Old Shiloh

The Shiloh AME Zion Church and its surrounding residences comprised one of Asheville's first communities established by emancipated people after the Civil War.

The Shiloh church and community was originally located on land that now comprises the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. The community now known as Old Shiloh was established as early as 1874 when two African American men, John Smith and Joseph McFarland, purchased land from a white man, Montraville Patton. Patton had enslaved a large number of people in the Asheville area and it is possible that many of the people who founded Shiloh had formerly been enslaved on the property. The same year that Smith and McFarland received the deeds to their parcels in Shiloh, the Shiloh AME Zion Church was founded and more families began to purchase land in the community.

However, in 1889, George Vanderbilt, in an effort to expand his land holdings as he planned to build his Biltmore Estate, expressed interested in buying the land in Shiloh. The community negotiated with Vanderbilt's lawyer, Charles McNamee. Vanderbilt paid at least twice the market value for the land and buildings and agreed to relocate the Shiloh church and cemetery to their present-day locations, what is now known as New Shiloh.

Scroll down to find out more about the history of Old Shiloh and the stories of some of its earliest residents.

The first deeds available that refer to property in Old Shiloh are from 1874. In these deeds, Montraville Patton (a white, former enslaver) sold 35 acres to John Smith (a Black, formerly enslaved person) and 6 acres to Joseph McFarland (a Black, formerly enslaved person). The language identifying the property boundaries suggests that some of the founders of the Shiloh community were living in the area prior to officially purchasing their property from Patton (see note 1). It is likely that some of Shiloh's founders had once been enslaved on the property. African American people continued to purchase land "near Shiloah (colored) Church" (see note 2) until 1889, when Charles McNamee, an attorney acting on behalf of the soon-to-be-constructed Biltmore Estate's George Vanderbilt, began purchasing these properties and arranging for the relocation of the church and cemetery.

Most of the parcels in "Old Shiloh" were between 10 and 20 acres, but some were as large as 122 acres, with the smallest being 5 acres purchased by Caleb Mallory in 1888 via work trade, valued at $50 (See note 3). The average purchase price was around $7 per acre, but there was more than one instance where a person completed a work trade for their property. Harden Mallory and Robert White also paid for their lands in work trade, and in their case, the work had been completed a decade before the deed was issued (See note 4).

Montraville Patton was not the only person to sell tracts of land to the founders of Shiloh, but the land was primarily purchased from him. He and his brother Fidilio obtained this property via their father's 1827 last will and testament. The land Col. John Patton bequeathed was the land where he and his wife Ann raised 12 children and, per the US census of 1810, enslaved 22 people.

According to author Sadie Smathers Patton, "prior to 1792...before white settlers ever came a decisive battle had been fought during which a number of Cherokee warriors had been killed at the point later known as ‘The Haunted House’ on Swannanoa River where Col. John Patton lived.” (see note 5)

The home he built was a popular stopping place on the Buncombe Turnpike, the market route through the Blue Ridge Mountains for livestock droving farmers. According to Buncombe County Special Collections Manager, Katherine Calhoun Cutshall, "Many of Buncombe’s most wealthy and prominent slave-owners ran 'stock stands' or inns along the road." (see note 6) The Patton home stood on the Southern side of the Swannanoa River, “at the ford about half a mile above its mouth.” He built a bridge over the Swannanoa for people to use, where it remained until about the beginning of the Civil War. (see note 7)

After his father's death, Montraville continued to live on this property and enslaved 14 people in 1850. In 1860 he claimed 22 people on the Slave Schedule. In addition to leaving this property to two of his sons, Col. John Patton emancipated a slave named Dick in his last will and testament. He instructs Fidilio to allow Dick to settle wherever he pleased on Fidilio's portion of the property inheritance. We don't have any confirmation that Dick was able to live as a free person after Col. John Patton's death in in 1831, but this, along with the enslavement of people associated with this property over the course of several decades, indicates this geography as one of Asheville's oldest Black communities, extending well before emancipation and the first deeds purchased in association with Shiloh A.M.E. Zion Church.

Historian John Preston Arthur described the location of this house as, "at the ford of that [Swannanoa] river, when the stage road left South Main Street at what is now Victoria Road and crossed the Swannanoa." (see note 8). The book with this description was published in 1914. Use the following slider to compare a cropped image of a Sanborn Fire Map from 1917, showing the approximate location Col. John Patton's home with a current day map of the same general area.

While the Shiloh community may have been born out of slave dwellings or people formerly enslaved by the Patton family, African Americans from around the Asheville and Buncombe County region relocated to Shiloh after emancipation.

