JEFFERSON COUNTY, ARKANSAS
LARGEST SLAVEHOLDERS FROM 1860 SLAVE CENSUS SCHEDULES
and
SURNAME MATCHES FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS ON 1870 CENSUS
Transcribed by Tom Blake, May 2001, Expanded May 2003
PURPOSE. Published information giving names of slaveholders and numbers of slaves held is almost non-existent. It is possible to locate an ancestor on a U.S. census for 1860 or earlier and not realize that ancestor was also listed as a slaveholder on the slave schedules, because published indexes almost always do not include the slave census. The last U.S. census slave schedules were enumerated by County in 1860 and included 393,975 named persons holding 3,950,546 unnamed slaves, or an average of about ten slaves per holder. The actual number of slaveholders may be slightly lower because some large holders held slaves in more than one County and would have been counted in each County. Excluding slaves, the 1860 U.S. population was 27,167,529, with about 1 in 70 being a slaveholder. It is estimated by this transcriber that in 1860, slaveholders of 200 or more slaves, while constituting less than 1 % of the total number of U.S. slaveholders, or 1 out of 7,000 free persons, held 20-30% of the total number of slaves in the U.S. The process of publication of slaveholder names beginning with these largest holders will enable naming of the holders of the most slaves with the least amount of transcription work. Surname matching of slaveholders with 1870 African Americans is intended merely as suggesting another possibility for further research by those seeking to make connections between slaves and holders.
SOURCES. The 1860 U.S. Census Slave Schedules for Jefferson County, Arkansas (NARA microfilm series M653, Roll 53) reportedly includes a total of 7,146 slaves. This transcription includes 77 slaveholders who held 20 or more slaves in Jefferson County, accounting for 4,464 slaves, or 62% of the County total. The rest of the slaves in the County were held by a total of 486 slaveholders, and those slaveholders have not been included here. Due to variable film quality, handwriting interpretation questions and inconsistent counting and page numbering methods used by the census enumerators, interested researchers should view the source film personally to verify or modify the information in this transcription for their own purposes. Census data for 1860 was obtained from the Historical United States Census Data Browser, which is a very detailed, searchable and highly recommended database that can found at http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/census/ . Census data on African Americans in the 1870 census was obtained using Heritage Quest’s CD “African-Americans in the 1870 U.S. Federal Census”, available through Heritage Quest at http://www.heritagequest.com/ .
FORMAT. This transcription lists the names of those largest slaveholders in the County, the number of slaves they held in the township where the slaves were enumerated, the name of the township and the first census page on which they were listed. The page numbers used are the rubber stamped numbers in the upper right corner of every set of two pages, with the previous stamped number and a “B” being used to designate the pages without a stamped number. Following the holder list is a separate list of the surnames of the holders with information on numbers of African Americans on the 1870 census who were enumerated with the same surname. The term “County” is used to describe the main subdivisions of the State by which the census was enumerated.
TERMINOLOGY. Though the census schedules speak in terms of “slave owners”, the transcriber has chosen to use the term “slaveholder” rather than “slave owner”, so that questions of justice and legality of claims of ownership need not be addressed in this transcription. Racially related terms such as African American, black, mulatto and colored are used as in the source or at the time of the source, with African American being used otherwise.
PLANTATION NAMES. Plantation names were not shown on the census. Using plantation names to locate ancestors can be difficult because the name of a plantation may have been changed through the years and because the sizeable number of large farms must have resulted in lots of duplication of plantation names. In Arkansas in 1860 there were 69 farms of 1,000 acres or more, the largest size category enumerated in the census, and another 307 farms of 500-999 acres. Linking names of plantations in this County with the names of the large holders on this list should not be a difficult research task, but it is beyond the scope of this transcription.
