Ante-Bellum Plantations

164 Pages·1998·0.35 MB·English

A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of
Records of Ante-Bellum Southern
Plantations from the Revolution
through the Civil War
General Editor: Kenneth M. Stampp
Series M
Selections from
the Virginia Historical Society
Part 4: Central Piedmont Virginia
Associate Editor and Guide Compiled by
Martin Schipper
A microfilm project of
UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS OF AMERICA
An Imprint of CIS
4520 East-West Highway • Bethesda, MD 20814-3389
i
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Records of ante-bellum southern plantations from the
Revolution through the Civil War [microform]
Accompanied by printed reel guides, compiled by
Martin Schipper.
Contents: ser. A. Selections from the South
Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina
(2 pts.)—[etc.]—ser. L. Selections from the Earl Gregg
Swem Library, College of William and Mary—ser. M.
Selections from the Virginia Historical Society.
1. Southern States—History—1775–1865—Sources.
2. Slave records—Southern States. 3. Plantation
owners—Southern States—Archives. 4. Southern States—
Genealogy. 5. Plantation life—Southern States—
History—19th century—Sources. I. Stampp, Kenneth M.
(Kenneth Milton) II. Boehm, Randolph. III. Schipper,
Martin Paul. IV. South Caroliniana Library. V. South
Carolina Historical Society. VI. Library of Congress.
Manuscript Division. VII. Maryland Historical Society.
[F213] 975 86-892341
ISBN 1-55655-560-1 (microfilm : ser. M, pt. 4)
Compilation © 1996 by Virginia Historical Society.
All rights reserved.
ISBN 1-55655-560-1.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction............................................................................................................................ vii
Note on Sources .................................................................................................................... ix
Editorial Note.......................................................................................................................... ix
Reel Index
Reel 1
Mss1Ad198a, Adams Family Papers, 1672–1792.......................................................... 1
Mss3Am353a1, American Colonization Society, Virginia Branch
Minute Book, 1823–1859............................................................................................ 5
Mss3Am353a2, American Colonization Society, Virginia Branch
Account Book, 1849–1858.......................................................................................... 6
Mss1B2346a, Barbour Family Papers, 1741–1876........................................................ 6
Reels 2–3
Mss1B2346a, Barbour Family Papers, 1741–1876 cont................................................ 19
Reel 4
Mss1B2346a, Barbour Family Papers, 1741–1876 cont................................................ 21
Mss1B2346b, Barbour Family Papers, 1810–1890........................................................ 22
Reel 5
Mss1B2346b, Barbour Family Papers, 1810–1890 cont................................................ 26
Reel 6
Mss1B2346b, Barbour Family Papers, 1810–1890 cont................................................ 27
Mss5:1B4556:1, Robert Carter Berkeley Diary, 1826 .................................................... 28
Mss5:5C1117:1–9, William Cabell Commonplace Books, 1769–1795.......................... 28
Mss5:5C1118:1–3, William Cabell Commonplace Books, 1787–1822.......................... 32
Reel 7
Mss1C9434a, Henry Curtis Papers, 1774–1865............................................................ 34
Mss2C9435b, Henry Curtis Papers, 1804–1853............................................................ 39
Mss1D1124a, Dabney Family Papers, 1824–1927........................................................ 40
Reels 8–11
Mss1D1124b, Dabney Family Papers, 1742–1928........................................................ 41
Reel 12
Mss1D1124b, Dabney Family Papers, 1742–1928 cont................................................ 53
Mss1G4216a, Peachy Ridgway Gilmer Papers, 1790–1889 ......................................... 53
Mss1G5906a, Gooch Family Papers, 1812–1961.......................................................... 54
iii
Reel 13
Mss1G5906a, Gooch Family Papers, 1812–1961 cont.................................................. 58
Reel 14
Mss1G5906a, Gooch Family Papers, 1812–1961 cont.................................................. 59
Mss5:1H2422:1–4, Jeremiah Collins Harris Diary, 1851–1860...................................... 59
Mss1H5565aFA2, Hill Family Papers, 1787–1945............................................................ 60
Reels 15–16
Mss1H5565aFA2, Hill Family Papers, 1787–1945 cont.................................................... 63
Reel 17
Mss1H5565aFA2, Hill Family Papers, 1787–1945 cont.................................................... 65
Mss2H5568b, Hill Family Papers, 1831–1857................................................................ 65
