Spotsylvania Memory: July 2020

Friday, July 24, 2020

"He looked at me in a defiant manner"

Wilson Comfort (Courtesy of Tyler Talley)

Thomas H. Comfort, a black citizen of Spotsylvania County, was born about 1862 to Wilson Comfort and Sarah Ann Brown. Thomas married Mary Woolfolk on December 23, 1884. Their time together would be short.

Map detail of Spotsylvania County, 1863

Jesse H. Stubbs, Jr. (1841-1919) was born in southwestern Spotsylvania County to Jesse Stubbs and Sarah Elizabeth Prewett. The Stubbs farm can be seen in the center of the map detail above. Jesse enlisted in Company I of the 6th Virginia Cavalry on May 4, 1861. He was absent from his regiment for a time in 1862 while recuperating from pneumonia. When he returned to active duty, he spent much of the remainder of the war on detached duty as a teamster for the quartermaster department. After the Civil War, Jesse returned home to Spotsylvania. He married Ann Judson Sanders on October 24, 1869. In the years that followed, Jesse earned his living as the owner of a grist mill and also ran a steam saw mill. He was active in local politics and appeared to be well regarded in the community.

On March 18, 1889 Thomas Comfort was working at the saw mill of Jesse Stubbs. He and Jesse were standing at opposite ends of the carriage which had just come off its track, apparently because a log was not placed properly on it. Thomas attempted to get the carriage back on the track by lifting up on it with a stick. Stubbs told him he was doing it the wrong way, and Thomas replied that he knew what he was doing, "to which he added an impolite word." Jesse picked up a five-foot black gum stick and struck Thomas twice. The first blow Thomas averted by throwing up his arms. The second blow smashed into the left side of Thomas's head, instantly rendering him unconscious. Jesse asked some of his other employees to carry Thomas out of mill shed. He was carried outside and laid on a pile of wood chips. Thomas lay insensible there for a time before regaining consciousness. When he woke up, he seemed not to understand what had happened to him. After a while, he managed to stand up and began tottering off in the direction of his home.

John Duerson Pulliam and his wife

Shortly thereafter, Thomas was seen by witness Cleverious Woolfolk staggering across one of the fields of Dr. John Duerson Pulliam's farm. Mr. Woolfolk helped Thomas reach his home, where he died shortly thereafter. A Dr. Woolfolk was summoned to examine Thomas's body, and he and Dr. Pulliam, who acted as coroner, performed an autopsy. During the trial of Jesse Stubbs four months later, Dr. Pulliam testified that he issued a warrant for Jesse's arrest the following day. The charge was murder.

The Free Lance 22 March 1889

The Free Lance 9 July 1889

A trial was held at Spotsylvania Court House on July 2, 1889. Representing the prosecution were Commonwealth's Attorney Alfred Benjamin Rawlings and William Seymour White. White had suffered from poor health most of his life and had to be rolled about in a wheel chair. However, this is no way stopped him from accomplishing a great deal during his short life. In addition to his work as an attorney, White was also the editor of The Free Lance and the mayor of Fredericksburg.

William Seymour White (Ancestry)

The lawyers who defended Jesse Stubbs were also at the top of their profession. St. George Rose Fitzhugh was counsel for the RF&P and PF&P Railroads and the Weems Steamboat Line, and had once been city attorney of Fredericksburg. Lee Jackson Graves, who grew up on a farm near the Stubbs's property, succeeded A.B. Rawlings as commonwealth's attorney in 1899.

Lee Jackson Graves

During the trial, Jesse testified in his own defense. He said that Thomas was trying to get the carriage back on the track incorrectly. When he told Thomas he was going about it in the wrong way, Thomas "made a vulgar, insulting remark to him." He then told Comfort to get away from his saw mill. "He looked me square in the face in a defiant manner. I then struck him on the head with the stick I had in my hand. As he fell, I caught him to prevent him from falling on the saw."

William Seymour White "then opened the case for the prosecution. Those who heard his efforts, many of them gentlemen of the highest culture, and much observation of the practice of law, pronounced his speech as one of the master efforts of the Spotsylvania bar in the memory of the oldest citizen."

