known as a pious man and well loved among his brethren. His reasons for owning slaves, despite his Dunker beliefs, are unfortunately not revealed by the historic record. Due to the apparently short period of ownership however, it appears that manumission may have been his motivation.
Stop 7: The Roulette Farm
John Miller lived on this 180-acre farm from around 1820 until his death in 1856. He was the brother of Elizabeth Mumma. In 1840, John Miller owned three slaves. The slave quarter located on the Roulette farm was probably added to the stone spring house around 1820 to house the Miller slaves.
In 1856, William Roulette married Margaret Ann Miller, daughter of John Miller. He purchased his father-in-law’s farm, adjoining the Mumma farm and the Piper farm, in 1857. William Roulette never owned slaves. In 1860, Roulette reported two free blacks living in his household, Robert Simon a 15 year old farm hand, and Nancy Campbell a 40 year old woman employed as a servant.
Nancy Campbell (later changed to Camel) was the former slave of Peter Miller, uncle of Margaret Ann Roulette. When Peter died in 1856 he owned “1 Colored Woman” worth $250.00. According to Peter’s will, Nancy became the property of his son Andrew Miller.
In June 1859, Andrew Miller freed Nancy Campbell. Her Certificate of Freedom, issued by the county as proof that she was no longer a slave, described Nancy as “5 feet 1 ½ inches high, of a dark complexion, without perceptible marks upon her person.” Nancy appears to have immediately taken employment in the Roulette home, where she remained for the rest of her life.
At the time of her death, Nancy’s total worth was $867.04 in cash. Having never married, in her will she left most her money to Susan Rebecca Roulette, William’s daughter, and to the children of both Peter and Andrew Miller.
Nancy Camel lived an industrious and pious life. Her gravestone was inscribed with the words “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord”
John Miller lived on this 180-acre farm from around 1820 until his death in 1856. He was the brother of Elizabeth Mumma. In 1840, John Miller owned three slaves. The slave quarter located on the Roulette farm was probably added to the stone spring house around 1820 to house the Miller slaves.
In 1856, William Roulette married Margaret Ann Miller, daughter of John Miller. He purchased his father-in-law’s farm, adjoining the Mumma farm and the Piper farm, in 1857. William Roulette never owned slaves. In 1860, Roulette reported two free blacks living in his household, Robert Simon a 15 year old farm hand, and Nancy Campbell a 40 year old woman employed as a servant.
Nancy Campbell (later changed to Camel) was the former slave of Peter Miller, uncle of Margaret Ann Roulette. When Peter died in 1856 he owned “1 Colored Woman” worth $250.00. According to Peter’s will, Nancy became the property of his son Andrew Miller.
In June 1859, Andrew Miller freed Nancy Campbell. Her Certificate of Freedom, issued by the county as proof that she was no longer a slave, described Nancy as “5 feet 1 ½ inches high, of a dark complexion, without perceptible marks upon her person.” Nancy appears to have immediately taken employment in the Roulette home, where she remained for the rest of her life.
At the time of her death, Nancy’s total worth was $867.04 in cash. Having never married, in her will she left most her money to Susan Rebecca Roulette, William’s daughter, and to the children of both Peter and Andrew Miller.
Nancy Camel lived an industrious and pious life. Her gravestone was inscribed with the words “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord”
Stop 8: The Piper Farm *Note: I have already used this information in the Blog Post Descendants of Daniel Piper: The “Living Trust” they shared for over 100 years…
Stop 10: The Otto Farm
John Otto’s 60-acre farm near the Lower Bridge (Burnside’s Bridge) was the site of much of the final phase of the Antietam battle. After the battle, he found his house and barn filled with wounded and dying soldiers. When the Union army finally cleared out in November of 1862, Otto found little left of the food, wood and animal feed he had carefully laid up for the coming winter.
John Otto lived and worked on his home farm with the help of two slaves in 1860. One, a 54-year old woman, probably worked in the house. The second, a 27-year old man, assisted John Otto in the fields.
Otto’s slaves lived in the main house, according to his former slave Hilary. It is likely they lived in the room above the kitchen (the right-hand section of the house as you look from the Stop 10 overlook). Hilary recalled that, even while a slave, Otto paid him for harvest work and for work while hired out to other farmers. He remained to work for John Otto following his emancipation in 1864.
John Otto’s 60-acre farm near the Lower Bridge (Burnside’s Bridge) was the site of much of the final phase of the Antietam battle. After the battle, he found his house and barn filled with wounded and dying soldiers. When the Union army finally cleared out in November of 1862, Otto found little left of the food, wood and animal feed he had carefully laid up for the coming winter.
