Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1878-11-15
Eobs Rs1sO!sh's yfsU.s.

JOQu LsdluOARA ACbCCAAOCA III bAS
seventh degree from Pocahontas, and in
the eighth from King POwhatan, owned
broad estates on the Roanoke river,
bordering North Carolina. There he
practiced a splendid hospitality; horses,
hounds, and a retinue of servants were
at the command of his guests. On his
plantation were employed, or kept,
nearly thousand slaves. The number
was not reduced by sales. Although
Virginia then made slave-breeding as
much of an industry as the raising Of
tobacco, Mr.. Randolph did not engage in
it. He never sold a slave, and by his
will manumitted all that belonged to
him at his death. Under the laws of
Virginia freedmen could not reside on
her soil, and in the deed of manumission
provision was made for the settlement
of the emaneipate1 negroes on land to
be acquired in free state. A sum of
money was set apart for their mainte-
nance in the mean time.
Although Mr.. Randolph died in 1888,
it was not until 1916 that Judge Leigh,
the executor of his will, removed the
negroes from their old home on the
Roanoke, taking them through Lynch
burgh-that great tobacco and slave
mart, the terror of every bondman-
and across the "black belt" to the Kan
awha river, where steamboats, were char
tered. and the swarthy emigTants and
their portable property conveyed to
Cincinnati. Here a transfer was made
to boats on the Miami and Erie canal,
and the Journey continued to Mercer
county, Ohio, about one hundred and
forty miles north of Cincinnati, where
three thousand two hundred acres OF
land had been purchased for the colo
nists.
They arrived at their destination, but
they were not permitted to land. The
region was settled almost wholly by
Germans, and the prejudice against the
new comers was carried to the point Of
-rmed resistance. No compromise could
De effected. Some of the very men who
had sold their land to Judge Leigh for
the negroes, joined their neighbors IN
hostile demonstrations against its lawful
owners. Neither the local nor the state
authorities would interfere. Even IN
Ohio, in 1916, the negro had no rights
which white man was bound to respect.
That was thirty-tWo years ago. ReVo-
lutions have taken place since, and MS
tory has been made.
The boats were turned about and q
retreat made to Piqua, a hourishing and
delightful little city ninety-iYe miles
| north of Cincinnati Here the treed-
men landed and encamped in the bend
of the Great Miami river, on the even
ing of the 4th of July, 1916. 1t was a
| sad independence day to them. Denied
a return to their native state, denied the
| homes which had been purchased for
them in what they had supposed to be q
| free state, with no knowledge OF and
means of livelihood but the rude work
of Virginia plantation, these homeless
and houseless freedmen were in most
| pitiable condition. From the death OF
Mr.. Randolph until the exodus of the
freedmen from Roanoke-thirteen years
their number had been greatly re-
duced. During his life there had been
a steady patient increase, and no diminu-
lions, except by death. But the remnant
encamped at Piqua numbered not over
| four hundred and fifty souls, and many
| of these were old men and women, TAR
advanced in helplessness. The proper
ton of able-bodied, middle-aged men
and women to the children and old peo-
pie was noticeably small. How to pro-
vide for this number of dependent
| people was the absorbing question with
| Judge Leigh and the humane people he
met at Pioua, who rendered him not
only their advice, but very efficient aid.
| With the ready money he had IN his
possession he bought small homesteads
| for the older members of the colony,
in a suburb of the city, and found situa-
] tions as laborers for the young men, and
/ yl,oo1 ar,fn fOr the VOI1nQ
| women-in many cases securing homes
for entire families on farms, and thus
| preventing, as far as possible, the sepa-
ration of parents and children. The
| colony was broken into fragments, but
was all settled in and around four towns
Sidney, Piqua, Troy, and West Milton,
the latter a Quaker community. In all
| probability it was better for the negroes
to be scattered in this way than settled
| on the land selected for them, sur
rounded, as they would have been. with
hostile, ignorant, and bigoted people.
The astonishment of these simple peo-
pie in hearing language spoken they
| did not understand was unbounded, and
| it was laughable to hear some of them
narrate the incidents of their reception
| when they went to take possession OF
| Gu6lI lduus luo OeTuldllb VIII pAOfOASSSA
them from leaving the boats conversed
in their native tongue. The words being
unintelligible to the negroes, the latter
looked upon their adYersaries with an
awe bordering upon veneration.
In all this company Of four hundred
and fifty men, women, and children,
there was not mulattto. The African
blood had been preserved in its purity.
A few of the children could read to a
very limited extent, but this was all the
education there was among them. They
had everything to learn. Plantation
methods Of work would not answer on
! Ohio farms, and men and women had to
be taught, like children, to perform the
most Simple operatiors. They were
awkward and inapt, but fortunately
they we're among friends who possessed
patience, and who were anxious to help
| them. The older members Of the colony
showed great anxiety for the education
of their children. The public schools
were shut against them. Their parents
/ L