Legacy — Born of Slaves

The book will be a work of fiction based on facts uncovered during the genealogical research of our family history. The central characters are John Cornutt and his slave family (Rebecca, Henry, George, Frances, Tate and Clark) and their life experiences as uncovered during this research.

The setting is Grayson County in the southwest Virginia Appalachian New River Valley and Lawrence County, Ohio.

John Cornutt married Mourning Bedwell on June 23, 1814 and six years later he acquired his first slave, an 18-year-old female named Rebecca, around 1820. She was acquired to cater to and provide his wife with whatever support she needed. As it turned out, Mourning was unable to have any children for reasons unknown and this must have been a very difficult situation for John as his brothers and sisters had rather large families of their own.

Although John obviously loved his wife the pressures of not having any children like the rest of his family or any to grow up to help work the farm must have been troubling. Whether the above factors or the typical white male slave owner lust drove John; he drifted to the bed of his young slave.

John became exposed to the abolitionist movement and this exposure began to reshape his fundamental philosophy about slavery and he began forming stronger relationships in these circles. These new relationships and their influence on John’s fundamental belief system had a profound impact on his approach to life and his relationship with his own slave family. John’s association with Jarvis Bacon and his abolitionist preaching, in the slave state of Virginia, proved to be a major inflection point in his life.

1864—Tate, his brother Clark, friends James Finley, Reddam Turner and John Ferguson answered the call and enlisted in the Union Army. We will cover their time in the Civil War and the period after.