According to the 1870 Census, a few of the founders of Shiloh were living in "Asheville Township." These households included David and Manerva Robeson, and their 3 children; the Harden and Catherine Mallory household with their 3 children along with Isaac and Robert White. In the early 1880s, both Isaac and Robert purchased their own acreage in Shiloh. Isaac and Mary Logan, their 6 children, and Mary's mother Julia Ware were all living in Asheville in 1870, as well as the household of Charles and Louisa Collins, their 6 children, and a servant named Mary Johnson. John and Anna Smith resided in Asheville in 1870, with their infant son in the household of Alexander Wheeler.

Some other local communities where Shiloh founders lived in 1870 were Limestone and Sulphur Springs in Buncombe County and Hooper's Creek, Henderson County.

The map below is an estimation of the specific parcels owned by some of the founders of the Shiloh AME Church and community. The location of the church and cemetery was provided by historians at the Biltmore Estate, based upon existing depressions in the earth that indicate the former location of graves, which were exhumed and reinterred at the present Shiloh AME Cemetery. While the public record from this time period can be spotty, the 23 parcels in the map below are confirmed land owners that sold their properties to George Vanderbilts lawyer, Charles McNamee, between the years of 1888 and 1900, except for Charles Collins, who didn't sell his property until 1907. Their locations and shapes were determined based upon descriptions found in the property deeds, starting with the parcels closest to the church. Click on each parcel to read more about the parcels, including information on where you can find them at the Buncombe County Register of Deeds.

Charles McNamee was a personal lawyer to George Vanderbilt. When Vanderbilt decided to use his fortune to build his palatial estate he was determined to have his home and surrounding acreage situated on the alluvial farmlands adjacent to the French Broad and Swannanoa Rivers. His vision for curating the grounds, managing the surrounding forest, and building his Châteauesque home could only come into fruition by first acquiring the property. Vanderbilt, who was a famously wealthy bachelor at the time, feared that he would be unable to procure the property he desired at a fair market price. In order to prevent potential extortionate land prices, he had Charles McNamee negotiate the sales, as his agent (see note 9).

Through researching the property deeds and comparing that information with the sources provided by the Biltmore Estate Archives, it appears that Shiloh resident Isaac Logan owned a parcel that shared a boundary with a man named Isaac Erwin. In the description of Joseph McFarland's property, the name Isaac Vance was noted as having a neighboring property. Upon reading further, it appears that this Isaac Vance also shared a property line with Isaac Logan, situated exactly where it appeared that Isaac Erwin's property lay, meaning that it is likely that Isaac Vance and Isaac Erwin are the same person.

This suggests that Isaac Erwin was formerly enslaved by the Vance family, who at one time lived in Weaverville. The historians at Vance Birthplace confirmed that former North Carolina Confederate Governor and Congressman Zebulon Vance did enslave a man named Isaac in the years prior to emancipation. Isaac is mentioned in a letter to Zebulon Vance from his wife Hattie, sent from Asheville and dated March 6, 1860. She describes Isaac's recent illness and recovery.

Isaac is able to sit up and I trust, with care, will be able to go to work next week. I do hope so for the garden & c is needing him very much. I want potatoes planted, but will have to wait until he is able to do it - indeed there are various things needing his attention.

Hattie Vance mentions Isaac again, writing her husband from Statesville, N.C., where she was living at the end of the Civil War, on June 5th, 1865.

Isaac & Julia have left, greatly to my satisfaction as they were trying me <greatly> not a little.

Could the Isaac who was enslaved by Zebulon and Hattie Vance have traveled from Statesville back to Buncombe County to reunite with friends or family after the Civil War? The Vance name doesn't appear in any of the other deeds or records related to Shiloh, which indicates that Isaac Erwin did change his name. Without a definitive record, it is difficult to confirm, but there is other evidence to suggest that he had been enslaved by the Vances. On the Slave Schedule of the 1860 census, Zeb Vance lists a 26-year-old Black man, which aligns with Isaac Erwin's age and race on the 1880 census. Zeb Vance also had connections to Erwins through his maternal grandmother, Hannah Erwin Baird, and there is record of intra-familial exchange of enslaved people between the two households.

