Orange County Review inSIDEr, February 26, 2009 Orange County Review inSIDEr, February 26, 2009 continued from front page... A glimpse into slavery in Orange County owning founding fathers as tyrants. Madison knew it was wrong; he also felt powerless to You could make an argu- opening comment that during Montpelier's heyday, around excavated in the south yard. perhaps he had a son named Anthony and between that do anything about it. We must not lose sight ment that the first slaves in this the turn of the 18th and 19th century, 100 faces on this farm Matt would like to see this village eventually reconstructed, and these two, at least suspected of getting together in of the fact that he is still a great man, albeit area were the captives of although, to do that, they will have to cut down some DuPont- Philadelphia…So, these are the ways that we try to tease one with human flaws. would be black; only five would be white. native American Indian tribes. era trees. But these are the original home sites of the house- out relationships, and at least form hypotheses about them. Considerable credit must be given to Certainly, Montpelier wasn't the only game in town as far When the first white man, hold slaves. They were located inside a now reconstructed And then as more information comes up, see how it holds Montpelier, which instead of sweeping the as slavery in Orange County is concerned, but it provides a Governor Alexander picket fence that separated the working side of the plantation up." She smiles. "It's a satisfying kind of work. It is a puzzle ugly specter of slavery under a rug, has unique insight, through documents, artifacts, and excava- Spotswood settled here in from the formal side. These families would have been plain- and we're making progress with it." revealed it as a fascinating journey from tions, into what slave life was like. Years ago, a slave ceme- 1710, he most likely had ly visible to both visitors and the Madisons themselves…a What everybody wants to know is how could James bondage to emancipation to freedman to Jim tery was discovered on a wooded knoll across the road from African slaves. They had been daily reminder of this strange double stan- Crow to this past Constitution Day where a the new visitor's center. Thirty eight burial depressions have landing at Jamestown since been identified. Since then, the number of slave-related dard of liberty and bondage. collateral descendant of James Madison and 1619. Although field slaves were expected to a direct descendant of his personal manser- excavations and discoveries has blossomed, and with them, Spotswood also imported so has our knowledge of this dark corner of our history. work dawn to dusk in all weather conditions, vant read aloud the Preamble to the United white indentured servants household slaves came under a constant States Constitution… together. Plantations such as these were divided into "quarters," from Germany to work his iron each with its own overseer or foreman. The slaves who scrutiny that made their job not as cushy as To this day, even though we are three and mines at Germanna. This was some might think. They basically hung out in worked in a particular quarter lived in that quarter. Oftentimes, four generations removed from it, slavery common practice in those the cellar until called upstairs for duty.Visitor, that foreman was a slave himself, such as Moses who ran a conjures emotions ranging from sullen days, the difference being they Harriett Martineau writes in 1835, "During all blacksmith shop with several workers under him. resentment to bleeding heart guilt. But in the could work off their indenture. our conversations, one or another slave was Sawney was such a man, and his story is interesting words of Rebecca Gilmore Coleman, in the The vast majority of African perpetually coming to Mrs. Madison for the because he was born the same year as the future president. last Insider, "you have to move forward." And Americans were not as lucky. great bunch of keys; two or three more in order to "move forward," it is necessary to They and their children and He accompanied Madison to Princeton, served as foreman lounged about in the room leaning against on a quarter named for him, and ended his days as a totter- understand this complex issue. What fol- their children's children were Photo by Phil Audibert the doorposts or the corner of the sofa; and lows here is a brief and incomplete look at doomed to bondage in perpe- Descendents of Paul Jennings stroll up to the mansion on the property where their ing, white-haired companion to Madison's elderly mother, the attendance of others was no less inde- the practice of slavery in Orange County. We tuity. ancestor was born, worked most of his life and where he witnessed President James "the very picture of (father) Time with his scythe," according fatigable in my own apartment." also follow the life and times of one The first man to successful- Madison's death. to one visitor. Ailsey Payne served as a cook. She Montpelier slave who traveled that remark- ly patent land in what would Montpelier's director of archaeology, Matt Reeves, says describes, in a 1902 newspaper article, parallel lines with their owners. Montpelier's director of edu- able journey. become Orange County was Colonel James Taylor II. He slave quarters have been discovered in the fields below the preparations made at Montpelier for a visit by cation, Beth Taylor says, "The connections to the white com- But first, two stories: one about moving built the county's first permanent home, Bloomsbury, in 1722, visitor's center. A crafts area has been identified and protect- the Marquis de Lafayette in 1824. "I was a munity are of course echoed in the black community. There backwards; the other about moving forwards. and he undoubtedly worked the surrounding fertile soil with ed between the visitor's center and the mansion, and of house gal then, and how Miss Dolley did are incredible interconnections… among the whites and the About 15 years ago, my wife and I operat- the help of slaves. Taylor also most likely provided his son-in- course, a small village of slave duplexes and out buildings, dress us gals for the occasion… Before the blacks, and sometimes even between the whites and blacks." ed a bed-and-breakfast inn that specialized law, Ambrose Madison with slaves to go along with the land yielding a wealth of information, has already been partially company come there was stirrin' times at For instance, if a Taylor married a Courtesy of The Montpelier Foundation in weddings. A couple from Northern he carved out for him. In fact, Ambrose Madison, grandfather Montpelier…The silver had done been Madison, oftentimes, a Taylor A sample of some of the artifacts discovered during archaeological digs in Virginia toured our facility with the idea they to the future president, came up here in 1732 to check on the shined up, the glass and china was in order, slave would marry a Madison the south yard at Montpelier. The south yard contained a small village might be married here. They asked, "was this progress of a slave gang on this property which is today's and the whole house had been gone over to slave. But they couldn't live where household slaves lived. land owned by a slave owner in the past?" Montpelier. make it look fine as possible." together because they were Ambrose was here barely two months when he was mur- Beth Taylor has spent years researching I found it a puzzling question, and I bound to separate plantations! dered. A rented slave named Pompey was tried, convicted slave histories, in particular the story of Paul Jennings (see Madison reconcile his dreams of equality and liberty while answered as truthfully as I could. "Yes, I sup- They had to visit each other, and executed for the crime. Madison’s widow, Frances Taylor The All-American Man, back page). But when all you have surrounded by people in bondage? According to a document pose it was," I responded, adding, "as far as I sometimes surreptitiously. Madison, chose to remain here in the middle of nowhere, is a first name, the task can be daunting. She tells a story prepared by Montpelier's Peggy Vaughan and Beth Taylor, "at know, at one point or another, all the land Because slaves were considered despite the fact that she had three small children to rear, one about a slave named Billy, who accompanied Madison to the 1787 Constitutional Convention, Madison found the issue around here was owned by slave owners." chattels, whole families and their of them being the president's father. She even took back the the Constitutional Convention, where, Madison himself of slavery so contentious that he and others set it aside, real- They turned on their heels and stalked out, descendants were passed down two accomplices to the crime. We know this because their wrote, he was "tainted" by liberty. When it came time to izing that it would derail the effort to unify the states into a sin- muttering something about how they would from generation to generation like names appear on future Montpelier rolls. return to Montpelier, Madison sold Billy at a discount know- gle nation." never be married in a slave owner's house or heirlooms. The 1782 census of This is not the only example of a slave murdering a mas- ing full well that Pennsylvania law eventually would free him.