Moses-Humphrey-Adam
From the research records of
Margaret Strebel Hartman
Reprinted here with the permission of the Campbell County Historical Society
In 1780 James Taylor Jr. and his brother,
Hubbard Taylor came to Campbell
County to survey the Muse patents. On May 3, 1793, James Jr. came to Campbell County
to live and supervise the sale of his father’s
land. His father gave him 500 acres.
He brought three of his slaves, Moses, Humphrey and Adam, a servant boy, from Caroline County Virginia. His slaves built several small log cabins on the Campbell County side of Licking River, cleared 16 acres of ground and planted corn. James and the slaves lived aboard the boat that brought them down the Ohio for about two weeks while housing was being built.
Soon, Moses, Humphrey and Adam began to tire of their lot on the frontier and frequently begged Taylor to return to a more settled and civilized community. Taylor later noted that other than himself and the three blacks, "there was not one person at the time, man nor woman, who wore shoes in Newport, all wore moccasins made of deer-skin."
In time Moses and Humphrey declared they could no longer stay in such a raw frontier settlement, for there were no other black people with whom they could "socialize". They ran off to Lexington saying they had family there.
Taylor lost little time in engaging a neighbor, Jacob Fowler to help him trace the runaways. After about four miles of searching, they came across the prints of shoes, and knew they had to be those of Moses and Humphrey. It was but a short time before the disgusted runaways were caught and returned to the settlement.
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The following is from General
James Taylor's Narrative; a copy is at the Campbell County Historical and
Genealogical Society in Alexandria
"In the winter of 1793, the small pox raged in Cincinnati, and extened to Newport. there was but one citizen physician in Cincinnati at that time and he had more than he could do. I got a citizen of Newport to inoculate my three slaves, Moses, Humphrey and Adam.
Also an old man near 80 years old, Jack and his wife and four children, the property of Commodore Taylor. My father had sent the old man with his wife to me, and as Commodore's servants came down under the charge of his son Thompson. I had a female servant [and] prevailed upon him to hire my Jenny, Jack's wife. She and the children remained with me till spring and I let the good old man go with his wife and gave him his freedom. He was a stout old man, took care of my little stock.
All these servants took the small pox in the natural way. Humphrey was very ill and died in 1796. He lingered till the fall of that year and died, never to render me any service after he took the disease."