Caroline Chambers
Born in Slavery, Raised her
Children in Freedom
Submitted by Freeman G. Chambers
If others are doing research on the Chambers of Clark or Madison
County, Kentucky you can contact me, Freeman Grant Chambers at:
onycham@dslextreme.com
Caroline Chambers was born into
slavery in 1820 in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The county of her
birth is not known, but the first known record of human
acknowledgment of her existence among her generation is found in the
1860 Slave Schedule taken in Madison County on the farm of the slave
owner John Chambers. Caroline and her children are among those
slaves counted in the First Division Madison County Slave Schedule.
Caroline is the 40-year-old female on line 24 page 15 and her twin
mulatto boys on line 2 and 3 on page 16. Though no descendents of
Caroline’s, in the spring of 2006 when the Madison County Slave
Schedule and the1870 Clark County Census were first collected by
myself; the great-great-grandson of Caroline; knew that she had any
other children other than her sons Aaron Chambers and his identical
twin Moses Chambers. But she did, and they are listed with her on
the 1870 Clark County Census Precinct No. 1, Sub Division 28, Page
8. In addition to Aaron and Moses, who were 14 years old at the
time, the 1870 Clark County Census list four other individuals.
Harrison age 23, Sidney age 16, Louisa age 6, and Nella age 4 all
with the surname Chambers.
It is known from family history
that Aaron and Moses were born in Madison County. It is also known
that after emancipation their mother took the surname of her former
owner, John Chambers. When freedom came Caroline and her children
left John Chambers’ farm, located in the Muddy Creek area of Madison
County, and crossed at the junction of the Red River and the
Kentucky River into Clark County. I have been told that there was
ferry that operated near this fork in the river and continued to
operate into the 1940’s. Caroline settled in Clark County on land
near the junction of the two rivers mentioned and for the next three
to four generations her decedents were born and raised in this area.
It was the 1870 and 1880 Clark
County census that enabled me to identify Caroline by age on the
1860 slave schedule, while Aaron and Moses’ birth year I verified
from Kentucky vital statistics and found them consistent with
the1870, 1880, 1900 and 1910 Clark County census. Somehow their
siblings were left out of the family oral history, at least along
the family lines of Aaron and Moses. Caroline’s other children were
Harrison, Sidney, Louisa and Nella. They are not listed with
Caroline, Aaron and Moses on the 1880 Clark County Census and at the
time of this writing I have not found them in any other documents.
Harrison and Sidney’s absence I understood, since if they were
living in 1880 more than likely they would have been the head of
their own household, perhaps in another county. However, I searched
for Harrison Chambers in Clark County and the surrounding counties
using an age of 33 +5 and – 5 years and came up with nothing. It
could be that he died between the 1870 and 1880 census, but this has
not been confirmed. Nella and Louisa, on the other hand, could have
married by 1880 and out of Caroline’s household. If Nella and Louisa
were living in 1880 Nella would have been 14 and Louisa 16. It was
not uncommon to see girls married at this age. As the 1900 Clark
County census shows, Aaron Chambers’ daughter Lizzy was married to
Ambros Chenault at the age of 15; Ambros was 26 when they married in
1899. Nella and Sidney, if not married when the 1880 census was
taken, must have died between 1870 and 1880. This, however, has not
been confirmed. If they married, there isn’t any oral family history
of this and consequently no married surname to use in record search.
Caroline’s son, a former slave,
and my great-grandfather Aaron Chambers, “was perhaps the wealthiest
Negro in Clark County and well respected” as reported by the
Winchester Sun, when on July 1, 1913 the paper reported his
accidental death and stated that Aaron was worth about $10,000.00.
To understand what Aaron’s worth would equate to in 2006 I have
listed the following:
In 2006, $10,000.00 from
1913 is worth:
|
$210,000.00
|
using the Consumer Price
Index |
|
$158,170.51
|
using the GDP deflator |
|
$433,673.84
|
using the value of
consumer bundle |
|
$892,625.70
|
using the unskilled wage |
|
$1,093,154.07
|
using the nominal GDP per
capita |
|
$3,371,187.08
|
using the relative share
of GDP |
The 1910 Clark County Census shows
that Aaron and his family had a live in servant, whose name was
Copper Sims. He is listed on line 87 of the census sheet.
Aaron’s brother, Moses, was the
informant on Aaron’s 1913 death certificate(see certificate below).
Moses had recorded on the certificate the names of their mother and
father. As stated Aaron and Moses were mulatto, the offspring of
Caroline and an Eastern European immigrant named Joe Suntina. I
being a fourth generation male from Aaron took a Y-DNA test in 2006
and matched other males who trace their male line back to the
Ukraine and Western Russia. It was said that Aaron and Moses’
biological father’s occupation was that of a peddler, selling goods
from farm to farm. Apart from the DNA test and the peddler account
nothing else is known about Joe Suntina.
