LARGE SLAVEHOLDERS OF 1860
and
AFRICAN AMERICAN SURNAME MATCHES FROM 1870
by Tom Blake, 2001-2005
Introduction and purpose. When this project was begun in 2001, published information giving names of slaveholders was not readily available, and lists of the number of slaves they held were virtually non-existent. As pointed out in the updates section below, some slaveholder name index books may now be available in larger research libraries, and an 1860 slaveholder index with information on individual slave age, gender and race is now available on line to subscribers at Ancestry.com. However, it is still possible to locate an ancestor on the free U.S. census for 1860 or earlier and not realize that ancestor was also listed as a slaveholder on the slave schedules. 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 transcribing of slaveholder names beginning with these largest holders, and publishing the names for free on the Internet, results in identifying the holders of the most slaves with the least amount of transcription work.
Who can make use of this site. Those who have found a free ancestor in a State and County on the 1860 free census can check this list to learn if their ancestor was one of the larger slaveholders in that County. If the ancestor is not on this list, other index search or browse methods mentioned below can be used or the 1860 slave census microfilm can be viewed to find out whether the ancestor is shown as a holder of a fewer number of slaves. Whether or not the ancestor is found to have been a slaveholder, a viewing of the slave census will provide an informed sense of the extent of slavery in the ancestral County, particularly for those who have never viewed a slave census. An ancestor not shown to hold slaves on the 1860 slave census could have held slaves on an earlier census, so those films can be checked also. In 1850, the slave census was also separate from the free census, but in earlier years it was a part of the free census.
African American descendants of persons who were enslaved in a particular County in 1860, if they have an idea of the surname of the slaveholder, can check this list for the surname. If the surname is found, they can then view the census image elsewhere for the details listed regarding the s*x, age and color of the slaves. If the surname is not on this list, some other index or the census image can be viewed elsewhere to see if there were smaller slaveholders with that surname.
The County page linked at this site also includes information on 1860 County slaveholder and slave counts, racial population changes for 1860, 1870 and 1960, surname matches for 1860 slavesholders and 1870 free colored persons, and a listing of the 1860 large slaveholders in the County, all of which may be of interest to anyone doing research in the County, regardless of whether the researcher had ancestors who held slaves or were enslaved there.
Transcribed names. In 2001, I began a process of transcribing names of some of the largest slaveholders and matching the surnames with numbers of African Americans on the 1870 census. I have compiled name lists that can be linked to through this page. The names on these lists are slaveholders who were some of the largest slaveholders in the listed County in 1860. The surname is only listed one time per County, even though in some cases, more than one large holder in the County had the same surname. For each County I have transcribed, you can find a report on slave holding statistics in 1860 with the full names of some of the largest slaveholders, and also information on African Americans on the 1870 census with the same surname as the holders. 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.
Updates (May and October 2004) regarding availability of slaveholder census indexes. The late Ronald Vern Jackson authored or was lead author for 1850 and 1860 slave census indexes, published by Accelerated Indexing Systems International for all the slave States, but they do not appear to have been widely disseminated. Some of those indexes have been re-published in recent years, but again apparently without significant distribution. These indexes may be available in some larger public library genealogical collections, but they might be kept in closed stack areas rather than in the open area where the free census index books are kept. Ask your librarian. The Ancestry on line census subscription does include access to some of the AIS materials, but not all the slave census indexes are included, and the method for subscribers to access the AIS database at Ancestry is not very straightforward. In October 2004, Ancestry added for its on line subscribers a new 1860 Slave Census Index and here is a page explaining how to use this Ancestry subscriber resource.
No Further Updates Planned. The most recent surname list was added to this web site September 12, 2003. Because slaveholder census information has become more readily available elsewhere, no further updates are planned for the surname lists at this web site, nor are the lists and links at this site being supplemented, corrected, changed or otherwise modified.
There are currently 8,395 surname/County combinations and 11,020 individual slaveholder names on the large slaveholder lists, representing a total of 792,219 slaves in 158 Counties (Parishes in Louisiana) in 10 States. This total represents 49.8% (approximately one half) of the slaves that were held in these Counties, and 20.05% (1 out of every 5) slaves held in the United States in 1860. The Counties and Parishes included here had 40.27% (2 out of 5) of the slaves held in the United States in 1860, and almost one half of those were held by the slaveholders listed at this site. The Charleston County, South Carolina links below include 2,653 small slaveholders, holding 19,975 additional slaves, in addition to the 200 slaveholders who held 40 or more slaves in Charleston. These additional Charleston slaves have been included in the above slave calculations, but the additional 2,653 Charleston slaveholders have not been counted in the above figure for surname/County combinations or total number of slaveholders.
