“Peter and Levin: Names, Freedom, and the Story of the Gist Settlements” The plantation, spanning Maryland and Virginia, was in chaos. Whispers of a legal battle between Samuel Gist, an absentee wealthy English landowner, and his American stepdaughter had spread through the enslaved community like wildfire. These disputes over ownership and freedom created an atmosphere of uncertainty, one that heightened the urgency to escape like Peter and Levin’s family. The thought of being separated from their family while in bondage was unbearable. Peter’s journey out of slavery, the Gist and Still families’ connections to America’s early history, is not just preserved in oral traditions or scattered archives. These narratives are available to be read in the books written by the individuals themselves. Christopher Gist, the renowned frontiersman, recorded his experiences in Christopher Gist’s Journals. Peter Gist Still’s story is captured in The Kidnapped and the Redeemed, while his freeborn brothers, William Still and Dr. James Still, wrote their own accounts in The Underground Railroad and The Life and Recollections of Dr. James Still, respectively. The story of the Dismal Swamp Company, which connects these lives to larger historical forces, is detailed in Charles Royster’s The Fabulous History of the Dismal Swamp Company: A Story of George Washington’s Times. Kidnapped to Kentucky: Peter and Levin’s Journey After their family’s first daring escape from a Maryland plantation, Peter, Levin, and their mother were recaptured and returned. Unbowed, their mother escaped again, but this time she faced a harrowing decision: she could only rescue her two eldest daughters, Kitturah and Mahalah, leaving Peter and Levin behind. Her promise to return gave the young boys hope, but the plantation owners, aware of her determination, acted quickly. Fearing she would succeed in reuniting her family, they sent Peter and Levin to Kentucky, placing them beyond her reach. Christ Baptist church 950 Jacksonville Rd Burlington,NJ 08016
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