A single photograph survives. A thick setblack man with broad arms and huge hands.
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| Isaac: worked hard for Jefferson |
He stares at the camera without the traceof a smile. His name is Isaac Jefferson Granger, and he was one of the hundredsof slaves owned by Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States.
President Jefferson is perhaps best knownas the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. He is also known for his vigorous opposition to the internationalslave trade.
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| The slave master: President Jefferson. |
In recent years, his relationship withSally Hemmings, a mixed race slave, has received much attention. So, too, havethe children that he fathered by her.
Yet Jefferson had an army of other slavesworking on his Monticello estate, among whom was Isaac the nail-maker.
Isaac’s story might have been lost to theworld, had it not been for a clergyman, Rev. Charles Campbell, who interviewedhim in 1847.
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| Unique manuscript |
His memoir sheds a fascinating life on howPresident Jefferson treated his slaves, as well as a snapshot of daily life athis magnificent Monticello estate.
Isaac was born into slavery in 1775, thethird son of a married slave couple, Ursula and George. They also worked atJefferson’s Monticello estate: George would eventually rise to become overseerof the entire estate, earning himself the nickname King George in the process.His wife (‘Queen Ursula’) was laundress and pastry cook.
When Isaac turned 15 - in the year thatJefferson became president - he accompanied his master to Philadelphia. Hetravelled on horseback, a rare luxury, and was apparently well treated.
It was in Philadelphia that Jefferson sethim to work on an apprenticeship, learning metalworking skills. Slaves were farmore useful if they had a craft. ‘He went to learn the tinner’s trade,’ readsCampbell’s account. ‘First week [he] learned to cut out and solder.’ Later, heproduced little pepper boxes and graters.
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| Monticello in 1825: by Jane Braddick |
Jefferson was a jovial and warm individual,according to Isaac’s account.
‘[The] old master used to talk to me mighty free,’ herecalled, ‘and ask me: ‘How you come on Isaac, larnin de tin business?’
Jefferson was delighted by his hard-workingslave: Isaac was his most productive nail-maker. According to Jefferson’smeticulous account books, he could make 507 pounds of nails in 47 days. Heearned the highest daily return for his master: the equivalent of eighty-fivecents a day - almost all of which went into Jefferson’s substantial pockets.
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| Slave trade, Africa. Where it all began |
Isaac was later made a gatekeeper ofMonticello, opening the several sets of gates to Jefferson’s friends andvisitors. Among the regulars was Colonel Cary, who Isaac disliked intensely: hedescribed him as the most ‘dry looking man as ever you see in your life.’
Cary was indeed a cruel individual whotreated Isaac with contempt. He frequently whipped him on arriving atMonticello. ‘He has given Isaac more whippings than he has fingers and toes,’wrote Rev Campbell.
Cary would whip him at the entrance gatesand then whip him again later in the day. ‘The colonel … [would] look about forhim and whip him with his horsewhip.’
Cary would often stay several weeks atJefferson’s house: during that time, most of the slaves were severely abused byhim.
When Jefferson grew infirm, Isaac becamehis carer and nurse. ‘He was took with a swelling in his legs,’ wrote Isaac.[I] used to bathe ‘em and bandage em…’ He’d then wheel him around in aham-barrow.
Isaac’s memories of his slave owner weresurprisingly fond: Jefferson treated him well and was unusually generous to hisslaves. When the Rev Campbell asked Isaac what he thought of Jefferson, he saidhe was ‘a mighty good master.’
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| A slave auction |
In October 1797, Thomas Jefferson gaveIsaac, his wife, Iris, and their sons to his daughter. It is not known howIsaac eventually won his freedom. Nor is anything known about the fate of hiswife and two sons. Rev. Campbell only noted that Isaac died ‘a few years afterthese his recollections were taken down.’
He died a free man - after half a lifetimein slavery - but almost certainly never lived to see the abolition of slavery.
That did not come about until 1865, morethan a century after Jefferson had described slavery - with no apparent irony - as ‘an abominable crime’
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'Idiosyncratic and utterly fascinating... an extraordinary tale of hardship, horror and amazing good fortune' James Delingpole, The Daily Mail
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