There is an old adage among lawyers who try cases in court that goes something like this: If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the facts are against you, argue the law. If both are against you, argue like hell. At the conclusion of Mr. White's speech, Mr. Fitzhugh argued like hell during a three hour tirade during which he presented to the members of the jury what he wanted them to believe was really at stake in this trial. From the November 9, 1889 The Free Lance:

"It was thought by many that the argument made by Mr. Fitzhugh was impolitic as it might have been from a standpoint of public policy, especially coming from him, a man who stands at the head of the bar of the State, and otherwise a representative in and of the important relations of life, yet it was the only alternative under the evidence in the case. Mr. Fitzhugh told the jury of the superiority of the white man over the negro. He held that the deceased was an insolent trespasser upon the rights of the prisoner, and that he therefore had a clear right to do what he did do, should it be construed that he intended to kill the negro; but that the evidence proved that there was no intention upon the part of the prisoner to take the life of the deceased, and where there is no evil intent, there can be no offense in law no matter what the result. He dealt severely with the character of the deceased, as being an impudent hater of the white race, and that as well as on previous occasions, he not only tried to domineer and declare himself the superior of the white man, but was there grossly insulting Mr. Stubbs upon his own premises. He held that nature never intended for the negro to enjoy the franchise of the white man. That whilst he was opposed to slavery, he was opposed to the enfranchisement of the negroes. That that was an occasion in which the verdict of the jury should teach the survivors of the dead negro what they may expect to become of them in such an altercation (or words to that effect). He went so far as to say that if the jury convicted Mr. Stubbs, that the negroes would put an interpretation upon it that would have to wiped out with blood. Such was the tenor and the line of Mr. Fitzhugh's argument."

When St. George Fitzhugh finished his summation it was nearly midnight. Court was then adjourned and reconvened the following morning. After a brief consultation, the jury returned a verdict that Jesse Stubbs was guilty of involuntary manslaughter. He was fined $100 and released.

Eight months after he was murdered, Thomas Comfort's youngest son was born. His widow named him in her late husband's honor.

To read a short biography of Dr. John Duerson Pulliam, click here: http://spotsylvaniamemory.blogspot.com/2014/12/dr-john-duerson-pulliam.html

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Lewis Boggs and the Mule Incident at Livingston

Lewis Alexander Boggs (Ancestry)

Hugh Corrans Boggs was born in County Donegal, Ireland on June 6, 1763. His family emigrated to the United States, where in 1789 he was ordained as an Episcopal priest by the Right Reverend William White, Bishop of Pennsylvania. That same year, Reverend Boggs was appointed rector of the Berkley Parish in Virginia and served as the pastor at Mattoponi Church in King and Queen County until his death in 1828. Mattaponi was built as an Anglican church in the 1730s and still stands today as Mattoponi Baptist Church. During his years in Virginia he preached at a number of churches and taught at the Llangollen Academy in Spotsylvania.

Map detail of southern Spotsylvania County, 1863

Reverend Boggs settled in Spotsylvania County, where he married Ann "Nancy" Holladay on December 29, 1796. He built a fine house called "Livingston" on land given to him and Nancy as a wedding gift by her father, Lewis Holladay. In the map detail above Livingston--denoted as "Boggs"--can be seen at center right They had one son, Lewis Alexander Boggs, who was born on December 27, 1811. When his father died in 1828, Lewis obtained possession of the pulpit Bible of Mattoponi Church which had been published in England in 1754.

Mattoponi Baptist Church today (Wikipedia)

Lewis Boggs was married three times (he outlived all three wives) and was the father of eight children, all of whom lived to adulthood. Lewis lived at Livingston until his death on July 15, 1880. He was a man of great energy who contributed much to the civic life of Spotsylvania. He served as a lieutenant in the 16th Regiment of the Virginia Militia, was active in Whig politics, served for many years as justice of the peace and was a lay-delegate for the Berkeley Parish to many annual conventions of the Virginia Diocese. He served on the first vestry of Christ Church when it was built at Spotsylvania Court House in 1841. He donated the church Bible from Mattaponi to Christ Church, where it continued to be used as the pulpit Bible for many years, and is still brought out on special occasions.

