History Matters: Born into slavery, Jeff Bolding became ‘highly thought of man’ in Manatee

In approximately 1834, a male baby born into slavery on a North Carolina plantation was named Jeff. At some point in his life, he took the last name of Bolding as well.

In 1857, that baby, now a young man, chose to run from the plantation and his abusive owner heading south to Florida in search of freedom. Instead, sick, emaciated and hiding among palmetto bushes on the cattle range, he was discovered by cattleman William H. Whitaker.

Whitaker pulled Bolding onto the back of his horse and took him to his house on Sarasota Bay. There, Whitaker’s wife, Mary Jane, nursed him back to health. Whitaker corresponded with Bolding’s former owner and agreed to pay a purchase price of $1,000. With his ownership transferred to Whitaker, Bolding was still enslaved, though in the possession of a kinder owner who taught him the business of Florida agriculture, raising citrus, vegetables and hunting wild ranging cattle.

That same year, Whitaker purchased three more slaves at a slave auction in Manatee — John, Harriet and Hannah. Soon, Bolding and Hannah were married by a black minister in Manatee and continued working for the Whitakers — Bolding, outside the house, and Hannah, inside.

In 1865, Jeff and Hannah Bolding received freedom and chose to travel to the West Indies. While Hannah decided to remain there, Jeff came home to work once again for the Whitakers. During this time, Bolding saved the life of William and Mary Jane’s son, Furman Whitaker, who, while hunting, accidentally shot himself in the elbow, shattering the joint.

Furman made a tourniquet from his shirt and attempted to walk home. He was about to give up when Bolding found him, spurred by a sense that something was wrong. Bolding carried Furman home, and though the boy’s elbow healed, he could never straighten his arm again.

On July 10, 1871, Jeff married again, this time to a former enslaved woman named Ellen Henderson, who was born in Alabama. In 1888, they moved to the town of Manatee with another Whitaker son, William Richard. That same year, at age 54, Bolding registered to vote, paying the poll tax and stating that his occupation was farmer.

He used this newfound political power to lobby for an education system for the community’s black children. A newspaper article in the Manatee River Journal in 1901 notes that Bolding worked as the mailman delivering mail from the docks to Manatee. The article stated that he was “highly thought of by all for polite and accommodated treatment to all with whom he meets … a property holder and highly respected by all citizens.”

A second article in May of 1902 indicated that the Boldings lived on Sixth Street and Eighth Avenue East in Manatee. It was there that Bolding died of a stroke on July 23, 1904, at the age of 70. He was buried in Adams Cemetery on present day Martin Luther King Avenue in Bradenton. His memorial was attended by mourners of all races who respected and loved him.

Ellen lived 25 years longer than her husband. Most of that time, she worked and lived with the King Wiggins family as a domestic and a cook. Klein Whitaker, grandson of William H. Whitaker, told the story of going to the Wiggins home to deliver a refrigerator. When Ellen saw him, she knew immediately that Klein was a Whitaker and asked if he remembered Jeff. When Whitaker acknowledged that he did, she proudly declared, “I’m Ellen, Jeff’s second wife.” Ellen Henderson Bolding died on Nov. 26, 1929, but there is no record of where she is buried.

This story was originally published January 7, 2018 at 12:44 PM with the headline "History Matters: Born into slavery, Jeff Bolding became ‘highly thought of man’ in Manatee."