Obituary of General Jackson, West Chester, PA

Afrolumens is grateful to Fred Kelso of Oxford, Pennsylvania, and Chester County historian, for the submission of the following old newspaper clipping from his files. Mr. Kelso is an engineer with a keen interest in the history of southeastern Pennsylvania and Maryland. He has done much research into the African American history of Port Deposit, Maryland, and has many articles and data posted on his website.

"He was born the slave of Betsy Jacobs, near Baltimore, Md., about the year 1778. His mistress married Benjamin Fowler, who was so cruel to his slaves that he was murdered by them, for which crime three of them were hung. His second master, Benjamin Walters, was as much of a tyrant as the first, and his inhuman usage was such as to cause Jackson to resolve to run away. He passed through Baltimore, the next night slept in a fodder barn, and the third day was arrested by a man on the road as a runaway, but managed to escape from him, and at night arrived at Port Deposit bridge, the gates of which were shut and locked. The Susquehanna rolled between him and freedom [evidence that Port Deposit was seen as a safe haven by runaway slaves]. Goaded on by desperation, he scaled the gates, and after a hard struggle safely landed on the opposite side. He said he was a man of about thirty-five years of age when he ran away, which would place it about the year 1813 [the bridge in question would have been the Rock Run covered bridge, built by Theodore Burr, but construction did not actually begin until 1817, so the date of Jackson's escape is off by at least a few years]. He [eventually] became one of the principal wood-sawyers of the borough [of West Chester]. He married, March 28, 1833, Frances Green, who was bought from slavery when she was seven years old, afterwards enticed South and sold into slavery, from which she was rescued by Thaddeus Stevens and others; she then moved to West Chester, where she became acquainted with the "General," was married, and where she died, February 26, 1868.

"She was quite a noted fortune-teller. For fear of being discovered and returned to slavery, Jackson's lips were closely sealed; his most intimate friends could hardly, if ever, get him to mention his earlier history, until after he had availed himself of his franchise by casting his vote as a citizen of the United States, when he began to realize that he was 'truly free'."^{2 ,
3}

Notes

1. In searching for Gen. Jackson in the 1850 Chester County census we came up with this family unit:

West Chester 428/458 (p. 327)
James Jackson, 59, M(ale), B(lack), Laborer, born in PA, cannot read and write
Frances Jackson, 57, F, B, born in MD, cannot read and write
Mary Bayard, 39, F, B, $300 in real estate, born in PA, cannot read and write

It fits for his wife, but not his age as given in the obit. However many times the ages of older African American citizens were overestimated. According to this census listing, he would have been born circa 1791, and escaped to Port Deposit circa 1826. That supports Fred Kelso's comment that his year of escape was later than 1813.

2. The census of 1860 lists James Jackson as age 76 (born circa 1784) and born in Virginia. By 1870, his age as reported on the census was 80 (born circa 1790) born in Maryland. The census form also identifies him as a "Male citizen of the U.S. of 21 years of age and upwards," essentially documenting his right to vote, which is mentioned at the end of the article.

3. His age at death, calculated according to census sources, would have more accurately been between 92 and 99 years.

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Interesting fact
Fred Kelso is able to verify the approximate date of escape by identifying the Rock Run Covered Bridge, that he notes was built by Theodore Burr in Port Deposit. Burr was also the architect and builder of the "Camelback" Bridge that crossed the Susquehanna at Harrisburg.

Original material on this page copyright 2006 Afrolumens Project
The url of this page is http://www.afrolumens.com/rising_free/jacksonobit.html
This page was updated January 2, 2006.

"Death of 'General Jackson': The Famous Old Colored Centenarian, Succumbing at Last to the Pressure of Time, Quietly Dies at the Age of 106 Years"1

"Death of 'General Jackson': The Famous Old Colored Centenarian, Succumbing at Last to the Pressure of Time, Quietly Dies at the Age of 106 Years"¹