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[possible edits to Nat Turner rebellion article]

Soon after Turner's execution, Thomas Ruffin Gray published The Confessions of Nat Turner. His book was derived partly from research Gray did while Turner was in hiding and partly from jailhouse conversations with Turner before trial. This work is the primary historical document regarding Nat Turner, but some historians, specifically David F. Allmendinger Jr. have questioned the reliability of Gray's portrayal of Turner.

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Early life
Thomas Ruffin Gray was born in 1800 in Southampton County, Virginia to Thomas and Ann Cooke Brewer Gray. His father was very wealthy paying the second-highest tax bill in Southampton with 2,408 acres of land and fifty-seven slaves. He became wealth along with his father, holding twenty-three taxable slaves, being a justice of peace, and becoming a founding member of the Jerusalem Jockey Club. He even acquired his deceased brother Robert’s property, raising his property holdings to eight hundred acres. In 1831, his downfall began as he had no more taxable slaves or horses. In October 1830, he got certified to become an attorney and in December was admitted to practice in court.

Allmendinger, David F. “Chapter 10: The Inquiry.” Nat Turner and the Rising in Southampton County, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2017.