Biography of bethany veney

American writer

Bethany Veney (c. 1812–1815^[a] – November 16, 1915^[b]), was an American writer whose autobiography and slave narrative, Aunt Betty's Story: The Narrative of Bethany Veney, A Slave Woman, was published in 1889.

Born into slavery on a farm near Luray, Virginia, as Bethany Johnson, married twice, first to an enslaved man, Jerry Fickland, with whom she had a daughter, Charlotte. He was sold away from her and she later married Frank Veney, a free black man.

She was sold on an auction block to her enslaver, George J. Adams, who brought her to Providence, Rhode Island, and later to Worcester, Massachusetts.

Biography of bethany veney book

After the American Civil War, Veney made four trips to Virginia to move her daughter and her family and 16 additional family members north to New England.

Early life

Around 1815, Bethany Johnson was born into slavery on the Pass Run farm, near Luray, in what is now Page County, Virginia.

Her parents, Charlotte and