Lewis Boggs, Jr., and family at Livingston, 1900 (Ancestry)

For decades, Livingston was a large and prosperous farm, consisting of 2,000 acres, and as of 1860 it utilized the labor of 63 enslaved people. Among them was Julia Ross Frazier, who was born at Livingston about 1856. She, her parents and her 16 siblings accounted for almost one-third of the slaves at Livingston. By the 1930s, Julia was living at 311 Hawke Street in Fredericksburg, where she was interviewed by WPA researcher Claude W. Anderson on April 20, 1937.

During her interview with Mr. Anderson, Julia remembered Lewis Boggs as a "good man. There wasn't any beating. My master wouldn't allow any." Julia's mother was the cook for the Boggs family, and Julia was put to work cleaning the house. She enjoyed dusting in Lewis's "reading room." She loved looking at his books when no one was around, even though she would not learn to read until after the Civil War.

Once the Ross family was emancipated, Julia's father took her and one of her sisters to Fredericksburg, a walk of some 20 miles, to get work. He found employment for Julia as a house servant for George Aler, a prominent citizen of the town who owned a brick manufactory, was Director of the Water Power Company, Superintendent of Streets and a member of the Fair Committee. He also had been for many years one of Fredericksburg's most active slave traders.

Fredericksburg News

Julia remembered this from her time with the Alers: "Man cussed every breath he took. Had a saint for a wife. He couldn't help it; just natural with him. One day he told me 'By God you go down and get so-and-so out of the closet.' His son was a doctor and I didn't know there was anything in the closet. I opened the door and a skeleton was hanging in there just a-shaking. I let out a whoop and fell right out. Did he laugh! Biggest joke he had in a long time."

Another event from Julia's days at Livingston involved Lewis Boggs, his mule and a slave named Charlie:

"One day Charlie saw old Marsa coming home with a keg of whiskey on his old mule. Cutting across the plowed field, the old mule slipped and Marsa come tumbling off. Marsa didn't know Charlie saw him, and Charlie didn't say nothing. But soon after a visitor came and Marsa called Charlie to the house to show off what he knew. Marsa say 'Come here, Charlie, and sing some rhymes for Mr. Henson.' Don't know no new ones, Marsa,' Charlie answered. 'Come on, you black rascal, give me a rhyme for my company--one he ain't heard.' So Charlie say, "All right, Marsa, I give you a new one if you promise not to whip me.' Marsa promised, and then Charlie sung the rhyme he done made up in his head about Marsa:

Jackass rared,

Jackass pitch,

Throwed old Marsa in the ditch.

"Well, Marsa got mad as a hornet, but he did not whup Charlie, not that time anyway. And child, don't you know we used to set the floor to that there song? Mind you, never would sing when Marsa was around, but when he wasn't we'd swing all around the cabin singing about how old Marsa fell off the mule's back. Charlie had a bunch of verses:

Jackass stamped,

Jackass neighed,

Throwed old Marsa on his head.

"Don't recollect all that smart slave made up. But everybody sure bust their sides laughing when Charlie sung the last verse:

Jackass stamped,

Jackass hupped,

Marsa hear you slave, you sure get whupped."

Julia Ross Frazier was an active member of Shiloh Baptist Church (Old Site) in Fredericksburg. She founded the Church Aid Club there in 1921. She died shortly after her interview with Mr. Anderson, and is buried in the Shiloh Baptist Cemetery (Old) on Monument Avenue in Fredericksburg.

Sources:

Weevils in the Wheat: Interviews with Virginia Ex-Slaves. The University Press of Virginia, 1976.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattaponi_Church#/media/File:Mattaponi_Baptist_Church_Virginia.jpg

http://www.livingston-mckay.com/hon.-lewis-a.-boggs%2C-esq.html

http://www.christchurchspotsy.com/about-us/history/

http://www.livingston-mckay.com/rev.-dr.-hugh-c.-boggs.html

http://shiloholdsite.org/church-aid-club.html

Monday, July 6, 2020

St. Julien and Bacchus White

Francis Taliaferro Brooke

Francis Taliaferro Brooke and his twin brother John were born at "Smithfield" in Spotsylvania County on August 27, 1763. During the American Revolution, Francis and John enlisted in Harrison's Regiment of Artillery and were commissioned as lieutenants. Francis first served with General Lafayette and then was an orderly on the staff of General Nathaniel Greene. After the Revolution, Francis studied law and was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1788. He practiced law for a few years in what is now West Virginia and then worked as a lawyer in Essex County. He was elected to the House of Delegates in 1794 and moved to Fredericksburg two years later. He won election to the Virginia Senate in 1800. He served in that body until 1811, when his fellow senators elected him to the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, a post he held for the remaining forty years of his life. Francis was an intimate friend of George Washington, corresponded with Thomas Jefferson and frequently hosted Henry Clay at his home.

