-
“Once the Slave of Thomas Jefferson” (1898)
- University of Iowa Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
[187] kkk “Once the Slave of Thomas Jefferson” (1898) Peter F. Fossett Throughout his long life, Peter F. Fossett (1815–1901) retained fond memories of his adolescent encounters with Thomas Jefferson. The son of Joseph Fossett and Edith Hern, Peter Fossett, a house slave at Monticello, came to know his master during adolescence. Jefferson died when Fossett was eleven, an age when experience takes hold of the memory with great tenacity. After Jefferson’s death, Fossett was sold in the January 1827 auction. Whereas Jefferson encouraged the youth’s intellectual interests and even permitted him to assemble a small library of his own, Colonel John Jones, Fossett’s new owner, threatened to whip the boy when he caught him with a book. Regardless , Fossett continued reading on the sly and shared his knowledge with fellow slaves on the Jones plantation. Joseph Fossett, who had secured his own freedom and that of other family members, eventually helped Peter obtain his freedom and brought him to Cincinnati, where Peter worked as a caterer before becoming pastor of the First Baptist Church in Cumminsville. The following interview, which originally appeared in the New York Sunday World (30 January 1898) and is reprinted here for the first time, is the most detailed interview Peter Fossett granted, but not the only one. Two years later, a pseudonymous correspondent of The Colored American (23 June 1900) known only as “Monticello” related his interview with Fossett, who had returned to Charlottesville for a visit. The Colored American interview confirms many of the details from this earlier interview. Peter Fossett is generally considered the most reliable witness among Jefferson’s former slaves. The author of his obituary in the Washington Evening Times (7 January 1901), commented: “Of the many who have in recent years claimed to have lived at Monticello as a servant in the lifetime of Jefferson, old Peter was probably the only one who did not romance.” the rev. peter f. fossett, of this city [Cincinnati], is probably the last surviving slave of Thomas Jefferson. Mr. Fossett is a very intelligent colored man. He is eighty-three years old and lives at No. 313 Stone Street in a comfortable , well furnished and well provided home. It was there that a Sunday jefferson in his own time [188] World reporter found the kindly old gentleman to-day, well preserved in mind and body, spending the winter of his days in comfort and happiness. He is held in great regard by colored people and is loved by all the white ministers of Cincinnati, who know him well and esteem him highly. Recently Mr. Fossett was invited to deliver an address before the Cincinnati Baptist Ministers’ Association and in his speech he told the story of his early days, giving many reminiscences of the great founder of the Democratic party. In conversation with the Sunday World reporter he went into greater detail and chatted entertainingly about his life in “Ole Virginny.” “I was born,” he said, “at Monticello, Jefferson’s beautiful Virginia home, on June 6, 1815, just before Waterloo. Jefferson was an ideal master. He was a democrat in practice as well as theory, was opposed to the slave trade, tried to keep it out of the Territories beyond the Ohio River and was in favor of freeing the slaves in Virginia. In 1787 he introduced that famous ‘Jefferson proviso’ in Congress, prohibiting slavery in all the Northwestern Territory, comprising the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. He had made all arrangements to free his slaves at his death by making three prizes of his property, etc. “I well remember the visit of Gen. Lafayette to Monticello. The whole place was in gala array in his honor. He was met at Red Gate and escorted to Monticello by the Jefferson Guards and the Virginia Militia. The latter consisted of all the schoolboys in the county, who had been drilled for the occasion, armed with sharp pointed sticks tipped with pikes. The meeting between Jefferson and Lafayette was most affectionate. They fell into each other’s arms with these words: ‘My dear Lafayette,’ ‘My dear Jefferson,’ and wept. “Mrs. Patsy Randolph, who had been Martha Ann Jefferson, received Lafayette with grace and dignity befitting a queen, welcoming him to the hospitality of the home of her father. They all listened to the addresses that followed. Even the slaves wept. A youth of eighteen made the address on behalf of the juvenile soldiers, and, I think, Gen. Chestin...