…Washington Spradling, 1802-1868

I’ve said it before, researching an individual isn’t as simple as vital statistics and census records. People leave bits of their story with everyone in their life just by living. Josie had so many wonderful people in her life who became a part of her journey. They lived and breathed the same air. Walked the same streets. They were strong and vital and committed to their community. Our communities include the people who came before us. The people who raised the people we love. That being said, Washington Spradling was someone who died before Josie was born. AND he had nothing to do with HER life. BUT he did have an impact on Preston Taylor, who was her best friend, Georgia Gordon Taylor’s husband. And also….we know I’m a bit much….a bit crazy…and OH MY GOSH…Washington Spradling pulled me into his life so completely! You simply have to meet him.

Washington Spradling was a free man of color living in Louisville, KY before the Civil War. His story began the same as many free people of color. He was born the child of a free White man and an enslaved Black woman.  Much of Wash’s early life was illustrated in an interview he gave in 1863 to Samuel G. Howe for the Freedmen’s Inquiry Commission. He detailed the inequality of freedom for free people of color and the challenges they faced in Louisville, as well as some vital personal information.

“Interviewed 1863, Kentucky
b. Kentucky Enslaved: Kentucky

I was born a slave. My father bought me, and I bought my own children five in number [Martha, William, Washington Jr., Julia and Ellen], paying from $275 to $700 apiece for them. I have bought thirty-three other slaves, a good many of whom have repaid me, and a good many have not. There is now $3337.50 due me from slaves that I have purchased.

There is no provision made here for the care of poor and sick colored persons, except in case of small pox. A pony purse is made up among the colored people to bury the dead who leave no property. Our principal difficulty here grows out of the police laws, which are very stringent. For instance, a police officer may go [to] a house at night, without any search warrant, and, if the door is not opened when he knocks, force it in, and ransack the house, and the colored man has no redress. …. Another difficulty is this. If a freeman comes here, (perhaps he may have been born free) he cannot get free papers, and if the police find out he has got no free papers, they snap him up, and put him in jail. …I have to pay taxes to the amount of sixty dollars a year for schools. There is no colored school in any other part of the state except in this city. Colored children in Lexington, Frankfort, and other places, have to come here, if they go to school at all.“

An  1897 history on negro success read as follows “Washington Spradling was the leading colored man in business and the largest real estate holder. He was a barber by trade, but he made his mark as a business man by trading and brokerage, in connection with his shaving. His mode of making money consisted in buying and leasing lots in different parts of the city and building and moving frame cottages upon those lots. He also built several brick business houses on Third Street. Mr. Spradling had man peculiarities; his dress was very common, as he exhibited no pride in that direction. He loved to converse on law, and though he was uneducated, was considered one of the best lawyers to plan or prepare a case for the court. He was very successful, and nearly every colored person who was in trouble (more or less) first consulted Washington Spradling; he selected the lawyer and prepared the case. He was seldom defeated, and, if so, he was sure to take an appeal. His customers were the first judges and lawyers of the State, and from long and constant contact with them he seemed to have acquired their inspiration. He was a Methodist by profession, being a member of the Jackson-street M.E. Church. In the early history of that church it was called Spradling’s Church. He died in the year 1867 [sic] and his body was rest in the Jackson-street church, Rev. Hiram Revels, ex Senator, preached the sermon. His wealth was estimated to be one hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars, which was willed to his wife, children and grandchildren. His son, Wm. Spradling, was his successor.”

You read all that and you think “that Wash Spradling! What a good business man! What a good man! What a good human!” He was buying slaves who wanted to be free and then letting them pay him back. He was buying his children and freeing them. He was buying land and putting rentable cottages on them. He was employing slaves and free people of color alike, offering opportunity where perhaps there was none. Here’s the thing though, I cannot decide if Washington Spradling was a philanthropist bad ass protector of his people, or a Black mafia leader. It could really be either or BOTH! Oh my GOODNESS, Louisville.!! The scandal!! What the heck was happening in Kentucky? Falcon Crest or Dallas worthy scandal for sure. Fights were goin down. People were getting beat. Skulls were being found on Wash’s property. Lots of money being loaned. He was a powerful man, with powerful connections within the White community.

