A Survivor's Story....Part Three, Things Go From Bad to Worse

Read Part 1 of this story here PART ONE
Read Part 2 of this story here PART TWO

So the murder trail of Richard Randolph and his sister in-law Nancy Randolph was over and they were both acquitted.
So it was back to their normal life.....or was it?

Though legally they were free and clear, the notoriety it brought on the families was altogether something else.

Not only was there the stigma that the unmarried Nancy had become pregnant and either miscarried or given birth to a stillborn infant but society of that time wasn't able to get past the murder trial.
There was no way for Nancy to stay among her social peers and have any hope of marrying within her social set and having the only type of life a woman of her standing in the late 1700's could hope for.  In that time the only thing a woman had going for her was her virginity and her good name.  Nancy now had neither and it was a widely known fact.  No proper young suitor would be trying to court her.

Unwed and widowed women in that time and culture were the burden born of their extended families.
Until a woman married she was either under the control of her father(and mother to an extant)or if her father was dead, she became the ward of another male relative-either a brother who was of age, an uncle, a grandfather, a nephew or some other male relation.  Very few women could own property outright, they certainly couldn't vote, or even enter into a legal contract during this time.

A young and attractive(and even better if her husband had left her with property/wealth)widow could still hope to remarry if a suitable societal match could be found.

Nancy had no hope of every making a proper marriage match now.  To be 17-18 years old and to know that your best days were behind you.....never to have a husband or your own family.  Nancy could only live at the pleasure of your male benefactor's whims for the rest of her days.

      Painting of Nancy Randolph in later years.

So Nancy continued to live at "Bizarre" Plantation with Richard and Judith and their two sons, John St. George Randolph(named after Richard's beloved stepfather St. George Tucker)and Theodorick Tudor Randolph(named for Richard's deceased brother and Nancy's secret betrothed and/or for Richard's maternal grandfather, Theodorick Bland).

Society was very strict place in Colonial times.  You associated with those in your social circle and you married within that circle or you didn't marry.  For the Founding Families in Colonial Virginia this meant a very small pool of folks from which to choose a spouse.  People did not move around and people did not as a rule travel far from where they were born so the available potential marriage partners were located within say 100 miles of where you lived.

And with these families, more than not, having a great number of children, who in turn, married cousins of varying degrees to themselves, the gene pool began to break down, much like the farmlands in Colonial Virginia did by the turn of the 19th century.

The Randolphs of Virginia were notorious for marrying within their extended family. Richard's brother, Theodorick died of consumption.  Consumption or Pulmonary Tuberculosis has long been thought to be one of the common side effects too close intermarriage within a family.
Richard and Judith's sons-John St. George Randolph(called St. George or as he was known within the family "St. John")was born deaf(another genetic defect)and Theodorick Tudor(called Tudor)also died at a young age of TB.

Tobacco had been successfully and commercially cultivated since 1612 in Virginia.  Tobacco is a bothersome crop in terms of the nutrients it takes from the soil.  But in the 1600's our forefathers knew nothing of crop rotation and such, so soils were depleted after a few seasons of tobacco and new fields had to be hacked out of the forests and put into use.  Tobacco by the 1790's was in decline as a cash crop, being replaced by the cotton trade which  flourished further South in the Delta lands.  To be successful with tobacco farming at this point in time meant continually buying more and more land to plant, and land in Virginia was getting quite expensive and these grand plantations, after primogeniture passed out of favor in the Colonies after the Revolutionary Way, got broken up or sold away.  The Landed Gentry Class in Virginia was hanging on by a thread by the 1790's.

Bizarre was founded by Richard's grandfather, Richard Randolph of Curles.  Upon Richard of Curles death, Bizarre would have gone to his son, John Randolph of Mattoax, Richard's father, but since John was dead, the plantation went to his son, Richard.
So Judith, Richard and their children lived life at Bizarre along with their relation Nancy.
Judith was not convinced that Richard and Nancy had/were still having an affair so she slowly simmered a hatred toward her sister Nancy.  After the trial Judith had written to the cousin they had been visiting at Glenlyvar when Nancy had given birth, Mary Harrison, "My health is very bad, indeed so much have I suffered lately, both in body and mind that I much fear that a few months will put an end to my troubles in this world, neglected and thrown off by all whom I once fondly relied on".

