Black Woodworkers of the 18th and 19th Centuries
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Glapion, Celestin (1784-1826): Celestin Glapion was the son of the Chevelier Christophe de Glapion and his slave Lizette, and was freed upon his father's death. He was a highly skilled furniture maker who worked in New Orleans between 1805 and 1823. His descendants continued in the trade into the 20th Century.
Photo used under license from The Louisiana State Museum
Glasgow, Joe: Joe Glasgow was a master carpenter enslaved by Capt. Henry Tayloe of Marengo County, Alabama. See Lee, Peter for additional information.
Goins (also Goines), Luther (born c1865): Luther Goins was a Black wheelwright and woodworker from Clear Springs, Maryland. Around 1890 he made the fanciful wooden church chandelier shown here, which is in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution.
Photo courtesy of The Smithsonian Institution - National Museum of American History
Gough (also Goff), John (died 1790?): John Gough was a free Black cabinetmaker who worked in Charleston from 1766 to about 1800. Originally enslaved, Gough was provided a path to freedom in the 1763 will and testament of Elizabeth Akin, by paying the sum of 250 pounds to her estate. Interestingly, the will also stipulated that he be returned "...the Sum of Fifty pounds Current Money to Enable him to purchase Tools that he may get his Livelyhood by his Trade.” Gough was quite probably of mixed race as he was referred to as 'mulatto' in the will and was regularly described the same way in newspaper notices. In addition to cabinet making, Gough was involved in real estate and a participant in enslaving other African Americans. In May 1774, he mortgaged a woman named Cloe to coachmaker Matthias Hutchinson in order to satisfy a bond of £1,000. Two years later, one John Valk announced the self-emancipation of (probably) the same woman, who was “once the property of John Gough, cabinetmaker in Charleston.” And in 1790, Gough mortgaged two enslaved men, Martin and Jack, along with a schooner for 261 pounds. Later that same year, Gough was arrested for a civil charge of unknown reason. He either died or was killed attempting to escape from jail, or he left Charleston and never returned. Nothing has been found to indicate he was still living after this time. He was certainly considered deceased by 1811, when Margaret Cordes Gough, “widow of John Gough, late of Charleston,” released her dower that was a claim to part of a lot on Unity Alley.
Photo courtesy of Brunk Auctions
Gross, Thomas and Thomas Jr. (1775–1839): Thomas Gross was a free Black cabinetmaker who worked at 193 South Sixth Street in Philadelphia during the late 1700s. He taught the craft to his son who worked with him through 1806. Thomas Jr. opened his own shop on Mary Street in 1807, and later that year went into business with cabinetmaker and undertaker, Michael Baker. The partnership ended some time after 1809. Gross operated at a number of locations within the African American community at the south edge of the city along Lombard and Cedar (now South) Streets. His wife continued the business for at least four years after his death, suggesting a thriving enterprise with staff. A chest-on-chest made by him is the earliest known piece of signed furniture by an African American.
Photo courtesy of The Philadelphia Museum of Art
Hanover, William: On 5 October 1769, one Walker Taliaferro advertised in the Virginia Gazette, stating, "...RUN away from the plantation of William Fitzhugh, Esq; in King George, the 17th of September last, Hanover, a negro man slave, by some called William Hanover... by trade a good house carpenter and joiner...", offering, "THREE POUNDS reward, and FIVE if taken out of the colony," for his return.
