Our History - "Stony the road we trod"
Our Earliest History
According to a genealogical researcher:
“Fletcher’s parents were possibly from western Africa around Nigeria or Ghana area. During the Atlantic slave trade around the late 1700 there is possibility, Fletcher’s parents were shipped from either slave port of Lagos, Calabar or Badagry in western Africa. There were 3.5 million slaves shipped from the Nigerian coast by the British and Portuguese.
The slave ships would first sail to the Caribbean before reaching the U.S. There is a good chance that Fletcher parents were first taken to the state of Virginia as slaves. Fletcher was born in Virginia in 1813 before he was possibly sold and taken to the state of Kentucky around the Louisville area. Fletcher was a slave in Hart county Kentucky on John Highbaugh’s plantation and this is where he met his wife Mariah”.
Fletcher and Mariah had 18 children. The female offspring of Fletcher and Mariah married into the Squires, Barnett, Skaggs, Warren, Ward and Meredith families.
Map Showing Slave Trade and Commerce Routes
Origin of the Highbaugh Name
by Kathy S Highbaugh
It would seem the name "Highbaugh" is a coined name. In reality all names had their beginning in this way. It was necessary that the name be given to some person for the first time. Most names referred to some characteristic or circumstance closely connected with the person receiving the name. An example would be a man called John who was a blacksmith, who would become known as John the smith, or John Smith. In this way the name Smith would become the family name or surname for all members of this family. Also the surname Jones means John's son, and the surname Jones became the family name for all of John's descendants, or sons, grandsons, etc.
However the name Highbaugh seems to have been a name that was not in any way connected by characteristic or circumstance but was a name adopted because it was different. The name is not found in America for people other than the descendants of George Highbaugh and descendants of slaves who were owned by descendants of George Highbaugh.
Our Slavery Past
Mary Ethel Warren Wills
March 3, 1902 - March 9, 1996
Mary Ethel was one generation away from being born into slavery. She was the youngest of the nine children of Jacob and Eliza Warren and the granddaughter of Fletcher Highbaugh. Her greatest joy was placing pen to paper to record the historical significance of her family’s heritage and to express her inner-most gifts through poetry.
In her poem "Jubilee", Cousin Mary Ethel describes an incident (passed down from her mother Eliza) concerning the forced separation and later reunification of Fletcher Highbaugh and his family.
JUBILEE
Once upon a time
My grandpa sold in slavery was he,
Up among the rocky barrens
In the state of Kentucky;
And his wife and all their children
To another master went,
As they filled the air around them
With their crying and lament.
Their new master, Old John Highbaugh,
With his patriarchal air,
Ever upright, just and gentle,
Long his beard and snow white his hair.
Soothed them, told them, "Do not Worry!
I will see what I can do,
And I know if money will buy him,
He will soon be back with you.”
Then he started on his journey
O'er the long and dusty road,
To the Robinson plantation
Where my dear grandpa abode.
And Tom Robinson was cruel,
Arrogant and mean and bad.
All his slaves wore chains, their spirits broken,
Sorrowful and sad.
But John Highbaugh paid his high price,
And he brought my grandpa back,
As he promised the family
In the little cabin shack.
Oh, the joy the jubilation!
Did that wife and husband know,
Fletcher and Maria Highbaugh,
In the long and long ago.
In a second untitled poem, Mary Ethel describes the awe and wariness felt by Eliza and her siblings as they watched Union soldiers passing by the John Highbaugh plantation.
Long ago in old Kentucky when my mother was a child,
When the Civil War was ended, and peace came both sweet and mild.
My mother saw the Union soldiers marching homeward on the road,
Laughing, joking, yelling, singing, as each bore his heavy load.
All her sisters and her brothers stood with her to watch them pass,
By the John Highbaugh plantation, slaves they had been each lad and lass.
But my grandma greatly fearing for their safety called them back
And made them wary, of each soldier and his pack.
Cried the Captain, don't scold Auntie, we'll not hurt them never fear.
We are warriors, but we're decent, we have wives and children dear.
Then the children laughing, dancing to the fence with many a wave,
As the soldiers tossed them presents, small gifts from their packs they gave.
Cakes of soap and combs and brushes, tiny looking glasses too
O'er the fence came flying, sailing from the Yankees clad in blue.
And my grandma smiling blessed them, place them in her Saviors care.
Bade them Godspeed on their journey homeward to the Northland fair.
And my own dear loving mother kept this memory for me,
Though her years were only seven on that day of history.
Many times I've heard the story as a child at Mother’s feet,
And her face was like an angel, as she did the tale repeat.
I have seen her gently weeping, filled with pleasure and with pain,
As her thoughts meandered backward down the trail of memory lane.
Highbaughs at CAHS
Crispus Attucks High School was established in 1927 and named for Crispus Attucks, a black Revolutionary War hero. For many years, the school was the only option available for black students and black educators in the area. Over the years many Highbaugh family descendants attended this renowned institution. I was able to locate information for a few of those students.
