363:
20:
193:, documented as a woman who escaped from his plantation to the North about 1857, later wrote a novel that included many quotes from these authors. After the manuscript was found in the early 21st century and authenticated, her work was published for the first time in 2002; it is believed to be the first novel by an African-American woman.
433:
under the pseudonym of Hannah Crafts. The manuscript was rediscovered in 2001 and published for the first time in 2002; it is believed to be the first novel by an
African-American woman, and certainly the first by a fugitive slave woman. Her references in her novel to the Wheeler family, and to Jane
67:
authenticated a novel, The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts. She later legalized her pseudonym Hannah Crafts in honor of the Quaker farmer, Horace Crafts, who secreted her in his attic as
Wheeler’s bounty hunters were about to apprehend her. The book revealed her connection to Wheeler. Her actual
215:
It turns out that
Wheeler's library included a large section of works devoted to slavery, including works by fugitive slaves themselves. Few libraries in the United States before 1860 would have included more works by African-American authors than Wheeler's. A partial listing includes Wheatley's
188:
Wheeler read widely and had a large library in his plantation house, containing works by prominent
English writers, such as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, and others. His library has been studied in the 21st century for evidence of what a literate slave might have read there.
303:(As we might expect, Wheeler's library contained a much larger section of these sorts of books than antislavery ones.) It was as if he read the works of fugitive slaves to study the mind of the enemy, perhaps better to master and control his slaves, and to prevent them from escaping.
408:, wrote: "No man who carries his Negroes into a Free State is deserving of any sympathy in his loss. He invites it, with an assurance that the invitation will be accepted." The case attracted national attention after white abolitionist
415:
The next month, local and state officials protected
Johnson after she testified in court against Wheeler in his prosecution of assault charges of six African-American men who had aided Johnson to leave him. (Four, including
57:, the abolitionist who aided her in claiming her freedom, was charged with a federal crime and held indefinitely in prison. Johnson was hidden in Pennsylvania and Boston, and returned to Philadelphia to testify at trial.
798:
426:, a literate slave who served Wheeler's wife Ellen as a lady's maid, escaped about 1857 from their North Carolina plantation in Lincoln County. She reached New York State and settled in New Jersey. She wrote
397:
Johnson got word to local members of the
Vigilance Committee that she wanted to leave her master. They contacted her and Wheeler on the ship before their departure. Johnson and her children quickly left with
833:
434:
Johnson's gaining freedom in
Philadelphia, provided details that helped historians establish Bond's identity. Published under her pseudonym of Hannah Crafts, the novel became a bestseller.
147:
Wheeler married his first wife, the well educated and literary Mary
Elizabeth Brown, in 1830. They had one daughter. In 1838 he married Ellen Oldmixon Sully, daughter of the painter
412:, an officer of the Society, was jailed for contempt of court for refusing to tell where Johnson was hidden. He did not know, as the Committee kept such information secret.
151:, and, they had two sons. During the Civil war one son, Levi Woodbury Wheeler, was to serve in the Confederate army and another, Charles Sully Wheeler, in the US Navy.
199:, a professor of African-American literature and history, who studied the 1882 catalog of Wheeler's library, has written that he was surprised to find it included many
813:
736:
486:
469:
307:
In his own work, Wheeler wrote or edited several books on North
Carolina state history and its prominent European-American men, which are listed below.
793:
85:
600:
63:
escaped from
Wheeler's North Carolina plantation about 1857, and settled in New Jersey. She came to prominence in 2001–2002, when historian
808:
390:
was a free state; if masters voluntarily brought slaves to the state, its law considered them to be free. The Vigilance Committee of the
109:
828:
823:
838:
508:
420:, were acquitted and two had charges reduced and minor sentences.) Johnson moved to Boston, and she and her sons lived free.
35:
93:
108:
and was admitted to the bar in 1827. The following year he continued his studies and received a master's degree from the
391:
803:
564:
155:
121:
386:, en route to Nicaragua. He was taking her to serve his family while he was posted as US Minister to Nicaragua.
818:
476:
129:
89:
31:
180:
After returning to North Carolina, Wheeler served in a variety of minor federal government patronage posts.
