{{Short description|American slaver, businessman, and landowner}} {{Infobox person | name = Timothy Meaher | image = | caption = | birth_date = 1812 | birth_place = Bowdoinham, Maine or Gardiner, Maine, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1892|3|3|1812}} | death_place = Mobile, Alabama, U.S. | occupation = Slave trader | spouse = | parents = | children = }}
'''Timothy Meaher''' (1812{{spaced ndash}} 3 March 1892) was an American slave trader, son of an Irish immigrant father, James Meaher, and an Anglo-Irish American mother, Susannah Millay [Millea]. He was one of eight children and he was raised in rural Whitefield, Maine.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Diouf |first=Sylviane A. |title=Dreams of Africa in Alabama: The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Story of the Last Africans Brought to America |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=3–10 |language=english}}</ref> In 1835, Timothy and his brother James left Maine for Mobile, Alabama. In that same year, Timothy had worked on a steamboat named the Wanderer. Meaher worked on nine different ships before he owned his own steamboat and a large sawmill in the 1840s.<ref name=":0" /> In 1855, Timothy married Mary C. Waters.<ref name=":0" /> Mary C. Waters was the niece of Edward Kavanagh, who was active in local politics and briefly the Governor of Maine, 1843–1844.<ref name=":0" /> Meaher and three of his brothers had plantations, sawmills, timberlands, and steamboats. Meaher was a wealthy human trafficker, businessman, and landowner.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Reeves |first=Jay |date=February 8, 2019 |title=Descendants from Last Slave Ship Gathering |url=https://apnews.com/article/us-news-ap-top-news-slavery-north-america-mobile-74c7c9513de34b6c875db68d44952157 |access-date=December 11, 2024 |work=AP News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Raines |first=Ben |date=January 23, 2018 |title=Wreck Found by Reporter May be Last American Slave Ship, Archaeologists Say |url=https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2018/01/alcom_reporter_may_have_found.html |access-date=December 11, 2024 |work=Alabama News}}</ref> He purchased the slave-ship ''Clotilda''<ref name="2019-02-08-apnews" /><ref name="2018-02-25-coastal-blog" /> and was responsible for the last known slave voyage to the United States after the banning of the importation of slaves.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Zanolli |first=Lauren |date=2018 |title=Africatown, Site of Last US Slave Shipment, Sues Over Pollution |journal=Earth Island Institute Publication |pages=1}}</ref><ref name="2018-01-26-guardian" /><ref name="2019-02-08-apnews" />
==The Slave Voyage of the Clotilda== In 1860, Timothy Meaher made a bet that he would be able to commission a slave voyage to Africa and back to Alabama without being caught by local authorities in order to avoid the 1807 Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves.<ref name="2019-02-08-apnews" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Sledge |first=John S. |title=The Mobile River |date=2015 |chapter=Diverse Legacies |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |pages=263–266 |doi=10.2307/j.ctv6wgj9g.19 |jstor=j.ctv6wgj9g.19|isbn=978-1-61117-485-4 }}</ref> Meaher hired Captain William Foster to complete the slave voyage for him aboard the Clotilda. On March 3, 1860, the Clotilda left Mobile Bay, Alabama, for the West African port of Ouidah.<ref name=":1" /> Captain Foster purchased 110 enslaved Africans to bring back to Alabama, but only 108 survived the voyage.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=December 2024 |title=Transatlantic Slave Trade Database |url=https://www.slavevoyages.org/ |website=Slave Voyages}}</ref> The voyage lasted a total of 126 days.<ref name=":2" /> When the Clotilda arrived back in Mobile Bay, Alabama, Foster and Meaher had to work late into the first night to unload the enslaved Africans off of the ship without getting caught by the authorities. The enslaved Africans were put onto small boats and were taken to John Dabney's property, one of Meaher's friends, where they would be concealed for multiple days to avoid suspicion.<ref name=":1" />
Meaher sold some of the slaves but took the rest to work for his brother and himself.<ref name="2018-05-21-history" /> Meaher had its captain, William Foster (1825–1901), burn and scuttle ''Clotilda'' in Mobile Bay, attempting to destroy evidence of their joint lawbreaking. The wreck was located in 2019.<ref name="2018-01-23-al" />
The enslaved Africans brought to the US aboard the Clotilda were enslaved for five years until the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was passed in 1865.<ref name=":0" /> After slavery was abolished, the Africans who were enslaved on Meaher's plantation were freed, but Meaher refused to help them return home or provide reparations. Thirty-two formerly enslaved Africans purchased land from Meaher, where they established a town they named 'Africatown', which still exists to this day in Mobile Alabama.<ref name=":0" /> The United States government attempted to charge Meaher with "failing to pay dues on his cargo,"<ref name=":0" /> but due to factors such as difficulty proving the crime and the Civil War, he was never prosecuted.<ref name="2019-02-08-apnews" /> However in 1890, two years before his death, Meaher bragged in a newspaper interview about his slave trading.<ref name="2018-01-23-al" />
==Death and legacy== Timothy Meaher died on March 3, 1892, in Mobile, Alabama. He is buried at the Catholic Cemetery in Toulminville, Alabama.<ref>{{cite book|first=Sylviane A.|last=Diouf|author-link=Sylviane Diouf|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ug5RDAAAQBAJ&q=timothy+meaher+catholic+cemetery&pg=PA183|title=Dreams of Africa in Alabama: The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Story of the Last Africans Brought to America|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=9780199723980|page=183|access-date=2020-12-05|archive-date=2023-06-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230621164837/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ug5RDAAAQBAJ&q=timothy+meaher+catholic+cemetery&pg=PA183|url-status=live}}</ref>
