Monday, December 15, 2008

The Story of the Matson Slave Trial

The Matson Slave Trial is one of the top five trials in Coles County, one of the ten most important cases in which Abraham Lincoln participated, and was a turning point for the local free black community at Brushy Fork. The conflict began when Robert Matson brought some of his Kentucky slaves to work on his Illinois farm in northern Coles County in 1845. Among those enslaved people were Jane Bryant and her four children. Jane’s husband, Anthony Bryant, was a freedman who worked and lived at the farm, too. Matson’s mistress and housekeeper, Mary Corbin, threatened that the children would be sold south in August 1847. The Bryants chose to heroically fight back, and sought help from Gideon Ashmore in Independence, known today as Oakland. Ashmore enlisted Dr. Hiram Rutherford to provide guidance and financial assistance. They braved publicly declaring their abolitionist leanings, with little regard to the social and legal consequences.

Jane and her four children, ages 3-14, spent fifty-eight days in jail awaiting a circuit court trial to determine if they were fugitives per Illinois’ Black Laws. When the circuit court convened on October 16, 1847 for a hearing on habeas corpus two state Supreme Court justices who were the circuit judges at the time, Abraham Lincoln, a former Illinois Attorney General, a member of Congress, and an Illinois state Senator gathered to participate. The justices decided that the Bryants were free because the Illinois Constitution did not allow slaves to be held on state soil unless in transit. Current scholars believe that the trial may have been arranged to be precedent-setting as it was highly unusual for two circuit court judges to sit a trial and for them to then publish an opinion. Following the trial, the Bryants returned to Oakland for a few months, then sailed for Liberia in January 1848. Their eventual fate is currently unknown, though plans have been laid to do the research in Liberia to determine what happened to them.

The trial and the commotion surrounding it not only affected the Bryants, but also other African-Americans living in the region who were intertwined by circumstance or blood. A small community of African Americans, called Brushy Fork for the river that ran through it, was located about ten miles southwest of the Matson farm. The Lewis James family and Lucy Dupee family, felt the tension and had to make the decision whether to get involved with the Matson enslaved people. They all had ties to Kentucky and Anthony would have been the closest minister to the Brushy Fork group. After the trial, Jane’s brother, Simeon Wilmot, who had been enslaved by Matson, moved into the community first staying with the Edward Minnis family. A man named Isom Bryant and his wife, Lucy Minnis (Edward’s sister) also joined the Brushy Fork community. It is currently unknown as to what his relationship might be with Anthony Bryant but he was from the same county as Matson.

This is the short version of the story, contact the project if you would like a longer description.

The Historic Town of Oakland, Illinois

You might not expect a community nestled in the corn fields of Central Illinois to be rich in historical significance. Welcome to Oakland, where you're sure to experience the unexpected! Here, past and present converge in a delightful environment. Visit our historical landmarks, then take a leisurely stroll down the brick streets of our tree-lined square where you will find unique architecture and a potpourri of local businesses.

Oakland also offers a variety of recreational opportunities such as swimming, camping, fishing, sporting clays, and golfing. Walnut Point State Park, just three miles north of town, has a lake, trails and campgrounds.

Oakland Wikipedia

Google Maps-Oakland

Oakland is centrally located about an hour from Champaign/Urbana, Decatur, Danville, Effingham Illinois and Terre Haute, Indiana. The community is three and a half hours from Chicago and St. Louis and about two and a half hours from Indianapolis and Springfield. Interstates 70 and 57 have exits within thirty miles of Oakland.
Hotels are available in Arcola, Charleston, Paris, and Tuscola Illinois.

Abraham Lincoln was a familiar site in this region of Illinois. His father's home was south of Charleston Illinois and is now a state park, Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site. Thomas and Sarah Bush Lincoln's graves are nearby. Charleston also is the home of the Lincoln-Douglas Debate Museum that recounts the 1858 debates between Lincoln and Stephan A. Douglas. In Danville you can visit the Vermilion County Museum, designed to replicate the courthouse that was there when Lincoln practiced law, and the adjacent Fithian Home, a Lincoln site on the National Register of Historic Places.

Nearby Arcola and Arthur are at the heart of the Illinois Amish community.

Oakland Historical Foundation

The non-profit Oakland Historical Foundation was formed in 1969 to preserve and disseminate the history of the town and the surrounding area. Five years ago, the organization was revitalized when the board made a strong commitment to research, education, and dissemination of local history through exhibits and programs excluding permanently collecting artifacts. It is a non-profit corporation run by volunteers with assistance and advice provided by a local museum consultant on a project-by-project basis.