St. Julien, 1930s (Library of Congress)

In 1796, Francis T. Brooke purchased 220 acres of the Belvediera property from the estate of William Daingerfield, located on what is now Route 2 a few miles southeast of Fredericksburg. In 1804 he built his home there, which he called St. Julien. This would be his home until his death in 1851, and then the home of his son Frances Edward Brooke and his family until 1874.

Fredericksburg News 7 March 1851

Francis Edward Brooke was born at St. Julien in 1813. He married Gabriella "Ella" Brockenbrough Ambler in Richmond in November 1837. They made their home at "Mill Farm," the Ambler place in Louisa County. After the death of his father in 1851, Francis appears to have divided his time between Mill Farm and St. Julien. The 1860 census shows that St. Julien had by then grown to 680 acres. Francis owned 46 slaves and had a net worth of $122,000, making him one of the wealthiest men in Spotsylvania County.

One of the slaves in the Brooke household was Bacchus White, who was born in 1852. As a child, Bacchus understood that he would one day belong to Francis's daughter, Catherine Ambler Brooke, who was a couple of years older than Bacchus. In 1939, Bacchus was interviewed by WPA writer Susan Knox Gordon. He remembered with fondness his brief time with "Kathie": "I remember so well one day she took me and one of the other children, put us in the dining room, put me in the Master's place, and put the other child in the old Missus's place. She then went out and brought in the old Missus to see what was at her table. Miss Kathie would then stand and laugh." Catherine Ambler Brooke died on August 25, 1858 at the age of eight.

Fredericksburg News 27 August 1858

Another memory from those days involved Francis Edward Brooke: "I remember how old Master used to come out in his Prince Albert coat with long tails getting ready to go to town in his gig. He would come over to the [slave] quarters and we would catch hold of the tails of his coat and go back to the house swinging on his coat tails."

"Old Master had a grist mill and a blacksmith shop, and in the blacksmith shop they used to make everything for the farm on the place. My uncle was the blacksmith. I have seen two boys going to the field, one going and one coming back from the blacksmith shop with a plow point on his head. They always toted things on their heads."

"Mr. Friend, pastor of Grace [Episcopal] Church, white folks' church, christened me [this church was located in Caroline County at the intersection of Routes 2 and 610]. I intended to be an Episcopalian, but I never did. That day and time the colored people didn't have a colored church, so they always went to the white church, Round Oak [Baptist Church in Caroline County], and there was a place reserved for them."

"I remember so well after the War, when I was living with my father, we used to take two bushels of corn on our backs and walk seven miles to town, without ever taking them off their shoulders. We would get what we wanted for the corn, and then we would go back home. We didn't think nothing of that. We would wade right through Massaponax Creek, didn't think it was nothing. Then walk home seven miles."

Ella Brockenbrough Ambler Brooke (Ancestry)

Francis Brooke and his wife Ella died within two weeks of each other in 1874--he on May 15 and she on May 30.

Fredericksburg Ledger 22 May 1874

Fredericksburg Ledger 6 June 1874

Bacchus White married Susie Williams in 1882. They moved to Fredericksburg by the turn of the century and lived for a time on Wolf Street. They later bought a house at 512 Amelia Street. In 1900 Bacchus was working as a butler; in 1910 he was employed as a laborer. By 1920 he was working as a cook on the local steam boats. He later owned a restaurant on William Street.

When Bacchus was interviewed by Susan Knox Gordon in 1939, he was employed as a servant at Kenmore. This undated photograph shows him seated in the kitchen at Kenmore:

Susie Williams White died some time during the 1920s. Bacchus then married Lucinda Thornton, who lived until 1946.

Bacchus White

Bacchus White died at his home on Amelia Street on July 16, 1954. For the last two days of his life he was attended by his neighbor, Dr. R.C. Ellison, who signed his death certificate. Bacchus is buried in Fredericksburg in the Shiloh Baptist Cemetery (Old) on Monument Avenue.