In 1873 Isaac Erwin and Emma J. Avery married, and that year had their first child, Rina. Two years later they purchased 14 acres in the community of the Shiloh AME Church from Montraville and Catherine Patton for $98. By the 1880 census the Erwin family had grown. Emma and Isaac now had two daughters, Rina (7 years old), and eight-month-old Mary who was born in the fall of 1879. Isaac lists his occupation as "farmhand," suggesting that in addition to homesteading on their own property, Isaac was paid to work on a commercial farm. The census indicates that Isaac also had an unnamed disability, but it apparently did not prevent him from working. Emma's occupation is listed as "keeping house," which can be interpreted as maintaining their own house, both because their children were still so young and because other women on the 1880 census with paid domestic jobs listed their occupations as "washing" or "domestic work." Isaac Erwin's name also appears in the Biltmore archives as a trustee of the church.

The Erwin family does not have an abundant public record trail, but they do have a compelling one. It would come to pass that they would not stay in the Shiloh community after Charles McNamee purchased their property. In 1885, Isaac Erwin died intestate, widowing 32-year-old Emma with 3 children, 12-year-old Rina, 6-year-old Mary, and a young son, also named Isaac. Being without a will, the distribution of Erwin's 14 acres went to the probate courts. Court records list Emma and the children as inheritors, along with another person, Sandy Erwin of Madison County. Sandy Erwin is yet another potential connection between the Vance's and Isaac Erwin. Zebulon Vance's mother, Mira Baird Vance enslaved a man named Sandy Erwin, who was married to a woman named Leah. Leah and Sandy may have been Isaac's parents, and according to historians at Vance Birthplace, they lived in Sulphur Springs after emancipation, but could have lived in Madison County by the time of Isaac's death in 1885.

The Erwin's were represented in probate court by the attorney for petitioners in Buncombe County, F.A. Sondley. It was determined that the 14 acres owned by Isaac Erwin could not support Emma and her three children. The property was described as: "devoid of timber, rocky, and unfertile." It was also determined by the courts that Emma would be unable to support her children as a widow, and the Clerk of Superior Court appointed a guardian, Samuel Reed, a white lawyer. In 1888 Emma relinquished the guardianship of her children to Reed, and their 14 acres were sold to Charles McNamee for $380. One third of the money from the sale went to Emma, and the remaining 2/3 was split 4 ways, between each of the three children, and Sandy Erwin.

After the sale of their home in Shiloh, the Erwin children seem to disappear from written records. Samuel H. Reed is listed as the guardian of the Erwin children on the property's deed of sale to Charles McNamee. (see note 8) Reed is also listed as the guardian of several other children involved in property sales to McNamee: Samuel and James Ashton; Alice, John, Samuel, and Jane Hawkins; Nancy Leatherwood; and Samuel Logan.

On the 1890 census, Reed is listed as a 29-year-old white lawyer living with his wife, Jessie, and their infant daughter, Kate. They employed a live-in cook and had two female boarders living in their household, all of whom were white and seemingly had no connection to Shiloh. In the 1900 census data, the Reed household, in Biltmore Township, consists of Samuel and Jessie, one daughter, two sons, and two African American servants, Mariah Gudger and Ed Brown. There is no evidence of any of the children under Reed's legal guardianship.

Emma went on to remarry in 1892, to a man named Adam Walton, and Harden Mallory (also a Shiloh founder) was listed as one of their witnesses. Emma and Adam Walton do not appear in later census data, and there appear to be no records of Emma reuniting with her children after she remarried. Other public records indicate that Adam Walton was a preacher and trustee of the Rock Hill Baptist Church, which is south of New Shiloh. I also found Adam's death certificate. Adam Walton, originally from McDowell County, died a widower at the age of 89 in 1924. He was buried in the Rock Hill Cemetery.

Harden Mallory and his family are listed as residents of Asheville Township on the 1870 census. Various public documents list Mallory's birth year as anywhere from 1825-1833, but on the 1870 census, he is listed as being 40 years old. His wife Catherine is 36, and their three children are 15, 13, and 5 years old. Their children's ages indicate that Harden and Catherine had been together for at least 10 years prior to emancipation. In 1866, the North Carolina General Assembly required that all formerly enslaved married couples in North Carolina register their marriages with their local County Clerk. Though the name Mallory is not present in the Buncombe County cohabitation records, there is a marriage record between a man named Harden Patton and a woman named Catherine Tenant, dated March 8, 1866.

While this record does not have enough information to confirm that Harden Patton and Catherine Tenant are Harden and Catherine Mallory, it presents the possibility that Harden Mallory may have been enslaved by one of the two slave owning Patton families in Asheville.