John Otto lived and worked on his home farm with the help of two slaves in 1860. One, a 54-year old woman, probably worked in the house. The second, a 27-year old man, assisted John Otto in the fields.
Otto’s slaves lived in the main house, according to his former slave Hilary. It is likely they lived in the room above the kitchen (the right-hand section of the house as you look from the Stop 10 overlook). Hilary recalled that, even while a slave, Otto paid him for harvest work and for work while hired out to other farmers. He remained to work for John Otto following his emancipation in 1864.
Tolson’s Chapel http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/stagsere/se1/se5/022100/022145/pdf/msa_se5_22145.pdf Register of Historic Place (form) *Note: this PDF can be download. The Tolson’s Chapel was constructed in 1866, following emancipation of Maryland’s slaves
pg 8 of the form (pg 9 on PDF) Historic Context
Statement of Significance
Tolson's Chapel is significant under National Register Criterion A for its association with the movement toward African-American social independence and education during the post-Civil War years and beyond. Constructed in 1866, following emancipation of Maryland's slaves in 1864, the chapel served as a place of worship for Sharpsburg's population of free and newly-freed black families. It also functioned as a schoolhouse for the children of those families.
Statement of Significance
Tolson's Chapel is significant under National Register Criterion A for its association with the movement toward African-American social independence and education during the post-Civil War years and beyond. Constructed in 1866, following emancipation of Maryland's slaves in 1864, the chapel served as a place of worship for Sharpsburg's population of free and newly-freed black families. It also functioned as a schoolhouse for the children of those families.
Historic Context
As an institution in Maryland, slavery varied in its application as widely as the diverse geographical regions of the state. On the tobacco growing plantations of the Eastern Shore and southern Maryland, the slave labor system seemed well suited to the labor-intensive production of tobacco. In these regions, primarily occupied by wealthy English or Scotch-Irish landowners, the social and economic make-up closely resembled that of their southern neighbors in Virginia. Northern and western Maryland, however, largely settled by German immigrants and their descendents migrating from Pennsylvania, developed grain-based farming economies. The more seasonal labor requirements of grain farming were less conducive to the expense of holding large numbers of slaves throughout the year. Free black and immigrant day laborers formed the core of the labor force in these regions. Between 1790 and 1850, the slave population in Maryland as a whole declined.' At the same time, the free black population increased due to manumissions (freed by their owners) and free births (children of free women were bom free), and to a small extent from fugitives from the south. Increasing economic development in the northern and western counties associated with the profitable grain-based agriculture and industry, coupled with cheap free black and immigrant labor, began to tip the balance of power in Maryland. First, economically and eventually politically, power was drawn away from the landed slaveholders and toward the industrialists centered in Baltimore. This shift in power, however, did not fully take effect until the trauma of the Civil War forced the issue… Largely because of its border status and the deep political divisions, Maryland remained in the Union despite its status as a "slave state."
By 1862, the institution of slavery in Maryland was dissolving, losing with each day its economic viability. The final blow to the maintenance of slavery in Maryland came in 1863 when the Union army began recruiting black men. Beginning with the enlistment of free blacks, the recruitment eventually culminated in the War Department's General Order 329, which would "provide for enlistment of free blacks, slaves of disloyal owners, and slaves of consenting loyal owners in the border states”. Owners loyal to the Union were entitled to compensation for the enlistment of their slaves, who would be free at the end of their service. Some slave owners in Maryland viewed this as perhaps their last opportunity for receiving payment for the loss of their property. Twenty such owners in Washington County claimed compensation for the enlistment of twenty-seven slaves. In the Sharpsburg District Washington … Note: including Samuel I. Piper (son of Daniel Piper, my 4th GGF)...
The arduous march toward emancipation in Maryland through 1863 and 1864 was couched in a perceived political rather than moral injustice. More conservative Marylanders saw it as primarily championed by politicians representing the swiftly expanding population in and around Baltimore City. In October 1864, the citizens of Maryland, with the exception of those not qualified to vote under the loyalty oath, voted in favor of the new constitution, establishing a new Declaration of Rights, that "all persons held to service or labor, as slaves, are hereby declared free." The document passed by the narrowest margin of 263 votes, said to have been achieved by the use of soldiers' votes. And, as promised by the politicians, there would be few rights as citizens for Maryland's African-American population.
