Charlotte Parker (b. circa 1797 - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-51363
Maryland State Colonization Society Emigrant to Liberia from Queen
Anne's County, 1835
Biography:
Charlotte Parker was a resident of Queen Anne's County and the wife of manumitted slave and farmer, Eben Parker. The Parkers' five daughters–Amie, Kitty, Elizabeth, Charlotte Ann, and Caroline–were all freeborn, indicating that Charlotte had also been free when they were born.1 On December 24, 1835, the Parker family emigrated to Liberia, sailing from Baltimore on the brig Fortune and arriving at Cape Palmas, Liberia on February 4, 1836.2 By 1837, their youngest daughter Caroline, who was only three months old at departure, was absent from the census, suggesting that she passed away.3
Despite suffering from crippling arthritis, Eben continued farming in the new settlement with the help of Charlotte and their daughters. His choice of crops led to several altercations with the local Grebo people, possibly because they viewed his cultivation of rice as a threat to their monopoly on the market.4 As tensions rose between Eben and the Grebo, Eben shot a native man attempting to reclaim a sheep that Eben had recently purchased from him. Two days later, on July 26, 1838, a band of Grebo descended on the Parker farm to exact revenge for their injured tribesmen. The Grebo killed Eben and three of his daughters.5 Charlotte later reported that the entire family could have escaped safely if not for Eben's stubbornness in wanting to face the Grebos. The colonial governor, John Russworm, described Charlotte's account in a letter: "They [the Grebo] were discovered by Parker and his wife time enough to have escaped, but his [Eben's] obstinacy was so great that he would not suffer even his wife to take the children and flee."6 Charlotte Parker barely escaped from the massacre in time, wounded and with a child in her arms.7 The child she rescued was most likely Elizabeth as she is the only Parker daughter recorded on the Liberia 1839 census.8
On July 20, 1840, Charlotte married Moses Hobbs but then seems to disappear from the colony's records.9 However, Charlotte's surviving daughter, Mary Elizabeth Parker, was recorded living in different households in 1843, 1848, and 1849 census records, suggesting that Charlotte was no longer living.10, 11, 12
2. Hall, Richard L. On Afric’s Shore: A History of Maryland in Liberia, 1834-1857. (Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 2003), 453.
4. Hall, 182.
5. Ibid, 184-186.
6. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (Papers of the Maryland State Colonization Society), 1817-1902. Correspondence 1/1837 - 10/1838 MSA SC 5977, Film Number M 13226. John B. Russworm to J.H.B. Latrobe, August 6, 1838 , p 2-3.
9. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (Papers of the Maryland State Colonization Society), Subscribers Reports Census, 1817-1902, MSA SC 5977, Film Number M 13247-1, Marriages 1840-1841.
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