July 6, 2022 • 37 mins
John Bibb is credited with cultivating Bibb lettuce. But his family’s legacy, good and bad, is all tied to having enslaved people build their familial wealth.
Research:
- Seek Museum. https://www.seekmuseum.org/
- O’Neal, Lonnae. “The bitter harvest of Richard Bibb: A descendant of slavery confronts her inheritance.” Andscape. October 14, 2019. https://andscape.com/features/the-bitter-harvest-of-richard-bibb-a-descendant-of-slavery-confronts-her-inheritance/
- “Bibb Contributed to Logan’s Black History.” March 1, 1979. https://www.newspapers.com/image/554440735/?terms=John%20B.%20Bibb&match=1
- Sanders, “John M. Bibb,” ExploreKYHistory, accessed June 23, 2022, https://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/47.
- “Bibb Town.” The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky. Oct. 10, 1897. https://www.newspapers.com/image/32971252/?terms=John%20B.%20Bibb&match=1
- “The African-American Mosaic – Colonozation.” Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam002.html
- Metzmeier, Kurt X., Constructing Freedom: A Letter by George M. Bibb Concerning the Will of the Rev. Richard Bibb, Sr. (2016). 9 Unbound: A Review of Legal History and Rare Books 133 (2016), University of Louisville School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper Series No. 2017-5, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2919345
- “Townhouse of Maj. Richard Bibb.” The Historical Marker Database. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=123348
- Goff, John S. “THE LAST LEAF: GEORGE MORTIMER BIBB.” The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, vol. 59, no. 4, 1961, pp. 331–42. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23374698.
- Morrow, Michael. “Bibb Slaves Sent to Liberia in Africa in 1832.” The Logan Journal. November 2009. http://theloganjournal.com/Stories.aspx?Article=guests10
- Goff, John S. “THE LAST LEAF: GEORGE MORTIMER BIBB.” The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, vol. 59, no. 4, 1961, pp. 331–42. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23374698
- Swietek, Wes. “Unique bonds: Descendants of slaves and the man who freed them gather for reunion.” Bowling Green Daily News. August 3, 2019. https://www.bgdailynews.com/news/unique-bonds-descendants-of-slaves-and-the-man-who-freed-them-gather-for-reunion/article_140eccb6-4f51-59dd-b1df-7f2892c0e02a.html
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production
of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. This episode
was supposed to be another installment of eponymous Food. Yeah,
(00:23):
it went a different way though it is not. It
is a little, but as I got into the story
of one of those foods, it really unfurled quite quickly
into a much bigger and much more important story about
the family of a man who cultivated lettuce in his
later life. Just as sits up, I promise there's another
eponymous food coming at some point, but it's not today. Um.
(00:46):
This story is I think really important because it offers
a snapshot of a very rich person's choice to emancipate
his enslaved workforce, the way his family received that information,
and how they're I guessee both good and bad is
all tied to having enslaved people building their familial wealth.
Heads up, We're going to read a lot from writings
(01:08):
that were composed in the eighteen hundred, so of course
some of the language there is a bit outdated. But
first we're going to talk about bib lettuce and the
man who cultivated it. Yes, I love it when episodes
go in totally different directions from what they were playing.
Just a hard left. So John Bigger bib who was
(01:32):
born on October nine and Prince Edward County, Virginia. His parents,
Richard Bibb and Lucy Booker bib moved from Virginia to
Kentucky when John was about nine years old. We're going
to get back to Richard in a moment and talk
about him a lot more. They shifted around Kentucky for
a bit. First they lived in Fayette County and then
(01:54):
in Bullet, where Richard Bibb purchased Assault Works. Then they
went to Logan County and established a large and successful farm.
Bibb's early education was largely under Joshua Fry. That was
a fellow Virginian who had moved to Mercer County, Kentucky.
Fry is a pretty interesting figure in Kentucky history because
when he moved there, he didn't think there was an
(02:16):
adequate educational system, so he opened up a school out
of his house, and then a lot of prominent people
in Kentucky's history were educated by Joshua Fry. After his
primary education, John Bibbs studied law under Judge HP Broadnax's
but before he could get his law career underway, the
War of eighteen twelve began, and the twenty three year
(02:38):
old bib joined the fourth Kentucky Volunteer Brigade. He began
as a private and was promoted to the rank of
major after the Battle of Thames in October of eighteen thirteen.
Although the war continued into eighteen fifteen, John Bibb was
discharged just a month after his promotion and returned to Kentucky.
And it's a little unclear, at least in the documents
(02:59):
that I had available to me, why he was discharged
so soon after being made major. It very well might
have been a health issue, though this is supported by
the fact that although he passed the bar right after
returning to Kentucky and opened his practice, he closed it
down just a couple of years later in eighteen sixteen,
due to poor health. In eighteen twenty seven, bib ran
(03:20):
for a seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives as
a Whig and one. He was reelected in eighteen twenty
eight and then ran for the Kentucky Senate one again.
He served in the state Senate for four years, from
eighteen thirty to eighteen thirty four. During that time he
also married Sarah py Horseley. Their wedding was on August
(03:41):
eighteen thirty one. Bib was an amateur horticulturalist, and in
eighteen forty five he purchased land to support his hobby.
He built his home Gray Gables, on a property in Frankfort, Kentucky,
on Wapping Street. That's usually touted as he built it
for his wife, and it included a large green house
and there was a substantial garden, and today that's known
(04:04):
as the Bib Burnley House and it has a historical
marker and it was there that he started working with lettuce.
Over time, Bib developed something he called Limestone lettuce. It
was a lettuce that grew well in Kentucky's limestone rich soil.
It was naturally resistant to a number of pests, including
plant lice. It's also really tender and it grows in
(04:26):
a pretty compact head. And Bib was not cultivating this
crop for profit. He gave most of it away and
it actually was not renamed Bib Lettuce and commercially sold
until decades after his death, which happened in eighteen eighty four.
He had during his late lifetime given away both lettuce
and seeds. That was in the latter half of the
nineteenth century, and subsequently area farmers had started growing limestone
(04:51):
lettuce for themselves. In nineteen nineteen, the green Wine Greenhouse
of Louisville was the first to sell the lettuce with
the name bib at match to it. So that's the
pretty benign story of where bib let Us came from.
Now we have to take a look at the deeper
legacy of slavery within the bib family and John B.
(05:12):
Bibbs role within that. To do that, we have to
go back to his father, Richard Bibb. So there's a
historical marker outside of Major Richard Bibbs Townhouse in Russellville, Kentucky.
It was placed there by the Kentucky Historical Society in
nineteen seventy five, and that marker Reid's quote. Bib a
Revolutionary War soldier, was born in Virginia seventeen fifty two.
(05:34):
He came to Lexington, Kentucky in seventeen moved to Logan
County the next year, where he built Bibbs Chapel. Later
erected this house for his wife. Major bib freed twenty
nine of his slaves in eighteen twenty nine and sent
them to Liberia. He died in eighteen thirty nine, and
his will provided for the release of his other slaves
(05:55):
and gave them land. Here's the more detailed story. Richard
was born in Goochland County, Virginia, on April thirteenth, seventeen
fifty two. His parents were John Bibb and Susannah Bigger
bib And. During the Revolutionary War, Richard joined the Continental
Army and rose to the rank of major. When Richard
moved his family to Kentucky, he brought with them a
(06:18):
large number of enslaved people. He had actually been the
second largest slaveholder in Prince Edward County, Virginia. In eighteen seventeen,
the American Colonization Society was formed in the US. Its
goal was to provide an alternative to emancipation within the
US for black enslaved people that when the option of
(06:39):
being shipped to Africa. This has come up in several
previous episodes, most recently in our episode on Paul Cuffey.
