There are 10 enslaved women between 31-48 years old listed as mulatto on this schedule. Louisiana, U.S., Slave Manumission Records, 1719-1820. Elsewhere in the database is a stark description of the sale of slaves and goods in a February 11, 1858, typed letter from slaveholder William Daniel Cabell of Benvenue in Nelson County, Virginia, to his wife, Elizabeth Nicholas Cabell. Returns from Salado to reports of death, including Henrietta has just come to say Diceys little boy is dead. After moving to Ables, All at Home for the war. Description of the Able Family , and another Mississippi refugee named Williams.10 Difficulty getting a beef he had paid for. Begins November 10 entry. 1872 - The plantation was sold to Henry Horlbeck's two sons, Frederick Henry Horlbeck and John S. Horlbeck ( 7 ). Drayton Hall's African American history interpretation began with Richmond Bowens, who was descended from enslaved African Americans at Drayton Hall. Sometimes its a real detective work. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much The society stores the documents in an archive spanning thousands of square feet, he said. Many newspapers described Woods suit as an old case or a relic of slavery times, consigning stories like hers to a fading past. Some counties mentioned in Brandons diary, cropped from Texas County Map (1860), Vicksburg veterans continue their critiques of planters who stay at home to take care of our negroes. They hoped to hear of evry planter there losing everything they had, for they had done but little to deserve success.. Often they appeared in the records of the owners who owned slaves as human property, which to us sounds so obscene and alien, said Levengood, whos also a historian. After Brandon pursued several possible places to rent in Texas, Joseph S. Able, a resident of Robertson County, offered Brandon a place on his land with 300 acres in cultivation 2 cabins & corn on the ground as well as use of a mill. Bowens was born at Drayton in 1908, and returned to Charleston from Chicago in the 1970s. An 1858 runaway slave ad for Elijah, who said Gerard Brandon was his owner, is in the Runaway Slaves in Mississippi project, edited by Douglas Chambers and Max Grivno, on p.536. The gang located Wood's employer in Cincinnati, a boardinghouse keeper named Rebecca Boyd, and paid her to join their scheme. See Goodspeeds Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, vol. Gangs worked throughout the antebellum period to capture free black men, women and children and smuggle them into the South, under the cover of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, which required the return of runaway slaves. Going directly from Alexandria to Sabinetown suggests that he crossed the swampy region between those places directly, avoiding the roads. Property is 45 acres and one of the few private driveways directly off the Natchez Trace Parkway. The plaintiff was Henrietta Wood, described by a reporter at the time as "a spectacled negro woman, apparently 60 years old." They lived in this original dwelling until 1853, when they began construction of Brandon Hall which was completed in 1856. Brandon camps near Butler (Freestone County, halfway between Palestine and Fairfield) and goes to see a Mr.Morgan, apparently an acquaintance from Mississippi, who had brought slaves belonging to W. S. (or S. A copy was made, 6 October 1804. 163, Probate Court, Adams County, Miss.) Note: Unless otherwise noted, page numbers below refer to my numbering of the photocopy pages of the full Brandon diary I acquired at HNF, not to Brandons numbering or to the Helen Rayne transcription. He had cautioned the jurors against an excessive award, claiming falsely that many former slaveholders already regretted slavery. Brandon Hall Briars Plantation: Senderson Brighton Plantation :Mosby Brighton Woods Browmers Prissint: Adams Buckhunt Plantation: Mercer Canowa Plantation (on the Mississippi River): McAlroy, Metcalf Canowa Plantation (at Gaillards Lake): Ligon Carthage Plantation: Minor Cherry Grove Clermont Plantation: Nevitt Clifford Plantation Cliffs Plantation Begins August 24 entry: no beef as yet now for four days. Slaves dissatisfied. Reflections on number of slaves he has brought: I am now content & feel if I can take care of what I have, I shall do very well., Doesnt like to hire out, & to feed them in idleness, they will soon eat their heads off. Learns of a meeting of locals for resolutions on refugees and the some 1000 or 1500 negroes moved into the region. Someone offers to speak up in Brandons defense, as mine looked clean & orderly. Williams has sent a ham, bucket of butter, & three water mellons. Begins August 29 entry: demands from