Hamilton (Edmonson) Taylor (abt. 1815 - aft. 1880)

Born about 1815 in Montgomery, Maryland, United States

Died after 1880 after about age 65 in New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, United States

Biography

Hamilton (Edmonson) Taylor is a part of US Black heritage.

Hamilton was born about 1815. He was the son of Paul Edmonson and Amelia Edmonson. Following taken from ^[1] Hamilton Edmonson was born about 1815 in Montgomery County, MD to Paul Edmonson and Amelia Edmonson. Hamilton was the slave of Henry Culver of Montgomery County, MD. When Henry Culver died in 1826, Hamilton was willed to his daughter Rebecca Culver. Rebecca Culver was mentally insane, therefore her affairs were handled by her brother in law Francis Valdenar. Hamilton Edmonson ran away from the Culver Estate in 1832 along with another man named Charles Briscoe. Edmonson and Briscoe were arrested as a runaways in the Baltimore City and County jail. Hamilton Edmonson was sold south to Louisiana where he lived out the rest of his life, first as a slave and then a free man.

Hamilton was purchased by a man named Taylor, and from that point is called Hamilton Taylor. After sixteen years of being a slave in New Orleans, Hamilton secured $1000 to purchase his freedom. In 1848 six of Hamilton Edmonson's siblings (Mary, Emily, Ephraim, Richard, Samuel, and John), were involved in an attempted escape on the Pearl, in Washington, DC. The Edmonson siblings were caught and jailed. The six children were boarded on the Union - a steamboat bound for New Orleans, Louisiana, and although Richard's freedom had been purchased by the family, he was still taken South. When they arrived Richard Edmonson was allowed to find Hamilton and tell him of their situation. By this time Hamilton was living as a freeman in Louisiana, having purchased his freedom some years before. Hamilton worked tirelessly trying to find a decent buyer for his siblings in Louisiana. Hamilton's sisters Emily and Mary Edmonson were allowed to sleep in his New Orleans home at night and return to the jail by day. He was able to secure his brother Samuel a position as a butler in the home of Horace Cammack. Eventually Mary and Emily were sent back to Virginia, where their parents and abolitionist worked to raise money for their freedom.

After the Civil War, Hamilton appears in the 1870 Census living with a woman named Frances Taylor who is possibly his wife. He is working as a cooper, a trade he learned while enslaved in Louisiana. By 1880, Hamilton is a widower and still lives in New Orleans, and has a boarder living with him named Mrs. Boggs. Hamilton Edmonson Taylor dies sometime before the 1900 Federal Census.

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Slave Owners

1. William Henry Culver (-1826); Montgomery Co, Maryland
2. Taylor; New Orleans, Louisiana

Sources

1. ↑ Maryland State Archives, Biography of Hamilton Edmonson

• The Fugitives of the Pearl by John H Painter, Journal of Negro History, Jun 1916, Vol 1, No 3 , pp 243-264. Excerpts: 10 Hamilton Edmondson was sold in the New Orleans slave market about the year 1840 and took the name of his purchaser and was thereafter known as Hamilton Taylor. He learned the trade of cooper and was allowed a percentage of his earnings, but was unfortunate in having his first savings stolen. He eventually acquired his freedom through the payment of $1,000.