There were supporters of this idea who believed that it
would truly be a viable option for free black people.
There were also people who just saw this as a
solution from a racist standpoint, It would get those black
(07:00):
people out of the United States. Both abolitionists and pro
slavery white people used similar rhetoric about free black people
never truly assimilating into white society, So for the pro
slavery crowd, this was seen as a condition of emancipation.
The emancipated person would then leave the country, did not
(07:21):
matter if they had been born and raised in the
United States and had no real ties to Africa at
this point, and Major Richard Bibbs so again. Lettuce John
Bibbs father had at some point in his later life
realized that the institution of slavery was wrong. This was
a position that is usually attributed to his religious studies
(07:43):
and becoming a minister. There are some versions of his
life story to indicate that one of the people that
he enslaved had been the one to encourage him to
become a Methodist minister after he had initially been on
a path to be an Episcopalian minister, and he had
connections to the America Colonization Society. He was friends with
Henry Clay who was one of the society's founders. Richard
(08:06):
eventually decided that the plan to relocate emancipated black people
to Africa is a good idea, so in eighteen twenty nine,
he announced that he was emancipating one third of his
enslaved workforce on the condition that they would be sent
to Liberia. There is a little bit of fractured logic
about why only one third we're going to be manumented,
(08:28):
and it's sometimes cited as Major Bibbs reasoning here. He
had just short of one hundred enslaved people working for
him in eighteen twenty nine. Some of those were entire families,
self contained within the bib Families holdings, but many were
married to enslaved people who were owned by other families. So,
according to this logic, he selected thirty one that no
(08:51):
other white family could claim ownership over, believing that that
would be better than breaking up families. Yes, there is
some logic to that, but it also conveniently ignores the
fact that Major bib almost certainly possessed the wealth to
purchase and management any number of enslaved people had he
wanted to keep families together. The one exception to this
(09:11):
whole scenario was a man named Richard Morton. He had
been owned by bibbs son in law, Dr. Bonarogas Roberts,
and he was married to a woman named Hannah, who
was part of major bibbs enslaved workforce. According to a
number of accounts, the enslaved people that Bibbs selected were
ones who also wanted to go to Liberia rather than
remain enslaved, although there is no way to verify that,
(09:34):
and sometimes it reads very conveniently in retellings of this story.
We're going to talk about the only account of bibbs
emancipation of an announcement by a person who was there
in just a moment. First, though, will pause for a
quick sponsor break. So there is an account of that
(10:01):
announcement that this group of enslaved people would be an emancipated,
and it is the only firsthand account that we have.
It is not without problems, and we'll talk about that
in a moment. Uh. This account was given by a
formerly enslaved man named Andrew bib who related to a
reporter in late eight Andrew would have been seventy three
(10:22):
at the time, and he would have been five in
nine when the events that he recounted took place. And
we're going to read this account, but before we do,
please know that it is really very romanticized. It puts
Major Bib in a very very kind light. So this
account reads in part quote in the center of the
yard stood an old gentleman with uplifted hands, and beside
(10:45):
him was a barrel on end, on top of which
was placed a Bible and a hymn book. In front
and around him were nearly one slaves. Twenty nine of
these were about to start as freemen and women in
the land of their fathers in far off Africa, after
several generations of servitude in America. The old man asked
(11:07):
a divine blessing upon them. Since his youth he had
cared for them, and before that they or their parents
had belonged to his father. He believes slavery was wrong,
and was taking the initial step toward putting into execution
a long cherished plan. He was about to send one
third of his slaves to Liberia. The others he intended
(11:27):
to liberate at his death. He had read a chapter
in the Bible and had given out a him and
when his prayer was finished, many a black face was
based in tears, and the slaves gathered about and shook
old Master's hand for the last time and heard the
accent of his kindly voice. This goes on to say
that the people chosen for the journey were quote shiftless
(11:48):
and refractory, obstinately resistant to authority or control, unruly. So
that last quote, of course, contradicts the framing that bib
was selecting the people who wanted to go to Africa.
Uh So. Andrew bibbs story was published in the Career
Journal of Louisville, Kentucky. It was written by a reporter
named M. By Morton. Sometimes this story, as it's relayed,
(12:12):
is told as though it's a direct quote from Andrew.
I don't think that was ever the intention. It's a
direct quote of M. B. Morton about the story as
told to him, And we don't know if the account
was edited or altered, although it certainly seems likely. I
don't know anybody who speaks in such prosy, you know
(12:32):
what I mean? Nobody um M B. Morton, we should say,
kind of made a career out of talking about slave narratives.
He went on to write extensively about Kentucky's enslaved population,
including in a book he wrote called Kentuckians Are Different
that didn't come out until almost forty years later. That's
also a book that he dedicated to the states enslaved
(12:54):
population as his educators. So there's a lot to unpack there.
I just want to acknowledge sort of what was going
on with it. We do know that it took several
years for the plan to move all of those people
to actually be executed. They were taken to Clarksville, Missouri
by wagon, then boarded a steamship for New Orleans. In
(13:15):
New Orleans, they were taken aboard a brig called the
Ajax on April thirty three. The oldest member of the
group Bib sent was a man in his thirties named Andrew,
and the youngest was just a little over six months old.
All of them, according to research done by Michael Morrow,
museum director for the Sikh Museum that now exists on
(13:37):
bibbs former property, all the people Bib emancipated for this
journey where the direct descendants of enslaved people known by
the names Lucy and Keziah. That couple had been enslaved
by the Bib family. Going all the way back to Virginia.
We also don't know exactly why it took two and
a half years to get them onto this ship after
(14:00):
the announcement. That's all a little unclear in these retellings,
and there doesn't seem to be like a journal or
anything kept by any of the wagon drout anybody that
explains why that took two and a half years. Even then,
that seems like an extraordinarily long time. The voyage of
the Ajax was paid for with funding from the American
Colonization Society and the Kentucky Colonization Society. And in addition
(14:25):
to Lucy and Keziah's family from the bid properties, there
were one hundred eighteen other enslaved people being emancipated through
this journey. They were mostly from Kentucky. There was also
a white missionary and an agent of the Tennessee Colonization
Society named H. D. King. This journey was really rough.
There was a cholera outbreak on the ship which killed
(14:47):
several dozen people. Those numbers are usually quoted as between
thirty and forty, but it's not a percent clear. A
Black minister named Able Long visited Liberia years later, and
he reported that he was unable to make contact with
any of the people from the Bib group, although he
was told that two of the women had survived and
(15:07):
had gone into the jungle to live. That account is
very strange. I read it in one newspaper, and it's
also very sensationalized. There's language I did not care to
include here. The rest of the people who went appeared
to have died when Major Bib died, as was indicated
on that historical marker we mentioned earlier. He did, as promised,
(15:27):
emancipate his remaining enslaved workforce. He once again indicated a
desire for some of them to go to Liberia, and
he also offered an alternate plan. Here's the pertinent passage
from his will quote, I do hereby emancipate all of
my slaves from and after the first day of January
(15:48):
next after my death, and desire that all of them
who have not wives or husbands and bondage be sent
to Liberia. I give to my slaves hereby emancipated five
thousand dollars to be divide it out among them, and
paid out to them from time to time according to
the discretion of my executors, and all of my stock
(16:08):
of horses, cattle, sheep and hogs, farming tools, wagons and carts,
and crops made the year of my decease, or that
may be on hand, and each slave hired out to
the higher due for the year in which I shall decease.
I also give to said slaves all my lands which
are unsold or undisposed of in the County of Grace
(16:30):
and of this state. The land in the County of
Logan conveyed to me by Benjamin Tompkins, Ralph E. Nurse
and Robert Nurse is to be divided among them at
the discretion of my executors. And also the land in
Logan conveyed to me by Mark Harden, and about thirty
acres of joining it conveyances to be made by my
(16:51):
executors or either of them, And they are hereby authorized
to sell and convey any of the land or either property.