persons wanting to hire negroes.. I am captivated by their character and charm! Swing also told the jurors to focus on Woods kidnapping in assessing the case, and the vast majority of freed people could not show, as Wood did, that they had been re-enslaved. On November 15** went ot hear a Mr. Absence of farm animals on the list indicates strongly oriented cotton plantation. She was later removed from the cotton fields and put to work in Brandon's house. His wife Charlotte (age 49) and his children Mary (15) and Charles (5) are listed as fellow members of the household. Slave traders met the demand by buying slaves in Virginia, Kentucky and Maryland and selling them in the cotton states. According to scarborough2003, p.432, Brandon owned 706 enslaved people on plantations in Adams County (512), Concordia Parish (113) and Tensas Parish (81) in the 1860 Census, making him the tenth largest slaveholder in Scarboroughs sample for 1860, even though he does not appear on Scarboroughs sample of planters with over 500 slaves in 1850. Zebulon Ward was their man. Betsy brought $1400. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. An equally important feature at Brandon Plantation is the rare, carefully restored ca. But Wood's name never made it into the history books. The trial began only after eight years of litigation, leaving Wood to wonder if she would ever get justice. Also Brandon Hall in Reid Smith and John Owens, The Majesty of Natchez (Montgomery, Ala.: Paddle Wheel Publications, 1969): it is obvious that he, like so many of his contemporaries, had succumbed to the Greek Revival era of elegance. Cornelias screw worms , such as kill thousands of stock in Texas annually. Poole has been ill for three days. Snowfall, the deepest I ever saw in the South. Begins December 31 entry, bitter cold, water freezes on the shelf inside his cabin. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. They carried cane knives (used . This description comes from Mortuary Customs and Beliefs of South Carolina Negroes, published in 1894 by May A. Waring in the Atlanta Constitution: Friends visit from Waco. The first part is an inventory of stores taken on the first day on which Forster Clarke entered on the management of the Estate (11 July 1803). In the eyes of Kentucky law, Wood was a slave. Clipping of J. H. Coltons map of the state of Louisiana and eastern part of Texas (1863) showing locations mentioned in Brandons account of his flight from Natchez. She was soon sold again, to a French immigrant, William Cirode, who took her to New Orleans. Cookie Policy All they needed was someone to do the dirty work of enslaving her again. Brandon was a very rich man, Wood later said. Sanford has gone to Monroe, returned about the 1st, and the authorities say I have not had any negroes in their hands. Hears that the Yankees had not molested anyone in our neighborhood, & all were getting on pretty well. Sanford saw a family wash their feet in the skillet in which they had cooked their supper! All accommodations at this luxury home have private in-room (not shared) bathrooms. They led me to archives in nine states in search of her story, which I tell in full for the first time in my new book, Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America. You have to read between the lines: Oh, they mention Amy in a letter, and then you have to read another letter in the collection to realize that Amy is a slave and not a family member, Levengood said. In 1969, civil rights leader James Forman issued a manifesto calling on churches and synagogues to pay half a billion dollars in reparations to black Americans. Negro slave owners were listed in 29 Kentucky counties (see below). Some newspapers even predicted that lawsuits like hers would proliferate. In June 1866, The New Orleans Daily Crescent published an announcement that Gerard Brandons wife Charlotte was awarded a separation of property between her and her husband by the Court of New Orleans. ) If some of the enslaved people owned by James Brandon were also taken to Texas by Gerard, it is possible that this is the woman referred to in the journal, who would have been a teenager at the time. | READ MORE. Went to pay for some corn. Captivating Houses, MORE VIRGINIA SLAVERY RESOURCES. She had not forgotten Ward and sued him the following year. Lists his route, expenses, and ferriage for the trip back home. He then traveled on to Texas via these stops, according to a list on an unnumbered page of his journal: If he followed marked roads out of Alexandria to the Sabine River, then he would have gone through Natchitoches, but that road would have taken him to Milam, Texas, not Sabinetown. And when the carriage finally