Hemings, John (1775-1833): John Hemings was enslaved by Thomas Jefferson via his wife's inheritance. His mother was Elizabeth (Betty) Hemings, his father most probably a White house joiner named Joseph Neilson. Hemmings was trained by a number of white woodworkers hired by Jefferson including James Dinsmore, who was responsible for most of the woodwork at Monticello. Under their tutelage he learned furniture making, joinery, carriagemaking and wheelwrighting. He became Dinsmore's assistant and succeeded him in 1809, taking complete charge of the woodworking shop. One of the overseers recalled that Hemings "could make anything that was wanted in woodwork." Jefferson's notes contain many references to Hemings' work and praise his talents. At least 20 pieces can be traced to the workshop, though only eight can be attributed directly to Hemings: two painted bedsteads, a round table for Poplar Forest, two dressing tables, at least one campeachy chair (see image), a chess table, and a small writing desk made for Jefferson’s granddaughter Ellen Randolph Coolidge. He also led work on Jefferson's second home at Poplar Forest and is said to have made Jefferson's coffin. Under the terms of Jefferson’s will, he was freed, given his tools, and the services of his two assistants (see Hemings, Madison and Eston). Although able to ply his trade as a freed man, he elected to remain at Monticello with his family until his own death in 1833.
Photo courtesy of The Thomas Jefferson Foundation/Monticello
Hemings, Beverly (born 1798), Madison (1805-1877) and Eston (1808-1856): Beverly, Madison, and Eston Hemings were the nephews of John Hemings (see entry) and quite probably the sons of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, an enslaved servant (and half sister of Jefferson's deceased wife). Like their uncle, the brothers worked in the Monticello joinery. Under the terms of Jefferson's will, John Hemings retained the services of his enslaved nephews as apprentices in his shop until they were granted their own freedom at the age of twenty-one. The Hemings brothers were said to have bore striking resemblances to Jefferson and at least two were light skinned; Eston in particular looked so much like Jefferson that he was kept out of the sight of visitors.
According to Madison, Beverly left Monticello in 1822, went to Washington as a white man, and married a white woman in Maryland. Their only child, a daughter, "was not known by the white folks to have any colored blood coursing in her veins." Nothing else is known about the remainder of his life.
Madison married a free woman of color, Mary McCoy. In the late 1830s they left Virginia for a rural community in southern Ohio, where Mary's family was already settled. Madison helped build several structures in the notoriously anti-black town of Waverly. He gradually accumulated property and, by 1865, he and his family were living on their sixty-six-acre farm in Ross County. Madison and Mary raised nine children. When his recollections were recorded in 1873, he gave his history in a matter-of-fact manner, referring to Jefferson as his father a number of times. His reputation as a man of his word survived in the family of white neighbors to the present day.
Eston married a free woman of color, Julia Ann Isaacs. About 1838 they sold their property and moved to Chillicothe, OH, where he led a very successful dance band. He was remembered as "a master of the violin, and an accomplished 'caller' of dances." At mid-century Eston, Julia, and their three children left Ohio for Wisconsin, changing their surname to Jefferson and living henceforth as white people. They settled in the capital, Madison, where Eston pursued his trade as a cabinetmaker. A 1998 study genetically linked his male descendants with male descendants of the Jefferson family.
Henry, William: William "Jerry" Henry escaped from slavery in Missouri and came to Syracuse, New York via the Underground Railroad. A trained cabinetmaker and cooper, he expected to live out his days in peace, as the state had abolished slavery in 1827. But the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made safe havens for runaways illegal and on 1 October 1851 he was arrested at work by Federal Marshals and taken to jail. An anti-slavery group known as the Liberty Party organized a rescue and nearly 2000 people stormed the jail. After hiding in town for a few days, William was ferried to Canada and permanent freedom. His broken shackles were mailed to President Millard Fillmore. A memorial to the rescue stands in downtown Syracuse.
Photo by Paul Malo, permission granted under GNU Free Documentation License v1.2
Hern, David (1755- after 1827): David Hern was a woodworker, wheelwright, and carpenter, enslaved to Thomas Jefferson. He spent almost fifty years at Monticello performing myriad tasks from building cabins and fences to working on the house itself. He and his wife Isabel had twelve children.
