Abner Carmichael was the patriarch of the Carmichael family. He was an unimportant character except that he was the grandfather of Margaret Carmichael, whose heritage is a pivotal point for the book. Abner was said to own vast lands that were flooded yearly, and to have had enough family and hired help to work all of the land. His family were known as "freejacks" because they descended from black men freed as compensation for their service in the 1812 war against the British. They lived in New Church County, which was located about twenty miles from the Howland plantation.