Meaher's grandson, Augustine Meaher Jr., leased a portion of his family's land to a paper mill in 1926.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Howel Vickii, Jocelyn Davis, Darron Patterson and Joe Womack |date=2021 |title=Africatown: The Quest for Spatial justice: Observations on Architecture and the Contemporary City |journal=Anyone Corporation |issue=52 |pages=46}}</ref> The land that Augustine leased to the paper mill was already home to hundreds of houses that his family had leased to Africatown residents for nearly 100 years, some of which were descendants of the enslaved Africans aboard the Clotilda.<ref name=":4" /> The building of the International Paper Mill displaced Africatown residents and created a negative environmental impact on the community.<ref name=":3" />
The Meaher family is still prominent in Alabama, with Meaher State Park bearing the name, as well as a Meaher Street running through Africatown.<ref name="2019-02-08-apnews" /> The family has refused to make any statement "about their sinister ancestor's crime" or release his personal papers.<ref name="2018-05-02-nymag" /><ref name="2019-08-02-ars" /> Some of the family members composed a letter with a public statement in October 2022 expressing disapproval of their ancestor's actions.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/family-financier-us-slave-ship-breaks-silence-92306359 |title=ABC News:October 28, 2022: Family members of the financier of the last American slave ship break silence |website=ABC News |access-date=July 11, 2024 |archive-date=November 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221114151458/https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/family-financier-us-slave-ship-breaks-silence-92306359 |url-status=live }}</ref> Meaher's descendants stated that, "Our family has been silent for too long on this matter. However, we are hopeful that we — the current generation of the Meaher family — can start a new chapter."<ref name=":5" /> They also acknowledged that Meaher’s actions "had consequences that have impacted generations of people."<ref name=":5" />
==References== {{Reflist| refs= <ref name="2019-02-08-apnews">{{cite news |last1=Reeves |first1=Jay |title=Descendants from last US slave ship gathering in Alabama |url=https://www.apnews.com/74c7c9513de34b6c875db68d44952157 |accessdate=4 August 2019 |work=AP NEWS |date=8 February 2019 |archive-date=4 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804115436/https://www.apnews.com/74c7c9513de34b6c875db68d44952157 |url-status=live }}</ref> <ref name="2018-02-25-coastal-blog">{{cite web |title=The Last American Slave Ship |url=https://www.thecoastalsouth.com/posts/the-last-american-slave-ship |website=The Coastal South |accessdate=4 August 2019 |language=en |archive-date=4 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804115440/https://www.thecoastalsouth.com/posts/the-last-american-slave-ship |url-status=dead }}</ref> <ref name="2018-01-26-guardian">{{cite news |last1=Zanolli |first1=Lauren |title='Still fighting': Africatown, site of last US slave shipment, sues over pollution |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/26/africatown-site-of-last-us-slave-ship-arrival-sues-over-factorys-pollution |accessdate=4 August 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=26 January 2018}}</ref> <ref name="2018-01-23-al">{{cite news |last1=Raines |first1=Ben |title=Wreck found by reporter may be last American slave ship, archaeologists say |url=https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2018/01/alcom_reporter_may_have_found.html |accessdate=4 August 2019 |work=AL.com |date=23 January 2018 |language=en |archive-date=28 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190728201144/https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2018/01/alcom_reporter_may_have_found.html |url-status=live }}</ref> <ref name="2018-05-21-history">{{cite web |last1=Little |first1=Becky |title=Descendants of Last Slave Ship Still Live in Alabama Community |url=https://www.history.com/news/slaves-clotilda-ship-built-africatown |website=HISTORY |accessdate=4 August 2019 |language=en |archive-date=28 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190728224107/https://www.history.com/news/slaves-clotilda-ship-built-africatown |url-status=live }}</ref> <ref name="2018-05-02-nymag">{{cite news |last1=Tabor |first1=Nick |title=Africatown and the 21st-Century Stain of Slavery |url=http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/05/africatown-and-the-21st-century-stain-of-slavery.html |accessdate=4 August 2019 |work=Intelligencer |date=2 May 2018 |language=en |archive-date=4 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804115438/http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/05/africatown-and-the-21st-century-stain-of-slavery.html |url-status=live }}</ref> <ref name="2019-08-02-ars">{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Kiona N. |title=What will happen to the last slave ship in the US? |url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/08/the-future-and-the-past-of-americas-last-slave-ship/ |accessdate=4 August 2019 |work=Ars Technica |date=2 August 2019 |language=en-us}}</ref> }}
==Further reading== * {{WorldCat |oclc=1039902241 |name=Dreams of Africa in Alabama: the slave ship "Clotilda" and the story of the last Africans brought to America by Sylviane A Diouf}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Meaher, Timothy}} Category:1812 births Category:1892 deaths Category:19th-century pirates Category:American gangsters of Irish descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American pirates
Category:Sailors from Maine Category:Sailors from Alabama Category:Businesspeople from Alabama Category:Businesspeople from Maine Category:History of slavery in Alabama Category:Irish-American history Category:People from Mobile, Alabama Category:People from Lincoln County, Maine Category:19th-century American slave traders