FORMER SLAVES. The 1860 U.S. Census was the last U.S. census showing slaves and slaveholders. Slaves were enumerated in 1860 without giving their names, only their sex and age and indication of any handicaps, such as deaf or blind Slaves 100 years of age or older were supposed to be named on the 1860 slave schedule, but there were only 1,570 slaves of such age enumerated, out of a total of 3,950,546 slaves nationwide. The transcriber noticed only one such slave on this enumeration, 110 year old female “Eddo”, held by Adam McWillie on page 369. Freed slaves, if listed in the next census, in 1870, would have been reported with their full name, including surname. Some of these former slaves may have been using the surname of their 1860 slaveholder at the time of the 1870 census and they may have still been living in the same State or County. Before presuming an African American was a slave on the 1860 census, the free census for 1860 should be checked, as almost 11% of African Americans were enumerated as free in 1860, with about half of those living in the southern States. Estimates of the number of former slaves who used the surname of a former owner in 1870, vary widely and from region to region. If an African American ancestor with one of these surnames is found on the 1870 census, then making the link to finding that ancestor as a slave requires advanced research techniques involving all obtainable records of the holder.
MIGRATION OF FORMER SLAVES: According to U.S. Census data, the 1860 Jefferson County population included 7,813 whites, 12 “free colored” and 7,146 slaves. By the 1870 census, the white population of Jefferson County had decreased almost 29% to 5,556, while the “colored” population increased 42% to 10,167. (As a side note, by 1960, 100 years later, the County was listed as having 45,915 whites, almost a six fold increase, while the 1960 total of 35,365 “Negroes”was five times what the colored population had been 100 years before.) {In comparing census data for different years, changes in County boundaries, such as the taking of part of Jefferson County to form part of other Counties, including Grant in 1869, Lincoln in 1871, and Dorsey and Cleveland in 1873, have not been considered, on the presumption that the changes would have affected the comparison groups equally. For more precise comparison, the affect of the boundary changes should be fully calculated].
Where did the freed slaves go if they did not stay in the County? Pulaski County saw an increase of 10,000 in the colored population in those ten years, but no other County in the State showed a significant increase. Between 1860 and 1870, the Arkansas colored population increased by 11,000, to 122,000, about a 10% increase. Where did freed slaves go if they did not stay in Arkansas? States that saw significant increases in colored population during that time, and were therefore more likely possible places of relocation for colored persons from Jefferson County, included the following: Georgia, up 80,000 to 545,000 (17%); Texas, up 70,000 (38%); North Carolina, up 31,000 (8%); Florida, up 27,000 (41%); Ohio, up 26,000 (70%); Indiana, up 25,000 (127%); and Kansas up from 265 to 17,000 (6,400%).
SLAVEHOLDER LIST:
ASHLEY, Wm. E., 78 slaves, Bogy? Twp., page 359B
