Books & Whitehall Area, Doris B Morton

Solomon Northup & David Wilson

Solomon Northup & David Wilson

This colored man was a native of Fort Edward, and at times lived in Whitehall, particularly in the summer of 1831, when he worked for “Dyer Beckwith and a Mr. Bartemy.” In 1841 he was enticed away from Saratoga, kidnapped, and sold south in slavery, where he remained until rescued in 1853. The book is well written, even thrilling in certain parts,coming so soon after Uncle Toms Cabin as it did it had considerable circulation‘before the war. It was published simultaneously in Auburn, Buffalo and London, England.

‘The last and largest, but the least worthy of his books was published Auburn and New York in 1853. It is called Henerietta Robinson, being an account of the life, adventures and punishment of a noted adventuress and murderess of that name. The culminating crime was the murder of two people in Troy, a man named Lanagan, who kept a grocery on River Street, and a young woman called Lubee, who was visiting at the Lanageras. After a sensational trial she was convicted and sentenced be hung, but the governor commuted her punishment to life imprisonment in the face of her violent opposition.

Wilson was an easy and fluent writer, particularly strong as a narrator of incidents, but he did not posses much wit still less imagination. His life of Jane McCrae shows considerableresearch , but the Northup and Robinson have little merit His Ship Fever storyis inter esting because of it’s local flavor, but the historical made by him init are almost as in accurate as they could be. His poetry, the few surviving pieces that we have, is of much finer grain, and makes us regret that much of his work has been lost.

But good or bad, with the exception of W. A. Wilkins, Wilson was the only author of any moment that Whitehall has ever produced, and he is entitled to at least a tablet to his memory within the town where he lived and labored.

AMERICAN BIOGLAPHICAL NOTES:     P. B. Hough

WILSONS;

  • Pg 431, Dr. Allen, d at Plainsfield,NJ. 26 May 1842 AE36- “ a man of superior talents”.
  • Clara, d near Alton, Ill. l3 Dec. 1859;said to be 125 yrs old. Had been a slave in
  • S.C. and was carried west 70 yrs before her death.
  • Clarenden J.L., Lieut., lst Rgt.dragoons, d Albuquerque, N. Mex. 21 Feb.1853, breveted for bravery in conflicts of E1Emado and. Taos NM.
  • David,author of Soloman Northrup, formerly clerk of assembly; d at Albany NY. 9
  • June 1870 AE 52
  • Edgar C. NO. VA. lawyer, congressman, Wheeling Dist. d at home Morgantime, 24 Apr. 1860.
  • Isaac b Batavia Ill. 25 Oct.1848;War of 1812 commanded Co of cavalry, served both houses of NY. legislature.1823 to congress after term was appointed judge of Genesee So. NY. until eremoval to Ill.
  • James b Adams Co. Pa., 28 Apr. 1779; d Gettysburg Pa. July 1868 Justice of peace 1- 11-1859; member of congress, 1823-29.
  • James d 28 July 1824; U.S. Senator 1815-21 srom NJ.; postmaster Trenton, d 28 July 1824;
  • Lieut. John, b Va., killed Eutaw Springs, 8 Sept.1781
  • John, d Plainfield, NJ. Mar. 11,1840; AL ,65; judge of county court.
  • John b 1777, grad. Harvard 1799;lawyer, congress from Mass 1813-15; 17-19; d Belfast Ne. 9 July,1848
  • John, vocalist, composer, d Quebec, 8 July 1849 Pg 432,John, d Maine, 1 Nov.1859; AE 103;
  • John A. d 14 Sept 1841, Wash D.C.U.S.Marshall, Dist of Columbia Jonathan, Capt. Mass. Troops, killed Concord Mass. l9 Apr. 1775 Capt. J.D.(of steamer) Siena, Nevada; d Panama, 1 Mar. 1853
  • Louis D., col. 12th Inf. d Vera Cruz, Mex.. l3 Aug. 1847; 2O year member of legislature of No. Carolina.. 1842-43 speaker of senate
  • Mrs. Nathaniel, d at Wilson’s Mills, Oxford Co. Me.; 1 Nov.1859 AL 103 years 8 mo.3 dy.
  • Capt. Robert d Charleston S.C.,  31 Oct 1846; AL 82, president of Marine Society, boarding officer for customs house; Pa. in his youth on board a privateer was captured and settled in Charleston after release.
  • General Robert d St. Louis Mo., 9 May 1870, AE68