The Sauk Rapids Sentinel-Chloe and William Wedding

Fletcher, William. “A Few Reminiscences.” Sauk Rapids Sentinel, 18 August 1927.

The First African-American Wedding in Central Minnesota

The first African-Americans to be married in Central Minnesota were by the names of Chloe (Darkey) Topsail and William Bulter. Both William and Chloe were brought up to the St. Cloud area as slaves by their masters. Their paths were bound to cross as Chloe’s master, Samuel L. Hays and William’s master General Sylvanus Lowry, were friends. William served as Lowery’s driver, so whenever the General traveled to see Hays, their courtship had cause to bloom. The two received the blessing to wed, though the couple were a vast number of years apart in age, Chloe, 42 years old and William, 16 years old. On August 25, 1861, the two officiated their love in a dwelling house in Sauk City Mills on a flat above the saw and grist mill building, which belonged to Hays. Chloe did not have the privilege of having all of her children present for the event, only her daughter Ellen, accompanied her on the move from Virginia to Minnesota. A traditional southern meal to lavish on the guests consisted of roast pig, turkeys and chickens, prepared by Chloe herself, for even on her wedding day, she was not permitted to forget she was a slave. After hours of cooking, she slipped away into a hidden room, where she then adorned herself with bridal clothing. William and Chloe were the only two people of color at the ceremony. Several guests arrived to witness their joining together, but the white men did not give the beautiful bride the congratulatory utterances as they would a white bride. Hays, being one of the few slave-owners in the area and trying to peak positive press from local newspapers, especially from the well-known Minnesotan abolitionist, Jane Swisshelm, coordinated the wedding. This caught the attention of many, due to slave weddings being a rare event, and the two prominent households involved, thus proved to be attendance worthy. Hays signed the marriage certificate as a witness. Their union took place two years before President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, freeing all persons held as slaves. The event could be seen as foreshadowing what was to come. After their wedding, the couple were not given emancipation, even though they resided in a free state and returned to their former households. Once freed, William, Chloe and Ellen remained in Central Minnesota. They did not have any children of their own, but adopted William’s young cousin.

 

Lehman, Christopher. Slavery in the Upper Mississippi Valley, 1787-1865. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2011

My Child

MY CHILD.

BY MINNIE MARY LEE.

WHEN Spring shalll (sic) bring the birds, and grass, and flowers.

                             Methinks (sic) that thou must come, my child, to me;

For how will pass the erst so joyous hours

Without a sign, without a word from thee!

 

The tender buds will spring from where thou’rt lying;

Some soft-eyed flowers will open to the sun;

On boughs above the birds will cease their flying.

Thou wilt not see or hear, my silent one!

Thou ears are closed to all thy parent’s sighing;

In vain we call thee by thy soft, sweet name,

In vain we listen for thy quick replying,

For little steps that once so joyous came!

 

Ah blessed child! thy busy feet are straying

O’er emerald meadows of the blue Beyond,

Sweet- scented zephyrs ‘mong thy locks are playing.

And angel whispers woo thee, soft and fond.

 

But, oh, sweet child, mid all the building rapture

That fills thy soul in the abode of bliss,

Let now and then thy wing give lowly wafture

Adown the home thou once did sweetly bless.

 

Come with a whisper of thy love, yet cherished,

Or give a sense of thy sweet presence near;

Come and give token that it has not perished,

The precious link that bound thee to us here.

 

From us to thee there is but little distance;

The golden hills will dawn soon on our view;

Our souls will gladden in the bright existence

Of those who’ve passed Eearth’s (sic) shadowy

valley through.

 

We’ll joy to go, since thou hast gone before us;

Thy starry wings shall light the path along;

Thy winsome voice shall teach the heavenly chorus,

The swelling anthems of seraphic song.

 

Beloved child, if such thy glorious mansion,

Shall we not cease our mourning and our tears

With earnest souls to strive for that Elysium

That shall be thine, and ours, through endless years!

 

St. Cloud Visiter, June 17, 1858

 

 

 

 

 

On the Anniversary of My Mother’s Death

Written for Neal’s Saturday Gazette

ON THE ANNIVERSARYA OF MY

MOTHER’S DEATH

BY MRS. JANE G. SWISSHELM

 

‘Tis years, six long years, mother, since

We wrapped the winding sheet

Around thy warm and wasted from—

Thy rest was calm and sweet.

Death came in his good angle garb,

And freed from racking pain;

I would not then for worlds have called

Thy spirit back again.

But Earth is very silent now—

It wants thy pleasant tone;

Its holiest, brightest light is fled—

Thy loving smile is gone.

I listen in the twilight, to

The plaintive whipporwill—

The sighing of the zephyr’s breath.

And murmuring of the rill—

Thy voice, thy dear voice, mother mine,

Is wanting, wanting still.

The sky with all her brilliant eyes,

Could ne’er look half so fair,

Did I not think thy spirit pure

Looked down on me from there.

When sickness lays its iron hand,

To press my faint head down;

‘Tis then, ‘tis then, my mother dear,

I feel that thou art gone—

No love is half so tireless then,

No hand is like thine own,

When friends, kind friends are around my bed,

And loved ones standing near,

To speak in tones of sympathy,

Their kindly words of cheer—

I turn in utter loneliness,

To whisper, mother dear,

That sound of mother, mother dear,–

Earth has no other word

With half so much of melody.

How has my full heart stirred

To hear it poured from cherub lips

Like notes from some glad bird.

No wonder that I turn my eyes,

——–looks above—

The world is very—–

Without a mother’s love.

