The Obituary of a Former Slave

by

John J. Dunphy

Originally Published in Springhouse magazine (30:6)

Typos! Damn typos! In the top paragraph, second column, it should read: “The Hurlbut-Messenger house was located…”

Visualize quotations marks after 100 in paragraph three.

John J. Dunphy’s books include Abolitionism and the Civil War in Southwestern Illinois, From Christmas to Twelfth Night in Southern Illinois, Unsung Heroes of the Dachau Trials, Lewis and Clark’s Illinois Volunteer and Murder and Mayhem in Southwestern Illinois. He owns The Second Reading Book Shop in Alton, IL.

Addendum:

I was contacted on Facebook by a woman who said she is a descendant of Nancy Sims. She sent me this photo of Nancy Sims holding this baby. The baby could be my Aunt Dot, who was born in 1901, but I can’t be sure. Other children grew up in the Hurlbut-Messenger home.

This descendant of Sims wrote that when this ex-slave could no longer work for the Messenger family, she moved into the family’s house at 1321 Taylor Street in Alton.