Many of the slaves had been forgotten to the world until the Virginia Historical Society received a $100,000 grant to pore over some of its 8 million unpublished manuscripts letters, diaries, ledgers, books and farm documents from Virginians dating to the 1600s and began discovering the long-lost identities of the slaves, said society president and CEO Paul Levengood. These searches were performed by Christina via HeritageQuest as part of her RA Assignments.4. The advanced search fields include the slaves first name or last name; gender; occupation; owners last name; date range; and record type. Brandon mentions his diary in a letter to his daughter Ella, dated October 21, 1863, and found in the Vonkersburg Family Collection at the Historic Natchez Foundation. A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials. Im going to use this not only personally, but professionally, she said. : Pelican Publishing Company, Inc., 2007), 92. "My mistress gave me my freedom," Wood later said, "and my papers were recorded." Even the judge who presided over Woods case, Phillip Swing, viewed it narrowly. 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. 1845, d. 1909), Charlotte Lottie Brandon (b. Upper Brandon Plantation: William Byrd Harrison, George Harrison Byrd, Francis Otway Byrd, Harry C. Thompson, Fred E. Watkins, Jim Justice Plantations in Mississippi In addition to the plantation name and owner, the date the county was formed is also shown. he goes to look at Robertsons land and is piloted by Mr. I worked under the meanest overseers, and got flogged and flogged, until I thought I should die.". 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. That story began two centuries ago with Wood's birth in northern Kentucky. Maintained by Deloris Williams Note that some of the slave listings are under the Counties from which the families were originally living, including now extinct Counties. The defendant was Zebulon Ward, a white man who had enslaved Wood 25 years before. Begins December 24 entry. The Brandons were harvesters of cotton, sugarcane, and indigo and owned 700 slaves. Even Juneteenth, the day in June 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Texas to enforce emancipation, did not liberate Wood. Mulberry Hill and White Hall Plantations, located in Bryan County, Georgia, had more than 130 slaves when Richard James Arnold took over in 1823. Begin August 20 entry. Brandon kept her enslaved on a cotton plantation until well after the war. Brandon was a very rich man, Wood later said. His ancestors were slaves here, but the longtime math and science teacher at McComb High School felt no anger or bitterness. Sign up so you don't miss a single old house!!! Drayton Hall's African American history interpretation began with Richmond Bowens, who was descended from enslaved African Americans at Drayton Hall. 1864/1865, d. 1935), Adams County, Mississippi: 154 enslaved people are listed under Gerard Brandon. Wood was among them. So using a $100,000 corporate grant from Dominion, one of the nations largest producers and transporters of energy, society researchers began examining some of its 8 million manuscripts that Virginia residents have been giving to the historical society since its founding in 1831. Gerard Brandon, one of the largest slaveholders in the South, bought Wood and took her to his house, Brandon Hall, on the Natchez Trace. Misses a dinner invitation from Graves. Robertson offers him use of land, offers to put the deal in writing in Belton. The unfolding of our country's history with slavery, at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and its surrounding streets, is critical for all Americans to understand. Went to pay for some corn. His wife Charlotte (age 49) and his children Mary (15) and Charles (5) are listed as fellow members of the household. His brother was Dr.James C. Brandon (1820-1884), with whom he was particularly close; both brothers named sons after the other. Even the judge who presided over Wood's case, Phillip Swing, viewed it narrowly. In 1889, he was one of the first African-American graduates of what became Northwestern University's School of Law. Gerard Brandon, one of the largest slaveholders in the South, bought Wood and took her to his house, Brandon Hall, on the Natchez Trace. Slave traders met the demand by buying slaves in Virginia, Kentucky and Maryland and selling them in the cotton states. Zebulon Ward was their man. He helped Wood file a lawsuit in Cincinnati against Ward, now a wealthy man living in Lexington. She was suing him for $20,000 in reparations. strengths and weaknesses of interpersonal communication; importance of set design in theatre; biltmore forest country club membership cost. Slavery in Virginia is not just a Virginia story. Begins October 3 entry. Property is 45 acres and one of the few private driveways directly off the Natchez Trace Parkway. Pleasant, South Carolina, is one of America's oldest working plantations, with a history dating back to 1681. When he died in 1951, after a long career as a lawyer, he left behind a large clan of descendants who were able to launch professional careers of their own, even as redlining and other racially discriminatory practices put a chokehold on the South Side neighborhoods where they lived. When he returned to camp,Sanford had come up with all the negroes. 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 A record now at the National Archives in Chicago confirms that he did, in 1879. Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, a New Orleans native who has devoted much of her life to the study of slavery, spent 15 years in the courthouses of Louisiana, as well as in archives in Spain, France and. Brandon Hall Plantation was built in 1856 outside of Natchez. CNNs Athena Jones reported from Richmond, Virginia and Michael Martinez contributed from Los Angeles. I really sometimes wish the war was ended, & would rejoice to hear the glad tidings of peace. Begins August 30 entry awakened by a fuss about eggs & a chicken and a slave who has robbed a hen house of a neighbor last night. Learned of others who had been to a poor mans house to beg bread & meat, another robbery of rye to make coffee. Brandon vexed, curses. When he died in 1951, after a long career as a lawyer, he left behind a large clan of descendants who were able to launch professional careers of their own, even as redlining and other racially discriminatory practices put a chokehold on the South Side neighborhoods where they lived. The house was built c. 1765 by . The Virginia Historical Society finds 3,200 slaves named in private documents, The unpublished documents are from Virginians' attics, basements and desk drawers, "We sold all the negros 43 in number at astonishingly large prices," an 1858 letter says, One user of the society's free database of slaves finds the owner of his great-great-great-grandfather. This is terrific. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. : Estate of Sara Brandon Rickey, 2000), 79, available at Historic Natchez Foundation., In 1872, Brandon was still in a legal dispute over an assumption of debt on a plantation he purchased in Tensas Parish (LA) from Hughes, who moved to Texas in 1862 or 1863. Brandon was one of many Refugees to Texas who took Refugeed Slaves there to escape emancipating Union armies. Plantation records reveal nearly every aspect of plantation life. This heritage is currently documented on the plantation's grounds, in exhibits at nine of the original property's slave cabins. Two hundred and five years ago, on the night of January 8, 1811, more than 500 enslaved people took up arms in one of the largest slave rebellions in U.S. history. Sometimes its a real detective work. Did you encounter any technical issues? Brooding about home. The free, public website also provides a high-resolution copy of the antique documents that identify the slave. Wood secretly told her story to a sympathetic innkeeper who followed her to Lexington, where a lawsuit was filed on her behalf asserting that she was free. Cirode returned to France in 1844, abandoning his wife, Jane, who eventually took Wood with her to Ohio, a free state. See Goodspeeds Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, vol. Then, in 1878, jurors ruled that Ward should pay Wood for her enslavement. 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. She must be about 85 years old now. They and their heirs farmed it successfully until 1720 when it was sold to Nathaniel Harrison. He would charge $5 an acre for cleared land & let me pay for it by picking cotton at $1 per 100 pounds. For more on Able, see Able Family. Contact the agent for information. In January 1914, the plantation, house, and land was sold to George Hightower as a result of a default on a promissory note, thus ending an 81-year chain of ownership by the Brandon and Hoggatt families. Brandon was also required to pay his wife $127,436 with legal interest and costs of suit. It would be 16 years before Wood set foot in Ohio again. Some newspapers even predicted that lawsuits like hers would proliferate. 2. Her captors' destination was Lexington, Kentucky, where prices for slaves had risen with the Southern cotton economy. Brandon Hall is a beautifully restored plantation home that dates back to 1856. Its a database for the ones that are coming up. That means many American families with slave ancestors could have roots in Virginia, Levengood said. The Agricultural census of 1860 shows 250 improved acres, 450 unimproved, valued at $10,000. Some newspapers even predicted that lawsuits like hers would proliferate. A Note to our Readers This is a list of plantations and/or plantation houses in the U.S. state of Virginia that are National Historic Landmarks, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, other historic registers, or are otherwise significant for their history, association with significant events or people, or their architecture and design. Brandon Hall was formally a large working cotton plantation located on the scenic Natchez Trace. Ward planned to make Wood the latest victim of this trade, but she resolved to fight. Wood was an early contributor to a long tradition of formerly enslaved people and their descendants demanding redress. Most slaves were by their owners design and eventually by law forbidden to learn how to read and write, so they didnt leave us material that so many figures in the past did, Levengood said. Prince George County: Brandon. Eats water melons at Joness, drinks a mint julep, has dinner with good soup & a peach cobbler. On Monday (August 17?) Zebulon Ward was their man. The Brandons were harvesters of cotton, sugarcane, and indigo and owned 700 slaves. This structure still exists as the "basement" of the present house known as Brandon Hall. He had cautioned the jurors against an excessive award, claiming falsely that many former slaveholders already regretted slavery. A crowd of locals very much excited about the news and declared that the negroes . The postwar constitutional amendments that abolished slavery and extended national citizenship to ex-slaves enabled Wood to pursue Ward in federal court. The site is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the final tour starts at 4 p.m. The trial began only after eight years of litigation, leaving Wood to wonder if she would ever get justice. Lists his route, expenses, and ferriage for the trip back home. One Sunday afternoon in April 1853, Boyd tricked Wood into taking a carriage ride across the river. I cant quite tell my age, Wood recalled in a newspaper interview in 1876, but she knew she was born enslaved to the Tousey family between 1818 and 1820. By 1983, only 40 acres remained and the house had fallen into disrepair. This property has much more to offer. appreciated. Copyright 2019 Smithsonian Institution. Negro slave owners were listed in 29 Kentucky counties (see below). Begins November 10 entry. When the Horlbeck family bought the plantation in 1817, they opened up a brickyard and began producing bricks using the clay from the nearby Wampacheone Creek. Ownership was also an investment: purchased children and adults may or may not have been . Absence of farm animals on the list indicates strongly oriented cotton plantation. It almost makes me sick. Goes Friday to see after some negroes I had hired in Falls Co. Stays with H. L. Bennett. Because the award was small, procedural rules prevented Ward from appealing to higher courts where the verdict might have been more widely noticed. Brandon Hall Plantation. 