Hill (also Howe), John (also Johnson): On 29 June 1803 a Mr. W.H. Hill placed an ad in The Charleston Courier offering $200 reward for the return of "a Young fellow belonging to me, named John, sometimes called Johnson, at times calling himself John Hill, at other times John Howe. This fellow is about 5 feet 5 inches high, 23 years old, and is of a dull copper colour, being the son of a mulatto man and negro woman; his features are generally ugly; his eyes remarkably large and prominent; he is sensible and shrewd, civil in his manners, and plausible in conversation; he served his time with a cabinet maker, and has worked as a journeyman with a Windsor Chair-maker; he is very ingenious, and well acquainted with the use of the joiners tools."
Holmes, Johny: An advertisement in the November 20, 1736 edition of the South Carolina Gazette seeks the capture and return of "a Free Negro Fellow, named Johny Holmes, bred a Wheelwright and Carpenter, well known at Goose Creek, Wassamssaw and Charlestown, being lately an indentured Servant with Nicholas Trott Esq," who ran away after having his indenture sold to Kennedy O'Brien of Savannah.
Hooper, Sam: An article in the Wilmington (North Carolina) Journal of 24 March 1864, reported that, "...a fire broke out in [a] wooden building on Seventh Street, between Market and Dock Streets, occupied as a a Wheelwright Shop by SAM HOOPER, a free negro."
Howard, William (born c1805): William "Willie" Howard was enslaved man who worked on the Kirkwood Plantation of Mississipi Governor William McWillie in Madison County. A desk currently owned by the Wadsworth Museum is one of two existing pieces he created after emancipation. The outside is covered in exhuberant appliques that historians speculate reflect his life in slavery, while the interior is cobbled together with pieces of old packing crates that still show markings from Northern cotton mills and Southern tobacco packagers.
Photo courtesy of ArtsObserver.com
James: In 1818, a Norfolk, Virginia cabinetmaker named James Woodward loaned an enslaved craftsman named James $120 to purchase his freedom. In return, James agreed to "for 12 months next ensuing . . . [to] . . . work as a Journeyman Cabinetmaker...until the full value . . . shall be repaid to him."
James: A South Carolina bill of sale dated 22 March 1841 states that Thomas Morrison sold an enslaved man named James, "a Cabinet Maker by trade," to James Davidson.
James, Peter (born c1835): Peter James, a 35 year old Black craftsman was reported working in a cabinetmaking shop in Prince Edward County, Virginia in 1860.
Jamison, George (born 1821): George Jamison was a chairmaker who worked in central Tennessee.
Jemmy [James]: In the 17 June 1784 edition of the Virginia Journal and Alexandria Advertiser, William Fitzhugh offered twenty pounds reward for the return of, "...a dark Mulatto Fellow, named JAMES, generally called Jemmy... 5 feet 6 or 7 inches high, 29 years of age... sensible and well spoken... is a good house joiner, carver, wheelwright and painter, and a tolerable Negro fiddler..."
Jones, Dudley C. (1805-1883): Dudley C. Jones was a free Black cabinetmaker who worked in Louisville, Kentucky. Little is known of his life aside from two newspaper articles. The first, published in December, 1853 reported that Jones was arrested for aiding an enslaved woman named Mary to run away. She was found hidden in Jones' house, dressed as a boy to facilitate her escape. There is no evidence Jones was ever brought to trial although a co-conspirator was sentenced to prison. The second, dated in September 10, 1858 stated that Jones built the chairs for the pulpit of the First African Baptist Church in Louisville, noting, "The pulpit is an admirable piece of work and furnished with noble mahogany chairs manufactured by D. C. Jones, a colored cabinet-maker.”
Jones, Jethro (c1733–1828): Jethro Jones was a planemaker who operated in Medway, Wrentham, and Holliston, Massachusetts between 1758 and 1790. He served in the French and Indian Wars (1758-59) and the Continental Army (1777-1783).
Jordan, John C: John C. Jordan was a successful cabinet and coffin maker who operated at 71 Park St. in Baltimore. His business was well established by 1850 and records from 1865 indicate he had $1600 in stock and $9000 in personal property.
