Gaining Independence
By the mid-1850s, after being freed, Horace King maintained the level of responsibility he always had and used his new rights to become more independent.
In the mid-1840s, Robert Jemison, Jr. had "probably encouraged the emancipation, so he could better employ King on his various projects spread across two states." The Alabama Legislator's "relationship with Horace transcended that of slave and master, however. Jemison treated him as a colleague as well as a fellow saw miller and builder." In the 1850s, "as a freedman King continued working for those old masters and for other prominent men...In the span of fifteen years, from the time of his freedom until secession, King became one of the wealthiest men of color in Alabama or Georgia...By the 1850s King apparently sought larger projects in a wider geographical area than had Godwin or Asa Bates" (Lupold, John S. and French, Jr., Thomas L. Bridging Deep South Rivers, 2004). "As King's workmanship became known more widely, he grew more independent" (Gibbons, Faye. Horace King: Bridges to Freedom, 2002). |
Above: Article from The Albany Patriot, September 23, 1858
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Next: Later Years