ATKINS, Geo. W., 55 slaves, Richland Twp., page 384
ATKINS, Green? D., 45 slaves, Richland, page 383B
ATKINS, James H., 36 slaves, Bartholomew, page 356
BASS, John M., 89 slaves, Bogy? Twp., page 360
BASS, W. J., Md.[Maryland], 30 slaves, Bogy?, page 360
BERRY?, John B., 64 slaves, Richland Twp., page 384B
BERTRAND, C. P. & SCULL?, 74 slaves, Vaugine? Twp., page 396
BOGY, Lewis Sr., 43 slaves, Bogy?, page 362
BOYCE, Joseph & MCNALLY, Jno., 36 slaves, Plum Bayou, page 381B
BRADSHAW, J. S., 37 slaves, Baraque, page 353
BREWER, Wm. T., 35 slaves, Talladega, page 389
BRUNSON, Asa, 42 slaves, Bogy?, page 357B
CALDWELL, L. A., 70 slaves, Bolivar? Twp., page 363
CANTRELL, G. C., & WHITE, J. B., 61 slaves, Vaugine? Twp., page 395
CARSON, Saml., 32 slaves, Vaugine, page 400
COCKERILL, L.? R., 160 slaves, Vaugine? Twp., page 393B
COLLIER, Chs. E., 37 slaves, Plum Bayou, page 379
COLLIER?, James H., 32 slaves, Bogy?, page 361B
CROWLEY, W. G., 40 slaves, Baraque, page 353B
CUNNINGHAM, Josh P., 46 slaves, Dudley Lake, page 369B
CURRY, S., 29 slaves, Bartholomew , page 355B
DAVIS & MATTKIN, 30 slaves, Plum Bayou, page 379
DAVIS, M. L., 32 slaves, Vaugine, page 400
EAST, Alexr. H., 71 slaves, Plum Bayou Twp., page 377B
EATON, R. V.?, 33 slaves, Bolivar, page 365
EMBREE, Jordan N.?, 66 slaves, Plum Bayou Twp., page 375
FISH?, N. H., 91 slaves, Vaugine? Twp., page 395
HALL, J. B., 72 slaves, Plum Bayou Twp., page 376
HARDWICK, Nancy, 103 slaves, Vaugine? Twp., page 396B
HASKELL, Chas. T., 74 slaves, Bolivar? Twp., page 363B
HILL, W. P., 39 slaves, Vaugine, page 398B
HOLMES, Laurentias, 31 slaves, Plum Bayou, page 380B
HORTON, J. W., 42 slaves, Richland, page 385
JENKINS, , N., 26 slaves, Vaugine, page 393B
JOHNSON, R. W., 128 slaves, Vaugine? Twp., page 397
JOHNSON, Robt. W., 64 slaves, Richland Twp., page 387B
JONES, S. B., 30 slaves, Richland, page 383
JONES, S. J., C. Jenkins in charge, 40 slaves, Plum Bayou, page 379B
KENDALL, Edmund, 30 slaves, Talladega, page 389B
KENNEDY, S. D., 84 slaves, Bogy? Twp., page 361
KIMBROUGH, Wm. A., 70 slaves, Plum Bayou Twp., page 378
LEWIS?, Marion, 55 slaves, Bogy? Twp., page 358B
MATTKIN (see Davis & Mattkin)
MCGREGOR, Thomas, 48 slaves, Bolivar, page 364
MCKAY, Malcom and 2 others, 39 slaves, Dudley Lake, page 70
MCKENZIE, Asa, 59 slaves, Richland Twp., page 386B
MCNALLY (see Boyce & McNally)
MCWILLIE, Adam, 85 slaves, Dudley Lake Twp., page 369
MOSBY, J. H. And one other, 40 slaves, Bolivar, page 367
NICHOL, Josiah, 32 slaves, Bolivar, page 367B
NICHOLL, Wm., 136 slaves, Plum Bayou Twp., page 376B
NOEL, Wm. A.?, 53 slaves, Vaugine? Twp., page 399
RICHARDSON, B. F., 65 slaves, Bogy? Twp., page 362
ROANE, John S., 49 slaves, Vaugine, page 392
ROANE, Julia, 118 slaves, Plum Bayou Twp., page 378
SCULL, James, 57 slaves, Vaugine? Twp., page 400
SHEPARD, James, 48 slaves, Vaugine, page 394B
SHEPPARD, Jas., 106 slaves, Plum Bayou Twp., page 375
SILER, T. T., 32 slaves, Baraque, page 353
SMITH, Augustus M., 52 slaves, Bolivar? Twp., page 364B
SMITH, Augustus, 54 slaves, Bolivar? Twp., page 365
SMITH, Nat. G., 38 slaves, Vaugine, page 398B
SNIPES, E. P. And one other, 43 slaves, Plum Bayou, page 381
STONE?, M. E. And one other, 46 slaves, Bolivar, page 366B
TALIAFERO, John N., 29 slaves, Talladega, page 389
