Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Obituary of Austin Woolfolk

DIED

In Auburn, Macon county, Ala., on the 10th Inst., AUSTIN WOOLFOLK, on his way from Baltimore to his home and family in Louisiana.  In the fond-hope of reaching them ere death had laid his icy hand upon him, he struggled on from place to place, against the advice of his friends and the ruthlessness of his desease [sic], notwithstanding he was utterly unfit to bear the fatigues of traveling, and his unavoidable exposure to an inclement season.  He died about 50 years of age after an illness of two years duration – his constitution, originally a strong one, gradually giving way, despite of human remedies, to the fell destroyer, Consumption.  Though far from home and family, his last moments were not soothed and tended by strangers alone.  His Uncle, John Woolfolk, was with him and brought his remains to be interred in the cemetery of this city.  To the people of Auburn, his relatives here, and bereaved family, owe many thanks for their kindness and attention to him in his last illness.  He left a Father, a Brother and three Sisters in Tennessee, and a wife and five children in Louisiana to mourn their loss.  My that  Providence “who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb,” take them under is fostering care.

J.
Columbus Enq. Ga.

SOURCE: “Died,” The Tennessean, Nashville, Tennessee, Friday, March 5, 1847, p. 2

EDITOR’S NOTE: Austin Woodfolk was a slave trader who became notorious for selling Frederick Douglass's aunt.

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