King, John A. (died 1849): Local business directories list John A. King as a "colored" planemaker operating at 20 Academy St. in Newark, New Jersey from 1835-1837. Local records indicate he died insolvent.
Kunze, William (born c1835): William Kunze was a chairmaker who worked "near Painter's Store" in St. Charles, Missouri. An emancipated slave, he was given a home, name, and trade by a German immigrant named Wilhem Kuntze, who was one of the 'Latin Farmers'. As a result, his chairs are similar to the peasant style of Schleswig-Holstein, but bear a number of unique traits such as distinctive pointed finials and the exclusive use of hickory for construction.
Photo used under license from The University of Missouri Press
Lawrence, Thomas (1848-1918): The son of free-black parents, Thomas Lawrence was employed as a cabinet-maker by Fernando and Sophia Stone Kelton of Columbus, Ohio. Staunch abolitionists, the Kelton family operated a safe house on the Underground Railroad. The house still stands at 586 East Town Street and operates as a museum.
Photo courtesy of The Kelton House Museum
Lee, Peter (born c1810): Peter Lee was an enslaved cabinetmaker, carpenter, and carver who was born in Virginia and belonged to Capt. Henry Tayloe of Marengo County, Alabama. He made plantation-style furniture from native hardwoods and was involved in many construction projects including St. Andrews Episcopal Church, which was built by a crew of enslaved workers led by Lee and Joe Glasgow (see entry), which is now a National Historic Landmark. Oral tradition holds that Lee was allowed to hire himself out and purchased his freedom by 1850 but no documentation has been found to substantiate that information.
Cellarette photo courtesy of The Marengo County Historical Society
Photo of St. Andrews Church in the public domain
Lewis (1758-1822): Inherited from the estate of his father-in-law, John Wayles, Lewis was enslaved by Thomas Jefferson, and was identified in his 'Farm Book' as a carpenter and cradler. Beginning in 1801, he was trained by joiners John Dinsmore and James Oldham. He turned the balusters for the roof of Monticello and was so efficient that Jefferson noted, "I was in hopes that Abram could have hewed Locust as fast as Lewis could turn it." He later worked in the joinery with John Hemings (see entry), helping to create a dressing table and set of venetian blinds.
Lockhart (also Lockett), Handy (c1795-1884): Handy Lockhart was a cabinetmaker originally enslaved to William Thompson of Wake County, North Carolina. Some time after 1834 Thompson was hired to build the legislative furniture for a new Capital. He was joined in that work by a number of his enslaved craftsmen including Lockhart, based on this quote from a N.W. West, "...Mr. Thompson had a cabinet shop. I was told that he and a negro man. 'Uncle' Handy Lockhart, and some other... slaves under his direction made all the furniture - solid mahogany - now in use in the House of Representatives." This statement is substantiated by the fact the State paid Lockhart $465 in 1869 for "sundry repairs on desks and chairs in the Senate Chamber and House of Representatives" and $70.75 in 1874 for "making book case for Supreme Court room."
In 1840, Lockhart married a free woman, an unusual occurrence since enslaved people were not allowed to marry at the time, and it is certain Lockhart still was based on William Thompson's will of 1855 where he wrote, "to son John I give my man Handy." Thompson never updated the will, and it is assumed Lockhart remained enslaved until the Emancipation Proclamation of 1865.
After Thompson's death in 1869, the then free Lockhart took over his business, located at 409 South Blount Street. In addition to making furniture, it appears he also made coffins and provided undertaking services - something not unusual for cabinetmakers of that era. At the same time he became politically active and a Raleigh city leader. He was appointed by the governor to the Raleigh Board of Commissioners, served as an alderman and magistrate, was a member of The Colored Educational Association of North Carolina, a delegate for the State Republican Convention, and even ran for mayor, albeit unsuccessfully.