428:
97:
77:
174:
283:
In addition, Wheeler's library contained several significant abolitionist texts by white authors, like
42:
258:
141:
177:, an American adventurer who had invaded the country with a small force, intending to take it over.
402:, chairman of the committee, and were hidden. At the time, one of Wheeler's home state papers, the
81:
30:(1806–1882) was an American attorney, politician, historian, planter and slaveowner. He served as
165:
appointed him as an assistant secretary in 1854. Shortly thereafter Wheeler was appointed as US
404:
279:. That might be expected, given its notoriety and status as a bestseller. Gates writes that:
270:
196:
161:
Wheeler moved to Washington, DC about 1853 to be more active in national politics. President
41:
Wheeler gained national attention as a central figure in an 1855 legal case that tested the
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783:
443:
379:
353:
275:
46:
327:
Legislative Manual and Political Register of the State of North Carolina for the Year 1874
128:
at age 21, and served four years. Years later he was elected to the House again, but from
8:
453:
409:
54:
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escaped with her two sons in July 1855, while traveling with Wheeler and his family in
253:
208:
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518:
288:
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64:
53:, while he and his family were en route to New York City and a voyage to Nicaragua.
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125:
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367:
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366:"Rescue of Jane Johnson and her children, July 18, 1855." Illustration from
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50:
679:
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Reminiscences and Memoirs of North Carolina and Eminent North Carolinians
362:
338:
Reminiscences and Memoirs of North Carolina and Eminent North Carolinians
190:
60:
705:
799:
Democratic Party members of the North Carolina House of Representatives
565:"Review | The years-long search for an enslaved author's true identity"
166:
301:
Negromania, the Falsely Assumed Equality of the Various Races of Man.
170:
378:
Wheeler had at least two slaves evade his control and gain freedom:
19:
394:
acted to advise slaves of their rights and assist them to freedom.
101:
834:
American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law
634:
National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory
96:. Wheeler earned a bachelor's degree at Columbian College (now
601:"Professor Says He Has Solved a Mystery Over a Slave's Novel"
203:, in addition to works by the 18th-century African-born poet
554:, The Library Company of Philadelphia, accessed 2 March 2014
226:
Official Report of the Niger River Valley Exploring Party
317:
Historical Sketches of North Carolina, from 1584 to 1851
341:. Columbus Printing Works, Columbus, Ohio. p. 300.
234:
The Refugee, or Narrative of Fugitive Slaves in Canada
238:
Narrative of the Suffering of Lewis and Milton Clarke
115:
737:
Henry Louis Gates Jr., "ESSAY; Borrowing Privileges"
173:. There, he officially recognized the government of
154:
In 1842, Wheeler was elected state treasurer by the
636:. North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office
246:
Twenty-Two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman
624:
331:
136:, who appointed Wheeler as superintendent of the
132:. He gained a patronage position under President
775:
158:, but he was defeated for re-election in 1844.
45:. Pennsylvania was a free state, and enslaved
814:Ambassadors of the United States to Nicaragua
49:and her two sons walked away from Wheeler in
550:, One Book, One Philadelphia, story behind
250:The Life of John Thompson, a Fugitive Slave
110:University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
71:
543:
541:
539:
537:
794:People from Murfreesboro, North Carolina
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730:
728:
726:
655:"John H. Wheeler (John Hill), 1806-1882"
594:
592:
361:
297:Negrophobia 'On the Brain' in White Men,
18:
703:
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756:Dictionary of North Carolina Biography
618:
598:
534:
322:The Narrative of Colonel David Fanning
76:John Hill Wheeler was born in 1806 in
723:
672:
589:
230:The Life of Noah Davis, a Colored Man
183:
743:, 2 June 2002, accessed 5 March 2014
625:John B. Wells, III (November 1970).
299:by J. R. Hayes, and John Campbell's
285:Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman
94:National Register of Historic Places
680:"John H. Wheeler Papers, 1830-1882"
647:
599:Bosman, Julie (18 September 2013).
