The Matson Slave Trial

The Matson Slave Trial (HMKMZ)

Location: Oakland, IL 61943 Coles County
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Country: United States of America
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N 39° 39.25', W 88° 1.632'

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— Looking for Lincoln —

Top Section
Dr. Hiram Rutherford was a key person involved in Abraham Lincoln's famous slave case, the only instance in his career where Lincoln represented the rights of a slave owner. Robert Matson brought slaves from Kentucky to work his farm north of Independence each year until after the harvest. By doing so, Matson was taking advantage of a common loophole in Illinois law, which allowed slaves to be held here while in transit. In 1847, one of Matson's slaves, Jane Bryant, argued with his housekeeper and future wife, Mary Corbin. Mary threatened to have Jane and her children sent south to be sold. Jane's free husband, Anthony, learned of the threat and sought help from Gideon Ashmore and Hiram Rutherford of the village of Independence (now Oakland.) Rutherford and Ashmore concealed the runaways in Ashmore's hotel while Matson brought suit against them for the loss of his property, hiring Usher Linder and Abraham Lincoln as his lawyers. Lincoln made his case that under the law, the runaways should be returned to Matson because he had publicly declared that they were not held permanently in Illinois, but were in the state for temporary labor.

Lower Section
While the outcome of the Matson trial resulted in freedom for the Bryant family, Hiram Rutherford and Gideon Ashmore realized the Bryants couldn't stay in Illinois. Black Codes written into the Illinois constitution discouraged free blacks from living in Illinois. Many abolitionists and other favored returning freed slaves to Africa including Abraham Lincoln, an early advocate of this movement.
With the help of Rutherford and Ashmore, and a donation from Lincoln's law partner, William Herndon, money was secured to transport the Bryant family to Liberia, Africa, which was established as a home for freed American slaves. In 1848, Reverend S. S. Ball of the Colored Baptist Association of Illinois, traveled to Liberia to report on conditions there and found the Bryants in a "deplorable situation" and wishing to return to America, a task that he could not accomplish.
Details
HM NumberHMKMZ
Series This marker is part of the Illinois: Looking for Lincoln series
Tags
Year Placed2008
Placed ByOakland Landmarks Inc
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Thursday, September 18th, 2014 at 4:32am PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)16S E 411876 N 4389878
Decimal Degrees39.65416667, -88.02720000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 39° 39.25', W 88° 1.632'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds39° 39' 15.00" N, 88° 1' 37.92" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)217
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 516 Pike St, Oakland IL 61943, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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