Highly Recommended Book - The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation by John F. Baker, Jr.

The author, John F. Baker, Jr., has dedicated his life to researching the families of slaves that lived on one of the largest plantations in Tennessee, from the early 19^th century through the Civil War. He was inspired at a young age to begin this journey after learning that he was descended from a family in a photograph in his school textbook. He decided to learn more about his family, until it became an obsession. Having himself grown up not far from the plantation, he was in close contact with many of his older family members, they the children and grandchildren of these former Wessyngton slaves. Some of them believed that Baker’s research and the writing of this book was a part of God's plan.

 

Through the vast collection of plantation records and personal letters of the slave-owner’s family (held at the Tennessee State Library & Archives), interviews with the descendants of both former slaves who worked on Wessyngton plantation and the family that owned it, and even DNA and archaeological evidence, Mr. Baker is able to paint a lively and engaging portrait of the families and the times. The personal letters he quotes throughout the book help to bring to life the relationships between slaves and masters.

 

The book does not end at emancipation, however, and follows the families of the former slaves through the Reconstruction and Jim Crow periods, then touching on the Great Migration, when some of the families left their lifelong homes in Tennessee to escape the bigotry of the South.

 

With over 300 slaves having lived and worked on Wessyngton plantation over the course of nearly a century, this project was highly ambitious, to say the least. His research is extremely thorough, though, and he provides citations and notes to the many records he used, so you can go back to view the original sources. At no point that I can recall does Mr. Baker speculate on events without some evidence of factuality.

 

Mr. Baker is also available for interviews and lectures, and family history consultations. The website that accompanies the book provides a wealth of complementary information, including a video, a reader’s guide, and a blog. He is also on Twitter.