names of families that owned slaves in texas
WebTruly giant slaveholders such as Robert and D. G. Mills, who owned more than 300 slaves in 1860 (the largest holding in Texas), had plantations in this area, and the population Texan forces executed one runaway taken prisoner and resold another into slavery. endstream endobj startxref Jerrett Brown of Sumter, Alabama: 540 slaves. The collection is organized alphabetically by state, then city where the bank was located, then date the account was established, then account number. [19] In 1832, the state passed legislation prohibiting worker contracts from lasting more than tenyears. PARENTAGE OF MARGARET FRENCH SLAUGHTER IN QUESTION. Texas was the last frontier of chattel slavery in the United States. A service of the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin, After The Debates, Beto ORourkes Fundraising Slumped, While Julin Castros Jumped, Billionaire Ross Perot Remembered As Patriot, Family Man, Experts Say The Current Plastic Industry Boom Will Be A Bust In Five Years, News Roundup: New Initiative Aims To Register More Texans With Disabilities To Vote, San Antonio Migrant Resource Center Has Helped 30,000 Since March. Some slaveowners did not free their enslaved people until late in 1865. [13], The United States outlawed the importation of enslaved people in 1808, but domestic trade flourished, especially in New Orleans during the antebellum decades. [37] Urban enslaved people often had greater freedoms and opportunity. "The Texas Slave Insurrection of 1860," by William White. 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. P.O. The African American Story | Texas State History Museum Medical care in antebellum Texas was woefully inadequate for Whites and Blacks alike, but slaves had a harder daily life and were therefore more likely to be injured or develop diseases that doctors could not treat (see HEALTH AND MEDICINE). [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. Millions of Texans have rare diseases. 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. A project of the University of Virginia, this database includes a sampling of some of the 2,300+ interviews The cotton industry flourished in East Texas, where enslaved labor became most widely used. [44] FS Library976.4F2bjm 1970 Texas did not, however, employ techniques common in other Southern states such as complex voter registration rules and literacy tests; even the "white primary" was not implemented statewide until 1923.[53]. A small minority (about 6 percent) of the slaves in Texas did not belong to farmers or planters but lived instead in the state's towns, working as domestic servants, day laborers, and mechanics (see SLAVERY, URBAN). DAR# A105070 1. As a free lady, she was an astute entrepreneur as well as a social climber. WebTexas Slave Codes 1821. At the start of the Civil War, _____ was the commander of Union troops in Texas. In 1792 there were 34 blacks and 414 mulattos in Spanish Texas, some of whom were free men and women. 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. Length of residence (in state, in county, in precinct), General Remarks--race is noted when the registrant was "colored". The last frontier of slavery was by no means closed on the eve of the Civil War. [58][failed verification]. [1] For 1865 and 1866, the section on abandoned and confiscated lands includes the names of the owners of the plantations or homes that were abandoned, confiscated, or leased. [52] By the late 19th century, Texas passed other Jim Crow laws. Every dollar helps. Legally slaves were categorized as chattel (moveable property), but they were men, women and children who clearly despised their condition of servitude. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere. A survey of Texas in 1834 found that the department of Bexar, which was mostly made up of Tejanos, had exported no goods. Elisha Worthington of Chicot, Arkansas: 529 slaves. Sean M. Kelley, Los Brazos de Dios: A Plantation Society in the Texas Borderlands, 1821- 1865 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2010). Slave owners had broad powers of discipline subject only to constitutional provisions that slaves be treated "with humanity" and that punishment not extend to the taking of life and limb. WebJoseph Marryat (17571824), owned slaves in Grenada, Trinidad, St. Lucia, and Jamaica. 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 The progress of the Civil War did not drastically affect slavery in Texas because no major slaveholding area was invaded. WebOne in four families owned slaves. The slaves were owned by Julien Devereux and used to work an almost 11,000-acre plantation. In comparison, good Texas cotton land could be bought for as little as six dollars an acre. WebAfrican American Resources for Texas. [48], On some plantations, many enslaved people left immediately after hearing of the emancipation, even if their former owners offered to pay them wages. Some slave hunters illegally traveled to Mexico and captured runaways. All copyrighted materials included within the Handbook of Texas Online are in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Slavery in Texas - Texas Institute for the Preservation of History By the end of 1845, when Texas joined the United States, the state was home to at least 30,000 enslaved people. 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. Slavery in Waco. Like Georgia, the Texas Democratic Party adopted a whites-only primary. 2 Online Resources. Category: Texas, Slave Owners - WikiTree Free persons of African descent were required to petition the. 