Duncan Henry

Chancery court documents involving Martin Tapscott that tell a most interesting story. The records are for Duncan Henry vs. Thomas Rowand and James McDowell, Chancery Court, Augusta Co, Virginia, Index No. 1819-100, Digital Collections, Library of Virginia, Richmond.

Martin Tapscott was one of the sixteen (!) children of Capt. Henry Tapscott and a grandson of Henry the Immigrant. Court proceedings on the division of part of Martin Tapscott’s estate show that when Martin died Nov 1804 he left but one descendant, his son, Henry Brereton Tapscott, who died around 1806. His father’s will stated that should Henry Brereton die without heirs, which he did, “all the negroes he dies possessed of given by me shall be emancipated and set free.” But Martin Shearman, the estate executor (and Martin Tapscott’s brother-in-law, having married Alice Tapscott), sold estate slaves right and left, both before and after Henry Brereton’s death. In addition to Milly and her children, sold were the slaves Isaac, Edmond, Daniel, Samuel, Denniel, Joe, Bubb, another Joe, Rawleigh, Bob, William, and Tom. When Thomas Rowand became administrator of the Tapscott estate following the death of Martin Shearman, he was possessed of the remaining slaves, some of which he planned to sell:

"Ann about Twenty eight years of age a Valuable house servant & her son about four years of age, Lilian (a cripple) and her two small children, Agatha a Valuable young woman with one child, Matilda with two children"

But the estate had one more slave, Duncan Henry, who had been hired out to Martin Tapscott’s brother Henry, and therein lies a most unusual story. When Henry Brereton died, Duncan was released (or released himself) under the terms of Martin Tapscott’s will and decamped to Rockbridge County, Virginia, a “free man of color,” or so he thought. But Thomas Rowand, the new administrator for the Martin and Henry Brereton Tapscott estate, decided that he needed additional income to pay estate debts and Duncan was one source of that income. Thomas hired James McDowell of Rockbridge County to go after Duncan, who could be enslaved and sold.

Then Duncan Henry did the unthinkable. On 20 April 1815 he filed a bill of complaint in chancery court against Rowand and McDowell claiming that under Martin Tapscott’s will he was a free man. Hinting of fraud or at least mismanagement, he also claimed that Martin Tapscott had died leaving a large personal estate and that the sale of that property should have been more than sufficient to pay off debts. Thomas responded that the estate had been “considerably indebted at the time of his [Martin Tapscott’s] death - much beyond the value of the ‘movable property’” and that Duncan Henry had not been released following Henry Brereton’s death, but had “left the lower county clandestinely & came to Rockbridge county.” James McDowell’s response was much briefer, in effect, saying that he was a mere tool, hired to take Duncan into custody, and knew nothing of Duncan’s rights to freedom.

The same day that Duncan filed his complaint, Robert Douthat and William Caruthers, prominent white men of Rockbridge County, for unknown reasons, put up a $750 bond to keep Duncan out of custody until the court made a decision. Duncan could have made a run for it, but he stayed in Rockbridge County. Weeks turned into months and months, into years, with the constant threat of slavery hanging over Duncan. The court required three years to make a decision, and that decision was, to say the least, surprising.

"the court is of opinion that the Pltf is entitled to his freedom under the will of Martin Tapscott decd & cannot be held to involuntary servitude except it was necessary for the purpose of discharging the debts of the said Martin & the defts whose duty it was to make this appear having failed to exhibit any evidence upon this subject for three years the court presumes that such evidence does not exist. The court is of opinion that the Pltf ought not to be [...] longer on that account. It is therefore adjudged, ordered & decided that the Pltf suposition be made perpetual & that the Pltf is entitled to his freedom which is hereby confirmed to him."

Seldom did a black man, a former slave, win a suit against white men in those days. But Duncan, heroically, did just that.

Dying in 1817, William Caruthers, a Lexington, Virginia, merchant and agent for Thomas Jefferson in Rockbridge County, did not live to see the results of his largesse. Nor (probably) did Robert Douthat, who ran Natural Bridge Tavern (“Stone Castle”) in Rockbridge County, a popular stopping place for Thomas Jefferson, and who lived just a year longer. In Rockbridge County Duncan had joined up with his three brothers, Patrick, Williamson, and John V. Henry, who had also been slaves of Martin Tapscott. There, Patrick Henry was hired by Thomas Jefferson as caretaker for Natural Bridge, the scenic wonder for which Rockbridge County was named and which, at the time, was owned by Jefferson.