Emancipated slaves of John Randolph   Save
Miami County Clerk of Courts Collection
Description: This typed legal document contains a partial list of those former Virginia slaves who were emancipated by the will of John Randolph of Roanoke, Virginia, in May 1846. Each individual is identified by name, relation to others on the list, complexion, age, height and distinguishing marks. J. H. Landis, Clerk of Courts of Miami County, Ohio, certified the document on December 10, 1906. The original document was carried with the freed slaves when they came to settle in Ohio as confirmation of their free status--such a certificate was required under Ohio's 1804 "Act To Regulate Black and Mulatto Persons." John Randolph was an early American political leader, born in 1773 in Virginia, who grew up on the family tobacco plantation. Upon his death in 1833, he freed his slaves as part of his will, and also left them land near Carthagena, Ohio, to begin their lives as free people. Randolph's brother disputed the will, but after thirteen years of legal battles, the court finally ruled in John's favor and granted his slaves their freedom. When the African Americans, now numbering 383, reached Carthagena, white mobs confronted them and drove them away, forcing them to scatter. Members of the group settled in a number of nearby Ohio communities, including Piqua, Sidney, and Xenia. These emancipated slaves, many of whom were educated or knew skilled trades, had a lasting impact in their new communities. Their descendants continued to hold reunions for many years, and one descendant, Jim Humphrey, became the town of Sidney's first black mayor in 1981. Many of the original group and their descendants are buried in Miami County's Jackson Cemetery. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: VFM6448_01
Subjects: African American Ohioans; Former slaves; Emancipation of slaves; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights;
Places: Miami County (Ohio)