names of families that owned slaves in texas

As Texas was much more distant from the Union Army lines for much of the war, enslaved people were unable to reach them. [13], The United States outlawed the importation of enslaved people in 1808, but domestic trade flourished, especially in New Orleans during the antebellum decades. The eastern quarter of the state, where cotton production depended on thousands of slaves, is considered the westernmost extension of the Deep South. [58][failed verification]. 2008 - 2023 INTERESTING.COM, INC. Africans and the descendants of Africans and Indians were excluded from the class of 'persons' having rights. By Laura RiceJuly 17, 20191:49 pmArts & Culture, History, Race & Identity. [10], In 1823, Mexico forbade the sale or purchase of people, and required that the children of the enslaved be freed when they reached age fourteen. The Neal family owned a plantation in Louisburg, Franklin County, N.C. Family members who went west all trafficked enslaved people with them and had the cash to buy good farm land. The news organization used documents from Ancestry.com to confirm the connection. After that, he could legally transport the enslaved people and sell them in New Orleans or areas further up the Mississippi River. [23] By 1836, there were approximately 5,000 enslaved people in Texas. They may be related. WebList of the largest American slave owners The list below is compiled from the 1860 United States Slave Census Schedule. It is a tough history and its a hard history and its a history that many Americans are not comfortable with, Berry says. Austin: Encino Press, 1974. Slavery may have thus hindered economic modernization in Texas. Advocates are pushing for legislation to help them. Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke holds a rally at Scholz Garten in Austin. An excellent source is the Freedmans Savings and Trust Company (visit the African American Freedman's Savings and Trust Company Records page to learn more). Farmers. Most Whites thought that Blacks were inferior and wanted to be sure that they remained in an inferior social position. WebThe 1860 slave schedule was used in the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah Territory and Virginia. P Denwood was a Quaker and in early days often was in trouble with the court as he was suspected of harboring Quakers on their way up to Maryland. Houston, Texas 77004, African American Genealogical Interest Group American slave owners or slaveholders were owners of slaves in the United States which typically worked either as agriculture laborers or house servants. Brewer, John Mason. Several confessed to a plot by white abolitionists to avenge John Brown's execution by burning food supplies and poisoning slaveowners. Slavery was a labor system and although slaves obviously freed their owners from the drudgery of manual labor and daily chores, they were a troublesome property in many ways. 5.1 Biographies. "Mike" Campbell, [45][i][ii][iii], Texas seceded from the United States in 1861 and joined the Confederate States of America on the eve of the American Civil War. Categories: Texas, Slavery | United States of America, Slave Owners. A project of the University of Virginia, this database includes a sampling of some of the 2,300+ interviews In 1792 there were 34 blacks and In cases where African Americans registered, their race is specified as "colored." In 1860, mass hysteria ensued after a series of fires erupted throughout the state. The census for 1840 in Henderson County included 4,662 whites, 466 slaves, 35 free blacks. [17] Most of the settlers Austin recruited came from the southern slave-owning portions of the United States. But his response to me opens up a door for families generations of descendants of slaveholders and descendants of slave people to have open dialogue of this institution.. [17] At the same time, however, Mexico offered full citizenship to free blacks, including land ownership and other privileges. In the fewer than fifty years between 1821 and 1865, the "Peculiar Institution," as Southerners called it, spread over the eastern two-fifths of the state, an area nearly as large as Alabama and Mississippi combined. Although Estevanico was still enslaved, after these events the Spaniards treated him more as an equal. Phone: (214) 565-9026, African American Community Archives Program, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library, Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, Inc.Willie Lee Gay - H-Town Chapter11100 Braesridge, Suite 2202Houston, Texas 77071aahgshtown@yahoo.com, Houston Museum of African American Culture Legally slaves were categorized as chattel (moveable property), but they were men, women and children who clearly despised their condition of servitude. 1850 - History - U.S. Census Bureau D. F. Kenner, Ascension, Louisiana: 473 slaves. A list of resources for African American research of ancestors who lived in Texas. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. [citation needed]. WebThe enslavement of African Americans was the curse of early American life, and Texas was no exception. The governors feared the growth in the Anglo-American population in Texas, and for various reasons, by the early 19th century, they and their superiors in Mexico City disapproved of expanding slavery. Leaders of the Mexican nation tended to oppose slavery, in part from revolutionary idealism and in part because slavery was not essential to the new nations economy, and therefore regularly threatened to limit or abolish the institution. The Slave Narratives of Texas. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. [21] By 1850, an estimated 3,000enslaved people had successfully escaped to Mexico, and an additional 1,000 crossed into Mexico between 1851 and 1855. [33], Many churches in Texas accepted enslaved people as members. Profiles are placed in this category with this text [[Category:Texas, Slave Owners]] . The majority of adult slaves were field hands, but a sizable minority worked as skilled craftsmen, house servants, and livestock handlers. [32] Some enslaved people lived among the cattlemen along the southern Gulf Coast and helped herd sheep and cattle. Lambert Clayton 1 15. In August 1831, Juan Davis Bradburn, the military commander of the custom station on Upper Galveston Bay, gave asylum to two men who had escaped from slavery in Louisiana. Section 9 of Constitution of the Republic of Texas read in part as follows: All persons of color who were slaves for life previous to their emigration to Texas, and who are now held in bondage, shall remain in the like state of servitude Congress shall pass no laws to prohibit emigrants from bringing their slaves into the republic with them, and holding them by the same tenure by which such slaves were held in the United States; nor shall congress have the power to emancipate slaves; nor shall any slave holder be allowed to emancipate his or her slave without the consent of congress, unless he or she shall send his or her slave or slaves without the limits of the republic. FS Library976.4 D2rte Vol 1-3. The first non-Native slave in Texas was Estevanico, a Moor from North Africa who had been captured and enslaved by the Spanish when he was a child. American Slave Owners - geni family tree Slaveholders in those areas often moved their enslaved to Texas to avoid having them freed. https://www.tshaonline.org, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/slavery. This page was last modified 06:24, 6 May 2021. The motivation for bringing slaves to Texas was primarily economic using their labor to grow cotton, which was by 1820 the most valuable commodity in the Atlantic world. Texas slaves had a family-centered social life and culture that flourished in the slave quarters, where slaves were largely on their own, at least from sundown to sunup. [22] From 1849 until 1860, Texas tried to convince the United States government to negotiate a treaty with Mexico to permit extradition of runaways, but it did not succeed. If you change your mind, you can easily unsubscribe. Elisha Worthington of Chicot, Arkansas: 529 slaves. Most runaways attempted to go to Mexico. [7] The 1783 census for all of Texas listed a total of 36enslaved people. The practice was common until its abolition in 1865 with the end of the Civil War and the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Some hid in the bayous for a time, while others lived among the Indians, and a few managed to board ships bound for northern or foreign ports. One result was the Turtle Bayou Resolutions, which were an explanation of the grievances that had led to the disturbances. . Of course, because Texas did not consider itself part of the United States, Lincolns proclamation could have no effect until federal troops gained control of the state. The Federal Constitution of 1824 did not mention slavery, but the 1827 Constitution of the State of Coahuila and Texas prohibited the further introduction of slaves and declared all children born thereafter to slaves already in the state to be free at birth. You can also look up Charleston Manifests by Slave Owner [table striped="true" Before being brought to Texas, enslaved persons signed contracts with their masters by which they technically became free but, in return for their "freedom," agreed that they and their children would, in effect, be indentured to the master for life. [34], Plantation enslaved people generally lived in one or two-room log cabins. Instead, place individual profiles into the category corresponding to the county of Texas where they held enslaved persons. See also AGRICULTURE, AFRICAN AMERICANS, CIVIL WAR, RECONSTRUCTION, and SLAVE INSURRECTIONS. Later he was given leadership of a Spanish expedition. United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1850 FamilySearch Instead, the majority recognized all the controls such as slave patrols that existed to keep them in bondage and saw also that runaways and rebels generally paid heavy prices for overt resistance. Socially, slaveholders, at least the large planters, embodied an ideal to most Texans. WIKITREE HOME | ABOUT | G2G FORUM | HELP | SEARCH. This entry belongs to the following Handbook Special Projects: We are a community-supported, non-profit organization and we humbly ask for your support because the careful and accurate recording of our history has never been more important. Was Section 1325 Of The US Immigration Code Sponsored By A Segregationist Lawmaker? Jerrett Brown of Sumter, Alabama: 540 slaves. The progress of the Civil War did not drastically affect slavery in Texas because no major slaveholding area was invaded. In 1751, after three Frenchmen were found to have settled along the Trinity River to trade with the American Indians, the Spanish arrested and expelled them from the colony. A service of the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin | Contact us, this week that Democratic presidential candidate, and former Texas Congressman. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was confronted with similar information about his ancestors this month, but had a different reaction. One way or another they had to endure. Sugar. Instead, slaves exercised a degree of agency in their lives by maximizing the time available within the system to maintain physical, psychological and spiritual strength. Marr. Angelina County, Texas, Slave Owners. Slavery | TSLAC - Texas State Library and Archives Commission Up to 80enslaved people and 37whites may have been executed as a result of the supposed plot. For the first time, free persons were listed individually instead of by family. The evidence is strong, however, that in Texas slaves were generally profitable as a business investment for individual slaveholders. WebLists of Slave owners with names of slaves 781-----Edward, 660 Michael, 735 Adam, Andrew George, 425, 498, 533, 621 Guy, 498 Jack, 729 Lucy, 729 Peter, 533 Sam, 621 One of the resolutions challenged Bradburn for "advising and procuring servants to quit the service of their masters, and offering them protection; causing them to labor for his benefits, and refusing to compensate them for the same. The greatest concentration of large slave plantations was along the lower Brazos and Colorado rivers in Brazoria, Matagorda, Fort Bend, and Wharton counties. New Orleans was the center of this trade in the Deep South, but there were slave dealers in Galveston and Houston, too. The province continued to attract free blacks and escaped enslaved people from the Southern United States. Some slaveowners did not free their enslaved people until late in 1865. But how would they make their way in the world after 1865? Meredith Calhoun of Rapides, Louisiana: 709 slaves. WebCategory: Texas, Slave Owners. The supposed "poison" found in enslaved quarters was baby powder. While settled chiefly by Anglo-Southerners after the war; with the history of ranching, some of these parts have been more associated with the Southwest than the South. The number of enslaved people in the state increased dramatically as the Union Army occupied parts of Arkansas and Louisiana. [41] See Underground Railroad South to Mexico. Amid talk of reparations, political figures contend with their slave-owning ancestors. [36], Many local communities adopted laws forbidding enslaved people from having liquor or weapons, from selling agricultural products, hiring their own time, or being hired by free blacks. Handbook of Texas Online, For the time being, we are using this as the Slavery Plantation umbrella or portal. Settlements grew and developed more land under cultivation in cotton and other commodities. The TSHA makes every effort to conform to the principles of fair use and to comply with copyright law. In comparison, good Texas cotton land could be bought for as little as six dollars an acre. Slavery, They fought bitterly against the disruption of their families by sale or migration and at times virtually forced masters to respect family ties. Slavery guaranteed that. It gives the county and location, a description of the house, the number of acres owned, and the number of cabins of former slaves. As in other southern states, however, the enslaved people made Christianity their own and they developed strong religious faith. Married Elizabeth Towles 1803. Enslaved African Americans had maintained human strength and dignity even in bondage, and Texas could not have grown as it had before 1865 without the slaves' contributions. Web1800 Slave Owners 1. 553 0 obj <>stream I look at this and many of these opportunities as a place to teach and educate our country on our history because this is a part of our history that weve often sort of tucked under the rug or didnt give the details of that history, Berry says. Later they were joined by lvar Nez Cabeza de Vaca. In the 1830s, the British consul estimated that approximately 500enslaved people had been illegally imported into Texas. The payrolls for that slave Although Mexican governments did not adopt any consistent or effective policy to prevent slavery in Texas, their threats worried slaveholders and possibly retarded the immigration of planters from the Old South. University of Virginia. Charles Heyward of Colleton, South Carolina: 491 slaves. Slave houses were usually small log cabins with fireplaces for cooking. Sugar. In 1900, African Americans comprised 20% of the state's population of 3,048,710. Texas Thomas Love 7 4. For example, it subjected them to punishments, such as working on road gangs if convicted of crimes, similar to those of enslaved rather than free men. That year, Mexico made the importation of enslaved people illegal. Slave prices inflated rapidly as the institution expanded in Texas. A slave had a right to trial by jury and a court-appointed attorney when charged with a crime greater than petty larceny. Texas was the last frontier of chattel slavery in the United States. WebWhat percentage of Texas families owned slaves? William Brittain 1 14. Cotton. On the other hand, the legislature created political segregation; it classified free residents with at least 1/8 African heritage (the equivalent to