ARCHER ALEXANDER

It being Sunday we laid by to rest man and horses, Rain in the morning. Crossed the river in a skiff and took a walk in the great free State of Ohio.*

Campbell has halted the caravan in the small village of Vanceburg, Kentucky, in Lewis County. Its’ raining and the group needs rest, however Campbell also uses the day to visit “the great free State of Ohio” and attend church. He takes a quick boat ride across the river and visits the First Presbyterian Church in Portsmouth, Ohio. This is a large town with residents who are anti-slavery protagonists, free blacks, and on the route of the Underground Railroad. From when the town was first platted in 1803, the Presbyterians had been meeting there. In 1816, they began using the same building as the State of Ohio’s Scioto County Court, for their meetings, along with those that were Methodist, or Baptist faiths. The Alexander, McCluer, Wilson and Icenhower families in this caravan were of the Presbyterian faith. However Vanceburg is only a small trifling village in 1829, with fourteen families, and there isn’t a church there.

Archer, Louisa, and the other enslaved will be kept in, and will remain in Kentucky. For them the day of rest would still include the child care, cooking, necessary washing and mending, and any repairs needed to the wagons. The horses, cattle and oxen still need to be fed. If they were lucky, they would be allowed a little relaxation, and time to visit with each other. The horses had more rest than the enslaved did.

*This is the journal of William Campbell (1805-1849) leading four families from Lexington, in Rockbridge County, Virginia to St. Charles County Missouri, written in 1829. Among the enslaved is Archer Alexander, born in 1806. This journal is located in the collections of the Leyburn Library, Special Collections and Archives, located at the Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, Virginia, and for which we are deeply indebted to Lisa McCown. Editor and author is Dorris Keeven-Franke. The next journal entry is September 14 https://archeralexander.blog/2023/09/14/14-september-1829/

TODAY

Portsmouth, Ohio

Another resource today is the Southern Ohio Museum in Portsmouth, Ohio http://www.somacc.com/information/