names of families that owned slaves in texas

1 Introduction. The census for 1840 in Henderson County included 4,662 whites, 466 slaves, 35 free blacks. The history of slavery in Texas began slowly at first during the first few phases in Texas' history. . The African American Story | Texas State History Museum 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. 0 House servants and craftsmen worked long hours, too, but their labor was not so burdensome physically. Arkansas Plantations and Slave Names He tried to create a Republic of Sierra Madre in Northern Mexico but was defeated by the Mexican Army.[41]. [56] Those against this decision typically argue that it unfairly targets key Democratic constituencies such as minority groups and the elderly,[57] while proponents argue that the law's intention is to prevent voting by illegal immigrants. Eliza Denwoo Henry David Rhodes, planter, was born in Alabama about 1819. [citation needed], In the 1870s, a system of legalized racial segregation and white supremacy was enforced. Most of the early slaveholders owned only a few enslaved people, but a few brought enough to build plantations immediately. [34] Unlike in most southern cities, the number of urban enslaved people in Texas grew throughout the 1850s. By 1865 there were an estimated 250,000enslaved people in Texas. [21] Enslaved people often fought against the Comanche tribe, however. These films do not appear to contain the names of former slaves. 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 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. It was a decision that increased tensions with slave-holders among the Anglo-Americans. The 28th State in the Union [38] Unlike most southern states, Texas did not explicitly ban education of enslaved people, but most slaveholders did not allow the practice. [30] As planters increased cotton production, they rapidly increased the purchase and transport of enslaved workers. Planters, for example, being generally satisfied with their lives as slaveholders, were largely unwilling to involve themselves in commerce and industry, even if there was a chance for greater profits. Federal Records that Help Identify Former Enslaved People Slavery certainly promoted development of the agricultural economy; it provided the labor for a 600 percent increase in cotton production during the 1850s. Slavery in Texas - Texas Institute for the Preservation of History After, ORourke shared his reaction on the blog site. Rarely, an enslaved person also broke horses, but generally only white men were used for that dangerous task. Many slaves may have escaped such punishment, but every slave lived with the knowledge that he or she could be whipped at his owner's discretion. The slaveholder hired William Barret Travis, a local lawyer, in an attempt to retrieve the men. The evidence is strong, however, that in Texas slaves were generally profitable as a business investment for individual slaveholders. Slave John Robinson of Madison, Mississippi: 550 slaves. Brazoria County, for example, was 72 percent slave in 1860, while north central Texas, the area from Hunt County west to Jack and Palo Pinto counties and south to McLennan County, had fewer slaves than any other settled part of the state, except for Hispanic areas such as Cameron County. WebList of members of the United States Congress who owned slaves A James Abercrombie (congressman) Adelicia Acklen Joseph Alexander Smith Acklen Joseph H. Acklen George Madison Adams Green Adams James Uriah Adams Joel Adams Samuel Adams (Arkansas politician) William Wirt Adams Henry Addison (mayor) Thomas Affleck (planter) D. Wyatt 3" on the balcony of Ashton Villa: The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. WebThe Confederate gov ernment required many slave holders to provide slaves to work at military fortifications and other facilities throughout the South. Over 30 of the fugitives made it safely to freedom in Mexico. These tensions came to a head in the Anahuac Disturbances. This page was last edited on 22 February 2023, at 11:16. [37] Urban enslaved people often had greater freedoms and opportunity. The province continued to attract free blacks and escaped enslaved people from the Southern United States. William Brittain 1 14. By Laura RiceJuly 17, 20191:49 pmArts & Culture, History, Race & Identity. [50], Slavery was officially abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment which took effect on December 18, 1865. [1] Estevanico accompanied his enslaver Captain Andrs Dorantes de Carranza on the Narvez expedition, which landed at present-day Tampa. And when they declared independence and wrote a constitution for their new republic, they made every effort, in the words of a later Texas Supreme Court justice, to "remove all doubt and uneasiness among the citizens of Texas in regard to the tenure by which they held dominion over their slaves." Even as Austins colonists began to establish slavery on the lower Brazos and Colorado rivers, the independence of Mexico cast doubt on the future of the institution in Texas. WebJoseph Marryat (17571824), owned slaves in Grenada, Trinidad, St. Lucia, and Jamaica. African Americans immediately started raising legal challenges