Here I given to my emancipated slaves, and divide or
lay out the money for their benefit. I give to
my errand the house and lots on which he lives
in Russellville, and his carpenter tools, as his portion of
(17:13):
the legacies left my emancipated slaves I give to my
woman Clarissa's is that part of most remote from the
dwelling house to include the smith's shop. Major Bib then
included a long list of names of the emancipated enslaved.
They are listed only by first name. This part of
the will then concludes with quote, I give to my
(17:36):
slaves by this will emancipated my two lots under the
Knob near mb Morton's and two fractional lots in Saunders,
addition to Russellville near James Bell's stable, and a fractional
lot near William Duncan's and William First near the Public Square,
to be divided and conveyed to them at the discretion
of my executors. When Major Bib died, his son John
(17:59):
wrote two letters to his older brother, George M. Bib,
who had been a U S Senator and was serving
as a judge of the Jefferson County Court of Chancery
when their father died. The first letter informed George of
the Major's passing, and then the second asked for Georgia's
thoughts on the will because George's expertise and wills and
(18:20):
trusts was just unmatched. George's response was twelve pages long,
and he did not agree with his father's wishes, but
he also knew he couldn't really contest the will, although
the advice that he gives to his brother is not
in the interests of the people that Major Bib named
for emancipation. We're not going to read this whole thing again.
(18:41):
It is twelve pages long. That would be the whole podcast. Really. Uh.
We'll read some excerpts of it though, to show how
George Bib made the case to his brother that he
could hang on to assets that were mentioned in the
will for as long as possible. Yeah, this, I have
feelings about this letter. George's letter opens with some niceties
(19:04):
towards John discusses that their father has died, and early
on it includes this passage quote, what effect the experiment
our father has made in sending negroes to Liberia and
in setting out some to work for themselves near him,
might have had in changing his mind upon the subject
of emancipation? I did not know. The will which he
(19:25):
has left shows that his mind was unaltered. It is
done poor, as I am struggling at my time of life,
by the most intense application to the duties which does
not afford any surplus at the year's end above the
expenses of my family. Yet I would not for the
property bequeathed by the will for all the negroes, nor
(19:45):
the value ten times told, insult the memory of our
father by and attempt to set aside the writing he
has published as his last will and testament. Whoever suggested
an intention on my part to oppose the will or
to endeavor to break it, did but little understand my
thoughts or temper, spoke at random, without color of authority
(20:07):
from me, and did me great injustice. Got this point
in his life, George had enjoyed a lot of success,
but he had, for reasons that are kind of nebulous,
gotten to the point where his finances were pretty lean
by the time his father died. The only reasons he
cites when discussing his financial problems were the banking system
(20:28):
and quote my own confiding temper. So while you might
understand his dismay at his father giving so much land
and money towards his emancipation provisions, and why people expected
that he would try to contest the will, it's also
reported that Major Bib left his children well cared for financially.
(20:49):
It was even mentioned in his death announcement. Yeah, I'm
always suspicious of anyone who's like, even though I am
in the worst position, I would never try to do
anything like when you that's are open, I'm gonna lean back. Um.
Aside from insisting that he would never insult his father's memory,
George makes his opinions pretty clearly known in this letter
(21:10):
about how he believes the will should be executed. And
we're going to dig into all of that after we
first take a little break and hear from the sponsors
that keep stuff he missed in history class going. George
bib makes clear in his letter that he believed his
(21:33):
father was wrong in emancipating slaves. He did not side
with abolitionists. This writing is for me infuriating to read,
and it includes the following quote. The emancipation of a
large number of negroes, male and female, helpless and infirm,
old and young, would provide a nuisance to society as
well as an injury to the negroes, and he hints
(21:56):
that the key to managing the situation in the way
he think would avoid problems is in the executor's hands,
although he also adds quote, the extent of discretionary powers
given to his executors is not clear of difficulty. So
remember George Bibb was an expert in wills. He had
practiced law, was able to build a case. And as
(22:19):
he continues with this, it definitely seems like he's trying
to show his brother John that there is just so
much gray area in the will when it comes to
the specifics of the apportionment. So he continues, quote, to
apply these rules to the will. I give to my
slaves hereby emancipated five thousand dollars to be divided out
(22:39):
amongst them, and paid out to them from time to
time according to the discretion of my executors. The extent
of the discretion which the executors are to exercise under
the clause respects first the division amongst these collegiatearies, second
the time of the payments. The important question is may
the exact geters divide the money in unequal shares? If
(23:03):
the shares are to be equal share and share aliked
each legatary. If the executors cannot exercise a discretion by
giving five shillings to one and eighty dollars to another
from time to time graduated by the incapacities, families, and
infirmities which enter into the question of the respective abilities
(23:24):
or inabilities to labor for self support. They're the sentence
would be no more operative by the presence of those
words divided out amongst them. Then if those were expunged
and the Testament left with the words to be paid
to them from time to time according to the discretion
of my executors. By denying a discretionary power to the
(23:46):
executors to make the division amongst the collegiateari's and unequal portions,
the one member of the sentence would be made expletive
with no effect whatever, contrary to the rule that every
word shall have effect if consistent with the other parts
of the Testament. After this, George invoked a seventeen ninety
(24:07):
four law that Kentucky had passed regarding provisions for emancipating
enslaved people. That law stipulated that anyone trying to manaument
an enslaved person had to quote writing under his or
her hand and seal attested improved in the county court
by two witnesses. That paperwork had to be filed with
the court, and the quote court shall have full power
(24:28):
to demand bond and sufficient security of the emancipator, his
or her executors or administrators, as the case may be,
for the maintenance of any slave or slaves that may
be aged or infirm, either of body or mind, to
prevent their becoming chargeable to the county. So ensure if
someone wanted to manaument a person, they had to promise
(24:50):
and make provisions to ensure that the manumented person would
not become a burden on the state. George wrote of
the law and reminded his brother John the this responsibility
fell to him as executor, and that it cost money
just to file the paperwork. You noted that for every
certificate of emancipation, the law authorizes the clerk to charge
(25:11):
a fee of five shillings. And there reminds us brother
that there are fifty four people named in the will
for emancipation. Yeah, you can see him building his case
like this is a huge burden on you. We gotta
protect you. Uh. And he follows up by trying to
show John that maybe their father really didn't think the
money part through in other ways writing quote but then
(25:34):
again in another part of the Testament, to each slave
hired out. The hired do for such slave for the
year ensuing the death of the Testator is specifically devised
to that slave, which shows the equality of legacies to
each slave emancipated was not in the mind or will
of the Testator, but that emancipation was a general object
(25:55):
of the will, and not the fund of money as
well as the lands. Placed at the discretion of his executors.
Was not for the purpose of equality of legacies to
each slave, but an absolute and unconfined discretion to be
exercised by his executors for support of the many, according
to circumstances, such as he himself would have exercised if
(26:18):
he in this lifetime would have emancipated them and come
under the positive engagement to the courts to keep them
from becoming a charge to the county. Next, George bib
warns John that being the executor of their father's fortune
is going to bring out the worst in people, adding quote,
you and your brother Richard are to have some trouble
(26:40):
in the execution of the trust, in all probability by
reason of the interference of low minded ignorance and interested
knavery by persons who will stimulate the negroes and speculate
upon their interests and poverty. If you do not have
so such, you are fortunate above the condition of society
(27:00):
here in Louisville. Then he talks about how the funds
have to be carefully managed in a way the ensures
that all the desires of the test dator have been
met as the executor sees best, and that if all
the assets are distributed, then the executor is left on
the hook for any additional funds that are needed because
of any emancipated people aging or no longer being able
(27:22):
to work, because that's an injustice. He literally uses that word.
