John Williams reunited with his mother Harriet Blackwell after 32 years
Asheville Daily Citizen (Asheville, NC)
December 31, 1892
FOUND HIS MOTHER
John Williams Visits His Mother
After an Absence of 32 Years.
The Knoxville Tribune of yesterday
contains a long account (which was
printed as original in the Gazette this
morning) of the re-union of a mother
and son, who had not seen each other
for thirty-two years. The people were
colored, the mother's name being Har-
riet [Harriet] Blackwell, and that of the son John
Williams, he having taken the name of his
master, a Mississippi planter, to whom
he was sold when a boy. Williams
learned of his mother's whereabouts
from a colored man who was in Knox-
ville [Knoxville] a few days ago, and, the Tribune
says, came to Asheville, where his
mother lives, on Christmas day. The
Tribune says in closing the story:
"John went alone into the house, and
his mother, upon seeing him, rushed into
his arms with many exclamations of joy.
He remained in Asheville until Tuesday.
A brother of John who was sold at the
same time he was has never been heard
from since he left the Blackwell planta-
tion [plantation]."
Williams also met in Knoxville a
brother whom he had not seen since he
left home, and from him learned that
their mother was living.
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