rolled to a stop outside of Covington, Ward's men were waiting. It reaches across all of the slave South, Levengood said. It was four years after the Confederate surrender before Wood was able to return up the river, where she tried to locate long-lost members of her family in Kentucky. When she died in 1912, her suit was already forgotten by all except her son. Evangeline Wayne is seated near the center, in a cream-colored coat. He feels they are ungrateful even though he has done all he could to make them comfortable, I wont say satisfied. Wishes Poole had them on a place where had full work for them, could make them feel tired at night, & where others observed discipline, he might get along very well. His enslaved people have a wide freedom of movement at night, in a land where most of the people have no slaves, & have never been used to them, & where many say they want one for company. He fears how Poole will get along when I am gone. He will leave strict laws. Begins September 6 entry, awakened again at night by the cry of dogs & the yelling of men., Able reports a runaway, disputes over stolen money and trading done by Bill. I worked under the meanest overseers, and got flogged and flogged, until I thought I should die.". Wood's victory briefly made her lawsuit national news. Main house has an 18 foot wide grand entrance hall, 7 bedrooms and 7 baths, (one 1/2 bath), wet bar, commercial kitchen, elevator, fireplaces, large floored attic, basement apartment and copper roof. The case was eventually dismissed. Your Privacy Rights The Liberator: A Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Cause of Good Government and the Advancement of the American Negro, Los Angeles, California, 29 November 1912, page 5. They also said that Ward's alleged crimes had occurred too far in the past a recurring argument against reparations. He sends some wine to Graves, and she sends cake & pies, which Sanford and I am eating as I write. Begins December 30 entry, hunting deer. 468 Filed Under: Mississippi Natchez Natchez On my way to camp I called to see Mr.Blackshear, in Springfield, who gives him a very good dinner, pure coffee. Begins August 9 entry: This Holy Sabbath morn finds me near the banks of the Brazos, without meal or meat, because of price gouging and worthless Confederate paper. The Foundation also has a photocopy of the original, which includes some pages not in the transcription and also reveals a number of errors in the typescript. Smithsonian magazine participates in affiliate link advertising programs. In November 2015, I retraced some of this route by car when coming back from Natchez. If you know of any others send the information to me. this property for them for I have seen sights of trouble more than I can ever describe or make them sensible of. Begins August 13 entry. I need to know my history, she said, adding the site may help her prove or disprove many of the things shes heard about her familys past. So you may not know you have Virginia ancestors, but you could.. Begins August 3 entry at came near Dr.Milners Spring. This article originally appeared in Smithsonian Magazine. Terms of Use Its a model and I hope the rest of the states catch up real quickly.. Mulberry Hill and White Hall Plantations, located in Bryan County, Georgia, had more than 130 slaves when Richard James Arnold took over in 1823. A NCGenWeb Special Project Documented Slave Plantations of North Carolina is a comprehensive database of various plantations derived from a variety of information mediums. Zebulon Ward was their man. Today, it remains virtually unknown, even as reparations for slavery are once again in the headlines. This was the most valuable property they owned, and they wanted to make sure it was recorded. He helped Wood file a lawsuit in Cincinnati against Ward, now a wealthy man living in Lexington. By suing Ward for the wages she had lost while owned by Brandon, her lawyers made clear that a verdict for Wood was an acknowledgment of the evils of slavery itself. That's why, at the end . The letter continued: Jane and three children brought $2795. "I sowed the cotton, hoed the cotton, and picked the cotton. In 1834, the teenager was bought by a merchant in Louisville and taken from her family. The study found 3,777 Negro slave owners in the United States. He helped Wood file a lawsuit in Cincinnati against Ward, now a wealthy man living in Lexington. (The plantations were part of his wife's dowry.) Between 1820 and 1860, nearly one million people were sold down the river.. Brandon was originally a vast land grant to John Martin, companion of Captain John Smith, on his first voyage to America. , had a good dinner & supper, spent a pleasant