Unnamed Father of Samuel Worsham Beauchamp

In "Go Down, Moses" and again the the chapter with that title in Go Down, Moses, Samuel Beauchamp's father "deserted him" when he was born and is "now in the state penitentiary for manslaughter" (258, 354). This "father who begot and deserted him" is described as "not only violent but bad"; Gavin Stevens, a white man, believes the "seed" this man planted in his son is the cause of his criminality, though Samuel's black grandmother blames the white landlord Roth Edmonds for her grandson's behavior (258, 354).