to disfranchisement, but early Supreme Court cases, such as Giles v. Harris (1903), upheld the states. Slavery Days in Marion County [citation needed], June 19, the day of the Emancipation announcement, has been celebrated annually in Texas and other states as Juneteenth. There is at least one positive outcome that could come from reckoning with slave-owning family members of the past. Many owners wished to appear as benevolent fathers, and yet most knew that there would be times when they would treat members of their families as property pure and simple. In part this limited autonomy was given by the masters, and was taken by slaves in the slave quarters which provided them resilience to assert self-determination within the confine of bondage. Signup today for our free newsletter, Especially Texan. The customs officers offered the enslaved people for auction, and Bowie would buy them back. The emancipated slaves celebrated joyously (if Whites allowed it), but then they had to find out just what freedom meant. The disturbances were resolved through a combination of arms and political maneuvering. Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke holds a rally at Scholz Garten in Austin. One way or another they had to endure. [28], The Section 9 of the General Provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Texas, ratified in 1836, made slavery legal again in Texas and defined the status of the enslaved and people of color in the Republic of Texas. [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. Levin R. Marshall, Concordia (2), Louisiana: 248 slaves. DAR# A105070 1. The list below is compiled from the 1860 United States Slave Census Schedule. Most Whites thought that Blacks were inferior and wanted to be sure that they remained in an inferior social position. After Jos Mara Jess Carvajal promised to return all escapees, more than 400Texans joined his revolt of 1851. [8] A 1777 census of San Antonio showed a total of 2,060people, with 151 of African descent. Politically, slaveholders dominated public office holding at all levels. New Orleans was the center of this trade in the Deep South, but there were slave dealers in Galveston and Houston, too. 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. "[citation needed], As the Texas Revolution began in 1835, some enslaved people sided with Mexico, which provided for freedom. As a free lady, she was an astute entrepreneur as well as a social climber. 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. All ages were represented, however, from 5months to 60years. 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. Moreover, once the revolution came, slavery was very much on the minds of those involved. Music and song served to set a pace for work and to express sorrow and hope (see AFRICAN-AMERICAN CHURCHES). WebAn 1857 notice advertised the sale of two likely negroesa man named Strut and a woman named Rachel to be held at the courthouse door in Corsicana, Navarro County, Texas, to settle an estate. Section 107 related to Copyright and Fair Use for Non-Profit educational institutions, which permits the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), to utilize copyrighted materials to further scholarship, education, and inform the public. %%EOF 13, No. WebCategory: Texas, Slave Owners. R. R. Barrow, Lafourche, Louisiana: 74 slaves; Terrebonne: 399 slaves. [33], Many churches in Texas accepted enslaved people as members. Slavery in Texas | blackwallstreet.org WebLand Records Names & Surnames Slavery & Servitude Claim Listing Sankofagen Wiki run by Karmella Haynes has a list of Arkansas Plantations and Slave Names listed by county, for counties formed prior to 1865. WebThe 1783 census for all of Texas listed a total of 36 enslaved people. Samuel King 3 7. Slavery in the Lower South WebThe British newspaper The Guardian reported this week that Democratic presidential candidate, and former Texas Congressman Beto ORourke, and his wife Amy, are 509 0 obj <> endobj 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. Samuel Murray 3 9. Arthur Blake of Charleston, South Carolina: 538 slaves. [51], The long-term effects of slavery can be seen to this day in the state's demographics. Slavery expanded rapidly during the period of the republic. 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 WebSince there were no major battles during the war in Texas, slave life in the state continued relatively unaffected, other than the influx of refugee slaves. 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. Many of the fires had coincided with a summer drought, and new matches were susceptible to spontaneous combustion. The white primary was another way to exclude African Americans from making electoral decisions, and it was not overturned by the Supreme Court until 1944 in Smith v. Allwright. WebThe slaves who remained on properties in South Carolina are counted on the South Carolina reports. The central part of the state was dominated by subsistence farmers. Category: Texas, Slave Owners - WikiTree Several confessed to a plot by white abolitionists to avenge John Brown's execution by burning food supplies and poisoning slaveowners. 