Mss1H5568c, Hill Family Papers, 1838–1909................................................................ 66
Reels 18–22
Mss1H7185a, Holladay Family Papers, 1728–1931 ...................................................... 67
Reel 23
Mss1H7185a, Holladay Family Papers, 1728–1931 cont............................................... 74
Mss1H7185b, Holladay Family Papers, 1753–1961 ...................................................... 75
Reels 24–37
Mss1H7185b, Holladay Family Papers, 1753–1961 cont............................................... 77
Reel 38
Mss1H7185c, Holladay Family Papers, 1787–1968....................................................... 87
Mss1H7185d, Holladay Family Papers, 1766–1955 ...................................................... 89
Mss1H7185e, Holladay Family Papers, 1803–1891 ...................................................... 91
Mss2L585c, Lewis Family Papers, 1804–1884.............................................................. 92
Mss3L7702a, Llangollen School Records, 1806–1849 .................................................. 94
Reel 39
Mss3L7702a, Llangollen School Records, 1806–1849 cont. ......................................... 95
Mss2M3855b, Thomas Massie Papers, 1773–1798 ...................................................... 95
Mss5:3M3856, William Massie Account Book, 1748–1749............................................ 96
Mss1M3855a, Massie Family Papers, 1698–1875......................................................... 97
Reels 40–44
Mss1M3855a, Massie Family Papers, 1698–1875 cont................................................. 101
Reel 45
Mss1M3855a, Massie Family Papers, 1698–1875 cont................................................. 105
Mss1M3855d, Massie Family Papers, 1812–1861......................................................... 105
Mss1M3855e, Massie Family Papers, 1810–1900......................................................... 107
Mss2R1574b, Thomas Jefferson Randolph Papers, 1819–1839................................... 108
Mss2R15745a, Thomas Mann Randolph Letter, 1824................................................... 109
Mss2R15745b, Thomas Mann Randolph Papers, 1815–1819....................................... 109
Mss5:3R1586:1, William B. Randolph Account Book, 1815–1835................................. 110
Mss3R4156b, Richmond, Virginia, City Sergeant Papers, 1841–1851.......................... 111
iv
Reel 46
Mss3R4156b, Richmond, Virginia, City Sergeant Papers, 1841–1851 cont.................. 112
Mss1R8385a, Edmund Ruffin Papers, 1794–1865 ........................................................ 112
Reels 47–48
Mss1R8385a, Edmund Ruffin Papers, 1794–1865 cont. ............................................... 119
Reel 49
Mss1R8385a, Edmund Ruffin Papers, 1794–1865 cont. ............................................... 120
Mss5:1R9335:1, John Coles Rutherfoord Diary, 1847.................................................. 120
Mss5:1Sp686:1, Dandridge Spotswood Diary, 1848...................................................... 121
Mss1Sp687a, Spotswood Family Papers, 1741–1934................................................... 121
Mss1Sp687b, Spotswood Family Papers, 1760–1953................................................... 122
Mss5:1T1433:1, Horace Dade Taliaferro Diary, 1847–1860.......................................... 125
Mss1W3395a, Watson Family Papers, 1771–1934........................................................ 126
Reel 50
Mss1W3395a, Watson Family Papers, 1771–1934 cont................................................ 128
Reel 51
Mss1W3395a, Watson Family Papers, 1771–1934 cont................................................ 128
Mss1W6326aFA2, Wickham Family Papers, 1766–1945................................................. 128
Reels 52–54
Mss1W6326aFA2, Wickham Family Papers, 1766–1945 cont......................................... 135
Reel 55
Mss1W6326aFA2, Wickham Family Papers, 1766–1945 cont......................................... 137
Mss1W6326cFA2, Wickham Family Papers, 1754–1977 ................................................. 137
Reels 56–58
Mss1W6326cFA2, Wickham Family Papers, 1754–1977 cont. ........................................ 144
Reel 59
Mss1W6326cFA2, Wickham Family Papers, 1754–1977 cont. ........................................ 146
Mss1W6393a, Hezekiah Lord Wight Papers, 1799–1837.............................................. 146
Mss1W6393b, Hezekiah Lord Wight Papers, 1794–1854.............................................. 146
Mss2W6396b, Hezekiah Lord Wight Papers, 1820–1836.............................................. 150
Appendix: Genealogical Charts ........................................................................................... 152
v
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INTRODUCTION
The impact of the ante-bellum southern plantations on the lives of their black and white
inhabitants, as well as on the political, economic, and cultural life of the South as a whole, is one
of the most fascinating and controversial problems of present-day American historical research.