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. The other refers to Sandys desire, like his, to hear from home. Includes elegant balconies, walkways, gazebo, pond, 2 guest cottages and a 3,438 sqft reception hall. Then, in 1848, Jane Cirode went to a county courthouse and registered Wood as free. Born into bondage in Kentucky, Wood testified, she had been granted her freedom in Cincinnati in 1848, but five years later she was kidnapped by Ward, who sold her, and she ended up enslaved on a Texas plantation until after the Civil War. The corn we sold yesterday brought 3.15$ per barrel. (That route is supported by a notation on page 5 of his journal showing that he paid a toll at Neches on July 21.). Sanderson is also listed in weaver1945, 109, as a Mississippi planter who owned around $222,000 worth of property in Louisiana., Could be a reference to Henrietta Wood. 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. And when the carriage finally rolled to a stop outside of Covington, Ward's men were waiting. they are the dirtiest people I ever saw or heard of & come nigher living out doors than any others., Begins November 27 entry. not the care, pains & comfort in fixing up places. He couldnt find corn. Wonderful site.. Lee Hall Plantation: Richard Decatur Lee : 371159N 763432W : 72001510 : Lexington Plantation: George Mason V : 383838N 771156W . In 1834, the teenager was bought by a merchant in Louisville and taken from her family. 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. A copy was made, 6 October 1804. Between 1820 and 1860, nearly one million people were sold down the river.. A record now at the National Archives in Chicago confirms that he did, in 1879. In November 2015, I retraced some of this route by car when coming back from Natchez. One user named Treebranch02 wrote last September: Well, I think I found the slave owner that owned my great, great, great grandfather but that is as far as I got. Brandon is an historic plantation located on the south shore of the James River in Prince George County, Virginia. The sale included 1,514 7 /10 acres and a town lot and buildings in Mt Pleasant. Documents citing slaves go back to the 1690s: Thats when slavery starts to grow fast in Virginia and other English colonies, Levengood said. She is described as the familys faithful colored servant Henrietta. (pg 44a-44b), Adams County, Mississippi: 217 enslaved people were listed under Gerard Brandon, trustee for children. 70 slave dwellings were also noted. Ownership may have meant the purchase of a spouse, an individual's children, or other relatives who were not emancipated. and Mimy and three children $2505. Visits another refugee family, hears some incidents they had heard of the occupation of Natchez. Legal trouble with Hughes.12 Talks to lawyer A. When she died in 1912, her suit was already forgotten by all except her son. The trial began only after eight years of litigation, leaving Wood to wonder if she would ever get justice. Sends Sandy to post office hoping to hear from home. Sanford Poole & Sandy had gone to kill a deer. Middleton arrives, and he gets a package from home. 1800 kitchen/slave house with its unusual extended cornice. 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. The 1860 slave census shows 52 slaves on Fish Haul. His next ferry payment was to cross the Red River on July 11, likely on his way out of Alexandria. Brandon told me that Mr.Poole was offered $2000 in gold for Phoebe on his way to Texas, but he was on ahead of wagons and negroes and did not hear of it until too late. These 81 years extended from Mississippi's frontier days during the period of grace and plenty before the Civil War, and through the South's darkest hours after the war. Brandon Hall is a Greek Revival architecture style house built in 1856 in Washington, Mississippi, United States. Wipple preach. He was sent a bottle of wine, jelly cake, & pies. must be sold out of this section, or hung, or I must move, as my negroes might be the cause of all the negroes being dissatisfied and many a man might loose his property by my coming here. Cirode returned to France in 1844, abandoning his wife, Jane, who eventually took Wood with her to Ohio, a free state. List of troubles: screw wormshow many of them there are. Charles S. Darden After 1815, as white settlers rushed into the lower Mississippi River Valley, many looked to purchase slaves to cultivate the regions most profitable crop. By 1878, white Northerners were retreating from Reconstruction. In order to identify records of interest, you must first examine the genealogy of slaveholding families. Swing also told the jurors to focus on Wood's kidnapping in assessing the case, and the vast majority of freed people could not show, as Wood did, that they had been re-enslaved. 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.. By the 3rd he paid $53 for a ferry at Trinity, Louisiana (likely to cross the Black River), and then paid $38 to cross Little River on the 7th. Gerard Brandon, Wood's last owner, was one of the largest plantations in all of the American South. All accommodations at this luxury home have private in-room (not shared) bathrooms. 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. p.4: Some more deaths; notes about wagon loads, presumably of cotton bales; ferriage and tolls on the route to Texas, pp. But Wood's award, however insufficient, was not ineffectual. 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