Early trustee and benefactor of WashU, founder of Botany Department; large landowner and slaveholder in 19th-century St. Louis; enslaved more than seventeen people; legacy includes Missouri Botanical Garden and Tower Grove Park.
Glasgow Weekly Times describes that nine enslaved people attempted to escape "under the guide of the abolitionists," and that five were captured, but others "succeeded in getting off." The newspaper account also regrettably mentions that the "decoyers" were not captured.
In this StoryMap, student researcher Julia Feller explores the history of self-liberation and St. Louis' Underground Railroad through the heroic and tragic story of Esther. Born into slavery ca. 1811, Esther was one of several people enslaved by WashU benefactor Henry Shaw (founder of the Dept. of Botany), and who fled in search of freedom in 1855.
Edward Buckingham was born in 1814 to Gideon Buckingham and Maria Crowley. He married Emma Marlow in 1845. Buckingham appears as a landowner on what is now Tyson property in 1862 and 1870. His daughter, Isabel (Belle) Buckingham Simpson, inherited land from her father.
Deed of trust & notice of affidavit of the trustees' sale of property on St. Louis New Era (newspaper). Mentions that the advertisement of the property would be displayed in the newspaper for five weeks and five days, from July 16th, 1842 to August 19th.
This document, dated July 14, 1836, records the manumission of two Black enslaved persons, Julienne and Marguerite, by the enslaver Lambert Jacob in St. Louis, Missouri. Julienne, aged thirty-eight, and her six-year-old daughter, Marguerite, were previously adjudicated to Lambert Jacob as part of the succession of Marie Jean Dardenne in Iberville Parish, Louisiana. Jacob granted their freedom with the condition that they would serve him during his lifetime. The deed was formally acknowledged in the St. Louis Circuit Court, marking the legal release of Julienne and Marguerite from slavery, except for the lifetime service clause imposed by Jacob.
This document, dated December 3, 1845, records the emancipation of Samuel, a 38-year-old Black man, by Louis A. LaBeaume, Theodore LaBeaume, Louis T. LaBeaume, Edmund LaBeaume, Laura LaBeaume, and Peter E. Blow—enslavers in St. Louis, Missouri. The deed officially grants Samuel his freedom, declaring him manumitted and released from all servitude to the LaBeaume family and their heirs. The document also mentions a nominal payment of one dollar, symbolizing the legal transaction.
Deed of Emancipation for Peter Ware by Victoire Labadie, widow of Sylvestre Labadie, St. Louis, Missouri, January 19, 1853. Victoire Labadie formally emancipated Peter, a Black man aged about forty-four years, marking him free from enslavement. The document describes Peter's physical features, including a mark on the back of his neck and a mole on the left side of his nose.
Deed of Emancipation for Eliza, a Black woman approximately twenty-nine years old, by John Cavender, St. Louis, Missouri, November 17, 1845. The deed, acknowledged in the St. Louis Circuit Court, formally grants Eliza her freedom, releasing her from all servitude to Cavender and his heirs. Eliza, who is described as being about five feet four or five inches tall, was purchased by Cavender in 1838 from the enslaver William Baf.
This is a copy of the Daily Dispatch on 1855-05-29 that describes the escape of five enslaved people in Alton, Illinois, which presumably points to Mary Meachum's attempted escape of nine enslaved people across the Mississippi River, among whom five were captured.
