Bartholomew Stovall's wife was from the Owen family Those Stovalls married into the Penn family and into the Hairston family. Found in my file an interesting item concerning a slave who planned to poison his master, George Hairston. It slows down my efforts to take the time to read about the adventures of these people in SW Virginia. It seems that the British encouraged slaves in Patrick County to revolt during the War of 1812. The widow Penn of Patrick County had a slave Jim who had a wife in Henry County (at Staples plantation) who was to kill his master if he could catch him on the road coming home drunk. Things were no better in KY as the British from Canada were urging the Indians from Ohio & Michigan to cross the Ohio River into Ky and kill those settlers in their beds. There was never a dull moment for these people who lived in an area where I once said that "courage was commonplace." A plastic bag of throw-away material was sitting on the patio and not hauled off by the garbage man yesterday and I dug out the two pages which refer to the 1812 slave problem in Patrick & Henry Counties. It is a photo copy of two pages from Virginia Calendar of State Papers 1808-1835 There are several volumes of that collection of historical documents and I failed to note which volume this was in, but since it is dated 2 April 1812 the vol. could be easily located. Starting on page 15 "Confession made before John Floyd and Henry Edmonson, Justices of the Peace of Montgomery County." (Floyd was a Captain of Henry County militia who marched to Point Pleasant and arrived there after the battle and his men helped to bury the dead. ) "...on 2 April 1812 by a Negro man now in the jail of said county who calls himself Tom and says he is the property of John Smith of the County of Henry, who he murdered on Monday 23 Mar last as he confesses, being instigated thereto by a woman the property of said Smith by the name of Celia." Tom was questioned about other slaves and answered he knew many planning to revolt and kill their masters. Put to that by a man in the County of Rockingham NC named Goomer who is called a conjurer. This is the county immediately south of Patrick and where Alex Martin & Tom Henderson & some of the Strongs lived [Gov. Alexander Martin had mistress the widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Lewis Strong who had illegitimate son named Alexander Martin Strong; Thomas Henderson was Clerk of Henry Court; removed to Rockingham Co, NC and became son in law of Gov. Martin]. That George Harsten of Henry was to be poisoned by himself, the poison to be furnished by Goomer. Major Redd of Henry was to be poisoned by Jack. Celia (a slave) told him that the widow Penn's Jim of Patrick County who has a wife at Mr Staples in Henry, that if was in my place he would not serve my master any longer. The Southern Historical Collection at the Library of the Univ. of North Carolina has the account records prepared by Ruth Stovall who married one of the Henry County Hairstons. Those records are very good source of information on slave conditions in the area drained by the Smith and Dan Rivers. My mother's grand parents were Anna Stovall and husband John Harston Anna was gr-granddaughter of the Bartholomew Stovall who served as Judge in Halifax and Henry Counties. So Stovall and Harston unions go back a long way. I have never seen these old account books at the U of NC, but it is a good place to get first hand information on slavery as it existed in the old territory of greater Halifax County from which Patrick and Henry were taken. I see them quoted from time to time. Ruth Stovall Hairston who kept those daily records of plantation events was the boss of the family. No doubt about who ran the plantations of Virginia. It was the women. Those who descend from both the white Hairstons and those who descend from the slaves of that family have reunions together at an old plantation site in northern Henry county. This message was sent to me by Jack C. Grantham of Dallas several years ago. He is now deceased. /s/ June Bork www.junebaldwinbork.com