This all sums up to a man urging his brother
to not distribute everything, but instead to hold the funds
in reserve to manage and dole out over time. The
implication here is that the emancipated people wouldn't handle the
money they were given properly, and then the bib family
(27:44):
would be on the hook to make good financially with
the county and state. He spells this out pretty clearly
in this passage quote the time of payment and applications
of the sum of five thousand dollars specifically denoted being
left by the will uncertain to be judged by the
executors according to the circumstances. The executors cannot be chargeable
(28:04):
for interest, unless for manifest delay and abuse contrary to
the trust. If the executors exercise the power of selling
the lands, such funds so raised as shall not be
divided or intended to be divided in their discretion presently
after received ought to be put out to interest until
such divisions shall become proper. We're going over this document
(28:29):
and quoting it so closely because it's an important example
of how anti abolitionists could make a case that it
was in everyone's best interests not to give enslaved black
people full emancipation or assets, even when it was somebody's
will that they do so. It's also important because it
informed decisions that shape an entire community and in ways
(28:52):
that are still felt today. John bi Bib did take
in this letter h and he did start manumating his
others enslaved workforce in waves, starting in February of eighteen forty.
It's about a month after that emancipation was supposed to
start according to the will. The first group was ten people.
They went as a group to the Logan County Courthouse
(29:14):
for their freedom papers, and they did get them, and
these were followed by additional groups. None of the emancipated
people chose to go to Liberia. Many of them moved
to the land that had been set aside for them
in Major bibbs Will It's an area that became known
as Bib Town. That's actually two communities, Upper bib Town
in Lower bib Town. But even so, the actual deeds
(29:35):
to those lands were not fully granted until the late
eighteen seventies, so nearly forty years after Major Bib had died,
presumably some of those people that have been emancipated had died.
In that interim forty years other people left the area
and moved to larger cities like Louisville or out of
the state entirely. And it's important to remember that even
(29:58):
once those who stayed had been emancipated, and we're living
on land that had been set aside by Major Bib,
even if they didn't own that land out right, these
were still free black people living in a slave state.
Before the Civil War, it was not safe for them.
There was always a risk of being re enslaved or
(30:18):
being targeted with violence. And we have to go back
to the lettuce because in having been left very comfortable
when his father passed, John b. Bib was able to
have leisure time with which to cultivate his plants and
develop that limestone lettuce. Listen, no shade to bib lettuce,
I like it, but that inheritance that afforded all of
(30:40):
that was possible due to the work of the hundreds
of enslaved people his father had owned over the years
and who had worked on his land, enabling him to
amass a huge amount of wealth. Major bib is often
cited as one of the richest men in Kentucky today.
Major Bibbs Home is a museum, the SEEK Museum, which
stands for Struggle for Emancipation and Equality in Kentucky. It's
(31:03):
actually spread out amongst six buildings on two sites. The
buildings have been restored in The museum's mission is to
tell the stories of the enslaved people emancipated by Major
Richard bibb In there was a reunion at that museum
and anyone who was related to bib both black and white,
was invited to attend. And that's because it is highly
(31:25):
likely and widely believed that some of the enslaved children
on the bib property prior to Major Bibb's death had
absolutely been fathered by him. There are quite a few
articles written about that reunion. A lot of them are
very feel good, but I would recommend one by journalist
Lynne O'Neill which was written for the Site and Escape,
and it's titled The Bitter Harvest of Richard bib a
(31:46):
descendant of slavery confronts her inheritance. It is a very
frank piece of writing about the pain of such scenarios,
things like this big feel good reunion for some of
the black attendees. There's another reunion plan this ball. This
is in September for Bibbs descendants, and there will be
a new documentary debut at that one, titled Invented Before
(32:09):
You Were Born, which examines the issues of the Bibs
story and its legacy. And you can get more information
about that. It's seek museum dot org. That's see k
museum dot org. Um. Yeah, I'm not about Lettuce. Sort
of about Lettuce. I just it's one of those things
where you realize, like, oh, this this cute story about
(32:30):
food is really about the people that made it possible
for a white guy to have leisure time to make
that food. I'm gonna switch gears pretty significantly for our
listener mail because I need it. Uh these I have
two listener mails, but they are both about our Sir
Sandford Fleming and time zone discussion. The first one is
from our listener Grace, who writes, Hi, Holly and Tracy,
(32:52):
I'm sure you've gotten many emails from the Halleghonians about
our park, which was donated to us by Fleming as
an aside. I'd not know that that's what people from
Halifax called themselves, and I'm in love with it. Um.
Going back to Grace's letter, Unfortunately it is known by
the name of the tower which now sits in it,
the Dingle Tower. Yes, I am ready to tell you
(33:14):
that the land which used to have the Fleming's cottage
on it is now known as the Dingle occasionally the
Dingle Park. Is this necessary knowledge to have of Halifax?
Probably not, but I have oodles of cousins from Ontario
who asked about the park just so they can giggle
when I name it. If you have not been to Halifax,
I highly recommend it's a lovely little city and you
(33:34):
can hardly tell it exploded over a hundred years ago.
You have a natural history museum which has a tortoise
named Gus, who is nine years old. He is turning
a hundred this year. She gives us guss web page.
Uh if you, I bet if you do a search
for Nova Scotia and Gus, you'll find it. Our Museum
of the Atlantic is fairly interesting and they have some
boats on display in the harbor, including my grandfather's old
(33:57):
schooner Hebride, which was built by the same ship build
There is the Blue Nose. I have attached some photos
of Clara, my cat. She's thirteen years old and has
been on a weight lost journey. I have attached a
photo of her sleeping and performing tub inspection. Still not
sure if I passed on that one. Um, this is
so great grace. I love this because, one it made
(34:17):
me think about you know, if you go to Ireland,
there's a Dingle peninsula and lots of things called dingle,
and it is very fun to say uh to. This
makes me want to go to Halifax, but probably when
it's warm, only because I don't handle cold. And three
I am in love in love with Clara. Uh. She's
a great tuxedo, which is one of my very favorite
(34:37):
things in the world. And she's beautiful. She's perfect just
as she is, although I understand I have had cats
on weight lost journeys as well. Um, she's so beautiful.
I love her. Thank you for sharing her with us
and your story. And the other one is from our
listener Kristen, who says, Hi, Holly and Tracy, I'm writing
as a fan of your podcast who was delighted to
(34:58):
hear the Canadian Institute an appearance on your episode about
time zones and Sir Sandford Fleming. I thought you might
be interested to learn that the Canadian Institute that Sir
Sandford helped found in eighteen forty nine is still an
active organization. One of the oldest societies in Canada, it
gained a royal charter in eighteen fifty one and has
been known as the Royal Canadian Institute since the early
(35:19):
nineteen hundreds and more recently as r c I Science.
It presents public science events across Canada and still publishes
a magazine. I had the great privilege of working with
the Institute as its executive director and had a lot
of fun helping to manage its archive. I bet that
archive is amazing. Uh. There are a lot of interesting
characters associated with our ci science beyond Sir Sandford, in
(35:41):
particular Captain John Henry Lefroy, who spearheaded establishing the Toronto
Magnetic Observatory. His life is fascinating. Um, maybe he will
be a future podcast subject, so I'm not going to
read all these other details. She also mentions Henry Holmes
Croft as another character who is a chemist who developed
forensic techniques to investigate blood and poisons. I love that. Uh,
(36:05):
and some more details, so hide because maybe you know
we'll talk about him. I think he came up in
a previous podcast episode by prior hosts. But she goes
on to say, if you're interested, there's more info on
the two characters below, and there are many many more.