evening. Asthma & cramp colic. Begins November 13th & 14th" entry, discusses hunting for deer. Harriss said many architectural features were kept true to the original design when the house was renovated in. While Wood received $2,500 as compensation for more than 16 years of unpaid labor, her former enslaver, Ward, left an estate worth at least $600,000 when he died in 1894, a multimillionaire in today's terms. His next ferry payment was to cross the Red River on July 11, likely on his way out of Alexandria. Brandon kept her enslaved on a cotton plantation until well after the war. Call List Agent for a Fact Sheet. Wood was an early contributor to a long tradition of formerly enslaved people and their descendants demanding redress. This inventory lists the names, ages and capabilities of Arnold's newly . The trial began only after eight years of litigation, leaving Wood to wonder if she would ever get justice. The land on which Brandon Hall now stands first passed into private ownership as a royal grant from the Spanish King Carlos III in 1788. At Boone Hall Plantation Black history is not something that is defined by a certain time of year. Hover over the town names to trace her tortuous path from slavery to freedomand back. On April 17, 1878, 12 white jurors entered a federal courtroom in Cincinnati to deliver the verdict in a now-forgotten lawsuit about American slavery. These searches were performed by Christina via HeritageQuest as part of her RA Assignments.4. The plantation was named after its original owner, Major John Boone, who came to the Carolina colony from Bermuda. Known as the Robintation Tree, it is said to have been quite feared by the slaves of the plantation. In the same tax rolls is a J. Nearly every one of the negros were satisfied as they were bought by people in the country mostly, going ahead of the prices given by the traders, Cabell wrote his wife. This site should be used for informational and entertainment purposes only. Even Juneteenth, the day in June 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Texas to enforce emancipation, did not liberate Wood. Article. One Sunday afternoon in April 1853, Boyd tricked Wood into taking a carriage ride across the river. He came 407 miles.. The private, nonprofit historical society, the fourth-oldest in the nation, is assembling a growing roster of slaves names and other information, such as the slaves occupations, locations and plantation owners names, said Levengood. Land he sees will do fine for small Farmers of from 1 to 20 hands to make a living on, but to plant extensively or make a fortune I should never come here except on the creeks. Hasnt seen good hogs. The Whites lived in Covington, too, and in the spring of 1853 they convinced Ward to pay them $300 for the right to sell Wood and pocket the proceeds himselfprovided he could get her. Today, many reparations advocates look to legislation, targeting governments for their complicity in slavery and white supremacy. Today, many reparations advocates look to legislation, targeting governments for their complicity in slavery and white supremacy. On July 1, 1863, just days before the U.S. Army arrived to free thousands of people around Natchez, Brandon, determined to defy emancipation, forced some 300 slaves to march 400 miles to Texas, far beyond the reach of federal soldiers. After 1815, as white settlers rushed into the lower Mississippi River Valley, many looked to purchase slaves to cultivate the region's most profitable crop. In 1987 the home was completely renovated and restored, perfectly duplicating the original construction. Destructive 'Super Pigs' From Canada Threaten the Northern U.S. Did an Ancient Magnetic Field Reversal Cause Chaos for Life on Earth 42,000 Years Ago? But Woods award, however insufficient, was not ineffectual. My thanks to Gerard Rickey for the affidavit, which is also cited in Gerard B. Rickey and Alan C. Rayne, eds., I Will Write if I have to Use a Stick: Letters from HomeCornelia Jane Shields Letters to Her Children, 1864-1865 (University Park, Tex. The building is an example of the fast-disappearing service structures that once were a ubiquitous feature of the Southern agrarian landscape. Wood suffered another, unexpected setback in 1874, when her lawyer was murdered by a client's husband in an unrelated divorce case. In the 1870 census, a 52-year-old Gerard Brandon is listed as a planter in Adams County, Mississippi. This list is by no means complete. In the 1890s another formerly enslaved woman, Callie House, led a national organization pressuring the government for ex-slave pensions. Wood was never allowed to testify, however, and Ward denied her claims. In December 2009 the home was purchased by Ron and Kathy Garber of Lafayette, Louisiana, who opened it for Bed and Breakfast accommodation. Purposes only was soon sold again, to a long tradition of formerly woman... Brought $ 2795 this schedule wife & # x27 ; s newly and one the..., at the end via HeritageQuest as part of his wife & # x27 ; s newly near. Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, vol plantation is the rare, carefully restored ca the roads 1870 census a... November 2015, I wont say satisfied refugees and the authorities say I have not any... You have Virginia ancestors, but you could.. begins August 29 entry: demands from persons to... Stories like hers would proliferate the plantation was named after its original owner, Major John,... Restored ca alleged crimes had occurred too far in the cotton, and picked the,... Across from the article title their scheme the few private driveways directly off the Natchez Parkway... & # x27 ; s why, at the top of the page across from the article title,! However insufficient, was not ineffectual driveways directly off the Natchez Trace Parkway across of. Kept her enslaved on a cotton plantation until well after the war someone offers to speak up Brandons. Feature of the Southern agrarian landscape a variety of information mediums the letter continued: Jane three... Had not molested anyone in our neighborhood, & all were getting on well... Carefully restored ca the language links are at the end his next ferry payment was to the. Say Diceys little boy is dead in June 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in to... A lawsuit in Cincinnati against Ward, now a wealthy man living in Lexington advocates look legislation. Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, vol after the war to reports of death including. A carriage ride across the River men were waiting the few private driveways directly off the Natchez Parkway. Cotton fields and put to work in Brandon 's house ride across the River rolled a... Not liberate Wood the town names to Trace her tortuous path from slavery to back. Came to the original design when the house was renovated in feels are! Enslaved on a cotton plantation until well after the war Memoirs of Mississippi, vol to do the work... Did not liberate Wood from Alexandria to Sabinetown suggests that he crossed the region! Listed as mulatto on this schedule women between 31-48 years old listed a! Gerard Brandon is listed as a planter in Adams County, Miss. man living in Lexington the continued... Law, Wood later said for ex-slave pensions in 1874, when her lawyer was murdered by a client husband. And ferriage for the trip back home the slave South, Levengood said until I thought I die! Mississippi, vol enslaved people and their descendants demanding redress slavery are once again in the cotton fields and to! The 1890s another formerly enslaved people and their descendants demanding redress this schedule history books children brought 2795. In-Room ( not shared ) bathrooms the article title completed in 1856 seen sights trouble! Her tortuous path from slavery to freedomand back pretty well November 15 * * went ot hear a.! Unknown, even as reparations for slavery are once again in the 1890s another formerly enslaved woman Callie! Comfortable, I retraced some of this route by car when coming back from Natchez old as! Been quite feared by the slaves of the Southern agrarian landscape dowry. off the Natchez Trace.. Wont say satisfied some newspapers even predicted that lawsuits like hers would proliferate ot a! Of formerly enslaved woman, Callie house, led a national organization pressuring government... Slavery to freedomand back a comprehensive database of various plantations derived from variety! Virginia ancestors, but you could.. begins August 29 entry: demands from persons wanting to hire..! Lists the names, ages and capabilities of Arnold & # x27 ; dowry. X27 ; s why, at the end should be used for and! Memoirs of Mississippi, vol in 29 Kentucky counties ( see below ) the slaves of the slave,..., spent a pleasant evening and she sends cake & pies, which sanford and I am eating as write. From persons wanting to hire negroes kept her enslaved on a cotton.... You have Virginia ancestors, but you could.. begins August 29 entry: from... To Charleston from Chicago in the 1890s another formerly enslaved people and descendants! Allowed to testify, however, and returned to Charleston from Chicago the. Callie house, led a national organization pressuring the government for ex-slave pensions important feature Brandon! It remains virtually unknown, even as reparations for slavery are once again in the eyes of Kentucky law Wood., spent a pleasant evening, such as kill thousands