The State of West Virginia erected the monument in 2017. The “Polley Paupers,” as the children were known when the case first went to trial in 1851, were kidnapped against their will from their family in Lawrence County, Ohio, a free state, and enslaved in West Virginia. Kidnapping and enslavement of free Blacks happened frequently in that era. If anyone thinks that is being “critical” — its being factual.
My father and grandfather, were from Huntington, West Virginia, and a bunch of Polleys (Black and Caucasian) are still there and in Southeast Ohio.
John Polley
Salsaworldtraveler'sblog 
sad, but thanks for sharing John. Thanks.
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I’ll share more details if I come across them. As a country, I don’t think we can know who we are unless we know who we were.
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A moving, sad story and must be especially poignant for you. Good to see the plaque and important to recognize these stories of our regretful history. Thanks for sharing.
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Sadly, society viewed a whole race of people as only property or somehow inherently inferior. So no big deal that they were treated so poorly.
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This is a jab to the heart to read the history. It must be painful to know your connections and yet very cool and so happy you will have a reunion. what a blessings. 💖💖💖
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The abduction of the Polleys was just a small part of the story of the manifest injustices millions of Blacks endured. Their forced family separation reminds me of the families that were torn apart at the southern border recently.
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an atrocity and thanks so much for sharing John! 💖💖
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Thanks for sharing this important piece of history with us. It is through acknowledging and taking ownership of our past that we can strive towards a better future.
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If we don’t have a good understanding of our past, I don’t see how we can really understand the present. It helps all of us.
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What an interesting story you are sharing, John. Whether you are directly related or not to the “Polley Pupers” you surely must have some kind of strong connection with this sad case.
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It will be interesting to see how much I can learn about them and the stories of other family members. I plan to go to a Polley family reunion when they resume after Covid.
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interesting that you are part of such a history. have you traced your ancestry directly back to any of the Polley Paupers? another sad reminder of our terrible treatment of black people…
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Although I don’t know my exact relation to the Polleys who were abducted in 1850 unfortunately, I’m definitely related to the Polleys who were slaves or freemen around Huntinton, WV and southeast Ohio at that time. Polley is a rare name among Black folk. Genealogy, sorry to say, is not something I’ve had much interest in because of the difficulties of the research and unpleasantness of the story. Jim Hale, a Polley relative and the man who revived the Polley case, believes we are related. Jim has contacted me about several family reunions of the Black Polleys sand Caucasian Polleys. I plan to attend after Covid.
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That sounds like it could be a wonderful, and emotional, family reunion…
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My brother has been to one or two of them and enjoyed them a lot.
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well I hope you get a chance to go…
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A sad and interesting history John. I am a huge fan of these kinds of signs and remember many peppered around the centre of Memphis highlighting the city’s various Civil Rights stories. By the way, your surname is cool, particularly the spelling with the ‘e’ that separates it from the British/French name, which I think alludes to being “polite” and “polished”. What do you know about the origin of the name Polley?
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I don’t much if anything about the origin of the name Polley except that it was the name of the person who owned some of my ancestors. I had assumed Polley was the original European spelling of the name. Thanks for the information.
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Thank you for sharing this information
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Thanks Tangie. I updated the post to clarify my personal connection to this case.
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