Father Augustus Tolton
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Father Augustus Tolton 1854–1897 Where does one start the story of a man’s life? Today, many people are interested in genealogy, and these people trace their personal life stories back many generations. In some cases, it is difficult to trace the ancestry of American slaves of the 19th century. They were often bought and sold at auctions, oftentimes resold, and their families were broken up with no one keeping accurate records. Slave Origins We might start with clarifying the name of the a soul and priest. For purposes of our biography priest whom the Church is interested in canonizing. displayed here, however, we shall use the name Father Tolton is known by several different names “Augustus.” around the country: Augustus and Augustine and We might start the story of Augustus Tolton with August. From what we can determine from the his mother, Martha Jane Chisley. She steps into archival material documenting his life: the letters our history in Mead County, Kentucky on the John written by Father Tolton in his own hand, he always Manning plantation. The Mannings were Catholic and consistently signed his name “A. Tolton.” and had their slaves instructed and baptized when He never wrote out his first name. This may well they were purchased. The babies of their slaves were be his personal acknowledgement that he was baptized in infancy. Martha Jane’s parents, Augustus known by a couple variations of his first name. His Chisley and Matilda Hurd, were baptized and married baptismal record lists his name as “Augustine.” shortly after they were purchased by the Mannings; The handwritten testimonial of his baptism, Martha Jane was baptized shortly after her birth. sent to Rome, lists his name as “Augustine.” His Their parish church was in Flint Island, Kentucky. Confirmation record at St. Peter Church in Quincy, Illinois, lists his name as “August.” He was known When the wealthy John Manning died, his widow in Quincy as “Augustine” and later, “Father Gus.” married Stephen Burch. Manning’s youngest Records in Rome list him as “Augustus.” Fellow daughter, Susan, married Stephen Elliot in 1849. clergy in Chicago called him “Father Gus.” Various Mr. Burch, of course, was expected to give a fine church enterprises bearing his name around the wedding present to his stepdaughter. He decided to country today will call him “Augustine,” others give her some slaves. He went to the slave quarters “Augustus.” The vast majority of archival material and selected a half-dozen slaves of varying ages and lists his name as “Augustine”. A great, great abilities. grandniece of Father Tolton, daughter of his sister, We can imagine the excitement as the bride opened Anne Tolton, in her book “A Place For My Children,” wedding gifts. Those gifts must have included by Sabrina Penn, Penn Ink, Chicago, Ill, 2007, chapter household utensils, linens and furniture. We can 5, pp. 41-44, mentions Father Tolton was named imagine too, the groom, Stephen Elliot, announcing after his maternal grandfather, Augustus Chisley. that he and his new bride would soon be moving It could well be that the priest who baptized him from Kentucky. He had acquired a farm in Ralls County, determined that “Augustus” was a non-Christian Missouri. It was near Brush Creek and only a short name and, therefore, as so frequently happened distance from Hannibal. at baptisms, the priest at the baptismal font Christianized the name by changing it to the great At some point in the festivities, Susan must have fourth century saint and doctor of the Church, St. announced what her dowry was from her stepfather. Augustine of Hippo. The gift was a group of slaves. One was sixteen-year old Martha Jane Chisley. Not included, however, were So, whether you call him Augustine, Augustus, Martha’s parents and brother. August, or Gus, these names are valid for so noble Father Augustus Tolton 2 A short time later, the newlyweds had their posses- news was often brought by newly purchased slaves sions, including their slaves, loaded in carts, and they who came from other parts of the country. Everyone headed westward. The teenage slave girl, Martha heard of the final scaffold-words of John Brown:I am Jane, would never see her parents again. When the now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land party arrived at the mighty Mississippi for the trip will never be purged away but by blood. upstream to the Salt River, there was no way Martha Many slaves thought of trying to escape. There Jane could have realized what a fateful role the great was the Underground Railway system pledged to river would play in her life just over a dozen years later. assist slaves to reach freedom in places north, even Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Elliot, along with their slaves, to Canada, one route of which had its first station arrived in Ralls County, Missouri in 1849. The farm in nearby Quincy, Illinois. Slaves were routinely adjoined the property of another Catholic family chastened by the sting of the master’s whip; with by the name of Hager. One of the Hager slaves, slavery came the horrible sight of the backs of many Peter Paul, had been purchased at a slave auction lash-scarred fellow slaves. in Hannibal. He was baptized by Father Peter Paul The day Peter Paul met his future spouse, Martha Lefebre, a missionary whose headquarters from Jane, she was calling for help in the neighbor’s field. 