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James Hubbard and his wife Cate must have despaired over the actions of their son Jame as he was growing up at Poplar Forest, Mr. Jeffersons' home in Bedford County.
James Hubbard (Senior) came to Monticello as part of the Wayles inheritance when he was thirty years old. He is listed as a waterman in the Farm Book, a job that required trust and unsupervised work. The first slave list in the Farm Book includes Cate, born in 1747 and owned by Peter Jefferson. She is listed as a labourer in the ground (a field hand). Cate had two daughters, Hannah and Rachel, before she married
James Hubbard. The family was sent to live at Poplar Forest sometime in the 1780's. James became headman and oversaw the field workers, a very responsible job.
Their son Jame, born in 1782, was one of many children born to the Hubbards - but he was certainly the Hubbard who caused his master the most difficulty. Like many of the young slave boys Jame was put to work in the nailery on Mulberry Row. He got off to a bad start with Mr. Bacon, the overseer, when he was caught stealing nails.
James and Cate Hubbard
Edmund Bacon's Memoirs include this note about the nail stealing incident:
"I went one day to supply an order, and the eightpenny nails were all gone, and there was a full supply of all the other sizes. Of course they had been stolen... One day after a rain,...I saw muddy tracks on the leaves leading off from the path...I found the nails buried in a large box. There were several hundred pounds of them. From circumstances I knew that Jim had stolen them. Mr. Jefferson was home at the time, and when I went up to Monticello I told him of it. He was very much surprised and felt very badly about it. Jim had always been a favorite servant.
"When he (TJ) came,I sent for Jim, and I never saw any person, white or black, feel as badly as he did when he saw his master. He was mortified and distressed beyond measure. He had been brought up in the shop, and we all had confidence in him. Now his character was gone. The tears streamed down his face, and he begged pardon over and over again. I felt very badly myself. Mr. Jefferson turned to me and said, "Ah, sir, we can't punish him. He has suffered enough already."
Mr. Jefferson decided not to punish Jame, but instead, as Mr. Bacon notes:
"He then talked to him, gave him a heap of good advice and sent him to the shop." (1)
See editor's note below.
Jame Hubbard Runs Away
Mr. Jefferson responded to the sheriff as soon as he received the news about Jame:
"I was yesterday informed that you had in custody in the jail of Fairfax a negro man of mine who run away from my estate in Albemarle 3 or 4 weeks ago. he is about 20 years of age, very stout, is a nailer by trade & called Jame Hubbard...he had three passes which he said had been given him by the son of mr. Lilly my manager." ( 4)
Jame Runs Again
Six years later in 1811, Jame ran away again and was found in Lexington, many miles to the west of Monticello. Before Mr. Jefferson's man, Mr. Chisholm, could arrive there to claim him, Jame ran again and was caught in Pendleton County (now West Virginia). Mr. Jefferson later wrote to Reuben Perry, a Poplar Forest overseer:
"Having recieved information in March that Jame Hubbard had been living in Lexington upwards of a twelvemonth, I engaged a man ( Isham Chisholm) to go after him. he got there five days after Hubbard had run off from there, having committed a theft...I engaged him to start a second time, offering a premium of 25. D...he pursued him into Pendleton county, where he took him and brought him here in irons. I had him severely flogged in the presence of his old companions, and committed to jail...circumstances convince me he will never again serve any man as a slave. the moment he is out of jail and his irons off he will be off himself. it will therefore unquestionably be best for you to sell him." (5)
Reuben Perry and Jame
Queries
Why did Mr. Jefferson resort to having Jame whipped?
Did the extreme punishment make Jame stay home?
Why would Mr. Perry want to purchase such a troublemaker?
Did Mr. Perry ever find his property, Jame Hubbard?
Sources
(1) Jefferson at Monticello,The Private Life of Thomas Jefferson, Bear, page 97-98.
(2 ) Thomas Jefferson to Edward Bancroft, January 26,1789,Founders Online.
(3) Daniel Bradley to Thomas Jefferson, September 7, 1805, Founders Online.
(4) Thomas Jefferson to Daniel Bradley, October 6, 1805, Founders Online.
(5) Thomas Jefferson to Reuben Perry, April 16,1812,Founders Online.
(6) Reuben Perry to Thomas Jefferson, March 29, 1811, Founders Online.
(7) Thomas Jefferson to Reuben Perry, May 10, 1811, Founders Online.
(8) Conveyance of James Hubbard to Reuben Perry, February, 1811,Founders Online.
Jefferson's Thoughts on Stealing
Stealing (pillferage) was a fact of life on any plantation. Mr. Jefferson once wrote about the problem:
"A man's moral sense must be unusually strong, if slavery does not make him a thief. He who is permitted by law to have no property of his own, can with difficulty conceive that property is founded in any thing but force." ( 2 )
Mr. Jefferson Offers a Reward
"Immediately on the reciept of your letter, I desired mr Bacon to be on the lookout for Hubbard, and to apprise the Patroles of him & to inform them of the reward you had offered which I would advance for you. I moreover engaged a trusty negro man of my own, and promised him a reward on my own account if he could inform us so that he should be taken. he has not been heard of. yet I have no doubt he had been here as you were informed." (7)
In March, 1811, Reuben Perry writes to his old employer, Mr. Jefferson, of the escape of James Hubbard.
"I Shall only State to you that James hubbard was carried up the rivanna by your warterman harry 3 weeks ago and Suppose must be in that neighborhood at this time I Should be glad that Mr Bacon will try to get him for me and I will be very much oblige me, and also receive recompence fore the Same... ( 6 )
Jame Steals the Nails
Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Perry's Agreement
In February, 1811, despite the fact that Jamey's whereabouts were again unknown, Reuben Perry had agreed to buy Jame Hubbard. The document stated:
"This deed poll ...made between Thomas Jefferson of the county of Albemarle of the one part and Reuben Perry of the county of Bedford of the other part witnesseth that the said Thomas hath sold and now conveys to the said Reuben a negro man slave called Jame Hubbard aged about twenty seven years, who has lately, and is at this time absconded from his habitation in Albemarle, for the considerations following, that is to say, of the sum of three hundred Dollars which the said Reuben covenants to pay...whether the said Jame be recovered or not..."(8)
In September 1805,Mr. Jefferson heard of the whereabouts of his missing slave, James Hubbard. He received a letter from the jailer in Fairfax County (near Washington):
"I Took up on the 3d. of this Month Neagroe man at this place First said he was free and had A persel of papers with him that was soe bad wrote and formed that I Took him to A Justice and he is in Jail now he Confeses he is the property of yours - he sais he is A Black Smith he is about 6 fees high About 24 years old with A schare on his upper Lip... he said at First he was free and his Name was James Bolds - and after Beinge in Jail A While made the Above confession to me I Tooke him up my selfe and I am the Jailor of this County Farefax I have all his papers in my persesion and Intends to keep them Til you send for them By Letter and the Fellow he sais Wilson Lilley gave them to him the overseers son in Law... I Expect he is your property from what he sais now he sais his name is James Hubbert...( 3)
But this was just the beginning of problems with Jame Hubbard. At age eighteen, using a pass written for him by the son of the new Monticello overseer, Gabriel Lilly, Jame ran away and was caught in Fairfax County, near Washington.
Editor's Note: Cinder Stanton, Monticello Historian and author of Free Some Day, has stated that Mr. Bacon was mistaken in naming Jame Hubbard as the nail thief. It is her belief that his cousin Phil Hubbard was the actual thief.
Source: Free Some Day, Lucia Stanton, pages 79-80.
Jame Hubbard
The Chronic Runaway
"...he will never again serve any
man as a slave..."