509:United States Minister to Nicaragua
347:
36:United States Minister to Nicaragua
16:American politician, North Carolina
13:
809:State treasurers of North Carolina
116:Personal life and political career
14:
850:
829:19th-century American legislators
513:April 7, 1855 – October 23, 1856
392:Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society
120:Wheeler was first elected to the
627:"Murfreesboro Historic District"
548:"The Liberation of Jane Johnson"
824:19th-century American diplomats
156:North Carolina General Assembly
122:North Carolina House of Commons
770:, University of North Carolina
768:Documenting the American South
697:
557:
477:North Carolina State Treasurer
90:Murfreesboro Historic District
32:North Carolina State Treasurer
1:
839:19th-century American lawyers
527:
68:name was documented in 2013.
295:alongside racist texts like
269:Gates adds that Wheeler had
98:George Washington University
78:Murfreesboro, North Carolina
7:
766:, text available online at
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10:
855:
706:"Confederate Dispatch Bag"
704:Institution, Smithsonian.
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43:Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
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498:
493:
483:
474:
466:
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429:The Bondwoman's Narrative
259:My Bondage and My Freedom
142:Charlotte, North Carolina
684:finding-aids.lib.unc.edu
372:The Underground Railroad
343:, published posthumously
310:
80:, where his family were
72:Early life and education
710:Smithsonian Institution
84:. His birthplace, the
804:North Carolina lawyers
375:
305:
267:
24:
819:American slave owners
405:Fayetteville Observer
365:
281:
271:Harriet Beecher Stowe
213:
197:Henry Louis Gates Jr.
88:, is included in the
22:
552:The Price of a Child
444:Jane Johnson (slave)
354:Jane Johnson (slave)
264:Narrative of a Life.
211:, an escaped slave.
34:(1843–1845), and as
752:"John Hill Wheeler"
454:Passmore Williamson
410:Passmore Williamson
55:Passmore Williamson
605:The New York Times
462:Political offices
376:
333:Wheeler, John Hill
209:Frederick Douglass
184:Literary interests
86:John Wheeler House
25:
761:John H. Wheeler,
525:
524:
519:Mirabeau B. Lamar
516:Succeeded by
494:Diplomatic posts
487:Charles L. Hinton
484:Succeeded by
470:Charles L. Hinton
289:Lydia Maria Child
276:Uncle Tom's Cabin
207:and abolitionist
106:John Louis Taylor
65:Henry Louis Gates
28:John Hill Wheeler
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499:Preceded by
467:Preceded by
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348:Slave challenges
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293:Freedman's Book,
222:Martin R. Delany
218:Memoir and Poems
205:Phillis Wheatley
201:slave narratives
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352:Main articles:
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273:'s bestseller,
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163:Franklin Pierce
126:Hertford County
118:
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23:John H. Wheeler
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571:. 2023-10-31.
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242:Austin Steward
185:
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175:William Walker
134:Andrew Jackson
130:Lincoln County
124:in 1827, from
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449:William Still
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358:Hannah Crafts
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144:(1837–1841).
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38:(1855–1856).
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610:19 September
608:. Retrieved
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580:. Retrieved
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388:Pennsylvania
384:Philadelphia
380:Jane Johnson
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149:Thomas Sully
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138:federal mint
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51:Philadelphia
47:Jane Johnson
40:
27:
26:
789:1882 deaths
784:1806 births
715:20 December
689:20 December
664:20 December
424:Hannah Bond
191:Hannah Bond
61:Hannah Bond
778:Categories
640:2015-01-01
582:2023-12-02
528:References
481:1843–1845
577:0190-8286
171:Nicaragua
438:See also
335:(1884).
254:Douglass
167:Minister
102:read law
82:planters
374:(1872).
92:on the
575:
104:under
100:). He
630:(PDF)
311:Works
717:2023
691:2023
666:2023
612:2013
573:ISSN
356:and
287:and
262:and
291:'s
256:'s
244:'s
224:'s
169:to
140:in
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739:,
725:^
708:.
682:.
657:.
632:.
603:.
591:^
567:.
536:^
370:,
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112:.
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585:.
431:,
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
