Bethany Veney

Bethany Veney

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"THERE have been many histories written, but they do not tell a thousandth part of what has been done in the ages past. The unwritten histories would fill the world. It is so with biographies: many have been written, but unnumbered millions have found no record outside of throbbing hearts. If we could know perfectly the inner life of almost any person; if we could only know the hopes and fears and loves and heartaches; if we could only know the conflicts, the defeats, the victories of the soul, - we should see that the humblest and most uneventful life is more thrillingly wonderful than any romance that was ever written. All this is emphatically true of thousands upon thousands born and reared in slavery."

-W. F. MALLALIEU. From the preface to Bethany Veney's Autobiography

Born into slavery in 1815, Bethany Veney served a number of masters and had a family. She published her life story in 1889, which told of her life as a slave and also how she became free.

Childhood

Veney begins her narrative simply: "My mother and her five children were owned by one James Fletcher, Pass Run, town of Luray, Page County, Virginia. Of my father I know nothing." The first story she relates tells of how her mistress and her mother impressed on her to tell the truth.

Her mother and master both die when she is around nine. Veney and her family were split up, and she ended up with her mistress Miss Lucy and David Kibbler--a Dutchman with a violent temper. Miss Lucy hated slavery but didn't know what to do about how things were, except to be kind to Veney.

Religious Experiences

After some time with Miss Lucy and Kibbler, Veney visited a church. Master Kibbler's brother became a Christian and started a meeting for people in the area. Kibbler didn't want Veney attending church and sent her away to allow her new found religious fervor to die down. He sent to a man named Mr. Levers, but Levers allowed Veney to attend Church. In a telling passage she describes a scene in which Kibbler escorts her from the church.

Every night, old Mr. Levers would tell me I could go; and I did, till, in the middle of the meeting one night, Master Kibbler came up to me, and, taking me by the arm, carried me out, scolding and fuming, declaring that old Webster (the minister) was a liar, and that for himself he didn't want such a "whoopin' and hollerin' religion," and, if that was the way to heaven, he didn't "want to go there."

Veney eventually outlasted Kibbler, and he allowed her to go to church regularly where she was baptized.

Marriage and Family

The years passed, and Veney came to marry a man called Jerry. Their masters consented to their union and told them to simply be together. Veney, however, wanted to be married. Eventually they found someone to marry them, but Veney couldn't make traditional vows--like white people--because her circumstances could break up the marriage.

A few months into their marriage, Jerry was arrested. He escaped and ran away but couldn't evade capture. His escape, attempts to avoid detection and subsequent capture seemed to have broken Jerry. He was sent away and Veney and Jerry never saw each other again.

Motherhood

A Brief Summary

Full Text Version at Documenting the American South

Other Links of Interest: North American Slave Narratives Home Page

First-Person Narratives of the American South Home Page

Publishing info: The Narrative of Bethany Veney: A Slave Woman Worcester, Mass: [s.n.] ; (Boston : Press of Geo. H. Ellis), 1889. 46 p.

Resources: Work Consulted: Clark, Edward, Black Writers in New England. A bibliography, with biographical notes, of books by and about Afro-American writers associated with New England in the Collection of Afro-American Literature, Boston: National Park Service, 1985. Documenting the American South