One of the first things to strike me as odd was Wash’s children. All online family tree and genealogy sources listed his wife as their mother. However, Wash said “I bought my own children five in number.” Why did he have to buy his children? He married Lucinda Ann Jackson, in Jefferson County, KY in 1828. Lucinda was a free woman of color. To be legally married both parties had to be free people of color. If Wash and Lucinda had children, they would have been born free. WHO the heck was the mother of his children? Turns out, its a few different women! All while married to Lucinda. He had Martha, William and Wash Jr. with Maria Slaughter. Julia and Ellen, as of this point have unknown to us mothers, and his youngest son Will was born in 1866 to Henrietta Richardson. Now understand, I send no judgement back to Wash. I have no idea what his marriage was like. This was just the first curiosity that I noticed in the life of a man, filled with curiosities. I live for curiosities!

Wash was an astute businessman, as well as a shrewd real estate investor. He was what I call “Lincoln educated man.” His education was driven by his passion to learn, with no formal education his knowledge was vast. Although there were later reports that he couldn’t read or write, and his success was due to luck. The same account said his wealth would have been far more had he been educated. He was an invisible politician. His barber shop was centrally located and his clientele numbered among the most prominent politicians and businessmen in Louisville. The power he yielded was unmatched for a free man of color.

Wash had a hand in every aspect of the Black community of Louisville: faith, education and business. He sponsored churches and schools in Louisville. He provided loans for buisness endeavors and homes.

Wash did not sit quietly and accept inequality. When his license to sell liquor was denied, he applied again. After he was threatened by unhappy White businessmen who were intimidated by his success, he sat at his barber shop door with a pistol, daring them to come closer. This gave me “Godfather” like vibes. This was Wash. This was his vibe.

Wash was often in the papers for indcidents: brawls, arrests, carrying a pistol. One disturbing account was that of G.W. Caldwell who was a young “negro boy” bound to Washington Spradling. Wash was renting the boy in an indenture like capacity to Patsy Blue, aka Patsy Tucker, a free woman of color. Patsy was abusive towards Caldwell, beating and abusing him daily. The abuse was so bad that custody of the boy was taken away from Wash and given to the court.

Washington Spradling died May 13, 1868. His funeral was reported to be attended by thousands, people following behind his hearse as a band played and citizens lined the roads.

A couple years after he died, his daughter Ellen Spradling, was married to Preston Taylor. Preston Taylor was a handsome devil, a veteran of the U.S. Army. Ellen’s brother William was a witness to the wedding. It is entirely possible that this union is what made it possible for Preston to become successful. He married well. He was able to prosper. I have often wondered what would have happened to Preston if Wash hadn’t died so young. Preston Taylor was many things, but being a good husband, was not one of them. It is unknown what happened in their marriage, but Preston said he and Ellen were divorced after only three years. His next marriage ended after only a few years because he “whipped” his second wife bad enough for the local courts to prosecute him. I feel in my bones that this isn’t something Wash would have taken lightly. But we’ll never know.

Wash knew freedom. He lived it. But he also lived surrounded by the institution of slavery and suffocated by the inequality heaped upon his race. He deftly maneuvered around barriers, not always quietly. He barely got to see others enjoy freedom before he died. I’d love to research the people he helped. The ones whose freedom he purchased, the ones who worked in his barber shop and those who were lucky enough to have him on their side, but I don’t have time. I don’t know….maybe I do?? Guess you’ll have to wait.

Source Quoted: Gibson, W. H. (William H.). History of the United Brothers of Friendship And Sisters of the Mysterious Ten: In Two Parts ; a Negro Order ; Organized August 1, 1861, In the City of Louisville, Ky. Louisville, Ky: Printed by the Bradley & Gilbert company, 1897. pg. 173-174