TAYLOR, John, 98 slaves, Vaugine? Twp., page 391B
TAYLOR?, Creed?, 70 slaves, Bogy? Twp., page 358
TURLOCK?, M.?, 62 slaves, Richland Twp., page 383
WALKER, R. W., 30 slaves, Vaugine, page 391B
WALTON, L. R. B., 51 slaves, Bolivar? Twp., page 363B
WARREN, L.? H., 40 slaves, Vaugine, page 392B
WATTERS, John, M. D., 112 slaves, Richland Twp., page 385
WILLIAMS, J. W. And one other, 27 slaves, Bolivar, page 365B
WILLIAMS, Mc.? H., 39V62B
WILLIAMS, Will Sr.?, 106 slaves, Richland Twp., page 386
WILLIAMS, Will. Sr.?, 108 slaves, Bogy? Twp., page 357
WRIGHT, E. W., 29 slaves, Vaugine, page 391B
YOUNG, Est. of R. H., 66 slaves, Bogy? Twp., page 359
SURNAME MATCHES AMONG AFRICAN AMERICANS ON 1870 CENSUS:
(exact surname spellings only are reported, no spelling variations or soundex)
(SURNAME, # in US, in State, in County, born in State, born and living in State, born in State and living in County)
ASHLEY, 285, 9, 0, 4, 4, 0
ATKINS, 406, 12, 2, 5, 4, 0
BASS, 764, 12, 1, 3, 1, 0
BERRY?, 1958, 44, 8, 19, 7, 2
BERTRAND, 35, 2, 1, 0, 0, 0
BOGY, 5, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
BOYCE, 162, 6, 0, 1, 0, 0
BRADSHAW, 328, 14, 0, 7, 6, 0
BREWER, 474, 25, 2, 15, 11, 1
BRUNSON, 184, 7, 1, 1, 0, 0
CALDWELL, 1034, 19, 2, 9, 5, 1
CANTRELL, 77, 2, 2, 0, 0, 0
CARSON, 617, 18, 3, 6, 6, 1
COCKERILL, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
COLLIER, 632, 17, 1, 3, 3, 0
CROWLEY, 50, 3, 0, 2, 2, 0
CUNNINGHAM, 1016, 21, 1, 9, 6, 0
CURRY, 936, 28, 2, 4, 4, 0
DAVIS, 13725, 399, 48, 147, 102, 17
EAST, 80, 5, 0, 1, 1, 0
EATON, 222, 9, 0, 3, 2, 0
EMBREE, 25, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
FISH?, 104, 5, 1, 1, 1, 0
HALL, 5875, 144, 13
HARDWICK, 104, 9, 0, 1, 1, 0
HASKELL, 36, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3
HILL, 6675, 195, 14, 63, 44, 3
HOLMES, 2804, 91, 7, 27, 19, 2
HORTON, 745, 14, 1, 6, 5, 0
JENKINS, 3848, 65, 10, 24, 19, 6
JOHNSON, 33402, 823, 86, 307, 196, 27
JONES, 27193, 735, 94, 254, 180, 30
KENDALL, 155, 20, 2, 7, 7, 0
KENNEDY, 781, 12, 0, 4, 2, 0
KIMBROUGH, 230, 6, 2, 2, 1, 1
LEWIS?, 8707, 211, 14, 787, 52, 6
MATTKIN, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
MCGREGOR, 79, 10, 9, 1, 1, 0
MCKAY, 411, 6, 2, 1, 1, 1
MCKENZIE, 216, 7, 0, 3, 3, 0
MCNALLY, 11, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
MCWILLIE, 9, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
MOSBY, 237, 9, 2, 3, 2, 1
NICHOLL, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
NOEL, 166, 4, 2, 1, 0, 0
RICHARDSON, 3741, 57, 5, 17, 12, 3
ROANE, 173, 4, 2, 1, 0, 0
SCULL, 7, 2, 0, 1, 1, 0
SHEPARD, 378, 5, 0, 0, 0, 0
SHEPPARD, 480, 15, 2, 2, 1, 0
SILER, 66, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
SMITH, 29087, 801, 86, 341, 245, 32
SNIPES, 146, 11, 8, 3, 3, 3
STONE?, 1070, 40, 1, 22, 18, 0
TALIAFERO, 24, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
TAYLOR, 11696, 274, 33, 104, 64, 7
TURLOCK, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
WALKER, 8492, 294, 20, 123, 89, 3
WALTON, 1110, 15, 0, 6, 3, 0
WARREN, 1697, 90, 6, 22, 18, 2
WATTERS, 129, 2, 0, 2, 0, 0
WHITE, 9567, 231, 32, 69, 42, 6
WILLIAMS, 28865, 787, 78, 301, 188, 25
WRIGHT, 5428, 114, 5, 48, 24, 1
YOUNG, 6185, 149, 18, 50, 32, 2
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