Anthony Bryant (abt. 1777 - aft. 1848)

Died after 24 Aug 1848 after about age 71 in Monrovia, Montserrado, Liberia

Biography

Anthony Bryant is a part of US Black heritage.

Anthony Bryant was born about 1777. The following is an annotated story about the Bryants and their unusual and ultimately difficult journey to Liberia via the American Colonization Society. The full story is from this website's page about Black Grove Plantation, and written by Robert Adams. http://sankofagen.pbworks.com/w/page/14230389/Black%20Grove%20Plantation

Anthony Bryant was a free person of color who worked as a foreman for Robert Matson, who owned a plantation in Bourbon County, Kentucky called Matson' Farm. He also established a farm in Coles county Illinois called Black Grove, (although sometimes these two places are recorded as reversed). and would bring his slaves over from Kentucky to harvest. Each year, he took them back to Bourbon County after the harvest to preserve their legal status as slaves. This way they were not considered permanent residents of Illinois and could not be considered as free. Matson appointed Anthony Bryant as foreman on the farm.

In 1845, Matson brought some Kentucky slaves to the farm. Among them were Jane Bryant, wife of Anthony Bryant, and her children. Although Anthony was a free man, Jane and the children were not.

Jane was a bright complexioned mulatto woman of 40 years old (b.1805). Her daughters, Mary Catherine about 14 years old; Sally Ann about 12 years old, and Mary Jane, about 5 years old, were also bright complexioned mulattoes. Her son, Robert Noah, about 3 years old, was dark. Jane’s father was James Matson, a brother of Robert Matson.

Mary Corbin was Matson’s housekeeper. She had a terrible temper and in August of 1847 she got mad at the slaves and threatened that the children would be sold south. The threat was to Jane Bryant. There was proof that blacks could live free in Illinois and so Anthony and Jane sought out a way to live free. There was the Brushy Fork community that consisted of free black people of black, white, and Native American heritage. It was located near Brushy Creek about ten miles southeast of the farm. The Bryants sought help from Gideon Madison “Matt” Ashmore who owned a tavern in Independence, Illinois. Independence is known today as Oakland, Illinois. He had no problem helping the Bryant family. Matt enlisted the help of Dr. Hiram Rutherford to provide guidance and financial help. Matt and Hiram were two of thirty-three people in the Coles County area known as supporters of abolition. Hiram’s brothers, John Rutherford and William Rutherford Jr., took part in the Underground Railroad. Dr. Hiram Rutherford often traveled to the homes of his patients. He had been to Black Grove Plantation and one time, Robert Matson, introduced him to Anthony Bryant.

Matt and Hiram, took Jane and the children to the jail in Charleston, Illinois where it was thought they would be safe. They bravely declared their abolitionist leanings with little regard to the social and legal consequences. Robert Matson petitioned the court that Jane and her children were his slaves in the State of Kentucky and claimed that it was by her request that he brought them to Illinois on a temporary sojourn with the intention of returning to Kentucky and that Jane and her children by the laws of Kentucky are his slaves. Jane and the children were declared runaway slaves according to the Runaway Law of the State of Illinois.

Matson accused Matt Ashmore of harboring slaves, and sued Matt $500 for each slave, a total of $2500. Matt accused Matson of having an improper relationship with Mary Corbin his housekeeper, who was also Matson’s mistress. Corbin had a baby by Matson that was born in 1846. Robert Matson was arrested and convicted on the charge having lived in improper relations with Mary Corbin. He was ordered to pay a court fine. It is believed that Matson never paid this fine. Matt Ashmore hired lawyer, Orlando B. Ficklin, to represent him. Hiram hired Charles H. Constable. Abraham Lincoln was hired to represent Matson. Matson paid Lincoln with an I. O. U. and Lincoln gave the I. O. U. paper to his father before leaving for Washington, D. C. Matson never made good on the I. O. U. Lincoln was never paid for his services in the Bryant trial.

When the circuit court convened on October 16, 1847 for a hearing on habeas corpus two state Supreme Court justices, William Gilman and William Wilson, heard the case. This was unusual. During the trial, Lincoln argued that the Bryants were in transit, they were going back to Kentucky and thus, rightfully, Matson's property. Illinois Courts were bound to honor the Kentuckian's rights under the doctrine of interstate comity. However, the judges ruled in favor of the Bryants and gave them their freedom. Judge William Wilson concluded that Matson had held the Bryants in a condition of slavery for over two years at Black Grove and, in doing so, he had manumitted them from service under the Illinois Constitution.

Following the trial, Anthony, Jane, and the children were taken, probably by Ashmore, to Quincy, Illinois, a town on the Mississippi River. There they boarded a boat which took them down river to New Orleans, Louisiana. They sailed on a ship from New Orleans to Liberia. Their passage paid by donations from Matt Ashmore, Hiram Rutherford, and others.

Samuel S. Ball, a black barber and Baptist elder from Springfield, Illinois attended the annual meeting of the Colored Baptist Association in Madison county, Illinois in August, 1847. During the meeting, the association reviewed reports on the condition of the Republic of Liberia favorably and sent Ball to Liberia to review the conditions and report on its advantages as a place for Illinois blacks to relocate. Relocation was considered as a possible solution to the racism and legal discrimination that Illinois blacks experienced. Ball arrived in Liberia on May 16, 1848. While there he encountered Anthony Bryant and his family. Ball returned to America by August 24, 1848 and submitted his report. He included his meeting with Anthony Bryant.

He wrote in his report, "saw a family of six while in Monrovia, the Rev. Anthony Bryant, wife and four children, who were sent from the State of Illinois in 1847...They were truly in a deplorable situation." Anthony asked Ball for money to help them return to America. Ball was not able to help. It is not known whether or not the Bryants ever returned to America.

Anthony Bryant passed away after Ball's visit to Liberia in 1848. There is no information as to where or when.

Sources

• http://sankofagen.pbworks.com/w/page/14230389/Black%20Grove%20Plantation
• Ball, Samuel S., Liberia, The Condition and Prospects of the Republic: Made From Actual Observation, A Report Made to the Tenth Annual Meeting of the Colored Baptist Association, Alton, Illinois: "Telegraph Office", 1848.
• Lincoln, Abraham, author, Daniel W. Stowell, editor, The Papers of Abraham Lincoln, 4 Volume set: Legal Documents and Cases, supra note 22.01.18; In the matter of Jane, A woman of color 5 west. L. J. 202.202-06, Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2007.