Tuesday, January 16, 2024

True Life Tuesday: Nance Legins-Costley

The strength that this woman showed at such a young age is very memorable. This is another one I think should be a movie.

Born Nance Legins Cox in 1813 in Kaskaskia, Illinois. It is believed that she was the daughter of Randall and Anachy Legins. Her parents were indentured servants to Colonel Tom Cox. The laws allowed for Nance to also be held as an indentured servant until the age of 28. By the age of 7 she was working at Cox's Columbia Hotel. She was illiterate but she paid close attention to the conversations of the hotel guests. In 1822 Cox moved his entire household to Springfield, Illinois. 

In 1827 Cox was required by the court to sell all of his possessions, including he servants, to pay for his outstanding debts. Nance was sold to Nathan Cromwell for $151. Nance fought the sale and said that she would not leave the only household she knew. She was placed in a windowless salt house for a week and then was taken by force to Cromwell's home in Sangamotown. Cox did appeal in court to keep his possessions on several occasions but eventually the Illinois Supreme Court denied his requests. 

In 1829 Cromwell moved his household to Tazewell County where he and his wife founded the town of Pekin. When his wife died in 1836 he decided to move his household to Texas. Nance objected to the move because she had a child with another on the way. Cromwell also did not want her to come since it would be viewed as improper for an older white man to travel with a pregnant black girl. Cromwell met with local merchant David Bailey who owed him $400. Cromwell agreed to wipe the debt out if Bailey took Nance in. Bailey, an abolitionist, agreed as long as Cromwell provided the document showing Nance's servitude. Cromwell agreed but never provided the document before he died in Saint Louis on his way to Texas. 

After Cromwell's death Nance declared herself free and left Bailey's service. A relative of Cromwell's tried to sue Bailey for the $400. Bailey stated that the sale was null since the document of Nance's servitude was never provided. A court determined that Nance was still a servant even though Cromwell died. Bailey appealed this decision to the Illinois Supreme Court and ask his old military buddy, Abraham Lincoln, to argue the case. At the time Lincoln was ambivalent on the issue of slavery but this case changed his mind and made him an abolitionist. On July 9, 1841 Lincoln argued the case in front of the Supreme Court and they found in his favor. Nance and her children were declared free based upon the idea that the Illinois constitution allows all people regardless of race their freedom. 

Nance had married Benjamin Costley, a free black man, on October 15, 1840. They had a total of 8 children. They remained in Pekin where she became a pillar of the community even with the anti-black stance of many in the town. She was always ready to help others. In the 1830's there was an outbreak of cholera, malaria and scarlet fever in town. Even though she had no medical training she help to take care of the sick in the area while also putting herself at risk. Her son William was a member of the regiment that announced the end of slavery in Texas on June 19, 1883. 

Benjamin died in 1883 and she went to live in Peoria, Illinois with her oldest daughter and her husband. She died there on April6, 1892. She was buried in Moffat Cemetery which the city ended up closing in 1905. Eventually the cemetery was paved over with only about 100 of the over 3000 graves moved. There is no paperwork stating if Nance was one of the graves that was moved. In 2017 there was a memorial sign placed on a fence on the property where the cemetery was.

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