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Trial & Tribulations is featured on-line and in the News Gazette Newspaper today. See article by clicking here.

Freetown Village Joins Project As Interpreters

The project partners are pleased to announce that the well-respected living history group, Freetown Village of Indianapolis, will interpret three of the main characters in the Matson/Bryant story: Jane and Anthony Bryant and Lucy Dupee.

Freetown Village's mission is to educate the public about African American lives and culture in Indiana through living history performances, the collection and preservation of artifacts, exhibits and allied programs. Freetown Village, Inc. is a living history museum without walls. The trials, triumphs, and daily life of African Americans are presented through theater, storytelling, folk crafts, heritage workshops, music, day camp, and special events. Since 1982, Freetown Village has presented programs throughout the state of Indiana and to the contiguous Midwestern states reaching well over 1,000,000 children and adults in small and large communities. Programs have been presented in schools, churches, libraries, museums, theaters, centers, parks, hotels, offices, gymnasiums, parades, homes, and for almost every time of event or occasion. For more information about Freetown you can visit their website at: http://www.freetown.org/Freetown/Welcome.html.

Trial & Tribulations participants will meet Freetown interpreters at Independence Pioneer Village as they portray Jane and Anthony Bryant and Lucy Dupee among the historic log buildings in a picturesque setting. Jane will be found in a log house preparing for the family's upcoming journey to Liberia. She will discuss her history, how she and the children were jailed, what happened during the trial and why they made the decision to emigrate to Liberia.

Anthony will be in the church/school building reading his quarto bible and preparing to leave the local African-American religious community he had served. He will talk with visitors about his role as a Methodist "exhorter," his experience in asking for help from the local Methodists, and the actions he took to protect his family.

Lucy Dupee will also be in a log home, helping to make some of the supplies that the Bryant's will need on their trip. She will be able to speak about the local Brushy Fork community, the impact that the Matson Slave Trial had on it, and how Illinois' Black Laws may have influenced the Bryant's decision to leave the country.

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.

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.