Photo courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
Malorry, Peter (c1764 - after 1836): Peter Malorry was a carpenter, enslaved by (President) James Monroe starting in 1817. Documentary evidence shows he built the standing guesthouse at Highland with another enslaved man named George. It’s apparent from inventories and correspondence that Peter Malorry was primarily at Oak Hill plantation in Loudoun County, Virginia, but was temporarily moved to Highland during late summer 1818 for the purpose of building new structures for Monroe.
Melton, Perry (born c1822): Perry Melton was born in South Carolina and is listed as a resident of Starkville, Mississippi on the 1870 census. One of approximately eighteen free Blacks in Oktibbeha county, he was a skilled carpenter and cabinet maker. During slavery his official administrator, as required by law, was John Thompson, through whom he transacted legal matters. He married one of Thompson's slaves, Sallie, and raised a family. After the war he moved to the county seat and worked in the carpentry and cabinet shop of Lewis Martin; his specialty was coffins and furniture. He managed to accumulate considerable wealth and, as of 1977, his descendants still lived on property he owned.
Melton, Randall: A Black cabinetmaker named Randall Melton is listed on an 1807 tax list for Southampton County, Virginia.
Moss, Jonathan (c1778-1863): Jonathon Moss was a Black cabinetmaker who worked in Lynchburg, Virginia. He was born free and originally lived in Albermale County. It is not known if he operated his own shop there, but tax records indicate he had both apprentices and enslaved people working for him. He moved to Lynchburg in 1814 and probably worked as a journeyman there until around 1820 when census records indicate he was involved with agriculture. Although free, he was "...ordered to be sold pursuant to the act of assembly for failing to pay [his] taxes," a common practice during the period. He must have managed to pay the debt as he was still being taxed after 1827. By 1840 he and his family moved to Ohio where he worked as as farmer until his death.
Moss, William: In the collection of Colonial Williamsburg is a neoclassical sideboard of mahogany that bears the inscription, "William Moss by his hand." Moss was a free Black cabinetmaker who was active in Campbell County, Virginia between (at least) 1814 and 1820.
Photo courtesy of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Muddy: In 1743, Spence Monroe - father of the future president - entered into an indenture with Virginia cabinetmaker Robert Walker, that "bound sd. Spence an Apprentice to Walker... to live for space of five years from these present & his Negro Muddy for space of six years... both to learn the trade of a joyner." Monroe's superior social status provided privileges including the right to "Eat in Company with the said Rob. Walker or the Chief of his Journeymen" while the enslaved Muddy was to be "Employed in no Other Business than in the way of the said Trade and Shop Business," and allowed, "Only a Day or two at Planting or gathering Corn or on Such Emergency Occasions."
Nichols, Joseph [Joe] (c1822-after 1880): Joseph Nichols was a mixed-race carpenter/joiner who worked primarily in Hillsborough and Orange Counties, North Carolina. Born enslaved to merchant, Richison Nichols, he was ultimately sold to John Berry, a builder and bricklayer by trade. Identified in Berry's will as "Joseph my carpenter", he executed much of the fine woodwork and carvings that grace Berry’s many buildings. His work can still be seen today in Hillsborough's Old Courthouse, Colonial Inn, and Methodist Church. Nichols continued to work for Berry after emancipation in 1865, and remained in his employ until Berry's death in 1870. He was still alive at the time of the 1880 census but only his widow's name appears on the 1900 census.
Newton, Thomas (died 1826) and Mars (also Marrs, Marse): Thomas Newton was born in Craven County, North Carolina. Originally enslaved to a Benjamin Woods, he was willed to his daughter, Sarah, who emancipated him in September 1808. Trained as a carpenter, he earned enough money to free his wife, Sarah, a slave of John Devereux. The petition states he was, "master of the Carpenter business and [is] able to maintain himself wife & children." He also posted an Emancipation Bond for at least one of his children, a trained shoemaker named Macklin. Newton had at least one other child, a free carpenter named Mars, to whom he beqeathed most of his tools upon his death in 1826. Mars moved to Washington, North Carolina by 1830, where he successfully practiced his trade and trained his apprentice, Stewart Ellison (see entry).