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. [2] Estevanico, Dorantes, and Alonso Castillo Maldonado, the only survivors, spent several months living on a barrier island (now believed to be Galveston Island) before making their way in April 1529 to the mainland. This did not mean that the majority of slaves were content with their status. [24], Exportation in the slave-owning areas of the state surpassed that of the non-slave-owning areas. Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) Stephen F. Austin made this clear in 1824: The principal product that will elevate us from poverty is cotton, he wrote, and we cannot do this without the help of slaves. (see BLACKS IN COLONIAL SPANISH TEXAS andANGLO-AMERICAN COLONIZATION). WebThe U.S. census tracked the growth that followed, reporting 207 enslaved people in 1850 who made up 8% of the countys population and 1,074 enslaved people owned by 228 When searching, pay close attention to other individuals with the same surname. For the first time, free persons were listed individually instead of by family. Tyler, Ronnie C. and Lawrence R. Murphy. To circumvent the law, numerous Anglo-American colonists converted their enslaved people to indentured servants, but with life terms. Slaves, however, tended to hear the message of individual equality before God and salvation for all. Field hands generally labored "from sun to sun" five days a week and half a day on Saturday. , and his wife Amy, are descendants of slave owners. Although slave marriages and families had no legal protections, the majority of slaves were reared and lived day to day in a family setting. For a time, many enslaved ran away to Texas. The African American Library at the Gregory SchoolHouston's first colored public school, located in historic Freedmen's Town, serves as a resource and repository to preserve, promote and celebrate the rich history and culture of African Americans in Houston, the surrounding region and the African Diaspora. Slaves increased their minimal self-determination by taking what they could get from their owners and then pressing for additional latitude. [44] University of Virginia. Levi Anderson 1 13. 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. In fact, at the turn of the 18 th century, Marie Therese was one of the richest ladies in Louisiana. 4 History. 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.. Dennis. Lambert Clayton 1 15. Austin County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 0, 1) B. Bandera Slavery was a complex institution that varied according to time and place. The original empresario commission given Moses Austin by Spanish authorities in 1821 did not mention slaves, but when Stephen F. Austin was recognized as heir to his father's contract later that year, it was agreed that settlers could receive eighty acres of land for each enslaved person they brought to the colony. Sugar plantations. East Texas Research Center. Slavery thus linked Texas inextricably with the Old South. Early books sometimes contained the name of the former master or mistress and the name of the plantation. 5 Resources. The Brazos department, including Austin's colonies and those of Green DeWitt, had exported 600,000 pesos worth of goods, including 5,000 bales of cotton. African American Resources for Texas FamilySearch Marie Therese Metoyer. Many planters, however, lost part of their workforce temporarily to the Confederate Army, which impressed one-quarter of the enslaved on each plantation to construct defensive earthworks for the Texas coast and to drive military supply wagons. I think [the conversation] happens in a number of spaces, Berry says. Monte Verdi Plantation family slaves honored in Slaves adjusted their behavior to the conditions of servitude in a variety of ways. accessed March 05, 2023, Mrs. Mary C. Stirling/Sterling, Pointe Coupee (2), Louisiana: 338 slaves. [citation needed]. Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), Constitution of the State of Coahuila and Texas, http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. Most worked as house servants or on farms on the edges of towns, but others served as cooks and waiters in hotels, as teamsters or boatmen, or as coachmen and skilled artisans, such as blacksmiths, carpenters, and barbers. 7 rolls, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, New England Historic Genealogical Society, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library at Colonial Williamsburg, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Libraries, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research, Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center, Natchitoches Genealogical and Historical Association, https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/index.php?title=African_American_Resources_for_Texas&oldid=5253354. It contains a very significant number of Texas' African-American population. It gives the county and location, a description of the house, the number of acres owned, and the number of cabins of former slaves. Favorable conditions for free blacks continued into the 1830s. Every dollar helps. The progress of the Civil War did not drastically affect slavery in Texas because no major slaveholding area was invaded. Texas We need your support because we are a non-profit organization that relies upon contributions from our community in order to record and preserve the history of our state. 