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The western part of Virginia which became West Virginia was settled in two directions, north to south from Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey and from east to west from eastern Virginia and North Carolina. The earliest arrival of slaves was in the counties of the Shenandoah Valley, where prominent Virginia families built houses and plantations. The earliest recorded slave presence was about 1748 in Hampshire County on the estate of Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, which included 150 slaves.〔Maxwell, Hu, ''History of Hampshire County, West Virginia'', pg. 397〕 By the early 19th century, slavery had spread to the Ohio River up to the northern panhandle. ==The beginning of slavery== Early settlers of property tended to recreate the familiar structures of eastern Virginia, building Georgian and Federal homes on large estates. The counties of the eastern panhandle, especially Jefferson and Berkeley, were the most reminiscent of eastern Virginia. Many prominent families, such as the Washingtons, Fairfaxes and Lees, had properties here. In 1817 Col. John Fairfax of Preston County began the construction of his mansion, Fairfax Manor, with the aid of his sons and 30 slaves. The old log homes on the estate, formerly the residences of Col. Fairfax and his family, became the slave quarters.〔Morton, Oren F., ''A History of Preston County, West Virginia'', Vol. 2, pg. 634〕 In 1836 David Gibson began construction of Sycamore Dale in Romney, Hampshire County, with the aid of 100 slaves. News of Ebenezer Zane's settlement near present-day Wheeling and the prospect of cheap and fertile land drew new settlers from as far away as New England. They would sometimes purchase slaves in Maryland and northern Virginia on their way to the Kanawha and Ohio River valleys. Large clearing of lands began after 1790. New settlers also moved into these areas from eastern Virginia and North Carolina.〔Ambler, Charles H., ''Sectionalism in Virginia, 1778–1861'', 1910, pg. 45〕 In the early 19th century new settlers on their way to the Missouri territory would pass through the Kanawha valley to the Ohio River and often remained there, attracted by the low cost of land and money made by leasing their slaves to the local saltmakers.〔Ambler, ''Sectionalism'', pg. 109〕 In 1800 Harman Blennerhassett built a large Palladian home on Belpre Island, now called Blennerhassett Island, on the Ohio River near Parkersburg.〔Sullivan, Ken (ed.), ''The West Virginia Encyclopedia'', 2006, pgs. 65-66.〕 Similar structures and accompanying slaves soon spread along the Ohio River up to the northern panhandle.〔Chambers, S. Allen, Jr.,''Buildings of West Virginia'', 2004 pg. 272〕 In 1814 Zadok Cramer wrote of his travels on the Ohio River in the ''Western Gleaner''-"There is a plain contrast between the different sides of the river, arising from slavery being forbid on one, and tolerated on the other...On the Virginia side there were some good houses at remote distances from each other, but accompanied by the negro quarters. On the other side neat cottages and comfortable cabins were to be seen at every little remove along the river..."〔''Buildings of WV'', pg. 234〕 Wheeling was the largest city in western Virginia and the fourth largest city in Virginia, poised northward between Ohio and Pennsylvania. The number of slaves in the northern panhandle was comparatively small, by 1850 the 4 counties had 247 slaves. One of West Virginia's northernmost plantations was Shepherd Hall, a Federal house built in 1798 by Moses Shepherd,〔''Buildings of WV'', pg 370〕 which had slavequarters, its own mill and tannery. In her visit to the United States in 1829, Frances Trollope found in Wheeling "all that sedulous attention which in this country distinguishes a slave state.".〔Trollope, Frances, ''Domestic Manners of the Americans'', 1927, pgs. 153-54〕 The Wheeling newspapers criticized the activities of Ohio humane societies and their support for runaway slaves.〔Ambler, ''Sectionalism'',pg. 1110〕 The Wheeling ''Daily Intelligencer'', until purchased by Republican Archibald Campbell in 1856, routinely printed articles defending slavery and attacking abolitionism.〔Henwood, Dawn, ''Slaveries 'in the Borders', Rebeccan Harding Davis's 'Life in the Iron Mills' in Its Southern Context'', The Mississippi Quarterly, Fall 1999〕 After his acquisition of the paper Campbell printed moderate attacks on slavery, keeping just short of breaking Virginia's laws restricting abolition propaganda. Wheeling's most noted writer of the period, Rebecca Harding Davis, explained Wheeling's unusual position-"We occupied the place of Hawthorne's unfortunate man who saw both sides."〔Davis, Rebecca Harding, ''Bits of Gossip'', 1904, pg. 109.〕 Wheeling became a major regional hub for hiring or selling slaves to the local salt industry and to markets in the lower south.〔Dunaway, ''The African-American Family in Slavery and Emancipation'', Cambridge Univ. Press, 2003, pgs. 21-22〕 Weekly slave auctions were held there and also in Charleston. When slaves were part of an estate, auctions were usually held at the county courthouse.〔Haymond, Henry, ''History of Harrison County'', 1910, pg. 302〕 In 1835 a large auction was held in Charlestown, Jefferson County. One male slave sold for $1200, a woman and four children for $1950,〔Bushong, Millard K., ''A History of Jefferson County, West Virginia, 1719–1940''〕 the modern equivalent of $30,000 and $49,000 respectively. Although slave owners were a minority in West Virginia, they owned a higher proportion of land and wealth and often held public office in the county and state, where they could adapt public policy to their interests.〔Dunaway, ''The African-American Family...'', pg. 10〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of slavery in West Virginia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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