Venus, slave of Thomas Craighead, was Sister of the first published American Negro poet, Phillis Wheatley

Thomas Craighead’s slave Venus: Sister of the first published American Negro poet Phillis Wheatley

Carlisle Herald, January 3, 1849. For the Herald. “Dec. 5, 1794.*—Died in Boston, Mass. aged thirty one years, Phillis Wheatley, a poet and native of Africa. She was brought to America in 1761, when she was between seven and eight years of age. She soon acquired the English language, and made some progress in Latin. While she was a slave in the family of John Wheatley, she wrote a volume of poems, very respectable in measure and in sense.” From Scintillations of History in the S. E. Post.” *She died in 1784.

“Mr. Editor—The above Phillis Wheatley is supposed to have had a sister named Venus. Both were captured on the coast of Africa while bathing, and both were King’s daughters, and beautiful in the estimation of their own people. Venus, who often related the circumstance, belonged as a slave to old Thomas Craighead, decd. of South Middleton township. She has a daughter named Phillis, now living in the Poor House of Cumberland County. Old Mr. Craighead, being a ’76 Whig, did not record his slaves under the Act of 1780. Although free, he made ample provision in his will for Venus. Her honesty and piety endeared her to all of her acquaintances, particularly to the Rev. Dr. Davidson and Rev. John Craighead, both of whom she adored. She used to say she had a ring on every finger and two on her fum (thumb) when captured. Venus always claimed to be the oldest of the two. The above might have a corner in your useful paper. T.C.”

T.C. was Thomas Craighead (1789-1865) the son of John Craighead and his wife Jane Lamb.  The “old Thomas Craighead” he refers to in his letter was his grandfather who died in 1807. In 1845, T.C. also contributed a history of incidents relating to his family that was published in I.D. Rupp’s History of Dauphin, Cumberland, Perry Counties…. p. 440-444.

The Cumberland County Slave Register for 1780 indicates that, indeed, no slaves were registered to Thomas or any Craighead.¹ Tax records for Middleton Township indicate that 1782 was the first year Thomas Craighead was taxed for a negro. In 1795, he was taxed for one negro wench worth £5 and one negro wench worth £30. Was this Venus and her daughter Phillis? The 1800 U. S. Census records three slaves in Craighead’s household. Thomas Craighead, Sr. wrote his will in 1805² and mentioned “the service of my negroes.” He died in 1807, and tax records for 1808 show that none of the Craighead’s in Middleton Township (now South Middleton Township) were listed with negroes.

T.C. stated in his 1849 letter to the editor of the Carlisle Herald that Venus’s daughter Phillis was currently living in Cumberland County’s Poorhouse. The 1850 U. S. Census of the residents living in the Poor House in North Middleton Township include a Phillis Bacon, “black,” aged 80 who was deaf and dumb. Her first name, her age and her race indicate that she could be Venus’s daughter. Slaves often took the surnames of their masters or employers, and in Phillis’s case, she may have worked for or married a man whose surname was Bacon.

Benjamin Bacon of South Middleton Township was a free negro, aged between 26-44, according to the 1820 U. S. Census. He was a forgeman at Ege’s Iron Works who declared insolvency in 1812.³ Nothing more is known about him or Phillis Bacon, but persons with the surname of Bacon continued to live in and around Carlisle into the 1890s and beyond.

For  web sites and books devoted to the history and poetry of Phillis Wheatley (c.1753-1784); see https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/phillis-wheatley.