The Story Of Samuel & Mary Cabell: Forbidden Love & Murder
Samuel Cabell was a land owner in the 1800s. He was a member of a wealthy family, who were major land owners in Virginia, as well as being heavily involved in politics and most other aspects of power within society. Samuel Cabell was also a slave owner, who purchased land once owned by George Washington in the Kanawha Valley in the mid-1800s. Upon this land, he built the Piney Grove plantation. He also worked some of his slaves in the salt mines in eastern Kanawha County.
Cabell eventually became infatuated with one of his woman slaves, Mary Barnes. He began to court her, and then married her. Marriage between slave owners and their slaves was not completely unheard of during slave times, but his relationship with Mary was certainly atypical. Instead of casting her off and ignoring the children they had together, he moved Mary and the children into the main house. Cabell had several wills drawn up during his life, which he hoped would insure that his wife and children would become the owners of all of his property and landholdings, as well as be freed from slavery.
One night, a group of white land owners from the area got together to go meet with Cabell at his home. He was found dead the next morning. After a quick trial, which was mostly for show, all seven men indicted were acquitted of murder. Evidence and sentiment at the time, however, pointed to premeditated murder due to his marriage to a slave being the most likely scenario. After his death, all of his documents were found to be in order by county officials. In 1870, Mary and the children were given plots of the land divided among them, running from the hill to the river. The family lived on the land until the late 1800s, when the land was sold off in pieces. Their family cemetery stands on land near the football field today, and contains the graves of Mr. Cabell (spelled Cabbel, a variant of his name used interchangably), his wife Mary and two of their children.
The Cabell Family & West Virginia State University
In 1891, after the Second Morrill Act created land grants for African-American institutions of higher learning, Governor Aretas G. Fleming set sail down the Kanawha River looking for a place to build an institute with the new federal grant money. Several communities flatly denied the request, including St. Albans. The governor's boat eventually landed at a small African-American community, where he found people eager to get behind the project. Marina, daughter of Samuel and Mary, sold her 30-acre plot to the state, and other plots were eventually sold to create the campus for the new Colored Institute. The community quickly adopted the name Institute. West Virginia State University, as it is now known, still serves the region over 100 years later.
*****INSTRUCTIONS FOR FINDING THE FINAL STAGE ARE BELOW*****
THE FINAL STAGE IS LOCATED AT:
N 38 AB.AGD
W 081 EG.FCA
A = BIRTH YEAR OF ELIZABETH PEACOCK - _ _ _ A
B = NUMBER OF LETTERS IN PERSON'S NAME THE FLAGPOLE IS DEDICATED TO
C = DEATH YEAR OF J. McHENRY JONES - _ _ C _
D = DATE OF DEATH OF DORA BROWN CURTIS - FEBRUARY "D" 1960
E = DEATH YEAR OF GRAYDON C. BROWN - _ _ _ E
F = BIRTH YEAR OF ALICE, WIFE OF SCOTT B. - _ _ F _
G = DEATH YEAR OF MAN W/OBELISK GRAVESTONE - _ _ G _
***NOTE*** Parking at the first stage is limited, and much of the nearby parking is by permit only. Make sure you park in places where you won't be ticketed. Also, there is construction going on at Fleming Hall near the site. Be careful.