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Preferred Citation

Mars & Jesse Lucas Letters from Liberia, Accession #11180, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

These letters were given to the University of Virginia Library by Richard T. Mann, Purcellville, Virginia, on May 4, 1995.

Scope and Content Information

This collection consists of eight electrostatic copies of letters, 1822, 1830-1831, and 1836, between the Heaton Family, Loudoun County, Virginia, and Mars and Jesse Lucas, emancipated slaves living in Liberia, Africa. The earliest letter, September 7, 1822, is from James Heaton to [William Allebone ?] which refers to the Missouri Compromise, "It is gratifying to think that the situation of our beloved country has altered so much for the better since the date of your letter. The Missouri question settled, and that black cloud which hung so portentously over our political horizon - threatening to prostrate our liberties and to involve us in civil war & bloodshed, has been dissipated by the calm still voice of reason & that attachment of all parties to the Union which has saved in many trying & critical situations. May a similar question never be revived, but may it sleep forever!" James Heaton also mentions two young doctors, Dr. Eackes, [Loudoun County ?] and Dr. William Taylor, Culpeper County, who had left him and commenced their medical practice, and his two sons, Albert and Townsend, both engaged in the study of medicine. Heaton plans on sending his sons to the Philadelphia Medical School although much "noise" had been made about the new school in Baltimore.

The rest of the correspondence (six letters) is from Jesse and Mars Lucas, emancipated slaves living in Liberia, to two brothers Albert and Townsend Heaton, near Leesburg, Loudoun County, Virginia, except for a copy of one letter from Albert Heaton to Jesse and Mars, April 29, 1830, full of advice and hopes for their success in Liberia, and referring to the evils of slavery, "You have felt and witnessed the degradation of your colour in this country whether slaves or the free people of colour, the latter tho they have no masters and are free yet they are only so in name...".

Jesse Lucas writes from Caldwell, where he lives on the [Saint Paul ?] River, about the voyage to Liberia where he saw a whale, sharks, and a flying fish, describes various plants in Liberia including the very useful [cassava ?], mentions that there are plenty of wild cattle, deer and goats, offers to send a pet monkey, and asks them to send apples, tobacco, flour, and a quantity of cheap handkerchiefs to trade with the natives (1830 Mar 10).

Mars Lucas, Caldwell, Liberia, also describes the voyage of the fifty-eight immigrants, who all arrived in good health, from Hampton Roads to Liberia. Thankful for his emancipation, Mars describes the land as fertile and describes the fruits and vegetables in the land, believes the natives are not given to industry but care only about hunting and fishing, and tobacco and rum. The land is eight miles from Monrovia, the capital, which has two forts (one with ten guns and one with four guns) and two Methodist churches and one Baptist (1830 Mar 12). Mars goes on in another letter, June 19, 1830, to report that he was recovering from a severe attack of fever but Jesse's wife had died, mentions trade articles such as tobacco, ivory, and beads, and that he is to go to Milburg by order of Governor Mecklin. He also discusses the difficulties of the colony, "I am much deceived with this country the reports, is all a lie, merely to encourage people to come to this country. Times is very hard, out here, everything is very dear and not to be had."

Jesse Lucas writes about the loss of two of his children and his need for tobacco and nails (1831 Feb 2). Another letter from Jesse and Mars Lucas mentions the loss of Jesse's children, Susan and Henry, the allotment of their land which they are now living on, the scarcity of silver and the high cost of everything, such as pork at eighteen dollars a barrel and flour for ten to twelve dollars a barrel, and the presence of leopards and large snakes (1831 [Dec] 29).

In the last letter to the Heatons, April 24, 1836, Jesse and Mars Lucas write about surviving a native attack on the American settlement at [Basso ?] where he and his brother were captured at the saw pit and taken to a native town. They were later freed and Mars went back and fought in a war against the natives. Many of their tools, saws, axes, pots, and clothes were lost in the attack. Jesse has been remarried to an American woman and has a son, Alexander Lucas. Meat is very difficult to secure and when they get meat it is usually monkeys and an animal similar to a rat. They ask them to send a barrel of flour and will send a barrel of rice in return; he also asks his brother to send him a couple of good hounds. Circumstances are so difficult for the colony in Liberia that he writes, "We both thought we were slaves when we were in that country but we never knew what slavery was until we came to this country, & that is the cry with every living man in the colony."