In general, I have mixed feelings about the celebration of ethnic holidays; part of me wants to focus solely on the serving of Mulligan Stew that our nation’s melting pot has produced and another part is eager to emphasize retaining and enhancing the heritage of each of its ingredients. When I first heard about Juneteenth being considered a national holiday, my initial reaction was negative. This opinion changed dramatically last year when I went to Woodville and observed the way the folks there treated this opportunity. A return trip this year reinforced my opinion.
Slavery was not a significant part of eighteenth-century life in western Pennsylvania. According to the 1790 census, only 159 of the 10,322 Allegheny County residents that year were enslaved. We know that a significant number of them were owned by the “Neville Connection”. The census reports John Neville with eighteen; his son Presley, eight; his son-in-law Isaac Craig, seven; and his brother-in-law Abraham Kirkpatrick, two. The Neville documents that the Woodville folks possess suggest that this total was really about double that number. These people (and particularly Rob Windhorst) know far more about the status of slavery in this area in those days than anyone else; I am inclined to accept their opinion.
The format for the Woodville event was a tour of the Neville House and grounds, focused on the role of enslaved persons in the construction of the house and the operation of the plantation. Tour guide Rob Windhorst emphasized the function these people played in each room of the house we visited. For example, in the kitchen he explained that this was the domain of Farltex, the Nevilles’ cook. She slept in a loft over the kitchen, awoke early to prepare breakfast, spent the morning preparing a large dinner served in the early afternoon, and ended her working day cleaning up after a light supper.
Our guide used the center hall reception area as an opportunity to discuss the construction of the house. John Neville came to this area in 1775, bringing a handful of slaves with imm. The Neville extended family soon acquired large blocks of land (perhaps 1800 acres) in what are now Collier, Scott, and Upper St Clair Townships, and began to build on them. John and his son Presley left to join the Continental Army a year later. When they returned in 1782 they found two mansions, Woodville and Bower Hill, and assorted outbuildings fully completed. Somehow the combination of John Neville’s wife Winifred, several overseers, and a group of slaves who were skilled craftsmen – cabinetmakers, masons, glaziers, etc. — had managed to construct two masterpieces.
Our guide then delivered us to the dining room where we were greeted by Henry Holt, Presley Neville’s “maître d”, as he would have appeared in 1810. Henry explained to us that he was responsible for everything that happened in the dining room. He made certain the waiters were neat and courteous, that there was sufficient wine of the correct type to suit the meal, that the courses arrived on time, and that all the cutlery was still there when the guests left. We were surprised us to learn that he was a free man, the child of free parents; he even had a document signed by Presley Neville to prove it. By that time slavery was being phased out in Pennsylvania. Thirty years earlier the Commonwealth had passed the “Gradual Abolition of Slavery Act” which granted freedom at their twenty-eighth birthday to children born to slaves.
All the re-enactors at Woodville are believable; Henry Holt was so well portrayed that it was obvious his re-enactor was a professional actor. A small amount of investigation turned up the information that his name is Wali Jamal and that he is indeed a prominent actor. I wasn’t surprised to learn that he is a popular August Wilson actor; in fact, he is the only actor who has appeared in all eleven Wilson plays. No wonder he seemed so familiar to me
Another interesting thing I learned from this tour is the role of a particular indentured servant at Woodville. One of John Neville’s documents mentions a servant named Betty Turner in a context that suggests that she was indentured. In addition, numerous entries in the “Old Stone Tavern” ledger report that she, accompanied by several slaves, used the ferry there twice a week, apparently going to the market for produce. I wonder how extensive the use of indentured servants was in this area in those days.
After we left the main house, our tour took us to the log cabin, where Erin Windhorst had an impressive display of the food the enslaved persons at Woodville ate. The cabin was set up as an example of the quarters in which the enslaved persons lived. According to her, the diet of the enslaved persons was dominated by produce from their gardens, eggs and meat from their chickens, some provisions from the Nevilles (the less desirable cuts of meat, etc.), fish from Chartiers Creek, and small game they were able to kill. They didn’t eat as well as the Nevilles, but their diet was very similar to that of most of their less affluent neighbors.
The general impression I got from the entire event was that these enslaved persons were well treated – no evidence of Simon Legree here! I am sure the Neville House folks are presenting what they believe is a true picture. It may be biased, because the source of their information is primarily Neville family documents; nonetheless I am convinced that they believe that the Nevilles were benevolent masters and that their slaves’ daily life was comparable to that of free servants and to that of the majority of the settlers in the Chartiers Valley region. It is sad that it took five more decades for them to achieve freedom; that alone justifies the Juneteenth holiday.