OHF has four years experience in mounting exhibits and conducting programs. In 2004, their first interpretive exhibit, “Working Women” was mounted with a mini-grant from the Illinois Humanities Council (IHC). Between Fences,” (an IHC-Smithsonian Museum on Main Street exhibit) came to Oakland in 2005. Since then, the volunteers have installed two interpretive exhibits each year in it's storefront building on the main city square in Oakland.

The Foundation also has a walking and driving tour of the picturesque town available that features the exterior architecture of both residences and commercial buildings.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Oakland Landmarks, Inc.



The Dr. Hiram Rutherford House is at the heart of the complex of historic buildings preserved by Landmarks, Inc. This historical organization was formed in 1969 to save the material culture of Oakland and the surrounding vicinity. The Rutherford House is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The buildings on the property are full of historical treasures and fully furnished as they would have been in Rutherford's day, including many items from the Rutherford family.

Dr. Rutherford, along with Gideon Ashmore, were the two men who stepped forward to give refuge to the Bryant family and funded their legal defense. At the time of the trial, 1847, Rutherford was a widowed father of a young boy who was in the process of building the house in the picture. The house was completed a couple of months after the conclusion of the trial. Because of his association with the trial, the home is part of the National Park Service's Network to Freedom and the Illinois' Looking For Lincoln Heritage Coalition.

Dr. Rutherford built his office across the street from the house in 1855. It is the oldest free standing doctor's office in Illinois.

Visit the Landmarks, Inc. website at www.drhiramrutherford.com.

Independence Pioneer Village

The pioneer village was started in 1988 by Robert & Melba Lee. Each log structure in the village is an original hand hewn log building, all dating back over 100 years. They gathered seven houses, a church/school, a general store, blacksmith’s shop, post office, carriage house, and a jail from Tennessee and Illinois into 22 acres of woodland on their property just outside Oakland, Illinois. Over the years, the site has sponsored various living history programs from Christmas events to Civil War reenactments.
This is the Bartholomew Cabin built in 1828 in by John Bartholomew in Henderson County, Middleburge District, Tennessee. The family and his descendants lived in this cabin continuously for 157 years, ending in 1985. After the Lee's purchased the cabin, each log was marked with a special number, then loaded on a truck to be brought to Illinois. Upon arrival at the village each log was unloaded into category by number. The cabins were then reconstructed according to these numbers.

The Barksdale Cabin was located in Alma Township, Marion County, Illinois about ten miles northeast of Salem. It was one of the oldest, if not the oldest, occupied home in Alma Township representing 154 years of continuous living. The land entry book show that John Christerson entered this forty acres on October 24, 1837. When Mr. Van C. Mundwiler's grandparents moved into the home in 1879 they believed it to have been built in 1837. The Barksdale Family were the last to live in the house, which they did until 1981


This building was originally built in the woods about two miles southeast of Dardin, Tennessee. The cabin was puchased by Mr. and Mrs. Ray Myracle who lived in it in the early 1930s after they were first married. They moved the cabin up to the Smith Chapel Road and lived there until the family out grew it. They built a new house and used the cabin for storage and a barn. When it was purchased for the Village, the bottom logs were rotted away. They were replaced with logs obtained from a barn owned by Roy Chumney. There is no history available on the original date and use of the cabin, however, because of the way it is built, with three windows on a side, one door, and no fireplace it is believed to have been orginally built for a school and/or church.

The name Independence Pioneer Village is a tribute to the origins of Oakland, Illinois. The town was platted under the name Independence in May 1835. Later it was found that another town had that name in Illinois and the town adopted the name Oakland after another extinct post office in the vicinity.




Trial & Tribulations Project:The Story of the 1847 Matson Slave Trial

Trial & Tribulations is a historical program scheduled for Sept 18 and 19, 2009 in Oakland, Illinois that will tell the story of the 1847 Matson Slave Trial in which Abraham Lincoln represented the master enslaver and that resulted in the freeing of the Bryant family. The program is presented by Independence Pioneer Village, Oakland Historical Foundation, and Oakland Landmarks, Inc.

It is a story of bittersweet daring and historical mystery, involving one of the most divisive issues of our country’s early history, slavery. It reveals hidden parts of our local history, affirms our faith in our legal system, raises questions about our moral bearing and actions, and reflects how we remember or mythologize our heroes.

The Matson Slave Trial is:
  • one of the top five trials in Coles County,
  • one of the ten most important cases in which Abraham Lincoln participated, and
  • a turning point for the local free black community at Brushy Fork.
Participants will:
  • Meet the people involved,
  • Watch a performance about the trial,
  • Enjoy an 1847 meal, and
  • Challenge your preconceived notions of history.
Those wanting more information may contact the project at 217-508-9113 or through e-mail at trial.tribulations1847@gmail.com. Stay tuned for more information.