John R. Bowles, born June 13, 1826 in Lynchburg, Virginia, is a free black and a Baptist minister. As a young man, Bowles settled near Chillicothe in Ross County, Ohio, marrying Sarah Jane Bryant in 1848. There the couple grew their family, in addition to participating in the Underground Railroad. At thirty years of age,…
The Civil War is a diaspora for many Southern families, including the Philip Hugh and Frances (Fanny) Wallace family of Paducah, Kentucky. Prior to the war, Philip was an attorney and life for the family was one of ease and luxury and, like many wealthy families of the South, financed (whether directly, indirectly or both)…
Prior to the war St. Augustine, Florida, a heavily Catholic town named after the fourth century bishop, St. Augustine of Hippo, served as a slave trade center of the Southeast. Augustin Verot, Catholic vicar apostolic of Florida, was as passionate a defender of slavery as were Baptist leaders of the South. His January 4, 1861…