Depending upon the labor of slaves who constituted the great majority of the American black
population, the plantations were both homes and business enterprises for a white, southern elite.
They were the largest, the most commercialized, and on the whole, the most efficient and
specialized agricultural enterprises of their day, producing the bulk of the South’s staple crops of
tobacco, cotton, sugar, rice, and hemp. Their proprietors were entrepreneurs who aspired to and
sometimes, after a generation or two, achieved the status of a cultivated landed aristocracy. Many
distinguished themselves not only in agriculture but in the professions, in the military, in govern-
ment service, and in scientific and cultural endeavors.
Planters ambitious to augment their wealth, together with their black slaves, were an important
driving force in the economic and political development of new territories and states in the
Southwest. Their commodities accounted for more than half the nation’s exports, and the
plantations themselves were important markets for the products of northern industry. In short, they
played a crucial role in the development of a national market economy.
The plantations of the Old South, the white families who owned, operated, and lived on them,
and the blacks who toiled on them as slaves for more than two centuries have been the subjects
of numerous historical studies since the pioneering work of Ulrich B. Phillips in the early twentieth
century. The literature, highly controversial, has focused on questions such as the evolution and
nature of the planter class and its role in shaping the white South’s economy, culture, and values;
the conditions experienced by American blacks in slavery; the impact of the “peculiar institution”
on their personalities and the degree to which a distinct Afro-American culture developed among
them; and, finally, the sources of the tension between the proslavery interests of the South and the
“free labor” interests of the North that culminated in secession and civil war.
Research materials are plentiful. Census returns and other government documents, newspa-
pers and periodicals, travelers’ accounts, memoirs and autobiographies, and an abundance of
polemical literature have much to tell historians about life on ante-bellum plantations. The
autobiographies of former slaves, several twentieth-century oral history collections, and a rich
record of songs and folklore are significant sources for the black experience in slavery. All the
historical literature, however, from Phillips to the most recent studies, has relied heavily on the
enormous collections of manuscript plantation records that survive in research libraries scattered
throughout the South. These manuscripts consist of business records, account books, slave lists,
overseers’ reports, diaries, private letters exchanged among family members and friends, and
even an occasional letter written by a literate slave. They come mostly from the larger tobacco,
cotton, sugar, and rice plantations, but a significant number survive from the more modest estates
and smaller slaveholdings whose economic operations tended to be less specialized.
Plantation records reveal nearly every aspect of plantation life. Not only business operations and
day-to-day labor routines, but family affairs, the roles of women, racial attitudes, relations between
masters and slaves, social and cultural life, the values shared by members of the planter class, and
the tensions and anxieties that were inseparable from a slave society are all revealed with a fullness
and candor unmatched by any of the other available sources. Moreover, these records are
immensely valuable for studies of black slavery. Needless to say, since they were compiled by
vii
members of the white master class, they provide little direct evidence of the inner feelings and
private lives of the slave population. But they are the best sources of information about the care
and treatment of slaves, about problems in the management of slave labor, and about forms of
slave resistance short of open rebellion. They also tell us much about the behavior of slaves, from
which historians can at least draw inferences about the impact of slavery on the minds and
personalities of its black victims.