The more immediate result of the dramatic vote in October 1864 was the emancipation of nearly 90,000 slaves in Maryland. One Washington County owner, Otho Nesbitt of Clear Spring, recorded his reaction in his diary the day after emancipation took effect: Nov. 2, 1864 - I told the negroes that I had nothing more to do with them, that they were all free, and would have to shift for themselves. Nesbitt offered to allow his former slaves to remain with him through the winter, "but that I couldn't pay a whole family of negroes to cook a little victuals for me after all that I had lost to both armies." While some of Nesbitt's former slaves may have remained for the winter, many freedmen throughout Maryland began the process of establishing their own communities in towns and rural areas. The seeds for some communities were sown decades earlier, where free blacks had purchased land and settled… With little help from government agencies or their white neighbors, churches, schools, homes, and social halls were constructed using money, manpower, and supplies from within the African-American community... Although the early Methodist Episcopal Church was vocal in its opposition to slavery- one of its prominent Philadelphia members stated "slavery is contrary to the Golden Law of God..." - the general membership was not prevented from owning slaves.''
...Clearly, through the last half of the dramatic decade of the 1860s, black Marylanders struggled to establish themselves as free Americans in an atmosphere of white fear, mistrust, and often-outright bigotry. The quick retreat by many pro-emancipation Marylanders from the Unconditional Unionist Party to the Conservative Union/Democratic coalition was as much motivated by fear of "negro equality" as by opposition to the Reconstruction policies enacted by the Republican-led Congress. But the national march toward civil rights began in 1866 with the passage of the Civil Rights Bill. In 1870, Congress passed the Fifteenth Amendment, providing the right to vote to black men in all states, although Maryland did not support the amendment… a variety of employment for freedmen could be found in these counties, from farm labor and domestic service to railroad work, millwork, and canal work… In 1906, local writer John Philemon Smith described the 35 members of the "Colored M.E. Church" of Sharpsburg in Washington County as "mostly well to do people."
As an institution in Maryland, slavery varied in its application as widely as the diverse geographical regions of the state. On the tobacco growing plantations of the Eastern Shore and southern Maryland, the slave labor system seemed well suited to the labor-intensive production of tobacco. In these regions, primarily occupied by wealthy English or Scotch-Irish landowners, the social and economic make-up closely resembled that of their southern neighbors in Virginia. Northern and western Maryland, however, largely settled by German immigrants and their descendents migrating from Pennsylvania, developed grain-based farming economies. The more seasonal labor requirements of grain farming were less conducive to the expense of holding large numbers of slaves throughout the year. Free black and immigrant day laborers formed the core of the labor force in these regions. Between 1790 and 1850, the slave population in Maryland as a whole declined.' At the same time, the free black population increased due to manumissions (freed by their owners) and free births (children of free women were bom free), and to a small extent from fugitives from the south. Increasing economic development in the northern and western counties associated with the profitable grain-based agriculture and industry, coupled with cheap free black and immigrant labor, began to tip the balance of power in Maryland. First, economically and eventually politically, power was drawn away from the landed slaveholders and toward the industrialists centered in Baltimore. This shift in power, however, did not fully take effect until the trauma of the Civil War forced the issue… Largely because of its border status and the deep political divisions, Maryland remained in the Union despite its status as a "slave state."
By 1862, the institution of slavery in Maryland was dissolving, losing with each day its economic viability. The final blow to the maintenance of slavery in Maryland came in 1863 when the Union army began recruiting black men. Beginning with the enlistment of free blacks, the recruitment eventually culminated in the War Department's General Order 329, which would "provide for enlistment of free blacks, slaves of disloyal owners, and slaves of consenting loyal owners in the border states”. Owners loyal to the Union were entitled to compensation for the enlistment of their slaves, who would be free at the end of their service. Some slave owners in Maryland viewed this as perhaps their last opportunity for receiving payment for the loss of their property. Twenty such owners in Washington County claimed compensation for the enlistment of twenty-seven slaves. In the Sharpsburg District Washington … Note: including Samuel I. Piper (son of Daniel Piper, my 4th GGF)...
The arduous march toward emancipation in Maryland through 1863 and 1864 was couched in a perceived political rather than moral injustice. More conservative Marylanders saw it as primarily championed by politicians representing the swiftly expanding population in and around Baltimore City. In October 1864, the citizens of Maryland, with the exception of those not qualified to vote under the loyalty oath, voted in favor of the new constitution, establishing a new Declaration of Rights, that "all persons held to service or labor, as slaves, are hereby declared free." The document passed by the narrowest margin of 263 votes, said to have been achieved by the use of soldiers' votes. And, as promised by the politicians, there would be few rights as citizens for Maryland's African-American population.