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. WIKITREE PROTECTS MOST SENSITIVE INFORMATION BUT ONLY TO THE EXTENT STATED IN THE TERMS OF SERVICE AND PRIVACY POLICY. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/slavery. Slavery formally ended in Texas after June 19, 1865 (Juneteenth), when Gen. Gordon Granger arrived at Galveston with occupying federal forces and announced emancipation. Once established as an economic institution, slavery became a key social institution as well. Slavery spread over the eastern two-fifths of Texas by 1860 but flourished most vigorously along the rivers that provided rich soil and relatively inexpensive transportation. In comparison, good Texas cotton land could be bought for as little as six dollars an acre. 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. Some slaveowners did not free their enslaved people until late in 1865. PARENTAGE OF MARGARET FRENCH SLAUGHTER IN QUESTION. On June 19, 1865 word of the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached enslaved African In 1829, President Vicente Guerrero issued a decree abolishing slavery in all of Mexico, but within months he exempted Texas from that order. 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. [7], Importation of enslaved Africans was not widespread in Spanish Texas. In 1876 Texas adopted a new constitution requiring segregated schools and imposing a poll tax, which decreased the number of poor voters both black and white. Slavery in Texas was not a matter of content, well-cared for servants as idealized in some views of the Old South. Sam Houston made illegal importation from Mexico a crime in 1836. [11] Under Austin's development scheme, each settler was allowed to purchase an additional 50 acres (20ha) of land for each enslaved person he brought to the territory. On the other hand, the institution may well have contributed in several ways to retarding commercialization and industrialization. Elijah Williamson 3 10. [26], The abolition of slavery created tensions between the Mexican government and slave-holding settlers from the United States. Economically, slave owners had a disproportionately large share of the state's wealth and produced virtually all of the cash crops. Planters had hundreds of enslaved people arrested and questioned forcefully. A group of enslaved people killed the sheriff of Gonzales when he attempted to stop their going to Matamoros. 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. This fact is not a tribute to the benevolence of slavery, but a testimony to the human spirit of the enslaved African Americans. Although no major rebellions occurred, individual acts of violence against owners were carried out. Samuel Edney 1 Sean M. Kelley, Los Brazos de Dios: A Plantation Society in the Texas Borderlands, 1821- 1865 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2010). [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. Most escapees joined friendly American Indian tribes, but others settled in the East Texas forests. Between 1816 and 1821, Louis-Michel Aury and Jean Lafitte smuggled enslaved people into the United States through Galveston Island. Since they politically dominated the state for decades after 1900, the only contest for office was at the primary level. History of slavery in Texas - Wikipedia During the war, slavery in Texas was little affected, and prices for enslaved people remained high until the last few months of the war. Such documents include censuses, marriage records, and medical records. Family ties were a source of strength for people enduring bondage and a mark of their humanity, too. 553 0 obj <>stream For example, Jared Groce arrived from Alabama in 1822 with ninety slaves and set up a cotton plantation on the Brazos River. 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. 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. 25 percent. John J. Middleton of Beaufort, South Carolina: 530 slaves. As news of emancipation spread across the state, a few owners angrily told their slaves to leave immediately, but most asked the freedmen, as they soon became known, to stay and work for wages. The civil rights movement led to the U.S. Congress and President Lyndon Johnson passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which protected the rights of all citizens to integrated public facilities and enforcement of voting rights. Thomas Love 7 4. WebThe Neals, Foxes, and Timberlakes were all white families of at least moderate wealth that was dependent upon the forced labor of enslaved people. The majority of adult slaves were field hands, but a sizable minority worked as skilled craftsmen, house servants, and livestock handlers. Cotton. Thus, slavery was not the immediate cause of the revolution, but the institution was always there as an issue, and the revolution made it more secure than ever in Texas. In 1854, citizens in Austin and other towns drove many poor Mexicans from the area in fear that they might assist in revolts.

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