(St. Cloud Visiter, February 18, 1858 issue, the dashes the last lines indicate wrinkle in paper making words unreadable.)

 

Toddler Butler

Toddler Butler was a  boy around the age of two whose name is unknown, which is why he is called Toddler Butler.  He was born around 1855 to Mary Butler in Tennessee. His father’s name is unknown at this time. Mary Butler was a woman owned by Thomas and Elizabeth Calhoun. Mary Butler and Toddler Butler were brought to Minnesota by Thomas and Elizabeth Calhoun in 1857 when they traveled on a river boat up the Mississippi River. Toddler Butler contracted the measles on their voyage north. The weather was cold and rainy on the trip, and slaves were not allowed under the canopy to be sheltered from the weather. Mary and Toddler Butler had to sit outside and endure the cold. Mary tried to shelter her child from the elements by wrapping him in her skirt. Unfortunately, this was not enough to keep the sick child alive. By the end of their trip the boy had passed away.

A newspaper article was found in 1905 that revealed that a grave had been discovered in the area surrounding Thomas and Elizabeth Calhoun’s estate. The grave was that of a young child. It was lead to believe that the grave that was found could have been Toddler Butler. The only record of anyone that age dying during that time-frame was Toddler Butler. There was no name on the casket and the men that came across the grave covered it back up. The grave was never found again. The grave was said to have a wooden casket surrounded by a brick vault, which would convey that the child was of a wealthy family. The Calhoun’s were a wealthy family, although Toddler Butler was the child of a slave woman.  It is conspired that Thomas could have possibly fathered the child or maybe the Calhoun’s provided such an ornate grave for the child because there was much controversy in regard to slavery in this area and they were trying to seem as though they treated their slaves well.

Her Glove from St. Cloud Visiter March 4, 1858

From Arthur’s Home Magazine.

HER GLOVE.

BY MINNIE MARY LEE

“But (?) still the heart will haunt the well

Wherein the golden bowllies(sp) broken,

And treasure in its narrow cell

The past’s most holy token.”

It is the glove she wore so long ago,

That fitted daintily her hand of snow,

The hand whose clasp was such a joy to know.

She was a being radiant as the dawn

When it comes forth with flush of glory on;

O, how like night it was when she was gone!

She was the queen of all our festive(?) mirth;

To win her smile, our greatest care was worth,

For never was a sweeter smile on earth.

How beauteous flowed down to her shoulders fair

The glorious wealth of her abundant hair,

Shading a face such as the angels wear.

Her name was Emily, a treasured name;

My pulses thrill whene’er I hear the same,

I spring to meet one, whene’er she came.

This glove has brought her back so clear to-day,

Until her presence doth around me play,

As if her spirit had just passed this way.

Some years have gone since clodspressed(sic) coldly down

Upon those starry eyes of softest brown,

But seas of Time cannot her memory drown.

Spanned by the river her returnless tide,

That space between us is not far nor wide;

I hope to meet her on the other side.

A poem from May 20, 1858 issue, no author of poem noted

SMALL THINGS,

A TRAVELLER through a dusty road,

Strewed acorns on the lea,

And one took root and sprouted up,

And grew into a tree.

Love sought its shade at evening time,

To breathe its early vows;

And age was pleased, in heats of noon,

To bask beneath its boughs.

The dormouse loved its dangling twig,

The birds sweet music bore;

It stood a glory in its place,

A blessing evermore.

A little spring had lost its way

Amid the grass and fern,

A passing stranger scooped a well,

Where weary men might turn;

He walled it in, and hung with care

A ladle at the brink—

He thought not of the deed he did,

But judged that toil might drink.

He passed again–and lo! the well,

By summers never dried,

Had cooled ten thousand parching tongues,

And saved a life besides!

A dreamer dropped a random thought,

‘Twas old, and yet ‘twas new—

A simple fancy of the brain,

But strong, in being true;

It shone upon a genial mind,

And, lo! its light became

A lamp of life, a beacon ray,

A monitory flame.

The thought was small—its issues great,

A watch-fire on a hill;

It sheds it radiance far adown,

And cheers the valley still.

A nameless man, amid a crowd

That thronged the daily mart,

Let fall a word of hope and love,

Unstudied from the heart;

A whisper on the tumult thrown—

A transitory breath—

It raised a brother from the dust,

It saved a soul from death.

O germ! O fount! O word of love;

O thought at random cast!

You were but little at the first,

But mighty at the last.

John Butler Timeline

1857 – Born to Mary Butler in St Cloud, MN in late July/Early August

1858 – Calhoun brought John and Mary back to TN
-Swisshelm says Calhoun brought Mary and John to the TN Auction Block and sold then for $1400, burying his horse and carriage
-Andrews says Calhoun freed Mary and John

1876- A John Butler was reportedly fatally stabbed in Baltimore (TN) Saturday night (March 4)

Chloe Topsail’s Timeline

1819: Chloe is born (possibly in Topsail, Virginia)

1855:  [age 36] Daughter Ellen is born (probably in Virginia)

1857:  [age 38] Chloe and Ellen [age 2] are brought to St. Cloud, Minnesota from Virginia by Hays, along with his wife and niece

1860:  [age 41] Chloe and Ellen [age 5] are listed on the Minnesota Territorial Census as members of Hays’ household

1861,  August 25:  [age 42] Chloe marries William Butler

1863:  [age 43] Chloe’s domestic servitude ends when Mrs. Hays dies.

Then Chloe disappears.