Twyman's Mill Road

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

The James Twyman Plantation was located in Madison County, VA near this road. In 1849 Twyman manumitted 37 adult slaves and 7 children and arranged for them to settled in Lawrence County, OH at Burlington. This group traveled along the James River Turnpike and crossed the Ohio River into the free state of Ohio.

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

The Twyman family still owns property in Madison County, Virginia; and there is even a family cemetery on the property, but James Twyman is not buried there.

The family did not approve of his political views nor did they want him to manumitted his slaves. Madison County, VA is on the east side of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the freed slaves probably traveled south along (today's) US 29 until they reached the James River and Kanawha Turnpike, Virginia's state road. That road crossed the Blue Ridge and continued west across the Applalachian Mountains following the Kanawha River. The road has also been called the Midland Trail and connected Richmond, on Chesapeake Bay, to the Ohio River. The 37 plus slaves took several months to make the trip and a baby born in route was named "Traveler."

Sources

Federal Census, Madison County, VA 1830, 1840

Pratt, J. Earl: The Promised Land

Lawrence County, OH Deed Books

Madison County, VA Will Book