one great-grandparent) as a separate category, and abrogated their citizens' rights, prohibiting them from voting, owning property, testifying against whites in court, or intermarrying with whites. Vol 3 contains contains mostly translated summaries documenting the Black experience in Texas. [12] His nephew, governor of Texas Manuel Mara de Salcedo, interpreted the order as allowing slaveholders from the United States to enter Texas to reclaim runaways. The 1867 Voter Registration includes names of voters who registered in the period between 1867 and 1869. They often made matches with slaves on neighboring farms and spent as much time as possible together, even if one owner or the other could not be persuaded to arrange for husband and wife to live on the same place. [17] In 1827, the legislature of Coahuila y Tejas outlawed the introduction of additional enslaved people and granted freedom at birth to all children born to an enslaved person. [44] The whites, however, could hope to improve their lives with their own hard work, while the enslaved people could have no such hope or expectation as, of course, their work belonged by law to their owners and not to them. Several enslaved people ran away to serve with Mexican forces. The slave population of Texas from 1850 to 1860 increased from 58,161 to 182,566, bringing the slave population from 27 percent to 30 percent of the state total. Cannibalism, Interspecies War: A Novel About Neanderthals And Early Modern Humans, In a Central Texas county, high schoolers are jailed on felony charges for vaping what could be legal hemp, As Texas STAAR test goes fully online, teachers feel defeated, Texas Education Agency projects confidence. If they died, the boss did not suffer a monetary loss. 509 0 obj <> endobj Slavery in Texas was not a matter of content, well-cared for servants as idealized in some views of the Old South. During the late 1850s, prime male field hands aged eighteen to thirty cost on the average $1,200, and skilled slaves such as blacksmiths often were valued at more than $2,000. This is a mid-level category and should not have individual profiles added to it. Slavery Days in Marion County Through wills and census reports found during family research, I have discovered a couple sets of ancestors who owned slaves. It was Sarah Devereux that kept the plantation producing after Julien's death. Slavery expanded rapidly during the period of the republic. Slavery in Early Texas. [10], When the United States purchased Louisiana in 1803, Spain declared that any enslaved person who crossed the Sabine River into Texas would be automatically freed. Few battles took place in Texas, which acted as a supply state to the Confederacy. The Bureau created a wide variety of records extremely valuable to genealogists. [34] Unlike in most southern cities, the number of urban enslaved people in Texas grew throughout the 1850s. Most slaves, however, supplemented their basic diet with sweet potatoes, garden vegetables, wild game, and fish and were thus adequately fed. WebSouth Carolina's slave population in 1790 was 107,094, around 43 percent of the state population; by 1860 it was 402,406, around 57 percent of the total population. East Texas Research Center. The disturbances were resolved through a combination of arms and political maneuvering. I think [the conversation] happens in a number of spaces, Berry says. List of slave owners - Wikipedia The collection is organized alphabetically by state, then city where the bank was located, then date the account was established, then account number. The African American Story | Texas State History Museum White Texans were fearful about revolts, and as in other southern states, rumors of uprisings took hold rapidly, often in times of economic and social tension. [18] Slaveholders trying to enter Mexico would force the people they enslaved to sign contracts claiming that they owed money and would work to pay the debt. A relatively few slaves, perhaps as many as 2,000 between 1835 and 1865, came through the illegal African trade. The great majority of slaves in Texas came with their owners from the older slave states. [18] A small number of enslaved were imported illegally from the West Indies or Africa. Marie Therese Metoyer was born into slavery but died a rich woman. 5.2 Cemeteries. Gleaning Information about Enslaved Ancestors from Probate Files NGS Magazine 48 #2 (April-June 2022): 2327. Despite the fact that Texas was a slave state, however, most Texans did not own slaves. By 1860, that number had increased to 182,566. Slave Owners 1800-1820, 1850-1860 Ninety percent of the runaways were men, most between ages 20 and 40, because they were best equipped to deal with the long, difficult journey. William Mills 20 2. He [30] As planters increased cotton production, they rapidly increased the purchase and transport of enslaved workers. [43] Later newspaper accounts revealed that most of what was confessed under torture appeared to be false. Slavery was a complex institution that varied according to time and place. By 1865 there were an estimated 250,000enslaved people in Texas. Online collections of Freedman's Bank records: The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands was created by the US government in 1865 until 1872 to assist former slaves in the southern United States. is a professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin, and says addressing ones lineage of slavery is difficult, but ORourkes response helped bring the issue out into the open. 3 (Sep., 1898) (pp. This page has been accessed 1,367 times. The first census in Austin's colony in 1825 showed 443 slaves in a total population of 1,800. slavery In 1860, the Methodists claimed 7,541enslaved people among their members in Texas. Although slave marriages and families had no legal protections, the majority of slaves were reared and lived day to day in a family setting. Shortly before 1858 he moved from Mississippi to Texas with his wife, Mary, and five children. 