Christian Author sheds light on Matson Slave Trial

Christian author, Robin Lee Hatcher, a descendant of Gideon Ashmore recently shared a family letter with Roger Ashmore who portrays Gideon in the upcoming Trial & Tribulations program that reveals the depth of relationship between Gideon and the Bryant family.

Best-selling novelist Robin Lee Hatcher is known for her heartwarming and emotionally charged stories of faith, courage, and love. She makes her home in Idaho where she enjoys spending time with her family and her high-maintenance Papillon, Poppet. Robin's many awards include the Christy Award for Excellence in Christian fiction and the RITA Award for Best Inspirational Romance.  Her blog is WriteThinking.

Roger explains, “I am always doing research on the Ashmore family and I discovered Robin’s blog where she mentioned that Gideon was her great great grandfather.” After e-mailing and contacting her on Facebook, she shared a letter written by her grandmother about the Matson Slave Trial. Her grandmother, Madge Ashmore Johnson, was a storyteller and she wrote the letter submitting this family tale for a storytelling event in which she wanted to perform.

There were several new pieces of information contained in the letter, notes Roger. According to this story, Gideon did not immediately agree to help the Bryants. After talking to a tearful Anthony, he rode to Charleston and spoke with attorney Orlando B. Ficklin to see if there was a case that could be won. Ficklin agreed that Jane and the children should be free and said he would donate his services if Gideon would cover the actual costs. They planned to have the Bryants come to Oakland and to protect them so that Matson would have to go to the law and start the legal proceedings. The Bryants also wrote to Ashmore from Liberia expressing their thanks.

Johnson mentions in the letter that the story can be corroborated in Sandburg’s and Beveridge’s published biographies of Lincoln. Several sections of the letter actually reflect the influence of these works, but the above-mentioned facts are new. There are also small errors in some details that hint at the oral recounting of the tale over three generations – from Gideon to his son Mark and then from Mark to his daughter Madge. Trial & Tribulations coordinator, Renee Henry, comments “Its like playing the party game, Telephone, what you start with usually isn’t accurately recounted at the end of the game.”

The new information will be incorporated into Roger Ashmore’s portrayal of Gideon in Trial & Tribulations: The Story of the 1847 Matson Slave Trial program that will be in Oakland on September 16, 17, and 18. The innovative event combines first-person interpretation at two Oakland historic sites, an 1847 meal, and the performance of Three Fifths of a Man, an original drama.