Jacobs, Phebe Ann

Source:

 African American National Biography

Jacobs, Phebe Ann

(July 1785–28 Feb. 1850),

religious figure, was born a slave in Morris County, New Jersey. Nothing is known of her family, but as a child she became the property of the Wheelock family of Hanover, New Hampshire. She served as a personal attendant to Maria Malleville, the stepdaughter of President Wheelock of Dartmouth College. When Malleville married William Allen in 1812, Jacobs continued as her servant, eventually moving with the Allens to Brunswick, Maine, when Allen became the president of Bowdoin College. After Mrs. Allen's death in 1828, Jacobs lived on her own and supported herself as a laundress for the students of Bowdoin College until her death.

According to the Narrative of Phebe Ann Jacobs, written by Mrs. T. C. Upham after Jacobs's death, Jacobs became a devout Christian while living with the Wheelock family. Upham, the wife of the theologian and Bowdoin professor Thomas C. Upham, was a friend of Jacobs's and a fellow church member. The Narrative, a short religious biography published by the American Tract Society, presented Jacobs as an exemplar of religious devotion, well known and respected in the Christian community of Brunswick. “Happy Phebe” is depicted in constant prayer, and the people she prays for sometimes reap mysterious benefits. Upham's account focused primarily on Jacobs's life as a free woman, contentedly living alone “with Christ,” spending long hours at church and religious meetings, in addition to washing and ironing for the students of Bowdoin.

Of interest to literary scholars is the probability that Jacobs was the inspiration, in part, for the character of Uncle Tom in Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (Stowe also based her character on Josiah Henson, a man who was once enslaved in Maryland and Kentucky). In defending her characterization of Uncle Tom, which offended radical abolitionists of the time in its depiction of Tom as a servile, loyal slave of an undeserving master, Stowe refers to “‘a small religious tract’ on the life of a ‘coloured woman named Phebe’ which had been prepared by ‘a lady of Brunswick’” (Hovet, 267). Stowe lived with the Uphams for a brief period in 1850 before moving to her own home in Brunswick. The critic Theodore R. Hovet traced parallels between Jacobs's extreme religious devotion and apparent contentment with her lot and Uncle Tom's humility and religious piety. Hovet also noted similarities between Upham's description of Jacobs's well-marked Bible with Stowe's depiction of Tom's Bible as “marked through” with pencil strokes noting favorite passages. In addition, Hovet noted that an illustration of Jacobs's home at the beginning of the Narrative, with the caption “my little house has become a palace,” may have served as inspiration for Stowe's portrayal of Tom's cabin. Upham described Jacobs's home as a haven for Christians of all classes in Brunswick; similarly, Tom's cabin was a frequent meeting place for enslaved African American Christians in Stowe's novel.

Little is known about Jacobs beyond Upham's account. Since slavery was not legal in Maine after the 1780s, Jacobs's status as a servant to the Allen family once they left New Hampshire was technically one of choice. Whether she was as content with her lot as Upham asserts is impossible to determine. Upham's only reference to possible discontent in Jacobs's character is when Jacobs is quoted as saying on occasion that “Satan is busy with me … but my Lord is stronger than he” (Upham, 6). Upham follows this tiny glimpse of Jacobs's struggle against sin with a prolonged description of how Jacobs “literally and truly sought out the lowest seat” (Upham, 6). Upham's description of Jacobs's “peculiar lowly attitude of spirit and manner which sat on her with a natural grace and beauty” (Upham, 6) belies the desire on the part of whites to believe that African Americans and former slaves chose and indeed preferred their “lowly” status. In Upham's account, Jacobs's voice is not heard; readers hear only the voice of a humble servant, content with her lot: a perfect slave.

Although she had no local family ties, Jacobs was certainly loved and revered in the Brunswick community. Her funeral was attended by many of the luminaries of Bowdoin College, as well as the retired president Allen and his family, who traveled from nearly two hundred miles away to be present. Interestingly, included with the manuscript collection of President Allen's tenure as president of Bowdoin is a thimble that once belonged to Jacobs. This thimble and Upham's account are fitting symbols of how the white community of Brunswick viewed Jacobs, through her labor and her acceptance of that “lowest seat.”

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