1 Introduction. In the fall of 1835, a group of almost 100enslaved people staged an uprising along the Brazos River after they heard rumors of approaching Mexican troops. Mention is made of Henry being a judge.The following is from Rootsweb: 5.4 Church Records. American slavery was preeminently an economic institutiona system of unfree labor used to produce cash crops for profit. AAGIG@dallasgenealogy.org, "African American Records: Freedmen's Bureau," "African American Heritage,", African American Online Genealogy Records, George Washington Carver Museum and Genealogy Center, Texas State Historical Association: African Americans, The McGowan Funeral Home Records, 1956-1995, The Southern Migration of the Keeton and Chafer Family, Slavery Statutes - Texas: ca. Officials and Employees Col. Joshua John Ward of Georgetown, South Carolina: Arthur Blake of Charleston, South Carolina: 538 slaves. During the war, slavery in Texas was little affected, and prices for enslaved people remained high until the last few months of the war. They survived with the help of Castillo's faith healing among the Indians. We'll send you a couple of emails per month, filled with fascinating history facts that you can share with your friends. Black Texans: A History of African Americans in Texas, 1528-1995 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996, 2nd Edition). Currently, there are only plantations listed for Chicot County, Jefferson County, Ouachita County, and Phillips County. 10 Databases for Researching Enslaved Ancestors - ThoughtCo In 1850 the number was 2,852. [8] A 1777 census of San Antonio showed a total of 2,060people, with 151 of African descent. In fact, at the turn of the 18 th century, Marie Therese was one of the richest ladies in Louisiana. Before The Guardian interviewed him for the story, he said neither he nor Amy knew that side of their heritage. Mario Marcel, "Foundation Myth in Political Thought: The Racial Moorings of Foundation Myth", Dubugue:Kendal Hunt Publishers,2011, This page was last edited on 8 January 2023, at 01:53. On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger and over 2,000 federal troops arrived at Galveston Island to take possession of the state and enforce the two-year-old Emancipation Proclamation. African-, Afro-Americans throughout the Americas / Black History - Master Project, Black Washingtons of Pope's Creek Plantation, Virginia, Somerset Place Plantation, North Carolina, 9 of the Biggest Slave Owners in American History, Standing in Way of Alabama Walmart: Slave Graves. WebOne in four families owned slaves. [11], In 1829, Mexico abolished slavery, but it granted an exception until 1830 to Texas. In part due to the trade in enslaved people, New Orleans was the fourth largest city in the US in 1840 and one of the wealthiest. However, the north central region held much excellent cotton land, and slavery would probably have developed rapidly there once rail transportation was built. The list below is compiled from the 1860 United States Slave Census Schedule. WebThe slaves who remained on properties in South Carolina are counted on the South Carolina reports. Neal Family Papers, 1816-1916 Slavery in Texas - Texas Institute for the Preservation of History hbbd```b``N+$,>D2E6H0Y N `sA$C8t?"A"j`&`sJ'zziHg` ` -q Slave auction in Austin, Texas, circa 1850-1860. Nevertheless, slavery was a curse to Texans, Black and White alike, until 1865 and beyond. Moreover, individuals with family ties were probably more easily controlled than those who had none. 1836-1864 (10 fiche) FS Library 6118915, Oral Histories Recorded at the Gregory School, African American Freedman's Savings and Trust Company Records, United States, Freedman's Bank Records, 1865-1874, U.S., Freedman's Bank Records, 1865-1871 ($), United States, Freedmen's Bureau Claim Records,1865-1872, United States, Freedmen's Bureau Hospital and Medical Records, 1865-1872, United States, Freedmen's Bureau Labor Contracts, Indenture and Apprenticeship Records, 1865-1872, United States, Freedmen's Bureau Marriages, 1861-1872, United States, Freedmen's Bureau Ration Records,1865-1872, United States, Freedmen's Bureau Records of Persons and Articles Hired, 1865-1872, United States, Freedmen's Bureau, Freedmen's Court Records, 1865-1872, United States, Freedmen's Bureau, Land and Property Records, 1865-1872, United States, Freedmen's Bureau, Records of Freedmen's Complaints, 1865-1872, United States, Freedmen's Bureau, Records of the Superintendent of Education and of the Division of Education, 1865-1872, United States Freedmen's Bureau Miscellaneous Records,1865-1872, United States Freedmen's Bureau, Records of Freedmen, 1865-1872, African American Freedmen's Bureau Records.

What Does Bobby Smith Do For A Living, Articles N