Bringing in the sheaves

John Oliver, with family and slaves, migrated to north Cape Girardeau County from North Carolina in 1819, "to better his condition." Uncompensated laborers made the farm very productive, providing generations of Oliver wealth and well-being. By 1860, son John Oliver Jr. enslaved 34 men, women and children, who worked 1,000 acres of land and livestock (horses, mules, oxen, cattle, sheep and swine).

Grandson Robert Burrett "R.B." Oliver (1850-1935) wrote, in his later years, about his boyhood memory of the harvest of 1862. Sam claimed a featured role in R.B.'s memory. This enslaved man managed the farm's powerful oxen teams, but at harvest time, his strength, balance and artistry were showcased when the scythe cradler was in his powerful arms. R.B.'s father often hired extra hands to reap grain and, on this memorable day, R.B. said two white laborers joined the enslaved to tackle the harvest of a barley field, "and there was considerable spirit manifested," with the men "anxious to outdo ... and out cut" the rivals.

Sam was "the best of all cradlers," R.B. wrote. "Each of these men with their cradler cut a swath from 7 1/2 to 9 1/2 feet in width, and Sam took the lead in cradling that field. He divided it into two parcels and started across the entire field singing a song the words of which I don't recall, but it was a local folk lore and was inspiring. The rhythm of the song was adjusted to the sizzing [sic] of the scythe through the ripened grain. I was then 12 years old and I myself was excited to see these men racing across that harvest field nearly a quarter of a mile cutting down this barley."

Not long after this harvest, Sam, about age 28, "ran off," as did 33 others between 1862-65 -- events bitterly recorded in the family's detailed ledger. This inventory documented births (without parentage), sales and deaths -- spanning three generations -- of individuals enslaved by the Olivers.

Sam's lost skill weighed heavy on R.B.'s mind during the next meager harvest. The slaves were gone, and Union troop raids took off livestock. Limited by asthma, his father relied on sons unaccustomed to the hard physical work of the farm. Crop productivity miserably declined as brothers R.B., Frank and Clay struggled to plow with the remaining crooked-legged mule. They eked out a small crop of corn that year, barely enough to feed the family and remaining livestock.

In time, R.B.'s education opportunities and his subsequent career as a lawyer and statesman rebuilt Oliver wealth and well-being. In freedom, Sam chose the name Samuel Harris and located himself in the city of Cape Girardeau. The Federal Census of 1900 enumerated both men in the city, just blocks apart. Samuel Harris, a widower, well into his 60s, subsisted on day labor jobs and lived in a rented home. R.B. Oliver, with wife Marie, were newly settled in the formidable mansion he built in 1898 at 740 North St.