Slavery to freedom: The Greenberry Chambers story
In the mid-19th century Green Chambers (also known as Greenberry Chambers) lived as a slave in Barren County, Kentucky, with a wife, Charlotte, and five children who were apparently scattered among several slave owners. In 1864, Green was enlisted as a private in Company H of the 115th U.S. Colored Infantry in Bowling Green, Kentucky. His owner, Frank Chambers, received a certificate for the $100 bounty normally payable to an enlistee, as well as $300 in compensation for his value. In the fall of 1864 Green was severely injured while helping to erect a stockade at Fort Cynthiana, Kentucky — an injury that plagued him throughout his life.
Green Chambers was discharged from the Union Army in July of 1865 at Camp Dennison, Ohio and, according to Edward Neill’s History of the Upper Mississippi Valley, “He went in search of his children, three of whom he found, and after some difficulty were released from their master.”
Although Chambers set out to find a better life for his family, that life was not easily found in 1865 Kentucky. In September 1865 the family traveled by steamboat up the Mississippi River to Minnesota. According to the 1870 U.S. Federal Census, he was living in Anoka County with Charlotte and three children, Green Jr., George and Sarah. The Chambers family settled in the area near the present-day Centennial School campus in Section 24 of what later became Blaine Township, on land purchased from Henry Swift for approximately $1,500. The 1870 Agricultural Census shows Chambers as a farmer owning land with an estimated value of $1,000 and personal property valued at $700. Despite Green’s physical limitations, the Chambers farm had the third highest production of the 69 farms listed in the area. However, in October 1875 the sheriff foreclosed on the farm due to a $677.70 debt owed on Chambers’ 160 acres.
The 1880 Agricultural Census for Blaine shows him owning 18 acres (in a different, unknown location in Blaine) of tilled and 80 acres of woodland; also six horses, four milk cows, eight other cattle, three swine, 40 poultry and one sheep.
An 1881 electoral register shows Green Chambers and his son Green Jr. voted in the annual township election that year. In 1878, a year after the founding of Blaine Township, Green Sr. was elected constable on the town board, where he served through 1881. In 1882 Green was elected as road overseer.
Sometime in 1884 the family, including Green Sr., Charlotte, Green Jr., and Sarah, moved to St. Paul (George died around 1874). Charlotte helped with financial support by cleaning, washing and ironing, but contracted pneumonia and died at the age of 59 on Dec. 3, 1884.
In 1890 Green Sr., Green Jr., and Sarah were living at 890 Juno Street in St. Paul. Green Sr. received a Civil War veteran’s annual pension of $48, but he supplemented his income by working as a railroad porter. Green Chambers Sr. died on July 18, 1898, at the age of 85 on Juno Street and was buried in the family plot at Oakland Cemetery in St. Paul. The grave markers for Charlotte and the others are unreadable; since Green Sr. was a Civil War veteran, his grave marker has been replaced.
Excerpt from the new book, “Forward — The Hidden History of Blaine” by the Blaine Historical Society. The excerpt has been lightly edited to fit this format. The book will be available for purchase in late August at blainehistory.org.
