What do you do when your older brother seems to know exactly who he is–and you don’t? That is the Owen Lovejoy I met while writing Lincoln Seeks Justice for Elijah Lovejoy. Owen admired his older brother Elijah enormously.
Elijah had strong convictions. He had become a minister and newspaper editor. He had taken a public stand against slavery, despite the increasingly serious consequences. Owen was still trying to decide what his own life should become. The more he was exposed to Elijah’s world, the more he wanted to become a part of it.
He had followed Elijah west and was studying for the ministry. He shared his brother’s opposition to slavery, but he wanted to do more than simply agree with him. He wanted to help enslaved people escape to freedom. Today we would associate that work with the Underground Railroad. Although people were already helping freedom seekers in the 1830s, the familiar name and railroad terminology were only beginning to develop.
So in my novel, Owen has a practical problem. How do you become involved in something that has to remain a secret? You don’t look it up. You certainly don’t announce that you’d like to join. You have to find someone who knows. And that’s where Owen’s story crosses the path of Scotch Johnson.
Scotch was a Black stone mason and gravedigger living in Alton. In my research, I found reports that he had bragged about helping people escape slavery. That little piece of history gave me an opening.
In my novel, Owen seeks Scotch out because he wants to know how he can help. The meeting is fiction. The world that made it necessary was not. I like the scene because Owen isn’t following Elijah this time. He’s beginning to make a choice of his own. And I know something Owen doesn’t.
The young man still trying to determine what to do with his life will eventually become an abolitionist leader and a political ally of Abraham Lincoln. But he isn’t there yet. In Lincoln Seeks Justice for Elijah Lovejoy, Owen is still finding his way. And Scotch Johnson helps him take a step.
Current Projects
- My Book: continuing revisions of Lincoln Seeks Justice for Elijah Lovejoy, where the lives of real historical people and the possibliities of historical fiction come together.
- Edward Bryant: continuing preparations for future publication and preservation of stories by my friend Edward Bryant.
Thanks for walking alongside me.
