User talk:Norwoodplace

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December 2012

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The following is the log entry regarding this message: Maple sugar was changed by Norwoodplace (u) (t) ANN scored at 0.856338 on 2012-12-19T05:13:08 00:00 . Thank you. ClueBot NG (talk) 05:13, 19 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

MJP

Hello! I have left a reply to your message on my talk page and have now discovered that your friend has written a book so this may be the reference/citation needed. It is quite expensive to buy so I am looking on the internet archive to see if I can get access to the book. Thanks for your message. More later. Balance person (talk) 09:44, 1 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Catherine Ward Bishir offers this primary source documentation about Mary Jane Patterson:

Notes for Mary Jane Patterson

Henry Patterson petition to emancipate wife Emmeline:

Henry Patterson, petition to emancipate wife, 1838, Legislative Petitions, North Carolina State Archives; Raleigh Register, October 16, 1840, Fayetteville North-Carolinian, December 5, 1840; Raleigh Weekly Standard, December 2, 1840.

Henry Patterson freeborn: “Old Times in Raleigh,” Raleigh Gazette, October 10, 1891; Henry Patterson, petition to emancipate wife, 1838, Legislative Petitions, North Carolina State Archives (stating that he was born free) and had purchased his wife in hopes of freeing her. The couple waited until she was free to have children.

Emmeline and children free by 1850, and all born after 1840: United States Census, Population Schedule, 1850, Wake County, North Carolina.

Henry and Emmeline’s eldest child is Mary Jane Patterson, free person of color aged 7, thus born in 1843 or 1844: United States Census, Population Schedule, 1850, Wake County, North Carolina.

Mary Jane Patterson consistently born in 1844 in United States Census, Population Schedule, 1860, Lorain County, Ohio and subsequent censuses in Ohio and Washington DC.

Mary Jane Patterson, 1844-1894, Washington, D. C., Death Certificates and Records, Ancestry.com.

Note: Many secondary sources state erroneously that Mary Jane Patterson was born into slavery in 1840 and that she and her parents were runaway slaves who escaped to Ohio. The source of these statements is not clear, but they are not true. Her parents were not runaway slaves: her father was freeborn and her mother was emancipated in 1840 or possibly 1841. Mary was thus born free: census records indicate that she was born in 1843 or 1844, and her death certificate says 1844; by that time her father, Henry, had succeeded in obtaining the freedom of her mother, Emeline, so that Mary and her known siblings were born free. She was interred in Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Washington, D. C. One early source of the erroneous story is Fletcher, A History of Oberlin College, II, 534-535, which says she was born in Raleigh and brought to Oberlin in her youth by her parents, who were “probably fugitive slaves.” Seehttp://www2.oberlin.edu/external/EOG/OYTT-images/MJPatterson.html.

I’ve wondered if the oft-used 1840 date might refer to the date her mother was freed, but no evidence of that or any other reasons for the 1840 birth date in secondary sources.

Several secondary sources describe Mary Jane as born in slavery and coming to Oberlin with her parents, who were runaway slaves. Makes a good story, but not true. Norwoodplace (talk) 20:38, 1 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the notes. I have corrected the birth date, and the runaway slaves story. Your friend sometime spells Emmeline with one and sometimes with two 'M's. Not sure which is correct? As the article was lined up for the 'Did you know?' section, I have also changed the hook to better represent the fact that MJP's mother was freed. Please do let me know if your friend is happy with the changes. I may have missed something and it is important to get the facts right. Thanks for your help. Balance person (talk) 10:34, 2 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks so much! I will inquire about spelling of Emmeline; I suspect it may appear more than one way in the sources. If I learn anything important, I'll share with you. Thanks again Norwoodplace (talk) 13:20, 2 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]