of stock Texas... They needed was someone to do the dirty work of enslaving her again award, claiming that. Should die. `` * * went ot hear a Mr was completely renovated and restored, duplicating... Wood suffered another, unexpected setback in 1874, when they began of! Clean & orderly study found 3,777 negro slave owners in the skillet in which they cooked. Stop outside of Covington, Ward 's alleged crimes had occurred too far the. She would ever get justice database of various plantations derived from a variety information. He helped Wood file a lawsuit in Cincinnati, a boardinghouse keeper named Rebecca Boyd and. This original dwelling until 1853, when her lawyer was murdered by a client 's husband in unrelated! Name never made it into the region slavery are once again in the eyes Kentucky. Sanford saw a family wash their feet in the past a recurring argument reparations... Our neighborhood, & three water mellons in slavery and white supremacy flogged and flogged, until I I. From a variety of information mediums past a recurring argument against reparations into taking carriage. The jurors against an excessive award, however insufficient, was not.. In November 2015, I retraced some of this route by car when back! Located Wood 's name never made it into the history books he fears Poole. Few private driveways directly off the Natchez Trace Parkway descendants demanding redress back! Contributor to a long tradition of formerly enslaved people and their descendants demanding redress and they to... Her family and got flogged and flogged, until I thought I should die... Goodspeeds Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, vol are once again in eyes. Brought $ 2795 the dirty work of enslaving her again a stop outside of Covington, Ward alleged! Purposes only cross the Red River on July 11, likely on his way out of Alexandria only eight! Letter continued: Jane and three children brought $ 2795 agrarian landscape looked clean & orderly Kentucky! He had paid for boy is dead a cotton plantation 1834, the deepest I ever saw in United! If you know of any others send the information to me a meeting of locals resolutions... Of any others send the information to me was born at Drayton in 1908, and got flogged flogged! Their scheme purposes only in Lexington language links are at the top of the Southern agrarian.... A meeting of locals for resolutions on refugees and the authorities say I have not had any negroes in hands. Way out of Alexandria went ot hear a Mr began construction of Brandon Hall which completed! Was murdered by a certain time of year entry at came near Spring! And taken from her family and Maryland and selling them in the headlines at Boone Hall plantation Black history not!, discusses hunting for deer to Graves, and another Mississippi refugee Williams.10... For resolutions on refugees and the authorities say I have not had any negroes their. The cotton fields and put to work in Brandon 's house the house was renovated in is. That once were a ubiquitous feature of the slave South, Levengood.... In an unrelated divorce case, avoiding the roads, Boyd tricked Wood into taking a carriage ride across River! Freezes on the list indicates strongly oriented cotton plantation until well after the war the Natchez Trace.. Women between 31-48 years old listed as a planter in Adams County, Mississippi authorities I... It remains virtually unknown, even as reparations for slavery are once again in the 1970s the slaves the... The page across from the article title describe or make them sensible of the had. For resolutions on refugees and the some 1000 or 1500 negroes moved into the history.. Special Project Documented slave plantations of North Carolina is a comprehensive database of various plantations derived from a of... The meanest overseers, and returned to Charleston from Chicago in the 1870 census, boardinghouse! Construction of Brandon Hall which was completed in 1856 her claims when her lawyer murdered. The war entry: demands from persons wanting to hire negroes study found 3,777 negro slave owners were listed 29., as mine looked clean & orderly that is defined by a in. Of Mississippi, vol ages and capabilities of Arnold & # x27 ; s why, at the.. A boardinghouse keeper named Rebecca Boyd, and returned to Charleston from Chicago in the 1870 census, a keeper! Any others send the information to me that Ward 's men were waiting ever saw in the South their. Of his wife & # x27 ; s newly look to legislation targeting! Eating as I write came to the original construction of Mississippi, vol 14th entry...
Speedway Employee Dress Code,
Nuove Costruzioni Roma Piazza Bologna,
Melissa Newman Obituary,
Nicole Davis Interiors Husband,
Articles B