Arts and SciencesJune 19, 2024

UAFS Professor Identifies, Honors Enslaved Populations of Van Buren

Written By: Rachel Putman

In December 2023, the Board of Directors for the Arkansas Humanities Council awarded a $4,327 grant to Tom Wing, UAFS assistant professor of history, for the request entitled “Researching the Enslaved at Drennen-Scott.” The grant, with additional assistance from the Dean’s office of the College of Arts and Sciences, provided travel funding for a week of research in the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History on the University of Texas at Austin campus.  

In the 1940s, the University of Texas acquired the Drennen-Scott family papers because of interest in the friendship and business dealings between Sam Houston and John Drennen. Wing had previously researched the archive briefly in 2006 and more closely in 2012, but this time, he wanted to focus primarily on the history of slavery at Drennen-Scott. The grant also funded travel for independent scholar and nationally acclaimed genealogist Angela Walton-Raji, whose great-great-grandfather was enslaved by John Drennen. 

"I am still incredibly moved by my experience at the Briscoe Center," Walton-Raji said. Her expertise in African American genealogy alone was an invaluable benefit, but she also brought her own family's oral history, adding a personal stake in the research.  

Wing and Walton-Raji arrived in Austin and spent five days in March 2024 researching the 17 archival boxes, including business and personal papers from 1828-1872. They immediately found the deed for the first parcel of land owned by John Drennen in Arkansas (Territory) in 1831. Drennen purchased the land from Nimrod Menifee, whom Menifee, Arkansas, is named after, and a bill of sale from 1840 with John Drennen’s first documented slave purchase from Auguste Choteau of St. Louis. 

During the last day of their March trip, Walton-Raji had the unique experience of holding an original document bearing her great-great-grandfather, Patrick Drennen's name. The document, a Probate Record of John Drennen's Estate, dated back to 1860. Patrick died in 1858 and is the only African-Americanburied in the Drennen-Scott family plot in Fairview Cemetery. Wing first discovered Patrick in the records on his first visit to this archive in 2006. “I called Angela that day and told her from the entry area to the reading room.” Experiencing the intersection of history and heritage with Walton-Raji was deeply moving.

"I have known about Patrick for many years and have seen his name," she said. "But to see his name on an original document from before the Civil War, touches me in a way that cannot clearly be described.  Prior to that day, I had seen duplicates of the record that I saw in Texas, but to see the original page, and to touch the ink that reflected his name still leaves me in awe."

"Had he not become ill and died young, he would have lived to see freedom," Walton-Raji reflected, "But not only can I see his name, I can also know that his burial site is protected. And I am grateful that his gr. gr. granddaughter can call his name, can whisper to his spirit that he is not forgotten and that as we celebrate freedom today somewhere in the great beyond he hears us as we call his name."

Another document found in the collection was a bill of sale transferring land and 18 enslaved people from John Rogers, founder of the city of Fort Smith, to John Drennen, who was a co-founder of Van Buren. Drennen’s attorney, Albert Pike, wrote the deed.  

Wing and Walton-Raji also discovered a record of an escape in the collection. Charles, enslaved on the Drennen-Scott estate in Van Buren, stole a horse and escaped to the Cherokee Nation. He was later caught in Missouri and returned to Van Buren. According to the records, he sold the horse, but it was recovered as well. Wing and Walton-Raji came across more information about the enslaved and the conditions they lived in. The papers are filled with the names and ages of the enslaved, woven in and out of the deeds and public records. This information makes it possible to trace ownership, bondage, and eventual freedom for some of those enslaved by the Drennen-Scott Family.  

This research will include input from UAFS Emeritus History Professor Billy Higgins and Dr. Kelly Houston Jones, professor of History at Arkansas Tech University. Higgins brings a wealth of knowledge of 19^th-century Arkansas and his own research and writing about “free people of color.” Houston Jones has published the definitive overview of slavery in Arkansas, a required read in UAFS History of Arkansas courses. She recently spoke about enslaved women in Arkansas on the UAFS campus for Women’s History Month.

Walton-Raji, Wing, Higgins, and Houston Jones will confer to develop an exhibit strategy for permanent exhibits on slavery at the Drennen-Scott Historic Site. Wing anticipates pursuing additional grant funding and possible foundation and donor support for the exhibit. The video will include Walton-Raji’s unique perspective as a descendant of those enslaved. 

The Drennen-Scott Historic Site is owned and operated by the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith. It includes the home of John Drennen, built in 1838 and passed down through five generations of his family. Original furnishings are included. UAFS purchased the home and secured restoration funds from 2005-2010, opening to the public in 2011. The site also encompasses the Willhaf House, built by German immigrant Leonard Willhaf. A baker by trade, Willhaf was a contemporary of John Drennen and Charles G. Scott. 

Hours of operation are 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from April through November. Entry is free, and guided tours are available. Contact information is available at  Drennen-ScottFREEuafs or 479-262-2750.