The Life, including his Escape and Struggle for Liberty,of Charles A. Garlick, born a Slave in Old Virginia,who secured his Freedom by running away from his master's farm in 1843.
The Life, including his Escape and Struggle for Liberty,of Charles A. Garlick, born a Slave in Old Virginia,who secured his Freedom by running away from his master's farm in 1843.
From the autobiographical booklet first published in 1902, J.A. Howells & Co., Printers, Jefferson, OH.
From the autobiographical booklet first published in 1902, J.A. Howells & Co., Printers, Jefferson, OH.
I, Abel Bogguess, now Charles A. Garlick, was born near Shinnston, West Virginia, about the middle of February, 1827, on the plantation of Richard Bogguess. My parents were slave laborers on the farm, my mother having charge of the household. Mr. Bogguess was a bachelor owning some three hundred acres of land in Harrison County, and his brother owned five hundred acres adjoining. I had eleven brothers and sisters, nine of whom were living in 1843, when I left the old home for the North and the freedom I so often dreamed of.
​
As will be seen I was then sixteen years old and it was fully forty years before I threw off the yoke of bondage and became a freeman, before I again saw any members of my immediate family, except an elder brother, Rawley Bogguess Johnson, who took his departure form our Virginia home a day or two before I did, and subsequently found a home in Uniontown, Fayette Co., Pa. Rawley married prior to his leaving Virginia, and took his wife and children with him, and later located in Youngstown where his children still live.
​
Richard Bogguess died some four months prior to my leaving home, leaving a will which, it was understood, made his colored people free. The administrator, one George Harter, left the same day I did to visit Fairmount, the county seat, ten miles away, to probate the will. I had litle confidence that I would secure the freedom I sought through the provisions of the will, and found subsequently that I was right, for the will was contested.
I, Abel Bogguess, now Charles A. Garlick, was born near Shinnston, West Virginia, about the middle of February, 1827, on the plantation of Richard Bogguess. My parents were slave laborers on the farm, my mother having charge of the household. Mr. Bogguess was a bachelor owning some three hundred acres of land in Harrison County, and his brother owned five hundred acres adjoining. I had eleven brothers and sisters, nine of whom were living in 1843, when I left the old home for the North and the freedom I so often dreamed of.
​
As will be seen I was then sixteen years old and it was fully forty years before I threw off the yoke of bondage and became a freeman, before I again saw any members of my immediate family, except an elder brother, Rawley Bogguess Johnson, who took his departure form our Virginia home a day or two before I did, and subsequently found a home in Uniontown, Fayette Co., Pa. Rawley married prior to his leaving Virginia, and took his wife and children with him, and later located in Youngstown where his children still live.
​
Richard Bogguess died some four months prior to my leaving home, leaving a will which, it was understood, made his colored people free. The administrator, one George Harter, left the same day I did to visit Fairmount, the county seat, ten miles away, to probate the will. I had litle confidence that I would secure the freedom I sought through the provisions of the will, and found subsequently that I was right, for the will was contested.
Page 1: Early Years (you are here)
Page 1: Early Years (you are here)
