EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; ELLA SHEPPHARD P/14

                                                                   Read Part One HERE

In this story I will focus on a woman named Ella Shepphard. She lived from 1851 - 1915. Her father was Simon Sheppard and her mother was Sarah Sheppard. Ella was born enslaved on Andrew Jackson's plantation. Her father had purchased his freedom by hiring himself out as a Nashville, Tenessee liveryman and hack driver. 

When Ella was a little girl, her enslaved mother threatened to drown Ella and herself if their owners refused to permit her husband to purchase her and her daughter Ella's freedom.But an elder prevented her, predicting that "the Lord would have need of the child." 

Sarah's owners refused to release her mother, but allowed Ella to go with her father (Ella's mother was promised that her freedom could be purchased by her husband Simon, but the slave mistress reneged on the agreement. "Sarah shall never belong to Simon," she declared. "She is mine and she shall die mine. Let Simon get another wife." He later married another enslaved woman for whom he paid $1,300 to free her) and fearful he and his daughter might be re-enslaved, Simon fled penniless to Cinicinnati, Ohio.

A German woman taught Ella to play piano. Ella also managed to persuade an imminent white vocal teacher to give her twelve lessons provided she keep them a secret and arrive and depart at night by the back door. After her father's death from cholera, Ella supported herself, her stepmother and half-sister Sosa by teaching at a school for former enslaved persons. Managing to save about six dollars in five months, she proceeded to Nashville in 1868 to enroll at the Fisk Free Coloured School.

Read Part Fifteen HERE