On a 600 acre plantation located on the Cumberland River, near Iaka, Livingston County, three (3) miles below Grand River owned by the George family. It is another place Dr. Wesler is trying to locate for possible future field research.
Recounted in the Black Indian Slave Narratives (ISBN: 0-89587-298-6) by Patrick Minges (see pages 6-10), former slave George Fortman was interviewed by a W.P.A. field worker for the W.P.A. Slave Narrative Project. He was the descendent of a Blackhawk brave and a Choctaw maiden and African slaves. His owner was Patent George.
Patent George married a Hester who upon his death married a Mr. Lam. Hester George Lam is said to have been buried on the plantation sometime prior to the Civil War.
Patent George worked his full-blooded Indian slaves in the iron-ore mills of western Kentucky (Hillman, Dixon, Boyer, Kelley, and Lyons Furnaces, owned by a Mr. Trigg(?) and collectively called the “Chimneys”) .
If you have any knowledge of this plantation, please send it to us either by email or regular mail. Because of his busy schedule, Dr. Wesler has asked the JPHS to act as a gathering point. There is no time limit for sending us your information. We will check out each submission, do further research, and present what facts we uncover to Dr. Wesler.
This is another part of our dialogue with Dr. Wesler.
Although this is not relevant to your research, I wanted to share a connection in two areas of interest to me. Martha Redbone, an award winning R&B/soul musician, was of Af/Am, Choctaw and Shawnee descent. Also Mary Edmonia Lewis was the first Af/Am, Native American woman to win national and international recognition as a sculptor. Two of her most popular works are Forever Free 1867, and Old Arrow Maker and His Daughter, 1866.
That’s Trigg County Ky. The mines were owned by Daniel Hillman and asso. he in fact owneD many in this area and other states.
I would also suggest that you research both Clarksville,Tennessee as well as other counties of Kentucky as they are very close together off the Cumberland river as was the mines the slaves worked.
Not sure if you would be interested to know that they also brought many Chinese worker to the area to work the mines. there’s even a cemetary for them at site of mines.
My grandmother was of Indian decent as well, her family was enslaved as well in this area. Her family name is Hillman, the same Daniel Hillman.
Thanks for visiting our website!
I did not know Daniel Hillman owned any of the furnaces in this area; thank you for this information. Yes, it is documented that there were Chinese workers. The Chinese workers appeared in one of the Censuses and some articles about them have been written by local historians.
How wonderful that you know your family’s history! Since talking with Dr. Wesler about this project, I have discovered particles of information about several families of Indian decent in the Jackson Purchase. The whole concept of Indians having slaves AND being here in the Jackson Purchase in the 1800s is quite unique and very interesting to me. Was your grandmother emancipated after the Civil War or was that after her time?