Montraville Patton and James Washington Patton were both born at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and they both were amongst Asheville's largest slaveholders. They shared a Scottish ancestor, Reverend William Patton, who died in Northern Ireland in the 1640s. Montraville Patton's branch of the family tree had been living in America for four generations, and Asheville specifically for three. James Washington Patton was a first generation Irish-American. His father, James Henry Patton, immigrated from Ireland, settled in Asheville, and opened the Eagle Hotel in 1817. Both families were wealthy, powerful, and influential in the development of Asheville, and there is evidence to support the theory that either - or both - of these men enslaved Harden Mallory.

In 1835 James Henry Patton bequeathed a slave named Harden to his son James Washington Patton in his last will and testament. If this is Harden Mallery, based upon the range of birthdates recorded in the public record, he would have been a child, between the ages of 2-10 years old. It is unlikely that he would have been listed in Patton's will without his mother if he were on the younger end of this spectrum, but it was not uncommon for enslaved children to be separated from their mothers and sold as early as seven or eight. James H. Patton died 10 years after he wrote his will, which would mean Harden was a teenager or young adult when James Washington Patton inherited him. Many of the people enslaved by this branch of the Patton family worked in the Eagle Hotel or adjacent livery stable that the hotel provided for their white guests. Or perhaps Harden was employed in building Asheville's main east-west corridor, Patton Avenue, which was built in the 1840s following J.W. Patton's proposal.

In deed book 45, page 451 The name Harden appears again, this time in a slave deed from 1855. In this deed, J.F.E. Hardy sells Harden, along with a few other people, to William M. Hardy for "the use and benefit" of his daughter, Emma A. Tennent. J.F.E. Hardy was a physician in Asheville in the 1800s. He inherited property from James Henry Patton in his 1835 will, so it can be assumed that Pattons were close with the Hardy family, which strengthens the possibility that the person named Harden that was bequeathed to James Washington Patton, is the same person named in this slave deed. This deed links Harden to the Tennent family, and possibly Catherine Tenant. 1855 also happens to be the estimated birth year of Harden and Catherine Mallory's first child, Caleb.

Three people in the Old Shiloh community purchased their properties form Montraville Patton by trading their labor. They were all connected to Harden Mallory. The infrequency of this kind of arrangement suggests that Mallory and Montraville Patton had some familiarity with one another. The property deed specifies that Mallory had performed the work fairly soon after emancipation, in 1872. This contributes to the speculation that Harden Mallory and M. Patton already had an established work relationship prior to emancipation. Ten years passed between when Mallory performed the work and when he registered the deed for his sixteen and a half acres.

After emancipation, Harden and Catherine Mallory became prominent members of the Shiloh community. In 1870, Harden and Catherine lived with their three children Caleb, Harriett, and Emma, and two young men, Isaac and Robert White.

Isaac and Robert would both go on to purchase their own acreage from Montraville Patton in the Shiloh community. Robert, like Harden, paid for the ten acres through a work trade. Though the work for the land was performed in the early 1870s, presumably while he was living in the Mallory household. (see note 10), he did not officially receive the deed until 1882. Robert married the eldest daughter in the Mallory family, Harriett "Hattie," in 1876. In the 1880 census, two years before obtaining the deed to the land and four years after they married, Robert and Harriett lived separately from Harden and Catherine with their first two children.

Isaac White is also not listed separately from the Mallory household on the 1880 census, although it would be another four years before he purchased his 20 acres from Montraville Patton. (see note 11) Isaac married a woman who was also named Harriett in 1873 and both Robert's and Isaac's families relocated to "New Shiloh" by 1900. Robert and Hattie would eventually have a total of five children, and Isaac and Harriett would have nine.

Harden Mallory was influential in the Shiloh community. As a trustee of the Shiloh AME Church, he directly negotiated the terms of sale of the church property with Charles McNamee. According to documents in the Biltmore Estate archives, it was Mallory who proposed that McNamee would secure a new property for the church, as well as erect a new church and pay community members to relocate the dead to a new cemetery location:

After a long discussion of the matter which was brought up on motion of Hardin Mallory that the church land and building at Shiloh be sold to Charles McNamee by the trustees on condition that said McNamee convey to the church one acre of ground now owned by William Bailey near Hardin Mallory's land, erect thereon a new church and remove thereto the remains of those buried in the present grounds. (see note 12)