Of course. I love your podcast. Thanks for including a
lot of scientific history. It's fascinating and great job on
the time zone episode. Sir Sandford would not have found
(36:27):
anything to quibble about. I doubt it, just because I'm
a doubter of things. But Kristen, Kirsten, I think I
called you Kristen. It's Kirsten Kirsten, thank you so so much,
or maybe she's a Kirsten. Those names always get a
little different. People like say them differently. I have so
many Christians in my life that I love very much, said,
it's hard not to default to that some of my apologies. UM.
(36:48):
I love both of those emails, and I love I love,
I love that that organization is still doing amazing things
and producing a magazine. So thank you both for sharing
with us. I'm going to think about Clara a lot today.
She's okute. If you would like to write to us,
you can do so at History Podcast at i heeart
radio dot com. You can also find us on social
(37:08):
media as missed in History, and you can subscribe if
you haven't gotten to that quite yet, that's easy enough
to do on the I heart radio app or anywhere
you listen to your favorite podcasts. Stuff you Missed in
History Class is a production of I heart Radio. For
more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
(37:30):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production
of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. This episode
was supposed to be another installment of eponymous Food. Yeah,
(00:23):
it went a different way though it is not. It
is a little, but as I got into the story
of one of those foods, it really unfurled quite quickly
into a much bigger and much more important story about
the family of a man who cultivated lettuce in his
later life. Just as sits up, I promise there's another
eponymous food coming at some point, but it's not today. Um.
(00:46):
This story is I think really important because it offers
a snapshot of a very rich person's choice to emancipate
his enslaved workforce, the way his family received that information,
and how they're I guessee both good and bad is
all tied to having enslaved people building their familial wealth.
Heads up, We're going to read a lot from writings
(01:08):
that were composed in the eighteen hundred, so of course
some of the language there is a bit outdated. But
first we're going to talk about bib lettuce and the
man who cultivated it. Yes, I love it when episodes
go in totally different directions from what they were playing.
Just a hard left. So John Bigger bib who was
(01:32):
born on October nine and Prince Edward County, Virginia. His parents,
Richard Bibb and Lucy Booker bib moved from Virginia to
Kentucky when John was about nine years old. We're going
to get back to Richard in a moment and talk
about him a lot more. They shifted around Kentucky for
a bit. First they lived in Fayette County and then
(01:54):
in Bullet, where Richard Bibb purchased Assault Works. Then they
went to Logan County and established a large and successful farm.
Bibb's early education was largely under Joshua Fry. That was
a fellow Virginian who had moved to Mercer County, Kentucky.
Fry is a pretty interesting figure in Kentucky history because
when he moved there, he didn't think there was an
(02:16):
adequate educational system, so he opened up a school out
of his house, and then a lot of prominent people
in Kentucky's history were educated by Joshua Fry. After his
primary education, John Bibbs studied law under Judge HP Broadnax's
but before he could get his law career underway, the
War of eighteen twelve began, and the twenty three year
(02:38):
old bib joined the fourth Kentucky Volunteer Brigade. He began
as a private and was promoted to the rank of
major after the Battle of Thames in October of eighteen thirteen.
Although the war continued into eighteen fifteen, John Bibb was
discharged just a month after his promotion and returned to Kentucky.
And it's a little unclear, at least in the documents
(02:59):
that I had available to me, why he was discharged
so soon after being made major. It very well might
have been a health issue, though this is supported by
the fact that although he passed the bar right after
returning to Kentucky and opened his practice, he closed it
down just a couple of years later in eighteen sixteen,
due to poor health. In eighteen twenty seven, bib ran
(03:20):
for a seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives as
a Whig and one. He was reelected in eighteen twenty
eight and then ran for the Kentucky Senate one again.
He served in the state Senate for four years, from
eighteen thirty to eighteen thirty four. During that time he
also married Sarah py Horseley. Their wedding was on August
(03:41):
eighteen thirty one. Bib was an amateur horticulturalist, and in
eighteen forty five he purchased land to support his hobby.
He built his home Gray Gables, on a property in Frankfort, Kentucky,
on Wapping Street. That's usually touted as he built it
for his wife, and it included a large green house
and there was a substantial garden, and today that's known
(04:04):
as the Bib Burnley House and it has a historical
marker and it was there that he started working with lettuce.
Over time, Bib developed something he called Limestone lettuce. It
was a lettuce that grew well in Kentucky's limestone rich soil.
It was naturally resistant to a number of pests, including
plant lice. It's also really tender and it grows in
(04:26):
a pretty compact head. And Bib was not cultivating this
crop for profit. He gave most of it away and
it actually was not renamed Bib Lettuce and commercially sold
until decades after his death, which happened in eighteen eighty four.
He had during his late lifetime given away both lettuce
and seeds. That was in the latter half of the
nineteenth century, and subsequently area farmers had started growing limestone
(04:51):
lettuce for themselves. In nineteen nineteen, the green Wine Greenhouse
of Louisville was the first to sell the lettuce with
the name bib at match to it. So that's the
pretty benign story of where bib let Us came from.
Now we have to take a look at the deeper
legacy of slavery within the bib family and John B.
(05:12):
Bibbs role within that. To do that, we have to
go back to his father, Richard Bibb. So there's a
historical marker outside of Major Richard Bibbs Townhouse in Russellville, Kentucky.
It was placed there by the Kentucky Historical Society in
nineteen seventy five, and that marker Reid's quote. Bib a
Revolutionary War soldier, was born in Virginia seventeen fifty two.
(05:34):
He came to Lexington, Kentucky in seventeen moved to Logan
County the next year, where he built Bibbs Chapel. Later
erected this house for his wife. Major bib freed twenty
nine of his slaves in eighteen twenty nine and sent
them to Liberia. He died in eighteen thirty nine, and
his will provided for the release of his other slaves
(05:55):
and gave them land. Here's the more detailed story. Richard
was born in Goochland County, Virginia, on April thirteenth, seventeen
fifty two. His parents were John Bibb and Susannah Bigger
bib And. During the Revolutionary War, Richard joined the Continental
Army and rose to the rank of major. When Richard
moved his family to Kentucky, he brought with them a
(06:18):
large number of enslaved people. He had actually been the
second largest slaveholder in Prince Edward County, Virginia. In eighteen seventeen,
the American Colonization Society was formed in the US. Its
goal was to provide an alternative to emancipation within the
US for black enslaved people that when the option of
(06:39):
being shipped to Africa. This has come up in several
previous episodes, most recently in our episode on Paul Cuffey.
There were supporters of this idea who believed that it
would truly be a viable option for free black people.
There were also people who just saw this as a
solution from a racist standpoint, It would get those black
(07:00):
people out of the United States. Both abolitionists and pro
slavery white people used similar rhetoric about free black people
never truly assimilating into white society, So for the pro
slavery crowd, this was seen as a condition of emancipation.
