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Notable people · Abolitionist

Margaret Garner

Born enslaved in Boone County, Kentucky (Maplewood plantation, Gaines family). She fled across the frozen Ohio River to the Cincinnati area in January 1856 with her family and, when surrounded, killed her two-year-old daughter Mary. Her 1856 Cincinnati fugitive-slave case inspired Toni Morrison's Beloved. She died of typhoid in Mississippi in 1858.

At a glance

Born
1833
Died
1858
Known as
Abolitionist

Life story

Margaret Garner was born into slavery on the Gaines family's Maplewood farm in Boone County, Kentucky. She married Robert Garner in 1849, and they had children together. Three of the children were light-skinned, and Wikipedia says they were likely fathered by her enslaver.

On January 28, 1856, Margaret, Robert and other family members and neighbors escaped across the frozen Ohio River toward Cincinnati.

They were found at a relative's house. As officers closed in, Margaret killed her two-year-old daughter Mary rather than see her returned to slavery. A federal court held that the Fugitive Slave Act took priority over Ohio's murder charge.

The family was sent south. The steamboat carrying them sank in March 1856 and an infant daughter drowned. They were sold in Mississippi, and Margaret died of typhoid in 1858. Her story inspired Toni Morrison's Beloved and an opera.

Timeline

  • 1849: Marries Robert Garner (Kentucky) source
  • 1856-01-28: Escapes across the frozen Ohio River (Cincinnati area, OH) source
  • 1856: Captured; kills daughter Mary (Cincinnati area, OH) source
  • 1856: Federal court rules Fugitive Slave Act takes priority (Cincinnati, OH) source
  • 1856-03-06: Steamboat Henry Lewis sinks; infant daughter drowns (Ohio River) source
  • 1857: Sold to Judge Bonham, Mississippi (Mississippi) source
  • 1858: Dies of typhoid (Mississippi) source

What Margaret is known for

  • Subject of the 1856 Cincinnati Garner fugitive-slave case
  • Inspiration for Beloved

Honors and things named for them

  • Inspired Toni Morrison's Beloved (1987)
  • Opera Margaret Garner by Richard Danielpour (2005)
  • Painting 'The Modern Medea' by Thomas Satterwhite Noble (1867)

Family

  • husband: Robert Garner
  • daughter: Mary Garner

Ohio places

Where Margaret Garner was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Myths and corrections

  • Disputed: Sources give her birth year as 1833 or 1834.

Further reading

Sources

Confidence. High: the main facts were confirmed in sources we opened.

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