Stonewall Jackson

Dennis Dale

Wed, Jul 1, 4:49 PM

They're taking down Stonewall Jackson's statue so I went over to his Wikipedia page and found this about his great-grandparents—Irish convicted of theft and sentenced to servitude in a phrase I haven't heard before—"penal servitude".

Thomas Jonathan Jackson[5] was the great-grandson of John Jackson (1715/1719–1801) and Elizabeth Cummins (also known as Elizabeth Comings and Elizabeth Needles) (1723–1828). John Jackson was an Irish Protestant from Coleraine, County Londonderry, Ireland. While living in London, England, he was convicted of the capital crime of larceny for stealing £170; the judge at the Old Bailey sentenced him to seven years penal transportation. Elizabeth, a strong, blonde woman over 6 feet (180 cm) tall, born in London, was also convicted of felony larceny in an unrelated case for stealing 19 pieces of silver, jewelry, and fine lace, and received a similar sentence. They both were transported on the merchant ship Litchfield, which departed London in May 1749 with 150 convicts. John and Elizabeth met on board and were in love by the time the ship arrived at Annapolis, Maryland. Although they were sent to different locations in Maryland for their bond service, the couple married in July 1755.

Dennis, thank you so much for this.

Penal servitude typically ran for 14 years, not 7, so the judge saw something in John Jackson the recommended opportunity. 14 years was a literal death sentence under plantation conditions. 7 years, if you were strong, could get you a start if you were bought by the right man. The typical terms used for penal servitude, were:

-transport

-convict

-convict servant

I have not often read the term penal servitude and have not yet seen it in primary documents, and will make it the subject of a word origin search.

Thank you, Dennis.

The Columbus statue was dumped in the harbor in Baltimore and not an Italian objected. Little Italy is "like a ghost town," now according to one source.

Annapolis was the main slave hub in Maryland and was were Job the Nigerian Prince had been sold and the freed by Oglethorpe the generation before John and Elizabeth were sold there, which would have been done on the deck of the ship, not on some prosaic auction block. Moving that quantity of freight required economy of motion and the undermanned ship would not have to send any of its sailors ashore as escorts, as they were often unfree themselves. Having the purchaser arrange for offloading of freight was the sound choice of a practical captain, and "the custom of the country."