The emancipated person would then leave the country, did not
(07:21):
matter if they had been born and raised in the
United States and had no real ties to Africa at
this point, and Major Richard Bibbs so again. Lettuce John
Bibbs father had at some point in his later life
realized that the institution of slavery was wrong. This was
a position that is usually attributed to his religious studies
(07:43):
and becoming a minister. There are some versions of his
life story to indicate that one of the people that
he enslaved had been the one to encourage him to
become a Methodist minister after he had initially been on
a path to be an Episcopalian minister, and he had
connections to the America Colonization Society. He was friends with
Henry Clay who was one of the society's founders. Richard
(08:06):
eventually decided that the plan to relocate emancipated black people
to Africa is a good idea, so in eighteen twenty nine,
he announced that he was emancipating one third of his
enslaved workforce on the condition that they would be sent
to Liberia. There is a little bit of fractured logic
about why only one third we're going to be manumented,
(08:28):
and it's sometimes cited as Major Bibbs reasoning here. He
had just short of one hundred enslaved people working for
him in eighteen twenty nine. Some of those were entire families,
self contained within the bib Families holdings, but many were
married to enslaved people who were owned by other families. So,
according to this logic, he selected thirty one that no
(08:51):
other white family could claim ownership over, believing that that
would be better than breaking up families. Yes, there is
some logic to that, but it also conveniently ignores the
fact that Major bib almost certainly possessed the wealth to
purchase and management any number of enslaved people had he
wanted to keep families together. The one exception to this
(09:11):
whole scenario was a man named Richard Morton. He had
been owned by bibbs son in law, Dr. Bonarogas Roberts,
and he was married to a woman named Hannah, who
was part of major bibbs enslaved workforce. According to a
number of accounts, the enslaved people that Bibbs selected were
ones who also wanted to go to Liberia rather than
remain enslaved, although there is no way to verify that,
(09:34):
and sometimes it reads very conveniently in retellings of this story.
We're going to talk about the only account of bibbs
emancipation of an announcement by a person who was there
in just a moment. First, though, will pause for a
quick sponsor break. So there is an account of that
(10:01):
announcement that this group of enslaved people would be an emancipated,
and it is the only firsthand account that we have.
It is not without problems, and we'll talk about that
in a moment. Uh. This account was given by a
formerly enslaved man named Andrew bib who related to a
reporter in late eight Andrew would have been seventy three
(10:22):
at the time, and he would have been five in
nine when the events that he recounted took place. And
we're going to read this account, but before we do,
please know that it is really very romanticized. It puts
Major Bib in a very very kind light. So this
account reads in part quote in the center of the
yard stood an old gentleman with uplifted hands, and beside
(10:45):
him was a barrel on end, on top of which
was placed a Bible and a hymn book. In front
and around him were nearly one slaves. Twenty nine of
these were about to start as freemen and women in
the land of their fathers in far off Africa, after
several generations of servitude in America. The old man asked
(11:07):
a divine blessing upon them. Since his youth he had
cared for them, and before that they or their parents
had belonged to his father. He believes slavery was wrong,
and was taking the initial step toward putting into execution
a long cherished plan. He was about to send one
third of his slaves to Liberia. The others he intended
(11:27):
to liberate at his death. He had read a chapter
in the Bible and had given out a him and
when his prayer was finished, many a black face was
based in tears, and the slaves gathered about and shook
old Master's hand for the last time and heard the
accent of his kindly voice. This goes on to say
that the people chosen for the journey were quote shiftless
(11:48):
and refractory, obstinately resistant to authority or control, unruly. So
that last quote, of course, contradicts the framing that bib
was selecting the people who wanted to go to Africa.
Uh So. Andrew bibbs story was published in the Career
Journal of Louisville, Kentucky. It was written by a reporter
named M. By Morton. Sometimes this story, as it's relayed,
(12:12):
is told as though it's a direct quote from Andrew.
I don't think that was ever the intention. It's a
direct quote of M. B. Morton about the story as
told to him, And we don't know if the account
was edited or altered, although it certainly seems likely. I
don't know anybody who speaks in such prosy, you know
(12:32):
what I mean? Nobody um M B. Morton, we should say,
kind of made a career out of talking about slave narratives.
He went on to write extensively about Kentucky's enslaved population,
including in a book he wrote called Kentuckians Are Different
that didn't come out until almost forty years later. That's
also a book that he dedicated to the states enslaved
(12:54):
population as his educators. So there's a lot to unpack there.
I just want to acknowledge sort of what was going
on with it. We do know that it took several
years for the plan to move all of those people
to actually be executed. They were taken to Clarksville, Missouri
by wagon, then boarded a steamship for New Orleans. In
(13:15):
New Orleans, they were taken aboard a brig called the
Ajax on April thirty three. The oldest member of the
group Bib sent was a man in his thirties named Andrew,
and the youngest was just a little over six months old.
All of them, according to research done by Michael Morrow,
museum director for the Sikh Museum that now exists on
(13:37):
bibbs former property, all the people Bib emancipated for this
journey where the direct descendants of enslaved people known by
the names Lucy and Keziah. That couple had been enslaved
by the Bib family. Going all the way back to Virginia.
We also don't know exactly why it took two and
a half years to get them onto this ship after
(14:00):
the announcement. That's all a little unclear in these retellings,
and there doesn't seem to be like a journal or
anything kept by any of the wagon drout anybody that
explains why that took two and a half years. Even then,
that seems like an extraordinarily long time. The voyage of
the Ajax was paid for with funding from the American
Colonization Society and the Kentucky Colonization Society. And in addition
(14:25):
to Lucy and Keziah's family from the bid properties, there
were one hundred eighteen other enslaved people being emancipated through
this journey. They were mostly from Kentucky. There was also
a white missionary and an agent of the Tennessee Colonization
Society named H. D. King. This journey was really rough.
There was a cholera outbreak on the ship which killed
(14:47):
several dozen people. Those numbers are usually quoted as between
thirty and forty, but it's not a percent clear. A
Black minister named Able Long visited Liberia years later, and
he reported that he was unable to make contact with
any of the people from the Bib group, although he
was told that two of the women had survived and
(15:07):
had gone into the jungle to live. That account is
very strange. I read it in one newspaper, and it's
also very sensationalized. There's language I did not care to
include here. The rest of the people who went appeared
to have died when Major Bib died, as was indicated
on that historical marker we mentioned earlier. He did, as promised,
(15:27):
emancipate his remaining enslaved workforce. He once again indicated a
desire for some of them to go to Liberia, and
he also offered an alternate plan. Here's the pertinent passage
from his will quote, I do hereby emancipate all of
my slaves from and after the first day of January
(15:48):
next after my death, and desire that all of them
who have not wives or husbands and bondage be sent
to Liberia. I give to my slaves hereby emancipated five
thousand dollars to be divide it out among them, and
paid out to them from time to time according to
the discretion of my executors, and all of my stock
(16:08):
of horses, cattle, sheep and hogs, farming tools, wagons and carts,
and crops made the year of my decease, or that
may be on hand, and each slave hired out to
the higher due for the year in which I shall decease.
I also give to said slaves all my lands which
are unsold or undisposed of in the County of Grace
(16:30):
and of this state. The land in the County of
Logan conveyed to me by Benjamin Tompkins, Ralph E. Nurse
and Robert Nurse is to be divided among them at
the discretion of my executors. And also the land in
Logan conveyed to me by Mark Harden, and about thirty
acres of joining it conveyances to be made by my
(16:51):
executors or either of them, And they are hereby authorized
to sell and convey any of the land or either property.
Here I given to my emancipated slaves, and divide or
lay out the money for their benefit. I give to
my errand the house and lots on which he lives
in Russellville, and his carpenter tools, as his portion of
(17:13):
the legacies left my emancipated slaves I give to my
woman Clarissa's is that part of most remote from the
dwelling house to include the smith's shop. Major Bib then
included a long list of names of the emancipated enslaved.
They are listed only by first name. This part of
the will then concludes with quote, I give to my
(17:36):
slaves by this will emancipated my two lots under the
Knob near mb Morton's and two fractional lots in Saunders,
addition to Russellville near James Bell's stable, and a fractional
lot near William Duncan's and William First near the Public Square,
to be divided and conveyed to them at the discretion
of my executors. When Major Bib died, his son John
(17:59):
wrote two letters to his older brother, George M. Bib,
who had been a U S Senator and was serving
as a judge of the Jefferson County Court of Chancery
when their father died. The first letter informed George of
the Major's passing, and then the second asked for Georgia's
thoughts on the will because George's expertise and wills and
(18:20):
trusts was just unmatched. George's response was twelve pages long,
and he did not agree with his father's wishes, but
he also knew he couldn't really contest the will, although
the advice that he gives to his brother is not
in the interests of the people that Major Bib named
for emancipation. We're not going to read this whole thing again.