A mere three years after the scandalous trial ended Richard Randolph lay near death in June of 1796.  There are stories that still persist about that time.  One tale says that Judith changed the amount of ingredients in a concoction to alleviate Richard's pain which brought on his death.  Judith told Nancy to fix this altered potion and give it to Richard but then slipped the original recipe into Nancy' apron pocket thereby framing her once Richard passed and questions began to be asked.

Another story goes that Nancy knew Judith was trying to poison Richard but she was too afraid of Judith to say anything and expose her.

Still other's say Judith and Nancy were in cahoots to bring on Richard's end.

There was a witness to this macabre scene playing out, an English traveler who had come to Bizarre with a letter of introduction from yet another famous family member, Colonel Beverly Randolph(the 8th Governor of Virginia).  This traveler asked why Judith had not sent for a doctor yet to help Richard.  As a thunderstorm boomed large Judith replied that the doctor wouldn't come until the storm had passed.  Once the doctor arrived the next day Judith insisted on nursing Richard but it seems she didn't give him the medicines that the doctor prescribed but her own potions. Richard Randolph died within 2 days after that, a month past his 26th birthday.
We will never know what hand Judith and/or Nancy had in Richard's death or even what killed him.

After Richard's death the lone surviving Randolph brother, John Randolph of Roanoke inherited Bizarre but he spent very little time there.  Judith, Nancy and the two children, John St. George and Theodorick Tudor lived together at Bizarre in isolation from most of their family and society.  Between Judith and her brother in-law John Randolph, they spent the rest of their lives vilifying Nancy, blaming her for Richard's demise and twisting Judith's sons young minds against Nancy.

Once Richard died Judith became emboldened toward her sister Nancy.  She began to take away all of Nancy's privileges.  She no longer had free run on the plantation and house.  She no longer was allowed to ride the plantation's horses(one of the joys of her life), could no longer play the drawing room harpsichord, or given leisure time for reading.  She was forced to take all her meals in the kitchen or in her bedroom and not in the dining room with the boys and Judith.

For the next 12 years Nancy lived as a servant at Bizarre.  She was expected to work from rising until Judith went up to bed every night and to stay out of Judith's sight.  Nancy was expected to empty the chamber pots every morning so that "it would free up a slave to do other work" in Judith's words.  Nancy spent a lot of time in needlework(probably one of the few useful skills she had)when she wasn't reduced to menial labor like a slave.
Judith's mental state deteriorated over those 15 years and she was reported to suffer convulsions and fits.
The final straw came when a note Nancy had written to a literate slave named Billy fell into Judith's hands.  Nancy had written, "Dear Billy Ellis" and had asked him to polish the andirons.  In Judith's twisted mind she was convinced Nancy was having sex with this slave.  After screaming at Nancy Judith had Billy whipped, Nancy locked in her room until John Randolph could be sent for.
Upon hearing from Judith, John ordered Nancy to leave Bizarre plantation and never return.

In the year 1808, at the age of 33-34, Ann Cary "Nancy" Randolph left Bizarre, her home for the last 19 years.  Both her parents were long dead and she had no relationship with her father's second wife who was only 2 years older than Nancy, and the reason she had fled her father's home 19 years ago. Nancy had no relatives who would take her in being a social pariah and nowhere to go and no financial support.

Part Four next time..........

Sluggy

The 150th Anniversary of The Perfect Powder Keg

Having come down with the "Genealogy Bug", I am enjoying not only discovering my own personal ancestry roots, but I'm also getting into delving deeper into the history of the US.

This week....July 13th-18th.....marks the 150th Anniversary of an important event in American history.
A shameful event that has been mostly ignored since it happened all those many years ago.

