Page 122

“…called all slave women Dinah…”

Narrative of Talitha Lewis.

Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., Arkansas Narratives, Vol. 4, p. 252.

Talitha Lewis

“…Yankees weren’t even truly people…”

Narrative of Ruby Garten.

Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., Kentucky Narratives, Vol. 1, p. 29.

Ruby Garten

“…certainly not gentlefolks…”

Narrative of Adeline Jackson.

Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., South Carolina Narratives, Vol. 3, p. 3.

Adeline Jackson

“…to skin a slave alive.”

Narratives of Charlie Crump.

Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., North Carolina Narratives, Vol. 1, p. 214.

Charlie Crump

“…a Yankee who wanted slavery to end…”

This is inference drawn from the fact that Jarvis and Sims went on to be lifelong friends. Sims hid his views and ultimately acted as a spy on behalf of the Confederacy—as will be documented later in the book. I don’t think Jarvis and Sims could have remained friends if Jarvis was of an abolitionist mindset.

“…bled from his bowels…”

Letter from J. Marion Sims to William Jarvis, February 24, 1848.

Sims’s private letters to the family of George O. Jarvis, and subsequently to Jarvis himself, are held at the Hartford Medical Society Collections in Hartford, Connecticut.

“…his tongue turned white…”

Letter from J. Marion Sims to William Jarvis, February 28, 1848.

Sims’s private letters to the family of George O. Jarvis, and subsequently to Jarvis himself, are held at the Hartford Medical Society Collections in Hartford, Connecticut.

“…a pain in his hip…”

Letter from J. Marion Sims to William Jarvis, March 1, 1848.

Sims’s private letters to the family of George O. Jarvis, and subsequently to Jarvis himself, are held at the Hartford Medical Society Collections in Hartford, Connecticut.

“…drink porter beer…”

Letter from J. Marion Sims to William Jarvis, March 13, 1848.

Sims’s private letters to the family of George O. Jarvis, and subsequently to Jarvis himself, are held at the Hartford Medical Society Collections in Hartford, Connecticut.

“…the bones of boiled birds.”

Letter from J. Marion Sims to William Jarvis, March 15, 1848.

Sims’s private letters to the family of George O. Jarvis, and subsequently to Jarvis himself, are held at the Hartford Medical Society Collections in Hartford, Connecticut.

“…William Rufus King…”

Letter from J. Marion Sims to George O. Jarvis, April 7, 1848.

Previous to the mention of “Mr. King (at the Hall)” Sims refers to a number of his Montgomery colleagues by their last name along: Baldwin, Ames, Boling, etc. I have taken the honorific added to King as evidence that this is William Rufus King, who was famous throughout the region, and who famously fell ill (with the disease that eventually killed him) in 1848. This would explain too why Jarvis should be concerned with his well-being, and whether he will recover. Sims does not refer to King again, which I take as an indication that Sims was not treating him. Had he been, the name-dropper in him—evident throughout his autobiography—would surely have taken note of it.

Sims’s private letters to the family of George O. Jarvis, and subsequently to Jarvis himself, are held at the Hartford Medical Society Collections in Hartford, Connecticut.

“…he owned plantations…”

See “…like Senator William Rufus King…,” above.

Hatfield, M. O., & Wolff, W. (1997). Vice Presidents of the United States, 1789-1993. Washington (D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, p. 182.

“…he had been a senator…”

Hatfield, M. O., & Wolff, W. (1997). Vice Presidents of the United States, 1789-1993. Washington (D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, p. 182.

“…a diplomat in France…”

Hatfield, M. O., & Wolff, W. (1997). Vice Presidents of the United States, 1789-1993. Washington (D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, p. 185.

“…lived with another powerful senator…”

Hatfield, M. O., & Wolff, W. (1997). Vice Presidents of the United States, 1789-1993. Washington (D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, p. 184.

“…Miss Nancy and Aunt Fancy…”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_R._King#cite_note-6

“…a terrible cough…”

Although later histories put the onset of King’s illness at around 1850, a handwritten timeline of King’s life—seemingly created not long after his death—indicates that King first became ill in France, around 1846.

Hatfield, M. O., & Wolff, W. (1997). Vice Presidents of the United States, 1789-1993. Washington (D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, p. 187.

Handwritten timeline, anonymous and undated, held at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, Alabama.

“…our true abiding place.”

There is no record of what interactions King might have had with Anarcha, but as George O. Jarvis found Anarcha agreeable (See “…the largest room in Montgomery Hall…,” above) it seems likely that King too would have liked her. The things King reveals to Anarcha draw on a number of sources.

Letter from William Rufus King to “Loureza” (?), August 5, 1851.

The King family papers are held at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, Alabama.

“…lobelia tea and peach brandy…”

Narratives of Amanda McDaniel and Phil Town.

Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., Georgia Narratives, Vol. 3, p. 74, Vol. 4, p. 41.