(18:41):
It is twelve pages long. That would be the whole podcast. Really. Uh.
We'll read some excerpts of it though, to show how
George Bib made the case to his brother that he
could hang on to assets that were mentioned in the
will for as long as possible. Yeah, this, I have
feelings about this letter. George's letter opens with some niceties
(19:04):
towards John discusses that their father has died, and early
on it includes this passage quote, what effect the experiment
our father has made in sending negroes to Liberia and
in setting out some to work for themselves near him,
might have had in changing his mind upon the subject
of emancipation? I did not know. The will which he
(19:25):
has left shows that his mind was unaltered. It is
done poor, as I am struggling at my time of life,
by the most intense application to the duties which does
not afford any surplus at the year's end above the
expenses of my family. Yet I would not for the
property bequeathed by the will for all the negroes, nor
(19:45):
the value ten times told, insult the memory of our
father by and attempt to set aside the writing he
has published as his last will and testament. Whoever suggested
an intention on my part to oppose the will or
to endeavor to break it, did but little understand my
thoughts or temper, spoke at random, without color of authority
(20:07):
from me, and did me great injustice. Got this point
in his life, George had enjoyed a lot of success,
but he had, for reasons that are kind of nebulous,
gotten to the point where his finances were pretty lean
by the time his father died. The only reasons he
cites when discussing his financial problems were the banking system
(20:28):
and quote my own confiding temper. So while you might
understand his dismay at his father giving so much land
and money towards his emancipation provisions, and why people expected
that he would try to contest the will, it's also
reported that Major Bib left his children well cared for financially.
(20:49):
It was even mentioned in his death announcement. Yeah, I'm
always suspicious of anyone who's like, even though I am
in the worst position, I would never try to do
anything like when you that's are open, I'm gonna lean back. Um.
Aside from insisting that he would never insult his father's memory,
George makes his opinions pretty clearly known in this letter
(21:10):
about how he believes the will should be executed. And
we're going to dig into all of that after we
first take a little break and hear from the sponsors
that keep stuff he missed in history class going. George
bib makes clear in his letter that he believed his
(21:33):
father was wrong in emancipating slaves. He did not side
with abolitionists. This writing is for me infuriating to read,
and it includes the following quote. The emancipation of a
large number of negroes, male and female, helpless and infirm,
old and young, would provide a nuisance to society as
well as an injury to the negroes, and he hints
(21:56):
that the key to managing the situation in the way
he think would avoid problems is in the executor's hands,
although he also adds quote, the extent of discretionary powers
given to his executors is not clear of difficulty. So
remember George Bibb was an expert in wills. He had
practiced law, was able to build a case. And as
(22:19):
he continues with this, it definitely seems like he's trying
to show his brother John that there is just so
much gray area in the will when it comes to
the specifics of the apportionment. So he continues, quote, to
apply these rules to the will. I give to my
slaves hereby emancipated five thousand dollars to be divided out
(22:39):
amongst them, and paid out to them from time to
time according to the discretion of my executors. The extent
of the discretion which the executors are to exercise under
the clause respects first the division amongst these collegiatearies, second
the time of the payments. The important question is may
the exact geters divide the money in unequal shares? If
(23:03):
the shares are to be equal share and share aliked
each legatary. If the executors cannot exercise a discretion by
giving five shillings to one and eighty dollars to another
from time to time graduated by the incapacities, families, and
infirmities which enter into the question of the respective abilities
(23:24):
or inabilities to labor for self support. They're the sentence
would be no more operative by the presence of those
words divided out amongst them. Then if those were expunged
and the Testament left with the words to be paid
to them from time to time according to the discretion
of my executors. By denying a discretionary power to the
(23:46):
executors to make the division amongst the collegiateari's and unequal portions,
the one member of the sentence would be made expletive
with no effect whatever, contrary to the rule that every
word shall have effect if consistent with the other parts
of the Testament. After this, George invoked a seventeen ninety
(24:07):
four law that Kentucky had passed regarding provisions for emancipating
enslaved people. That law stipulated that anyone trying to manaument
an enslaved person had to quote writing under his or
her hand and seal attested improved in the county court
by two witnesses. That paperwork had to be filed with
the court, and the quote court shall have full power
(24:28):
to demand bond and sufficient security of the emancipator, his
or her executors or administrators, as the case may be,
for the maintenance of any slave or slaves that may
be aged or infirm, either of body or mind, to
prevent their becoming chargeable to the county. So ensure if
someone wanted to manaument a person, they had to promise
(24:50):
and make provisions to ensure that the manumented person would
not become a burden on the state. George wrote of
the law and reminded his brother John the this responsibility
fell to him as executor, and that it cost money
just to file the paperwork. You noted that for every
certificate of emancipation, the law authorizes the clerk to charge
(25:11):
a fee of five shillings. And there reminds us brother
that there are fifty four people named in the will
for emancipation. Yeah, you can see him building his case
like this is a huge burden on you. We gotta
protect you. Uh. And he follows up by trying to
show John that maybe their father really didn't think the
money part through in other ways writing quote but then
(25:34):
again in another part of the Testament, to each slave
hired out. The hired do for such slave for the
year ensuing the death of the Testator is specifically devised
to that slave, which shows the equality of legacies to
each slave emancipated was not in the mind or will
of the Testator, but that emancipation was a general object
(25:55):
of the will, and not the fund of money as
well as the lands. Placed at the discretion of his executors.
Was not for the purpose of equality of legacies to
each slave, but an absolute and unconfined discretion to be
exercised by his executors for support of the many, according
to circumstances, such as he himself would have exercised if
(26:18):
he in this lifetime would have emancipated them and come
under the positive engagement to the courts to keep them
from becoming a charge to the county. Next, George bib
warns John that being the executor of their father's fortune
is going to bring out the worst in people, adding quote,
you and your brother Richard are to have some trouble
(26:40):
in the execution of the trust, in all probability by
reason of the interference of low minded ignorance and interested
knavery by persons who will stimulate the negroes and speculate
upon their interests and poverty. If you do not have
so such, you are fortunate above the condition of society
(27:00):
here in Louisville. Then he talks about how the funds
have to be carefully managed in a way the ensures
that all the desires of the test dator have been
met as the executor sees best, and that if all
the assets are distributed, then the executor is left on
the hook for any additional funds that are needed because
of any emancipated people aging or no longer being able
(27:22):
to work, because that's an injustice. He literally uses that word.
This all sums up to a man urging his brother
to not distribute everything, but instead to hold the funds
in reserve to manage and dole out over time. The
implication here is that the emancipated people wouldn't handle the
money they were given properly, and then the bib family
(27:44):
would be on the hook to make good financially with
the county and state. He spells this out pretty clearly
in this passage quote the time of payment and applications
of the sum of five thousand dollars specifically denoted being
left by the will uncertain to be judged by the
executors according to the circumstances. The executors cannot be chargeable
(28:04):
for interest, unless for manifest delay and abuse contrary to
the trust. If the executors exercise the power of selling
the lands, such funds so raised as shall not be
divided or intended to be divided in their discretion presently
after received ought to be put out to interest until
such divisions shall become proper. We're going over this document
(28:29):
and quoting it so closely because it's an important example
of how anti abolitionists could make a case that it
was in everyone's best interests not to give enslaved black
people full emancipation or assets, even when it was somebody's
will that they do so. It's also important because it
informed decisions that shape an entire community and in ways
(28:52):
that are still felt today. John bi Bib did take
in this letter h and he did start manumating his
others enslaved workforce in waves, starting in February of eighteen forty.