Many Americans look down on the racism evident in the pre-war Southern states of this country.  The economy that took root in those states, that required the implementing of the plantation system in the early dates of our country's founding, which ended up driving the slave trade to our shores.

Though Northerners have always been portrayed as morally superior to their Southern counterparts,  racism, as well as hate toward immigrants, existed and thrived in the North up through the end of the Civil War.

1863 marked the date when the 1st National Draft was instituted in the US.  All men were required to register for the draft at this point during the Civil War.  If you were between the ages of 20 and 35, no matter your marital status and if you were single between the ages of 36 and 45, you were part of the Class I list of draftees.
If you were outside of those parameters, you were put onto the Class II list or Reserves.
This Draft was only for whites, as even free Northern dwelling blacks were not considered full citizens of this country.

I have found 1 ancestor so far, on my paternal lines, that was called to register for the Draft in 1863.
His name was Robert Spencer Bowman.  He was born in 1826 in Ireland and self-reported coming to the US in 1852, as a married man, in the 1900 Census.

Here is a shot of a piece of the Class II Book from 1863, for the 11th Congressional District of NY, with his name in it.  His is the last name in the shot.  It lists his "color"(white), his age(36), where he was born(Ireland) and in the remarks section it says "Alien".

Thought the year he actually arrived is split between 1848 and 1855, we do know that he arrived aboard a ship from Liverpool that came into the Port of New York City.
So he came to American right around the time of the opening of the 1st of the 2 great immigration processing centers of the 19th century.

Everyone knows of Ellis Island but the first center was called Castle Garden.
It was located where Fort Clinton stood, a fort constructed for defense purposes during the Revolutionary times to protect the southern part of Manhattan island.  It is where a resort and park had been built in the 1820's.  By mid 1850's the resort was in disuse so it was selected to be the disembarkation/processing point for all immigrants into NY harbor.
Castle Garden saw the first large waves of immigrants, mostly from Ireland and from Germany.
My ancestor was part of this migration from Ireland due to the Great Potato Famine that plagued that isle from 1845-1852.

But I digress......
My ancestor arrived in New York City between 1848 and 1855.  After the arrival of his wife and children who had been born in Ireland in 1856, the family migrated from the city and by 1860 they are found in Montgomery, NY, 60 miles northwest of NY city, with 5 surviving children. 

Lucky for Robert Bowman & family that they weren't still in New York City at the time of the implementation of the War Draft in 1863.

Massive numbers of Irish immigrants flooded New York City, to the tune of 200,000 by 1855.  The problem was that a great many of these new Americans were the poorest of the poor from Ireland and had barely the resources to pay to get on a boat, let alone any monies to support themselves once on this shore.  They likewise, had no monies to transport themselves out of NY City and into the great expanses of the country outside of the harbor town to find a farmer to work for and in time, find their own piece of land to call their home.  The  majority of immigrants were trapped in NY City.  Imagine what it was like.....people everywhere, not enough shelter for everyone, no employment available so no way to earn a wage to feed yourself.  Overcrowding, poverty and an unchecked birth rate, which led to filthy and unsanitary conditions in the city streets that bred disease and death.

Gangs of desperate people sprung up and banded together to take care of their "own kind" and operate outside of the law since they couldn't feed themselves within it's parameters.  The Boss Tweed era of NY politics began during this time as well which added another layer of corruption onto the society.  New ships of immigrants were about as welcomed during this time and in this place as a case of dysentery.
Murder and mayhem were simmering just below the surface in the New York City of 1863.  The film, "The Gangs of New York" did a fairly good job of showing the violence that permeated Manhattan during the mid 1800's.

 The native-born Whites were not happy with these immigrants elbowing into their country.  The rich ran the government in a way to pit the native-born lower class against the newly immigrated, thus keeping the power and riches in their hands and keeping all the citizenry under their thumbs. 
The native-born Whites and the Immigrants took to forming gangs for protection. It was a lawless time and while the government couldn't be counted on, your gang was your last resort for protection.