1834 to 1837 was in St. Paul, Missouri. Father Lefebre She was trying to help a slave boy who collapsed. tended to the spiritual needs of Catholics in northern The boy died, unfortunately, but Peter Paul could not Missouri, western Illinois and southern Iowa. forget Martha Jane and her sense of compassion. From the time he was just a boy, Peter Paul worked When he made his interest in her known, an in the Hager grain fields and in his master’s brewery. agreement was reached between the slave owners, For him and his fellow slaves, old and young, male the Elliots and the Hagers. They allowed Martha and female, life was a constant drudgery. His world Jane and Peter Paul to enter a Christian marriage. consisted of the field, the distillery buildings and In addition, it was agreed between the two masters the row of slave cabins. It was an endless cycle of that Peter and Martha would live in a slave cabin on plowing, planting, hoeing, cutting the ripe grain with the Elliot farm, Peter would remain the slave and scythes, binding it into bundles, threshing the grain worker of the Hagers; while all children of the union by means of flaying, then scooping it into the air to would be the property of the Elliot family. let the wind blow the chaff away and the valuable grain fall back to the threshing floor. Slaves could not enter upon a marriage without the permission of their master(s). Martha Jane Peter Paul received basic religious instructions from and Peter Paul were married at St. Peter log his master. Even though he was illiterate, he had an cabin Church, Brush Creek, MO in 1859 – not 1851 active mind and must have listened, like everyone according to testimony Martha Jane gave military else, to the gossip about the political unrest in the authorities upon the time she filed for her pension country over the slavery issue. He heard talk of upon hearing of the death of Peter Paul. She secession by the slave holding states, insurrection received therefrom $11 per month until her death. by the slaves, and possibly war. The main source of The Family and Pre-Civil War Times Martha Jane and Peter Paul did not receive not mention Augustus’ name nor his parents’ names. permission to marry by their respective owners until The record is inscribed merely as a child, property of 1859, and life as a slave did not change for either Stephen Elliot; and Savilla Elliot as sponsor, and the of them after coming together. Within a few years, child’s birthdate of April 1, 1854. besides the endless work as slaves, they had the As the years progressed, tensions in the country care of their children to concern them. Their first grew. There were political upheavals and rumblings child was a sickly boy named Charles, born in 1853. of a possible war to free the slaves. Augustus was born in 1854, and a daughter, Anne, was born in 1859. Several crucial cases concerning slavery were heard by the United States Supreme Court in the 1850s. Augustus’ baptismal certificate of which we have a The case of Dr. Eells of Quincy was decided by the copy thereof from the archives of the Vatican does Court in 1853; the Dred Scott Decision from Missouri Father Augustus Tolton 3 was decided in 1857. Violence against abolitionists In the Eells case from Quincy, the Supreme Court and those assisting runaway slaves had been part of decided slave catchers could enter free States the country for years. and apprehend runaway slaves. Since slaves were considered property, harboring a runaway would be Abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy of Alton was shot dead in the same as being in possession of stolen property. 1837 as he tried to prevent a pro- slavery mob from stealing his printing press; not long before, an earlier The Dred Scott case was about a slave who moved press of his had been thrown in the Mississippi River. to a free state with his owner, worked freely for him, and then moved back to a slave state. The question Quincyans were known to go into Missouri and was: Could a person be free for a while and then be encourage slaves to run away.