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. Slavery, Despite the fact that Texas was a slave state, however, most Texans did not own slaves. IMPORTANT PRIVACY NOTICE & DISCLAIMER: YOU HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO USE CAUTION WHEN DISTRIBUTING PRIVATE INFORMATION. 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. Congress shall not have the power to emancipate enslaved people. Although not considered equals in the tribes, they were generally treated well. In 1860, mass hysteria ensued after a series of fires erupted throughout the state. 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. 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. Sugar plantations. I think thats what was interesting about his response, is that he didnt acknowledge that there was a history there, and that was brought out, and we know a lot more about his family history and about the enslaved people his family owned, Berry says. A. Anderson County, Texas, Slave Owners. African American Museum, Dallas [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. WebThe Neals, Foxes, and Timberlakes were all white families of at least moderate wealth that was dependent upon the forced labor of enslaved people. Although no major rebellions occurred, individual acts of violence against owners were carried out. The central part of the state was dominated by subsistence farmers. Email: info@aamdallas.org American slavery was preeminently an economic institutiona system of unfree labor used to produce cash crops for profit. [34] Unlike in most southern cities, the number of urban enslaved people in Texas grew throughout the 1850s. William Mills 20 2. Advocates are pushing for legislation to help them. Slave labor produced cotton (and sugar on the lower Brazos River) for profit and also cultivated the foodstuffs necessary for self-sufficiency. Such documents include censuses, marriage records, and medical records. If they died, the boss did not suffer a monetary loss. 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 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. 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FS Library 973 D25ngs. The 28th State in the Union Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke holds a rally at Scholz Garten in Austin. [26], The abolition of slavery created tensions between the Mexican government and slave-holding settlers from the United States. [9] Of these, only 15 were enslaved, 4males and 11females. By 1840 there were 11,323 enslaved people in Texas. [43] Later newspaper accounts revealed that most of what was confessed under torture appeared to be false. 3 Research Strategy. Slaveholders in those areas often moved their enslaved to Texas to avoid having them freed. On June 25, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act as unconstitutional,[55] a ruling which was shortly followed the implementation of Voter i.d. All ages were represented, however, from 5months to 60years. [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. Many former enslaved people fought with the Cherokee against the Texan army that drove the tribe from East Texas in 1838. [7], Importation of enslaved Africans was not widespread in Spanish Texas. This fact is not a tribute to the benevolence of slavery, but a testimony to the human spirit of the enslaved African Americans. R. R. Barrow, Lafourche, Louisiana: 74 slaves; Terrebonne: 399 slaves. The British newspaper The Guardian reported this week that Democratic presidential candidate, and former Texas Congressman Beto ORourke, and his wife Amy, are descendants of slave owners. Monte Verdi Plantation family slaves honored in Published by the Texas State Historical Association. 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. [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. Masters disciplined their slaves to get the labor they wanted, and yet had to avoid many problems of resistance such as running away and feigning illness. By 1865 there were an estimated 250,000enslaved people in Texas. Sugar and cotton plantations. Between 1816 and 1821, Louis-Michel Aury and Jean Lafitte smuggled enslaved people into the United States through Galveston Island. 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. 13, No. 509 0 obj <> endobj The Bureau created a wide variety of records extremely valuable to genealogists. [50], Slavery was officially abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment which took effect on December 18, 1865. (F. Lewis/Archive Photos via Getty Images) W hen Americans think of the slave trade, they usually imagine ships pulling into East Coast harbors not Texan ones. 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). Some felt well-treated by their owners and generally behaved as loyal servants. Family ties were a source of strength for people enduring bondage and a mark of their humanity, too. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. [23] By 1836, there were approximately 5,000 enslaved people in Texas. [38] Unlike most southern states, Texas did not explicitly ban education of enslaved people, but most slaveholders did not allow the practice. 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. The history of slavery in Texas began slowly at first during the first few phases in Texas' history. [citation needed], June 19, the day of the Emancipation announcement, has been celebrated annually in Texas and other states as Juneteenth. 5.1 Biographies. It replaced the pro-Union governor, Sam Houston, in the process. For a time, many enslaved ran away to Texas. The greatest concentration of large slave plantations was along the lower Brazos and Colorado rivers in Brazoria, Matagorda, Fort Bend, and Wharton counties. 3 (Sep., 1898) (pp. There they were raised to be servants. Signup today for our free newsletter, Especially Texan. 