Loan agreement for $2750.00 between John Berry Meachum and Henry Shaw, 1 February 1839 with interest. Describes that Shaw received interest of fifteen months in the back.
Letter from Johnson Hellen, enslaver, to William Greenleaf Eliot, which included a stipulation for Virginia’s freedom from enslavement at age twenty-five. Additional note by Eliot states Virginia was emancipated and married William Parks, handyman. Johnson Hellen was from Washington City.
Juliette was born and raised in the family of Antoine Chenie, who sold her, through Lucien Dumaine, to Henry Shaw on May 20, 1836, when she was about twenty-one years old. Juliette remained enslaved until she obtained freedom from Shaw at about the age of 23 on April 24, 1839.
This is a declaration of bankruptcy by John Berry Meachum, dated 10 June 1842. The hearing date is dated 10 September 1842. James Hannon (?) is the clerk; Wm. Milburn (?) is the commissioner; N. M. Garseho (?) is the assignee.
Jemmy was four months old when he and his mother, Sarah, were sold at a public auction the entrance of the St. Louis courthouse to settle the estate of their deceased enslaver, Eliza Brown. Henry Shaw purchased them at this auction for $600 on October 16, 1850.
James L. Sweatt III became the first Black graduate of Washington University’s School of Medicine in 1962. During his admissions process, he endured excessive scrutiny not faced by white applicants, yet he excelled academically and professionally. Sweat’s achievement represented a major breakthrough in the integration of the university’s professional schools. Sweatt later became a cardiothoracic surgeon, served on the board of Parkland Memorial Hospital, and in 1995 became the first Black president of the Dallas County Medical Society. His determination helped open doors for future generations of Black physicians.
Jim Kennerly was sold to Henry Shaw at an auction held at the St. Louis courthouse on January 1, 1852 when he was about 25-30 years old, as part of the estate of his deceased enslaver Lewellyn Brown. He was part of a group of enslaved people who attempted escape on May 21, 1855, at the site known today as the Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing. They crossed the Mississippi River to Illinois only to find bounty hunters lying in wait to capture them. Jim Kennerly was able to evade capture along with a few others, as there is no record of him being captured and resold. The 1852 bill of sale for Jim written in ink shows a later update written in pencil that states he “ran away May 1855.”
Isabel (Belle) Buckingham Simpson, daughter of Tyson landowner Edward Buckingham and Emma Marlow, was one of two women known to have inherited land in the history of Tyson Valley. On her mother’s side, Belle was the niece of another Tyson landowner, Horace Franklin Breed, Sr.
Horace Franklin Breed was born in Boston, Massachusetts and lived from 1824 to 1875. He owned land on what is now Tyson property according to plat maps from 1862 and 1870. He married Susanna P. Marlow. While evidence has not yet been identified that Breed was an enslaver, records indicate that members of the Marlow family were enslavers.