Harden Mallory's foresight to establish the new church and cemetery before demolishing the original one may not have been his only contribution to the prospering of the New Shiloh community. In 1880, Harden and Catherine's son Caleb was in his early twenties and still living in their household. Caleb was the third person to purchase property through a work trade (in July of 1888) and he would be the last resident of Shiloh to purchase property in the Old Shiloh location. Charles McNamee started purchasing acreage from Shiloh residents in May of that same year. Because Harden Mallory was so prominent in the community it is likely that he was aware that McNamee was offering people 2-4x what they paid for their parcels. Perhaps he saw an opportunity for his son Caleb to make a savvy investment, and capitalized on his relationship with Montraville Patton to obtain 5 acres for his son in exchange for work trade valued at $50. (see note 13) Supporting this idea is the fact that in a deed registered on the same day of his purchase, Caleb Mallory sold his acreage to Charles McNamee for $230. (see note 14)

Harden Mallory's ability to advocate for his community, and his business acumen in the transactions that occurred during the community's relocation would benefit Shiloh for generations. Some of his descendants still live in Shiloh today, and they can pay homage to his life and work at the cemetery that may not exist if it weren't for him.

Charles Collins was the only founder of Old Shiloh who did not sell his property to George Vanderbilt in the late 1880s. His nearly 6 acres was once a part of the Patton family estate, but was sold to J.F.E. Hardy, a local physician and former enslaver, as part of a larger tract after the Civil War. When he died in 1877, Hardy bequeathed this tract of land to his son, Edwin, who sold part of it to Charles Collins in 1879 for an unknown amount. (see note 15)

Charles Collins built a small cabin on this acreage where he lived with his wife, Louisa. Census records show that over the years Louisa and Charles raised seven children in this home. All of their children attended school, likely at the Shiloh A.M.E. Zion Church, where Charles Collins was on the board of trustees. (see note 16) In 1880 there were ten people living in the Collins home, including three servants. (see note 17) The Collins' were the only residents in Old Shiloh with servants, though it does not appear that they were any more affluent than their neighbors. In 1880 Charles Collins lists his occupation as “Gardener” and Louisa, like many of the other women in Old Shiloh, worked as a laundress. The two youngest sons in the Collins family, James and Charles J., aged 13 and 11, worked as farm hands in addition to attending school. Two of the three people identified as servants in the Collins household share the Collins name, suggesting that these servants were also relatives and perhaps their living and working situation was not a traditional servant arrangement.

The Collins family remained on their property even as their church and neighbors moved away one by one and the building of Vanderbilt's mansion commenced. Collins' refusal to leave his property fueled rumors about his reasons for staying, which often depicted him as a stubborn and ignorant negotiator. It was claimed that Vanderbilt made massive offers on his property, which Collins refused in hopes of getting an even larger sum. In addition, there were allegations that Vanderbilt cut of Collins' water supply and planned to build a wall or plant trees around Collins' property, blocking out the sunlight and hiding it from view. (see note 18) The main road to Vanderbilt's mansion passed by the Collins’ home, which only served to highlight the contrast between Vanderbilt's wealth and the Collins family's ordinary homestead, which fueled the rumors and outlandish claims.

Many photographs were taken of the cabin and the Collins family. Souvenir postal cards with a picture of the shack and the wording: ‘The Cabin That Vanderbilt Can’t Buy’ printed thereon have been sold by the thousands during the past several years. - The Madison County Record, Marshall, NC, 1907.

Memorabilia documenting this apparent anomaly was produced and sold, including these hand engraved napkin rings currently housed by the Western North Carolina Historical Association:

Charles McNamee responded to the public's speculations in a letter to the editor of The Asheville Weekly Citizen, published in December of 1894. He rejected any claims of harassment imposed by Vanderbilt upon Collins, but he did claim that when he originally inquired about purchasing the property, Charles Collins requested an exorbitant price. Collins also made a public response to the rumors in a sworn affidavit published in December of 1895, by the Asheville Citizen Times. Collins didn't address his reasons for not selling to Vanderbilt, but confirmed that he "suffered no persecution or oppression of any kind at Mr Vanderbilt's hands." (see note 18)

Six years later, Charles Collins had the opportunity to explain his reasons for keeping his property in an interview published in the Statesville Record and Landmark. He stated that he simply didn't want to sell his property to Vanderbilt, and described his connection to the land where he lived:

I was born and raised right here in Buncombe County and I've been living on my place there at Biltmore for 56 years - that's how old I am. - Charles Collins, 1901 (see note 19)

