“The recession would hit and they’d have to sell off a few of their slaves. Oil Field Road! Conveyance papers from Williams to Epps for the group no longer exist, as the Rapides courthouse was burned by Northern soldiers in 1864, destroying almost all records (not an uncommon scenario during the Civil War). We, as researchers, have to learn all of the different resources that exist for an area, and then we have to learn all of the different techniques to link little different pieces of data into a whole person. Alas, theories are almost all I have to work with—so much of constructing Patsey’s history involves small pieces of fact linked by large gaps caulked with conjecture. . From Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853. No conveyance of her sale before that time exists at the Marksville courthouse, which holds all remaining records for the Avoyelles Parish area from that time. Bunkie is the kind of place where you can drive miles before seeing anything but a church or gas station, and the scenery—even amid the area’s unusual early February snow flurries and frost—is haunting, seemingly plucked from another time. They didn’t leave that neighborhood in which they grew up. . All rights reserved. She a. Even when viewing the homes, it’s difficult to distinguish the time period—new residences are fashioned in the classic Creole style, and old dwellings are beautifully restored. . Did she survive until emancipation rolled through the area via the Red River Campaign in 1864, then travel elsewhere? The exact year of Patsey’s relocation across state lines is unknown. “These are men, women, and families who owned a few slaves throughout their lives,” says Stacey. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated 1/1/20) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated 1/1/20) and Your California Privacy Rights. It is an incredible amount of work.”, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., whose PBS genealogy television show Finding Your Roots enlists well-known personalities to explore genealogy, calls genealogical research “another way of doing American History. . If Patsey died of disease, fatigue, or abuse before 1864, there’d be no record of it. The earliest record of Patsey as a slave is in 1843, when she was 13. “It could take months. It was a goose-bump-inducing moment, and remains a perfect metaphor for my dually frustrating and elating pursuit of Patsey. When Epps found out she had left his plantation, he had her tied to a stake and ordered Solomon to whip her. (The 1850 and 1860 schedules are seen here side by side) There is an entry for a 34-year-old female, who could possibly be Patsey (again accounting for the license used with recording of ages on these records). It’s an area deeply steeped in its history, and its residents are fiercely protective of that fact. Master Epps was so enraged upon her return that she was immediately staked to the ground, and Northup was ordered to whip her. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. https://hero.fandom.com/wiki/Patsey?oldid=1670970, Patsey is played by newcomer Lupita Nyong'o, who earned an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She’s listed as 80 years old (keeping with the 1830 birth date), and both of her parents are listed as having been born in South Carolina. "If I was Patsey and I survived to emancipation, I’d get the heck outta this place—as far away from Edwin Epps as possible," exclaimed Melançon, while squinting at a particularly illegible white marble marker. How can it be this hard to find one woman? The 1860 Avoyelles Parish Slave ScheduleEpps’s 1860 U.S. Census Slave Schedule cites a total of 12 slaves—just four more than he owned a decade prior. His inventory proved enlightening—his children and wife Mary were named, as were all of the items currently on or within his plantation. Or did she remain in Louisiana? In the book, Northup writes that Patsey's mother was from Guinea, enslaved and taken to Cuba. Pre-1850 U.S. Census records only separate slaves by gender and catalogue them within age-group intervals of five to 10 years, but in 1850 and 1860 there were separate Slave Schedule census records taken. “There were times it went back to the mother’s owner, sometimes the owner of their grandparents. Epps’s will exists at the Marksville courthouse (I held the original, as it happens). I was utterly unfamiliar with the geography of these areas at the time; I had yet to pinpoint or visit any local landmarks, and my iPhone G.P.S. We met through Melançon’s incredible University of Louisiana at Lafayette work on the website called Acadiana Historical. We regret the error. The Secondhand-Newspaper AccountBrowsing the Library of Congress’s newspaper archive website, Chronicling America, I came upon perhaps the biggest discovery of my research—an 1895 clipping from the Idaho Register (a wire story from the National Tribune in Washington, D.C.) called “About the Campfire: Truthful Tales Told by the Veterans.” It detailed—under a section titled “Bayou Boeuf”—a veteran’s recollection of Northern soldiers recounting a visit to Epps’s plantation, “soon after the war.” The soldiers (and the narrator) had read Northup’s book, and were curious about the truth of the story. Did she succumb to one of the bouts of disease that swept the Louisiana-bayou slave communities? It’s entirely possible. chicken pox. Another slave, Solomon Northup (who was later freed), wrote about her in his book Twelve Years a Slave. He worked alongside Patsey and six other slaves (Abram, Wiley, Phebe, Bob, Henry, and Edward)—all but Edward came to Louisiana from neighboring plantations in Williamsburg County, South Carolina. It’s as plausible that the soldiers simply told him they spoke with some of Northup’s fellow slaves, but didn’t name names. She was sold to a man named Edwin Epps in Louisiana.[1]. Patsey is a feisty, strong-willed slave who works under the thumb of her cruel master, Edwin Epps, who deems her to be an object.