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. Slaves who did not work satisfactorily or otherwise displeased their owners were commonly punished by whipping. [21] Enslaved people often fought against the Comanche tribe, however. Slavery thus linked Texas inextricably with the Old South. The average price of a slave, regardless of age, sex, or condition, rose from approximately $400 in 1850 to nearly $800 by 1860. 1850 - History - U.S. Census Bureau Abraham Kuykendall 5 5. [citation needed], In the 1870s, a system of legalized racial segregation and white supremacy was enforced. The General Provisions of the Constitution forbade any owner of enslaved people from freeing them without the consent of Congress and forbade Congress from making any law that restricted the slave trade or emancipated slaves. John Robinson of Madison, Mississippi: 550 slaves. Slavery was thus a constant source of tension in the lives of slaveholders. "Mike" Campbell, There was an auction block next to the Menger Hotel and near the Alamo. 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. This page has been viewed 87,667 times (5,509 via redirect). 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. [5], Both the civil and religious authorities in Spanish Texas officially encouraged freeing enslaved people, but the laws were often ignored. Slavery was a complex institution that varied according to time and place. Early and family life Because of their economic success, these planters represented the social ideal for many other Texans. 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. 3536 Grand Avenue To find Freedmen's Bureau records: Visit the African American Freedmen's Bureau Records page to learn more about utilizing these records. 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. 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. Amid talk of reparations, political figures contend with their slave-owning ancestors. When Bradburn arrested Travis on suspicion of plotting an insurrection, settlers rebelled. Disputes over slavery did not constitute an immediate cause of the Texas Revolution, but the institution was always in the background as what the noted Texas historian Eugene C. Barker called a "dull, organic ache." In 1860, the Methodists claimed 7,541enslaved people among their members in Texas. Although the law contained some recognition of their humanity, slaves in Texas had the legal status of personal property. Cotton. To Anglo-American slave owners slavery was a practical necessity in Texas the only way to grow cotton profitably on its vast areas of fertile land. This was in the slave owners' self-interest, for marriage encouraged reproduction under socially acceptable conditions, and slave children were valuable. Sugar. States that had used it adopted other means to keep most African Americans from voting. Marr. 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. Slaves were increasing faster than the population as a whole. The Comanche sold any captured enslaved people to the Cherokee and Creek in Indian Territory, as they were both slaveholding tribes. Slave Owners 1800-1820, 1850-1860 Slaves ate primarily corn and pork, foods that contained enough calories to provide adequate energy but were limited in essential vitamins and minerals. By Laura RiceJuly 17, 20191:49 pmArts & Culture, History, Race & Identity. The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry. Field hands generally labored "from sun to sun" five days a week and half a day on Saturday. On the other hand, the institution may well have contributed in several ways to retarding commercialization and industrialization. For the first time, free persons were listed individually instead of by family. The province continued to attract free blacks and escaped enslaved people from the Southern United States. In 1865, 95% of the enslaved were illiterate.[39]. Charles Heyward of Colleton, South Carolina: 491 slaves. Slavery was also vital socially because it reflected basic racial views. Shortly before 1858 he moved from Mississippi to Texas with his wife, Mary, and five children. , and his wife Amy, are descendants of slave owners. 42 (June, 1948): 510, 511-12. [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. Planters had hundreds of enslaved people arrested and questioned forcefully. A relatively few slaves, perhaps as many as 2,000 between 1835 and 1865, came through the illegal African trade. Texas Many owners encouraged worship, primarily on the grounds that it would teach proper subjection and good behavior. ILester G. BugbeePolitical Science QuarterlyVol. Alfred V. Davis, Concordia, Louisiana: 500+ slaves. [18] A small number of enslaved were imported illegally from the West Indies or Africa. [4] His account, along with those of the others, led to more extensive Spanish exploration of the new territory. WebWhat percentage of Texas families owned slaves? After the Texas Revolution ended in 1836, the Constitution of the Republic of Texas made slavery legal. Slaves in general did not lash out constantly against all the limits placed on them that would have brought intolerable punishment but they did not surrender totally to the system, either. During the pre-Civil War statehood period, a majority of Texans were. Sam Houston made illegal importation from Mexico a crime in 1836. Slavery had been theoretically abolished by President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation which proclaimed, in 1863, that only those enslaved in territories that were in rebellion from the United States were free. He and his wife Mary moved there themselves and he died Update 12/7/2016(CLM): I have found various references of military rank from Captain to Brigadier General.