Charles Collins had been living on the same property since he was born into slavery on the Patton family estate in 1845. His transition from enslavement to owner on this acreage, with Louisa likely alongside him, was more valuable than McNamee's offer. (see note 20) By 1900, only two of Louisa and Charles’ children remained in their home, Janie and Charles J. Collins. Janie Collins was 16 years old, and was their youngest child. Like her mother, Janie worked as a washerwoman. Charles J. was 30 years old and married to a woman named Sarah. They lived in his parents home with their 3 daughters, Louise, Agnes, and Annie, all under the age of 5. Charles J. and his father both list their occupation as “teamster,” meaning they drove a team of horses pulling a wagon, either making local deliveries or offering driving services to people. The proximity of a professional driver to Vanderbilt’s mansion proved advantageous for both his guests and for Collins. In 1895, as soon as the Biltmore Estate was opened to the public, most of Charles Collins' business came from driving visitors to and from the Biltmore Estate. (see note 18)

Charles And Louisa's oldest son, Napoleon Collins was married to a woman named Minnie, and according to the census from 1900, they lived on Bailey Street (now Asheland Avenue) with 6 of their 8 living children. Francis Collins, who was just a year younger than Napoleon, was listed as a 17 year old boy who worked as a laborer on the 1870 census. In 1880, Francis Collins was listed as Charles and Louisa's 18 year old daughter, who attended school and had no occupation. In 1894, Napoleon and Minnie Collins helped Francis purchase half an acre of land from Harden Mallory adjacent to the New Shiloh schoolhouse. (see note 21) A year later, they co-signed for Francis to take out a personal loan from a man named Robert M. Wells, and the deed for the loan labels the unmarried woman in her late thirties as a "spinster." (see note 22) In 1897 Francis gave birth to a daughter, Lillian Harding Collins, but listed no father on the birth certificate. (see note 23) By 1900, Lillian was living in her grandparents home, and further record of Francis is yet to be found. Charles and Louisa's other children, Anna, Ailsey, and James, evade the public record in their adulthood.

In 1907, Charles and Louisa finally sold their acreage to George Vanderbilt for $2,000. (see note 24) The media portrayed the transaction as indicative of Collins’ resignation to a long standing disagreement over the purchase of the property. Newspaper articles made claims that Collins refused offers ranging between $9,000 and $65,000, depicting Collins as defeated when greater offers did not come. (see note 25) One Washington Post headline read, “Negro Who Had Spurned Millionaire’s Offer for Years Relents,” and “Obstinacy Cost Him $8,000.” (see note 26) These articles depicted Collins as an aging man, succumbed to the power of his wealthy white neighbor, and Vanderbilt as a benevolent victor, who could not be swindled by the former slave. The Altoona Mirror claimed that Vanderbilt would “pay the former slave some hundreds of times what the thin soil is worth, with it’s three bedroom cabin, [and] will build a house elsewhere for him and keep it in repair for the rest of his life.” (see note 27)

In reality, the Collins family had already left North Carolina by the time they sold their property to the Vanderbilts. (see note 28) In the Statesville Record and Landmark interview from 1901, Charles reveals that he and Louisa decided to move away from North Carolina due to State legislation intended to disfranchise Collins and other African American North Carolinians.

He is going away...and gives as a reason for his leaving what he considers the injustice of being disfranchised. - The Statesville Record and Landmark, 1901.

In 1899, the North Carolina General Assembly drafted an amendment to the state constitution that restricted African American men’s access to voting by requiring a poll tax and a literacy test. Voter registration forms were subjected to scrutiny by Democratic politicians to ensure they were done “correctly.” To protect the suffrage of poor white voters, they included a “grandfather clause” that maintained voting rights for descendants of men who had voted in 1867. These measures were a politically calculated means of circumventing the 15th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and strengthening systemic white supremacy with the law. 

The Collins family appears in the 1910 U.S. Census, living in Edgeworth, Pennsylvania. Charles and Louisa, along with their sons, Napoleon and Charles J., their daughters in law, Minnie and Sarah, 7 granddaughters, and 1 grandson, traversed the 500 miles through the Appalachian mountains to the small borough on the Ohio River, 14 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. Charles Collins worked as “a houseman with a private family”, Napoleon was a general laborer, and Charles J. was a gardener. 

Charles Collins had spent the first 60 years of his life living on the same land, through his enslavement, emancipation, and community establishment, through fatherhood, and becoming an object of local mythology. He lived out and, in all likelihood, exercised his right to vote for the remainder of his years in Edgeworth in the company of his wife Louisa, two of their sons, and their many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

" It's time to rethink my image of Shiloh ," by John Boyle, Asheville Citizen-Times, Sept. 18, 2021

Researched and created by Emily Cadmus.