The more immediate result of the dramatic vote in October 1864 was the emancipation of nearly 90,000 slaves in Maryland. One Washington County owner, Otho Nesbitt of Clear Spring, recorded his reaction in his diary the day after emancipation took effect: Nov. 2, 1864 - I told the negroes that I had nothing more to do with them, that they were all free, and would have to shift for themselves. Nesbitt offered to allow his former slaves to remain with him through the winter, "but that I couldn't pay a whole family of negroes to cook a little victuals for me after all that I had lost to both armies." While some of Nesbitt's former slaves may have remained for the winter, many freedmen throughout Maryland began the process of establishing their own communities in towns and rural areas. The seeds for some communities were sown decades earlier, where free blacks had purchased land and settled… With little help from government agencies or their white neighbors, churches, schools, homes, and social halls were constructed using money, manpower, and supplies from within the African-American community... Although the early Methodist Episcopal Church was vocal in its opposition to slavery- one of its prominent Philadelphia members stated "slavery is contrary to the Golden Law of God..." - the general membership was not prevented from owning slaves.''
...Clearly, through the last half of the dramatic decade of the 1860s, black Marylanders struggled to establish themselves as free Americans in an atmosphere of white fear, mistrust, and often-outright bigotry. The quick retreat by many pro-emancipation Marylanders from the Unconditional Unionist Party to the Conservative Union/Democratic coalition was as much motivated by fear of "negro equality" as by opposition to the Reconstruction policies enacted by the Republican-led Congress. But the national march toward civil rights began in 1866 with the passage of the Civil Rights Bill. In 1870, Congress passed the Fifteenth Amendment, providing the right to vote to black men in all states, although Maryland did not support the amendment… a variety of employment for freedmen could be found in these counties, from farm labor and domestic service to railroad work, millwork, and canal work… In 1906, local writer John Philemon Smith described the 35 members of the "Colored M.E. Church" of Sharpsburg in Washington County as "mostly well to do people."
Resource History
...In 1860, 41 free blacks lived in Sharpsburg and by 1870, the African-American population numbered 60, including two landowners. Although the community was scattered around the edges of the town, a small church building, which doubled as a school building, provided a community identity. After 1865, as freedmen's communities developed, often the first community building was the church. An important source of comfort in a difficult life, the church provided "release, redemption, [and] revitalization."
On March 28, 1868, Capt. J.C. Brubaker, in charge of the Freedmen's Bureau in the Harpers Ferry Region, wrote a letter to Rev. John Kimball, Superintendent of Education for the Freedmen's Bureau in Washington, D.C...
Ezra A. Johnson, a white teacher from Philadelphia, arrived in Sharpsburg by April of 1868. On April 6, he wrote to Rev. Kimball: Arrived here safe and sound, but failed to get board with the white people, notwithstanding their having promised the coloured people to give it at a reasonable price.. I am now boarding with one coloured family and lodging with two, until better accommodations can be provided. The fact of the matter is, Mr. Kimble, the citizens would allow a coloured man to teach here, but if possible, they won't allow a white teacher to come here and teach the coloured people; and they have made up their minds to freeze me out with cold shoulders. But I am too well accustomed to a cold shoulder to allow of that… Johnson's previous assignment was in a school in Upper Marlboro, Prince Georges County, Maryland, where he was informed "it was unsafe" for a white man to teach in a colored school... There were also descriptions of the student's abilities: eight knew the alphabet; seven "spell and read easy lessons"; and one was an advanced reader, knew geography and arithmetic… According to Johnson's accounts, the local white population's opinion of the school ranged from "indifferent" to "unfavorable.”... In 1870, Congress discontinued the Freedmen's Bureau operations and it fell to the county to provide educational opportunity to its black residents. The Washington County School Board appointed trustees for the "Colored Schools" for the first time in May 1871...
Tolson 's Chapel through the 2Cf Century Sharpsburg was home to approximately 85 African-Americans in the 1930s, including farm laborers, shopkeepers, housekeepers, and several skilled house carpenters who continued the art of building log houses through the 1930s...
In 1976, 110 years after the chapel's construction, the local Hagerstown newspaper announced, "Sunday's Rally Day services at Tolson's Chapel in Sharpsburg drew a crowd of 30 - ten times the size of the little congregation's membership." Now the only members who remain are Virginia Cook and her aging aunt and uncle, Frances and Clarence Monroe. "Four or five years ago," says Miss Cook, "different ones around town said to me: 'Virginia, it would be easier for you to come to our church and give up yours.' But as I told them, the middle-aged woman explains, "a community is not much of a community without a church… Another (former) member of the Tolson's Chapel congregation, Martha V. Hollins who moved to Hagerstown, wrote a memoir in 1999 entitled "History as I remember, Tolson Chapel"... In 1994, the local conference of the United Methodist Church closed the chapel, citing the fact that the congregation had used the building only once a year for several decades… In 2002, the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church sold the building to a local preservation group, the Save Historic Antietam Foundation.*'*
...In 1860, 41 free blacks lived in Sharpsburg and by 1870, the African-American population numbered 60, including two landowners. Although the community was scattered around the edges of the town, a small church building, which doubled as a school building, provided a community identity. After 1865, as freedmen's communities developed, often the first community building was the church. An important source of comfort in a difficult life, the church provided "release, redemption, [and] revitalization."