Though free men, the Blacks in NY City were relegated to holding the jobs on the lower rungs of the economic ladder.  With the influx of this wave of foreign immigration, they saw massive competition for the few jobs available to them, as the Irish were kept out of all desirable employment.  The Irish competed with the native-born Blacks for life sustaining jobs and the labor force already here was none too pleased.  The newly arrived Irish were often not viewed as "white", but as a different race, along with the "blacks".  Both groups were looked down upon.

The immigrants as well weren't very happy once they stepped onto this shore.  Yes, they were glad to be out of Ireland and starvation there, but this new place was full of men ready to swindle you out of your last penny, to perpetrate violence and intimidation onto you at every turn to keep you from finding employment or shelter.  It was tough being a new immigrant in 1850-1860's NY.
Not only did you have to fight for your very life at the hands of your fellow citizen but you had the government making you sign up to fight and probably die in a civil war you had no hand in making!
What must they have thought in the face of all this hostility they stepped into?

For those new immigrants from Ireland it was a choice......a choice between an inevitable death by starvation in Ireland and a scratching to survive hand-to-mouth existence in America.  While not a great alternative, it was better than certain death back home.
My ancestor stepped off a ship from Ireland, after spending weeks in steerage, to be greeted by the sort of conditions I've described above.
Robert Spenser Bowman must have had a strong spirit to make it through all that to get past the New York City of circa 1852.

By the time 1863 rolled around the Civil War was in it's 3rd year of conflict.  Add in to the usual hostilities of one group toward another, the deprivations of goods available for sale to the public at large. Wartime means less food, cloth, lumber for the people.  Inadequate resources become even more limited and the scarcity drives prices out of the reach of all but the richest people.

1863 was also the year of the enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation.   The government had been warning the citizenry in the North for 2 years beforehand, that once the legislation for freeing all Southern slaves was law, that they should prepare for an influx of newly-freed blacks.  This meant more people streaming into the North, to compete for the few jobs, housing, food and goods of all kind in a city already busting at the seams with humanity.

And just when conditions couldn't possibly get any worse in NY, they did.
When Abraham Lincoln instituted the Compulsory Northern Draft in 1863, it included a clause that caused the violence to boil over.
The $300 Clause held that any man who was required to register for the Draft could, for the price of $300, pay his way out of having to serve.  Adjusting for inflation, $300 in 1863 is over $5,000 in today's money.

The common man saw this as the last straw, that anyone of the elite class could buy his way out of harm's way and and avoid fulfilling his patriotic duty.  So much for the creed of all men being equal!
Three now famous cowards who bought their way out of service to the North were a young John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carneige and Junius Spencer Morgan(of JP Morgan fame).

This clause smacked of classism and even spawned many an outraged letter to the New York Times in the day before being stuck down in 1864, when it was replaced with a Bounty for Service Clause.

The Draft was physically begun on July 11th and by the morning of July 13th, the violence had begun.  The mobs of angry whites limited their attacks to military and government targets....police, government buildings, soldiers.  As the mobs grew they attacked anyone who was in their way.  Soon the anger turned toward Blacks unlucky enough to be in the streets and "black" businesses.  In the end an orphanage and school for black children was set afire and destroyed along with numerous other homes and businesses.
It is said that some of the fire departments in the city(many of which were formed by gangs of native-born whites), fueled the riots by setting fires themselves rather than putting them out.



When order was finally restored 5 days later, 11 Blacks had been  lynched and those others dead included a child from the destroyed Orphanage/School and areas of the city lay smoldering and destroyed.  Many Blacks were forced to flee or left the city by choice, never to return to Manhattan.

I am thankful my ancestor was clear of NY City and safely living his life in a small town Upstate by 1860 that didn't see this sort of violence take hold.
Looking around at the climate today, it is sad to see that in many ways, things in this country have not changed much 150 years later.

Sluggy