On the wall in the Shook-Smathers House is a copy of a bill of sale that reads “received July 3rd 1863 of Levi Smathers twenty-nine hundred dollars in full payment for one negro girl and child. Girl named Dorcas and child named Jefferson. Woman aged about 19 years and child aged about four months, which we warrant sound, sensible and slaves for life.”
This photograph shows Dorcas with her husband Henry Smathers. Gwen Cradle, the great-great-granddaughter of Dorcas, volunteers as a docent at the Shook-Smathers House.
“I’m so thankful the house has been restored and carries on the story of our family,” says Gwen. “We know the people here took care of our people and gave our family a good life, and that’s good to know because it was rough for some of them. We have so much to be thankful for because we’ve come so far since those days. We’re definitely blessed, so blessed.”
