South Carolina marriage records show that John G. Thorne married Sarah Stocks (also white) on 16 February 1788. Very soon thereafter, John set up a sailmaking business near the wharves on the Cooper River side of old Charleston. The city directories give his home address first as 21 Guignard Street and then as 1 Cumberland Street. The 1802 city directory is the first to list the address of his sailmaking loft: Pritchard's Wharf, which I have not yet located. His shop is subsequently shown at Beale's Wharf, which was right across from the Othniel Beale house at 99-101 E. Bay St. in Charleston.
John G. and Sarah Stocks Thorne had four children: John, William, Elizabeth and Caroline. The eldest son's full name was John Stocks Thorne, the son taking, as was often the custom, his mother's maiden name for his own middle name. The 1813 Charleston business directory shows a new title for John G. Thorne's sailmaking enterprise: it is now "John Gardner Thorne and Son, Sailmakers" with an address on E. Bay Street.
Our story really begins with this eldest son, John Stocks Thorne, who was buying and selling even before his name was linked with his father's in the family business. We know this because the bill of sale below, dated March 4, 1811 records one of his transactions:
 |
| Bill of sale for Becky and Tom |
Here is a transcript of the salient parts:
State of South-Carolina
Charleston District.
KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, That I Mordecai Lyon for and in consideration of the sum of Six hundred Dollars to me is hand paid, at end before, the sealing and deliver of these Presents, the receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge to have bargained and sold, and by these Presents do bargain, sell, and deliver to the said John Stocks Thorne a negro wench Becky, and her son Tom with the future issue of the said Wench TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the said Negroes Becky and Tom with their future increase unto the said John Stocks Thorne Executors, Administrators and Assigns to his and only proper use and behoof forever. And I the said Mordecai Lyon Executors and Administrators, the bargained premises unto the said J.S. Thorne Executors, Administrators, and Assigns, from and against all persons shall and will warrant and for ever defend, by these Presents. In witness thereof, I have hereunto set my Hand and Seal, Dated at Charleston this fourth day of March in the Year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and Eleven and in the thirty fifth Year of the Independence of the United States of America.I must confess that my hands shook when this copy of this document arrived from the South Carolina State Archive in Columbia, as I had never before seen a bill of sale for a slave before. In this case, it was for two: a mother and her child, purchased for $600.
Not only did John Stocks Thorne "own" Becky and Tom outright, but the bill of sale presumes to grant him the rights to any future children she might have. This is the essence of chattel slavery: it reduces human beings to livestock to be bought and sold, along with their young whenever the owner sees fit at whatever price the market will bear. In this instance, it was $600 for this young woman and her small child, plus the "rights" to whatever children she may have had in the future. (Do you wonder who the Mordecai Lyon was who was selling Becky and Tom? So do I. So many trails, so little time....)
But then comes a surprising development. Note again the date of the sale above: 4 March 1811. In another source—an 1848 court document regarding a family dispute—we discover as part of the testimony received that on 26 March 1811, the same John Stocks Thorne who purchased Becky and her son Tom turned around and manumitted* them. Three weeks after he purchased them, he set them both free. Why? Almost certainly it was because the son Tom was in fact John Stocks Thorne's son with "the negro wench Becky." Not content with freeing only his son, he freed his son's mother as well. He didn't have to do either of those things—in fact, in doing so, he gave up at least $600, plus whatever fees the manumission might have cost. But in doing so, he gained a son and the woman who would live with him as his wife for the rest of his life. He obviously thought it was worth it.
"Becky" was henceforth known as Rebecca Thorne. She lived with John Stocks Thorne as his common-law wife, it would seem—there is no record that he had any other spouse or children—and bore him four more children: John, Philip, Caroline, and Susan. (Maybe a fifth; the record isn't altogether clear.) All mixed-race of course, and all free henceforth.
When John Stocks Thorne died in 1824, at the fairly young age of 37, he left a house to Rebecca and placed some significant other assets into a trust to provide for her and their children—pretty much as any husband would do for his beloved wife and children, no? John Stocks Thorne was buried in the St. Michael's churchyard at Meeting and Broad.
 |
| Jane Godfrey at the grave of her great-great-great-great grandfather, John Stocks Thorne. (1788-1824) |
Of Rebecca and John's children, the court testimony referred to above also notes that Tom, who was purchased and then manumitted along with his mother, died in 1827. He was probably in his late teens; no official death record has been found for him yet. John Thorne became a tailor; Philip became a carpenter; the daughters each married other members of Charleston's mixed-race elite: Caroline married Richard Dereef, Jr., and Susan married Samuel Marshall.
For the moment, however, we'll be following only Philip's family, as he is the link to Jane and Jake.
_____________________________
*Although the bill of sale for Becky and Tom survived the burning of Columbia during the Civil War, the manumission papers, alas, did not. I know; I've asked.
No comments:
Post a Comment