Stepney Family

• Slavery at Liberty Hall: The Stepney Family, Part 1

  By Sara Elliott, Director

  

  The first enslaved Black people came to Kentucky with the early European explorers in the mid-1700s. Protected by the 1792 state constitution, slavery continued to grow until by 1860 24% of the population was enslaved.[i] Although most Kentuckians did not own slaves there were over 225,000 enslaved African Americans in 1860, the largest number in the state’s history.[ii]

• Slavery at Liberty Hall: The Stepney Family, Part 2

  By Sara Elliott, Director

  

  This is the second in a multi-part blog about the enslaved Stepney family that lived and worked at Liberty Hall. These biographies are based on the continuing research of the LHHS staff. Brown family letters and documents gave us hints about the Stepneys. Public resources like wills, city directories, census, and tax records filled in some of the details.

• Slavery at Liberty Hall: The Stepney Family, Part 3

  By Sara Elliott, Director

  

  This is the third in a multi-part blog about the enslaved Stepney family that lived and worked at Liberty Hall. Thanks to the Brown family archives, public documents like tax records and censuses, and publications like city directories we have been able to piece together a little of the Stepneys’ history. Unfortunately, we only know where they lived and what kind of work they did. We do not know how Miles and Hannah met. We do not know what kind of disability their daughter Mourning had. We do not know anything about their hopes and dreams.

• Slavery at Liberty Hall: The Stepney Family, Part 4

  By Sara Elliott, Director

  

  This is the fourth and final installment in the blog series about the enslaved Stepney family. These biographical sketches may have contained information that seemed contradictory or confusing. As has been said before, African American genealogical research can be very difficult. We have collected information on people we believe are the Stepneys who worked and lived at Liberty Hall. Without corroborating documents, it is hard to confirm which individuals with the surname Stepney, found in post-Civil War public records, were enslaved by the Browns.