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ARCHIE'S GREATEST ENEMY: THE RIVER
by
Richard Baldwin Cook
(copyright 2010)

Archie's greatest enemy: the river.
So, when Margaret grabbed up her kids and risked
Ohio ice flows, freedom deliver
To old and young alike, Archie was pissed.

Archie trap'em up in Cinci, went to court,
With lots of help from young bloods on horseback.
Admitted that the kids were his, of course,
Being slaves, all of them were his, in fact.

Mary, Margaret killed; closed those eyes of blue.
Knew daughter'd not be free upon this earth.
She was not tried for murder; judge, well new,
Archie would tend to her, for all she's worth.

He raped her as he pleased. That was the way
To handle feisty gals, back in the day.

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Archibald Gaines was the son of Abner and Elizabeth Gaines, early residents of the community of Walton, KY. The town was said to have been named for the carpenter who built Abner and Elizabeth Gaines their log home. The first Gaines of this line was Welsh immigrant Thomas Gaines (1584-?). In Wales and early Virginia, the surname may have been Games, Gane, or Gaine.

Abner Gaines married Elizabeth Mathews, and with her had eleven children: Elizabeth, Archibald, James M., John P., Abner W., Benjamin P., William, August, Richard, Mary and Mildred. The most renown of Abner and Elizabeth Gaines' children, was John P Gaines (1795-1857), who was a United States Senator, Whig Congressman, prisoner of war in Mexico and (after former Whig Congressman Abraham Lincoln declined the appointment) Governor of the Oregon Territory (1850-53).

Archibald Gaines descended from prominent Virginians, including the Pendletons, who have been traced back to Susan Carmen/Camden (?-?) and Henry Pendleton (1583-1635), married in England in 1605. Henry was the son of Elizabeth Pettengale (?-1625) and George Pendleton (1558-1603). They were married at St. Peter's Norwich, England. George was buried at St Stephens Church, Norwich (1603).

Notice should be taken of the justly famous Edmund Pendleton (1721-1803). Thomas Jefferson said of Edmund Pendleton "taken all in all, he was the ablest man in debate that I ever met with."

Edmund Pendleton, Archibald Gaines' ancestral relation, took a leading role in Virginia prior to, during and subsequent to the American Revolution. A member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, Pendleton was chosen a member of the Virginia committee of correspondence in 1773. He was a member and then President of the colonial convention and was sent by that body to the first Continental Congress. With George Washington, Peyton Randolph, Patrick Henry, Benjamin Harrison, and Richard Henry Lee, he went to Philadelphia in 1774. As president of the Virginia convention, he was at the head of the government of the colony from 1775 till the creation of the Virginia constitution the following year.

In May, 1776, Pendleton drew up the resolutions of rebellion, using words that were afterward incorporated almost verbatim into the Declaration of Independence, "that the delegation be instructed to propose to declare the United Colonies free and independent states, absolved from all allegiance or dependence upon the crown or parliament of Great Britain."

Edmund Pendleton was a leader of the "cavaliers," as the old planter class became known in eighteenth century Virginia. He was an opponent of the populist Patrick Henry.

In 1779, on the establishment of the court of appeals in Virginia, Edmund Pendleton became president of that body and held this office until his death. In 1788, he presided over the Virginia State convention that ratified the constitution of the United States.

Beyond the Pendletons, Archibald Gaines' lineage includes connections to Presidents James Madison and Zachary Taylor as well as to the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis.

As for Archibald Gaines, he is remembered for forcing himself upon his slave, Margaret Garner (1834-1858) and impregnating her with the child, Mary. In 1856, failing in her efforts to escape to freedom with Mary, Margaret Garner killed her three-year old daughter, rather than allow her to remain enslaved, as Margaret herself would be until her death. (Please see the Margaret Garner Memorial# 42533100.)
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This brief biography, together with genealogical data, has been taken from Volume I of a book of family history entitled ALL OF THE ABOVE I, by Richard Baldwin Cook, a distant cousin of Archibald Gaines and his daughter, Mary, killed by her mother in 1856. For additional information, visit the contributor profile, #47181028.