James Delaney’s Birth Mother Is Anna

Published February 4, 2017 · Updated July 6, 2022

Guys! Good podcast but you can drive me nuts when you don’t have all the script information or the historical references for your discussions. Probably not enough time to digest the episode and research all the details in time for your recording. You do make me think about stuff and enough to send you my thoughts, knowledge and opinions.

James’ birth mother is Anna Delaney who was a native of the Salish tribe in the Pacific Northwest (Nootka Sound area if you will). It was (and still is to some extent) common for the British to refer to and call a person by their native/country of origin as well as their occupation or place in society. Delaney’s would-be assassin was Malaysian but called “The Malay” (or just “Malay”) and Anna was called “Salish” interchangeably; in both cases without hostility.

On the other hand, Thorne Geary calls James the N word with total hostility not because of James’ time in Africa but because his mother was included in the Nootka Sound sale to Horace and therefore Horace’s slave. You may recall, historically, North American natives were captured and sold as slaves to Europeans. By this time in 1814, slaves regardless of origin were commonly referenced as the N word interchangeably by the British high society as a class identifier. Class is everything back then. James is a very fair skinned, European looking “halfie” but Thorne nonetheless will call him the N word casually and with great hostility; born to a slave mother, Thorne believes James cannot and never should be part of his High Society.

For certain, Zilpha was born to a different wife of Horace. It is not yet clear if this marriage was before (during?) or after his marriage to Anna. This unnamed wife was of British High Society, otherwise Thorne would never marry Zilpha. It will be interesting to see if it comes out that Horace’s marriage to his slave Anna would not be recognized by British law. This alone would be enough to drive Anna insane/depressed let alone if Horace were to marry a High Society bride in the church while Anna was still living in the house and with young James. At some point Anna is kept in a room separated from the family and eventually committed to Bedlam.

It is not yet clear where or when Horace married Anna. In the US, in a Salish tribal ceremony at Nootka, or after returning in The Anglican Church (having been passed off as Neapolitan. In any case, because Horace married his slave, their marriage would not be recognized by England and convey no rights.

Keep up the good work and the discussions on this wonderfully produced, dark, and provocative show!

Honesto Vargas
Folsom, CA

Subscribe Now