Deposited in southern state archives and in the libraries of many southern universities and
historical societies, the number of available plantation records has increased significantly in recent
decades. Our publication is designed to assist scholars in their use by offering for the first time an
ample selection of the most important materials in a single microfilm collection. Ultimately it will
cover each geographical area in which the plantation flourished, with additions of approximately
four new collections annually. A special effort is being made to offer the rarer records of the smaller
slaveholders and to include the equally rare records of the plantations in the last quarter of the
eighteenth century; however, the documentation is most abundant for the operations of the larger
plantations in the period between the War of 1812 and the Civil War, and their records will constitute
the bulk of our publication.
Kenneth M. Stampp
Professor Emeritus
University of California at Berkeley
viii
NOTE ON SOURCES
The collections microfilmed in this edition are holdings of the Virginia Historical Society, P.O.
Box 7311, Richmond, VA 23221-0311. The description of the collections provided in this user
guide are adapted from inventories and indexes compiled by the Virginia Historical Society.
The inventories and indexes are included among the introductory materials appearing on the
microfilm at the beginning of each collection.
Historical maps, microfilmed among the introductory materials, are courtesy of the Map
Collection of the Academic Affairs Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and
the Virginia Historical Society. Maps consulted include:
“Map of the West Coast of Africa from Sierra Leone to Cape Palmas, Including the Colony of
Liberia,” from The African Repository and Colonial Journal, April 1830;
and Thomas G. Bradford, Comprehensive Atlas, 1835.
EDITORIAL NOTE
The Reel Index for this edition provides the user with a précis of the collections included.
Each précis gives information on family history and many business and personal activities
documented in the collection. Omissions from collections are noted in the user guide and on
the microfilm.
Following the précis, the Reel Index itemizes each file folder and manuscript volume. The
four-digit number to the left of each entry indicates the frame number at which a particular
folder begins.
ix
REEL INDEX
,2971–2761 ,srepaP ylimaF smadA ,a891dA1ssM
ainigriV ,ytnuoC ocirneH
Description of the Collection
This collection consists of 222 items arranged in sections by name of individual and
type of document. An inventory and notes concerning this collection, compiled by
.sJamohT Massie in 1875, are included among the miscellany in the introductory
materials.
Section 1 consists of two items, notes, 1745, of Robert Bicknell concerning the estate
of Richard Adams (of Abridge, xessE , England); and a will (copy made by J. Jackson),
1744, of Mrs. Ann Adams (of Westham , xessE , England), probated in the Prerogative
Court of Canterbury, England (witnessed by C. Bicknell , Robert Bicknell , and Hannah
Sandford ).
Section 2 consists of three items, a plat (copy made by John Frauncis ), 1726,
surveyed by John emyS for Ebenezer Adams of 300 acres in New Kent County,
Virginia, owned by Mrs. Alice Field; and letters, 1744–1750, of William Binford (of
London, England) to Richard Adams and Tabitha ( Cocke ) Adams (concerning the
estates of Mrs. Ann Adams and Timothy Atkinson).
Section 3 consists of three items, a will (copy made by J. Jackson), 1743, of Sarah
(Adams) Atkinson (of London, England) probated in the Prerogative Court of
Canterbury, England (witnessed by William Bushnell , Katherine Field, and J. Jackson);
an account, 1743–1748, of the estate of Sarah (Adams) Atkinson (kept by William
Binford ); and a will (copy), 1744, of Timothy Atkinson written in Barbados Island, British
West Indies (witnessed by Thomas Blucke , John Couze , and Daniel Wiles).
Section 4 consists of two items, bills of exchange, 1764, of Richard Eppes and John
Scott drawn on Goodall Barnes and Adams of Bristol, England, to pay Richard Adams
(bear assignments of Richard Adams to Thomas Adams).
Section 5 consists of one item, a deed, 6 July 1792, of the trustees of Patrick Coutts
(i.e., Richard Adams [1726–1800], William DuVal , John Harvie , William Hay, George
Nicholson [i.e., Nicolson ], and Nathaniel Wilkinson) to Savary De Valcoulon for four
lots in Henrico County [now the city of Richmond] and Richmond, Virginia. The deed is
witnessed by William Austin, Andrew bmocsnuD leum a,S DuVal , Samuel Shepherd
DuVal , Daniel Lawrence Hylton , Benjamin Lewis, and John Watson.
1