It's about a month after that emancipation was supposed to
start according to the will. The first group was ten people.
They went as a group to the Logan County Courthouse
(29:14):
for their freedom papers, and they did get them, and
these were followed by additional groups. None of the emancipated
people chose to go to Liberia. Many of them moved
to the land that had been set aside for them
in Major bibbs Will It's an area that became known
as Bib Town. That's actually two communities, Upper bib Town
in Lower bib Town. But even so, the actual deeds
(29:35):
to those lands were not fully granted until the late
eighteen seventies, so nearly forty years after Major Bib had died,
presumably some of those people that have been emancipated had died.
In that interim forty years other people left the area
and moved to larger cities like Louisville or out of
the state entirely. And it's important to remember that even
(29:58):
once those who stayed had been emancipated, and we're living
on land that had been set aside by Major Bib,
even if they didn't own that land out right, these
were still free black people living in a slave state.
Before the Civil War, it was not safe for them.
There was always a risk of being re enslaved or
(30:18):
being targeted with violence. And we have to go back
to the lettuce because in having been left very comfortable
when his father passed, John b. Bib was able to
have leisure time with which to cultivate his plants and
develop that limestone lettuce. Listen, no shade to bib lettuce,
I like it, but that inheritance that afforded all of
(30:40):
that was possible due to the work of the hundreds
of enslaved people his father had owned over the years
and who had worked on his land, enabling him to
amass a huge amount of wealth. Major bib is often
cited as one of the richest men in Kentucky today.
Major Bibbs Home is a museum, the SEEK Museum, which
stands for Struggle for Emancipation and Equality in Kentucky. It's
(31:03):
actually spread out amongst six buildings on two sites. The
buildings have been restored in The museum's mission is to
tell the stories of the enslaved people emancipated by Major
Richard bibb In there was a reunion at that museum
and anyone who was related to bib both black and white,
was invited to attend. And that's because it is highly
(31:25):
likely and widely believed that some of the enslaved children
on the bib property prior to Major Bibb's death had
absolutely been fathered by him. There are quite a few
articles written about that reunion. A lot of them are
very feel good, but I would recommend one by journalist
Lynne O'Neill which was written for the Site and Escape,
and it's titled The Bitter Harvest of Richard bib a
(31:46):
descendant of slavery confronts her inheritance. It is a very
frank piece of writing about the pain of such scenarios,
things like this big feel good reunion for some of
the black attendees. There's another reunion plan this ball. This
is in September for Bibbs descendants, and there will be
a new documentary debut at that one, titled Invented Before
(32:09):
You Were Born, which examines the issues of the Bibs
story and its legacy. And you can get more information
about that. It's seek museum dot org. That's see k
museum dot org. Um. Yeah, I'm not about Lettuce. Sort
of about Lettuce. I just it's one of those things
where you realize, like, oh, this this cute story about
(32:30):
food is really about the people that made it possible
for a white guy to have leisure time to make
that food. I'm gonna switch gears pretty significantly for our
listener mail because I need it. Uh these I have
two listener mails, but they are both about our Sir
Sandford Fleming and time zone discussion. The first one is
from our listener Grace, who writes, Hi, Holly and Tracy,
(32:52):
I'm sure you've gotten many emails from the Halleghonians about
our park, which was donated to us by Fleming as
an aside. I'd not know that that's what people from
Halifax called themselves, and I'm in love with it. Um.
Going back to Grace's letter, Unfortunately it is known by
the name of the tower which now sits in it,
the Dingle Tower. Yes, I am ready to tell you
(33:14):
that the land which used to have the Fleming's cottage
on it is now known as the Dingle occasionally the
Dingle Park. Is this necessary knowledge to have of Halifax?
Probably not, but I have oodles of cousins from Ontario
who asked about the park just so they can giggle
when I name it. If you have not been to Halifax,
I highly recommend it's a lovely little city and you
(33:34):
can hardly tell it exploded over a hundred years ago.
You have a natural history museum which has a tortoise
named Gus, who is nine years old. He is turning
a hundred this year. She gives us guss web page.
Uh if you, I bet if you do a search
for Nova Scotia and Gus, you'll find it. Our Museum
of the Atlantic is fairly interesting and they have some
boats on display in the harbor, including my grandfather's old
(33:57):
schooner Hebride, which was built by the same ship build
There is the Blue Nose. I have attached some photos
of Clara, my cat. She's thirteen years old and has
been on a weight lost journey. I have attached a
photo of her sleeping and performing tub inspection. Still not
sure if I passed on that one. Um, this is
so great grace. I love this because, one it made
(34:17):
me think about you know, if you go to Ireland,
there's a Dingle peninsula and lots of things called dingle,
and it is very fun to say uh to. This
makes me want to go to Halifax, but probably when
it's warm, only because I don't handle cold. And three
I am in love in love with Clara. Uh. She's
a great tuxedo, which is one of my very favorite
(34:37):
things in the world. And she's beautiful. She's perfect just
as she is, although I understand I have had cats
on weight lost journeys as well. Um, she's so beautiful.
I love her. Thank you for sharing her with us
and your story. And the other one is from our
listener Kristen, who says, Hi, Holly and Tracy, I'm writing
as a fan of your podcast who was delighted to
(34:58):
hear the Canadian Institute an appearance on your episode about
time zones and Sir Sandford Fleming. I thought you might
be interested to learn that the Canadian Institute that Sir
Sandford helped found in eighteen forty nine is still an
active organization. One of the oldest societies in Canada, it
gained a royal charter in eighteen fifty one and has
been known as the Royal Canadian Institute since the early
(35:19):
nineteen hundreds and more recently as r c I Science.
It presents public science events across Canada and still publishes
a magazine. I had the great privilege of working with
the Institute as its executive director and had a lot
of fun helping to manage its archive. I bet that
archive is amazing. Uh. There are a lot of interesting
characters associated with our ci science beyond Sir Sandford, in
(35:41):
particular Captain John Henry Lefroy, who spearheaded establishing the Toronto
Magnetic Observatory. His life is fascinating. Um, maybe he will
be a future podcast subject, so I'm not going to
read all these other details. She also mentions Henry Holmes
Croft as another character who is a chemist who developed
forensic techniques to investigate blood and poisons. I love that. Uh,
(36:05):
and some more details, so hide because maybe you know
we'll talk about him. I think he came up in
a previous podcast episode by prior hosts. But she goes
on to say, if you're interested, there's more info on
the two characters below, and there are many many more.
Of course. I love your podcast. Thanks for including a
lot of scientific history. It's fascinating and great job on
the time zone episode. Sir Sandford would not have found
(36:27):
anything to quibble about. I doubt it, just because I'm
a doubter of things. But Kristen, Kirsten, I think I
called you Kristen. It's Kirsten Kirsten, thank you so so much,
or maybe she's a Kirsten. Those names always get a
little different. People like say them differently. I have so
many Christians in my life that I love very much, said,
it's hard not to default to that some of my apologies. UM.
(36:48):
I love both of those emails, and I love I love,
I love that that organization is still doing amazing things
and producing a magazine. So thank you both for sharing
with us. I'm going to think about Clara a lot today.
She's okute. If you would like to write to us,
you can do so at History Podcast at i heeart
radio dot com. You can also find us on social
(37:08):
media as missed in History, and you can subscribe if
you haven't gotten to that quite yet, that's easy enough
to do on the I heart radio app or anywhere
you listen to your favorite podcasts. Stuff you Missed in
History Class is a production of I heart Radio. For
more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
(37:30):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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Holly Frey
Tracy Wilson
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