[Slavery]. [Mississippi]

[Manuscript Ledger Recording the Estate of Mississippi Plantation Owners William and Philander Smith, Including Over 200 Enslaved Persons, Organized by Family]

[Natchez, Ms. 1824-1838]. [23]pp. of manuscript entries. Quarto. Contemporary quarter leather and marbled paper boards, faint manuscript title on front cover reading, "Memorandum Book for Estate of Wm. R Smith." Boards heavily rubbed and chipped, spine mostly perished, front cover and first two text leaves detached but present. Text a bit tanned and lightly soiled, but overall quite clean. Good. Item #3916

A sobering manuscript memorandum book kept by the unnamed manager for the estates of William Rufus Smith and his father, Philander Smith, near Natchez, Mississippi. The ledger records much regarding plantation economics, most notably of course in its records of enslaved persons, who are recorded in five separate lists, including a listing of youths and infants bought for the next generation of Smith plantation owners. The first eight pages consist of a logbook which runs from November 22, 1824 to April of 1828, with the remainder containing a running "List of Negroes in Families belonging" to each estate through 1838, organized by family. The log begins: "November 22d. Took charge of the plantation belonging to the estate of Wm. R. Smith & Phil'r Smith dec'd. Not pleased with the overseer Mr. Day." Day, who was paid $30 a month, was replaced by the present author a week later with the much-higher-paid Mr. P. Carry, who was afforded $600 for a thirteen-month appointment. Most of the initial portion of the book contains an accounting of the deceased Philander Smith's estate - enumerating, evaluating, and distributing his property to his heirs, including, of course, the enslaved persons working on the plantation. In early January 1825, the manager notes that he "Found W.R. Smith charged on his Father's Book, page 105, with the following Negroes + other Property." The list names twenty slaves, each accompanied by their cash value in 1822 (totaling $9700). Later in the month, in an entry dated January 29, the manager records a long list of property "received of Bery Smith execution of the Estate of Philander Smith Wm R Smith Portion of his Father's Estate." Following the line-item entries for cattle, hogs, mules, farming equipment, furniture, and other property is another list of ten enslaved persons noted with their ages and variously as "Negro man Jim," "Woman Judy," twelve-year-old Ketty, and fifteen-year-old "Boy Ben Gross."

The remainder of the ledger contains three separate listings of all of the people enslaved by the Smith family, numbering over 200 individuals. Significantly, the list is organized by family group, with the name, age, and "remarks" recorded for each person. The remarks include birth and death dates, as well as marital status and marriage details, and occasionally the date of purchase (when bought after the start date of this logbook), among other details. For example, a woman named Fanny is recorded as acquired at fifty-five years old and "died May 1827, fell in the fire in a fit." A man named Joe is noted as "Married to Margaret (Belonging to W.R. + J.N.Y.)." Sometimes the previous slaveholder and intended employment for the person is noted, as in the case of Joseph and "Susan his wife," aged twenty-four and twenty-one, respectively, who were "purchased of Stone Jan'y 1826, House servants." A young girl named Ann was bought from Stone at the same time for the same purpose, but was apparently "put in the field 1827." Many of the names recorded here belonged to children or infants, and a handful of people whose deaths are recorded are noted as victims of cholera. In this section, five pages are devoted to a "List of Negroes in Families belonging to the Estate of W.R. Smith Feby 1825." The last eight pages list those on the Mantua Plantation belonging to William Smith's heirs, as divided in 1834. Just before these last eight pages are two pages detailing "Negroes purchased on account of Wm. R. & J.H. Smith (minors) and placed upon the Plantation of W.R. Smith March 28th 1828." Such a listing, recording slaves bought for minors within the family who owned the plantation is exceedingly rare in manuscript records of this type. Just as the Smith children represent the next generation of plantation owners, the ages of the enslaved youths bought for them indicate the next generation of slave laborers on the Smith plantation. And the newborns listed here, either bought or born on the Smith plantation, as well as the marriages noted here among the early adult enslaved persons, represent a whole new generation of enslaved labor for the succeeding decades.

A significant and valuable record of the enslaved population of a major Mississippi plantation, recording not only names and ages but vital familial information, which is unusual for plantation ledgers of this type. In the process, the memorandum book has provided crucial genealogical information to succeeding generations of African-Americans whose forebears may have been born, labored, and/or died in this area of the Deep South.

Price: $19,500.00