James “Little Jimmy” and Elizabeth Trueblood Home
James was born in Pasquotank County, North Carolina and was left fatherless at two years of age. He inherited "a meek and quiet spirit" and also inherited from his father three slaves. As he grew toward manhood, with the aid of his guardian, he gave freedom papers to the slaves and saw that they went north to find their freedom.
James received a good education in North Carolina and taught at a few schools while there. James met Elizabeth while teaching and they soon married. Elizabeth was a pupil in James's class. She was 17 years of age at the time while James was 21 years of age.
The following year James and Elizabeth joined up with the Quaker caravan that crossed mountains, rivers and streams for the wilds of Indiana. After arriving in 1815, James bought 80 acres of land adjoining on the westside of the farm that Joshua Trueblood (his wife's father) had purchased.
Three years after Indiana become a state, fifty-seven distinguished men from the county (mostly of Quaker heritage) assembled in the old Washington County Courthouse. The men signed their names and formed a compact under the name of the "Peace Society of Washington County". James Trueblood, was the youngest signer of the Constitution of the Peace Society of Washington County. He was 25 years of age at the time of his signature on the compact.
Many people thought "Jimmy" as they called him went to the extreme in refusing to use any product that came from slave labor. No argument could change him nor could anyone secure his vote that was a slave owner or a sympathizer with the institution of slavery. Being so steadfast in his convictions on this score many thought and said that the great wind storm that passed over parts of Washington County in 1860 leveling fine forests of timber, and which lifted and passed over his farm and fine sugar grove, without injury to a single tree was a reward for his abstinence from the use of slave labor.
James and Elizabeth lived on this farm the remainder of their lives. James died at the age of ninety years of age, as had his half brother Nathan. Elizabeth passed away in 1884 at 85 years of age due to complications received in an accidental fire in her home.
Many years after James had settled in Indiana, a stranger rode along on horseback and inquired where James Trueblood lived. He was asked what James Trueblood he meant, as there was "Big Jimmy", "Little Jimmy" and "Canton Jimmy". The stranger said that the man was small, but he knew him in Carolina as "Gentleman James".
Despite his stature and moniker as "Little Jimmy" he was said to be the most fervent abolitionist in the community, and was widely known as Levi Thompson’s Lieutenant in the Underground Railroad. The duo supposedly frequently swapped runaways between their properties to confuse slave hunters.
Listing Details
Year Established
1815
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