One of the things I’m currently researching was sparked by this odd short poem written by the Justice of the Peace that he left on the 1850 Shelby County Ohio marriage record of my 4th Great Grandparents - Alexander McCune and Sarah Clark.
Alex McCune was born enslaved in Staunton, Virginia. Sarah Clark was born free to a free black family in Ohio by way of Virginia.
The caption reads:
“Black is the cloud, without one sunbeam,
Long is the day, that has no moon,
But blacker that heart that could refuse
To marry Miss Clark to Alex McCune”
I have no idea what could’ve prompted him to write this or that there would have been an issue with them marrying. I know free blacks typically married other free blacks but this appears to be something deeper. Plus, in 1850, slavery was not yet abolished and Alex was in Ohio living as a free man.