Caroline, at the age of 54,
witnessed her twin sons buy their first land when they were only 18
years old. I acquired a land deed dated 1875 describing the location
of the land, near the joining of the Red River and the Kentucky
River, and listing the seller as a one Henry Brock. Interestingly,
this Henry Brock along with his family are listed next to Caroline’s
family on both the 1870 and 1880 Clark County Census. And more
amazing still, Henry Brock, a mulatto man in the time of slavery, I
found listed with the slave owner John Chambers and family on the
1860 Madison County Census (The First Division, Page 43, Line # 37).
By law Henry Brock could only be listed with a white family if he
were a freeman. So in 1860, 24 year old Henry Brock was living on
the same farm as the then 4 year old Aaron and Moses Chambers. Henry
Brock, would 15 years later, sell them their first land in Clark
County. Caroline was 16 years older than Henry Brock. I do not know
the nature of their relationship be it family or just good friends.
But the records I found show a close connection through four of
their experiences. I will list them here:
1.
Though
Henry Brock was a freeman, he would not have lived in John Chambers’
house. In 1860 he would have lived in one of the three slaves house
on John Chambers’ land, slave houses which were listed in the 1860
Madison County Slave Schedule. Caroline and her children lived in
one of these houses.
2.
Ten years
later, in 1870, Caroline Chambers’ family and Henry Brock’s family
live next to each other as shown on the Clark County Census
(Precinct No. 1 Sub Division 28, page 8, Lines 6 - 20). This fact
shows that both traveled from John Chambers’ farm, crossing the
Kentucky River to settle in Clark County. Whether or not they
traveled together is not known.
3.
Henry
Brock sales land to Aaron and Moses on the same day, as noted on the
deed in 1875.
4.
In 1880
Caroline Chambers’ family and Henry Brock’s family are still living
next to each other as shown on the Clark County Census (Goodes
Magisterial District page 17 line 49 & 50 and page18 line 1-11) for
that year.
Caroline’s son, Aaron, married
Mary Francis Jacobs, born Oct. 1863. Mary Francis Jacobs was 16 or
17 when they married. She was the daughter of Henry & Eliza Jacobs
and was one of 14 children. The 1870 Clark County Census (Winchester
Page #5) shows that Henry Jacobs was a blacksmith. The 1900 Clark
County Census (Magisterial District #5 sheet #20) shows Aaron and
Francis Jacobs Chambers as having been married for 19 years. Not
knowing the month of their marriage I have estimated that they were
married in 1880 since their oldest son Kelly Chambers is listed on
the 1900 Clark County Census as having been born in October of 1881.
According to that same census Aaron Chambers and Mary Francis Jacobs
Chambers had six children, five of which were still living in 1900.
The names of the five known children are listed in birth order as
follows:
Kellie Chambers born 05
Oct 1881
Lizzie Chambers
born Mar 1884
Cordie L Chambers
born May 1886
Mildred C Chambers
born 23 May 1889
Eurell Chambers
born 24 Jan 1900 ( My grandfather)
Moses Chambers’ first wife I have
not identified, but she and Moses had, to my knowledge, three
children together.
Their names are listed in birth
order as follows:
Willis Scot Chambers born
Aug 1881
Elmer Chambers born
Jan 1885
Vernon Chambers born
Feb 1887
Moses Chambers’ second wife was
Mary Ellen Evans Chambers of Madison County. Their names are listed
in birth order
as follows:
Frederic D. Chambers
born Sep 1892
Aaron Chambers
born Nov 1893
Lucy E.
Chambers born Jun 1894
Herbert L.Chambers
born Dec 1896
Mary L. Chambers
born Aug 1898
Moses C. Chambers
born Nov 1899
Sallie E.
Chambers born April1904
Homer L. Chambers
born July1906
A census was not taken in Kentucky
in 1890. Since in the 1900 census, showing Aaron’s family and Moses’
family Caroline is not listed, I concluded that she died between the
year 1880 and 1900. I can not say with any certainty how many of her
grandchildren she saw. But if Caroline was blessed to have had the
chance to hold even one of her grandchildren, I can’t help but think
how great her joy must have been knowing that she held the first
generation of her descendents who would not have to endure the bonds
of slavery as she had, but live a life of freedom. My great great
grandmother’s descendents in the year 2008 are many. Why even
Caroline’s grandson, Eurell Chambers (the youngest child of Aaron
Chambers and Mary Francis Jacobs Chambers) had eight children of his
own, of which my father Eugene Freeman Chambers was one.
1870 Clark County, Ky Census,
Page 8
1860 Slave Schedule Madison
County, Ky
1860 Slave Schedule Madison
County, Ky, Page 16
1910 Clark County, Ky Census,
Page 8
Aaron Chambers 1913 Death
Certificate
If others are researching
the Chambers of Clark or Madison County, Kentucky you can contact
me, Freeman Grant Chambers at:
onycham@dslextreme.com
Winchester Sun, 1913
Man Killed in an Accident at Railroad Camp
Aaron Chambers, a laborer at Simms
Construction Camp, was killed an accident Tuesday, but on account of
the County's incomparable telephone service no details of the
accident could be learned.
Chambers was perhaps the wealthiest negro in the county, being worth
about $10,000. He was highly respected. It is said
his death was caused by the breaking of a cable
Aaron Chambers Tombstone,
Daniel Grove Cemetery, Clark Co., KY
(Note: Tombstone shows death year
as 1912, newspaper article and death certificate prove 1913 as the
correct year.)
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