Men and Women of Their Times

We are not perfect; neither were our ancestors. Behavioral flaws are part of the human experience. Some ancestors may have had such flaws. Fortunately, it is a small number and an even smaller percentage of our expansive and proud Wilson-Thompson Family. The flaw of which we write is slavery. In the 1700s and first half of the 1800s, slavery of African Americans existed in our American Colonies and early United States. It was an important component of our young nation’s economy. It was not uncommon. Those who owned slaves were men and women of their times. The enslavement of other humans cannot be forgiven, nor the history of enslavement be forgotten. To present a more complete picture, we need to report what we know. We need not shy away.

Much of the following data comes from the Bucks County PA Office of Prothonotary. We know Pennsylvania outlawed slavery by passing the “Gradual Abolition Act” in 1780; it called for slavery to be ended fully by 1850. Maryland however did not end slavery until 1864 when it passed a new state constitution. That may explain why some slave owners, including ancestors of our own, moved to more slaveowner-friendly places such as West Nottingham, Cecil County, Maryland.

Briefly here are the county records of enslavement from government documents. In 1783, there were 514 slaves held by 179 slave owners (Bucks County Office of Prothonotary). By 1792 the number had declined to 454 slaves and 142 slave owners (Bucks County Adventures, Volume II by Carl Lavo, 2023).

Slavery in the northern states was different than in the South. In the South, hundreds of workers were needed to harvest large fields of cotton and other products. In the North, farms were smaller, less help was needed; slaves were often used for domestic jobs.

County records have revealed that five of our ancestors owned slaves. It is reported that 3rd generation Wilson-Thompson Family member Jennett Wilson Dougherty, daughter of John Wilson and a widow from Buckingham and wife of Thomas Doughtery, owned a slave. It appears first-arriving and 2nd generation family-member William Thompson (1724-1815) owned 6 slaves. He was a miller from Wrightstown Bucks County who moved to East Nottingham, Chester County PA. At one point he may have lived in West Nottingham Maryland. John Praul (1728-1793), father of Mary Praul and father-in-law of second-generation Hugh Thompson, owned as many as 7 slaves. William Ramsey (1782-1856), a farmer, son of Hugh and Jane Ramsey and husband of Martha McVey, moved to Cecil County Maryland as early as 1814, and owned 2 slaves. Ann Lefferts (1800-1863), wife of John Thompson (1795-1869) and daughter-in-law of Hugh and Mary Praul Thompson owned as many as 9 slaves.

These folks are a part of our history; they `were of their times’ as they say. They were contemporaries of hundreds of slave owners, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. While we are sorry to learn of their role as slave-owners, nonetheless they are still part of our family. As Jesus said, “He who is without sin…cast the first stone.”