On March 28, 1868, Capt. J.C. Brubaker, in charge of the Freedmen's Bureau in the Harpers Ferry Region, wrote a letter to Rev. John Kimball, Superintendent of Education for the Freedmen's Bureau in Washington, D.C...
Ezra A. Johnson, a white teacher from Philadelphia, arrived in Sharpsburg by April of 1868. On April 6, he wrote to Rev. Kimball: Arrived here safe and sound, but failed to get board with the white people, notwithstanding their having promised the coloured people to give it at a reasonable price.. I am now boarding with one coloured family and lodging with two, until better accommodations can be provided. The fact of the matter is, Mr. Kimble, the citizens would allow a coloured man to teach here, but if possible, they won't allow a white teacher to come here and teach the coloured people; and they have made up their minds to freeze me out with cold shoulders. But I am too well accustomed to a cold shoulder to allow of that… Johnson's previous assignment was in a school in Upper Marlboro, Prince Georges County, Maryland, where he was informed "it was unsafe" for a white man to teach in a colored school... There were also descriptions of the student's abilities: eight knew the alphabet; seven "spell and read easy lessons"; and one was an advanced reader, knew geography and arithmetic… According to Johnson's accounts, the local white population's opinion of the school ranged from "indifferent" to "unfavorable.”... In 1870, Congress discontinued the Freedmen's Bureau operations and it fell to the county to provide educational opportunity to its black residents. The Washington County School Board appointed trustees for the "Colored Schools" for the first time in May 1871...
Tolson 's Chapel through the 2Cf Century Sharpsburg was home to approximately 85 African-Americans in the 1930s, including farm laborers, shopkeepers, housekeepers, and several skilled house carpenters who continued the art of building log houses through the 1930s...
In 1976, 110 years after the chapel's construction, the local Hagerstown newspaper announced, "Sunday's Rally Day services at Tolson's Chapel in Sharpsburg drew a crowd of 30 - ten times the size of the little congregation's membership." Now the only members who remain are Virginia Cook and her aging aunt and uncle, Frances and Clarence Monroe. "Four or five years ago," says Miss Cook, "different ones around town said to me: 'Virginia, it would be easier for you to come to our church and give up yours.' But as I told them, the middle-aged woman explains, "a community is not much of a community without a church… Another (former) member of the Tolson's Chapel congregation, Martha V. Hollins who moved to Hagerstown, wrote a memoir in 1999 entitled "History as I remember, Tolson Chapel"... In 1994, the local conference of the United Methodist Church closed the chapel, citing the fact that the congregation had used the building only once a year for several decades… In 2002, the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church sold the building to a local preservation group, the Save Historic Antietam Foundation.*'*
References for Jeremiah Summer and Slavery in Sharpsburg, Maryland
http://www.nps.gov/anti/learn/education/upload/Contradictions-and-Divided-Loyalties.pdf Contradictions and Divided Loyalties Slavery on the Antietam Battleground
http://www.tolsonschapel.org/history/people-tolsons-chapel/ Tolson’s Chapel
http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/stagsere/se1/se5/022100/022145/pdf/msa_se5_22145.pdf Tolson’s Chapel Register of Historic Place (form)
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=109065656&ref=acom Find A Grave
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolson%27s_Chapel Tolson’s Chapel
http://www.nps.gov/anti/learn/education/upload/Contradictions-and-Divided-Loyalties.pdf Contradictions and Divided Loyalties Slavery on the Antietam Battleground
http://www.tolsonschapel.org/history/people-tolsons-chapel/ Tolson’s Chapel
http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/stagsere/se1/se5/022100/022145/pdf/msa_se5_22145.pdf Tolson’s Chapel Register of Historic Place (form)
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=109065656&ref=acom Find A Grave
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolson%27s_Chapel Tolson’s Chapel
Hi, I'm doing some research on the slaves of Samuel I. Piper. I can't figure out if he was related to Henry Piper and where Samuel's farm or property was located. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThey were brothers, sons of Daniel Piper, Sr (1780-1857). Henry inherited the farm located on the Antietam Battlefield. Samuel owned and farmed his own land, I don't know the location.
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