Surname Links. Here are links to my surname pages:
BIGGEST 16. A list of the 16 slaveholders who held the most slaves in any one County in 1860. (Updated October 5, 2001 and December, 2004; now includes 19 holders).
1860 SLAVES AGE 100 AND UP. Slaves age 100 and up were supposed to be named in the 1860 census, but only some of these slaves in fact had their names recorded on the census. There are reportedly 1,570 slaves in that age group, and this link leads to a table listing 1,550 such slaves found using the on line index at Ancestry as of January 12, 2005. The table includes the 14 reported slave States with slaves age 100 or more: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee,Texas and Virginia.
Surname Lists. Alphabetical lists of large slaveholder surnames with County and State. If you find a name of interest, note the States and Counties, then return to this home page to link to the pages for the States and Counties to see the details.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O PQ R S T UV W XYZ
County Links Here are the links to my lists for the various Counties (called Parishes in Louisiana). The County page includes the names of the largest slaveholders in the County, with the number of slaves held and location references, as well as other information on slavery and population. The County page also includes information on the numbers of African Americans in the 1870 census who have the same surname as the large slaveholders.
ADDITIONAL NOTE REGARDING SURNAME MATCHING (added July, 2004): The surname martching information included on the County pages was obtained from the Heritage Quest CD "African Americans in the 1870 U. S. Federal Census", which is not an "every name" index. The CD seems to follow the typical pattern of indexing the name of the head of a household and of everyone else in the household who had a different surname, and maybe also including those in the household with the same surname if they were of some senior age. As a practical matter, based on comparisons of the HQ index with the total number of "colored" persons reported on the former slave states on the 1870 census, the numbers reported by the index and included in the surname matching data on the County pages can probably be multiplied by three to arrive at the total number of African Americans with the surname. After such multiplication, the reported 1870 National, State and County distribution of the surnames would remain in about the same proportion. But the proportion of 1870 African Americans with a particular surname compared to the number of 1860 slaves held by the large slaveholders with that same surname would actually be about three times higher.
Alabama Counties:
AUTAUGA Added 10-20-2001
BALDWIN Added 3-18-2003
BARBOUR Added 10-20-2001
CHOCTAW Added 3-18-2003
CLARKE Added 3-18-2003
CONECUH Added 3-18-2003
DALLAS
FRANKLIN
GREENE
LAUDERDALE (Includes link to Lauderdale County Gen Web site with complete lists of 1850 and 1860 slaveholders)
LAWRENCE
LIMESTONE Added 3-18-2003
LOWNDES Added 10-20-2001
MACON Added 10-20-2001
MADISON Added 3-18-2003
MARENGO
MONROE
MONTGOMERY
PERRY Added April 2, 2002 (Includes link to list of all Perry 1860 slaveholders and 1860 free census transcription)
PICKENS Added April 2, 2002
RUSSELL Added 10-20-2001
SUMTER Added 10-20-2001
TALLADEGA Added April 2, 2002
TUSCALOOSA Added April 2, 2002
WILCOX Added April 2, 2002
Arkansas Counties:
ARKANSAS
CHICOT
DESHA
HEMPSTEAD
JACKSON Added 5-22-2003
JEFFERSON Expanded 5-22-2003
LAFAYETTE Added 3-20-2003
MONROE Added 4-17-2003
PHILLIPS Added 3-20-2003
SEBASTIAN (First portion of full transcription by Angela Walton-Raji) Added 6-16-2003
SEBASTIAN (Remainder of full transcription) Added 6-16-2003
Florida Counties:
LEON Added 5-22-2003
MADISON Added 5-22-2003
MARION Added 5-22-2003
Georgia Counties:
BAKER Added 10-26-2001
BRYAN Added 10-26-2001
BURKE Added 10-26-2001
CAMDEN
CHATHAM
COLUMBIA Added April 17, 2002
CRAWFORD Added April 17, 2002
DECATUR Added April 17, 2002
DOUGHERTY Added April 17, 2002
EARLY Added April 17, 2002
ELBERT Added April 17, 2002
GLYNN Added April 17, 2002
GREENE Added April 17, 2002
HANCOCK Added April 17, 2002
HARRIS Added April 17, 2002
HOUSTON Added 10-26-2001
JASPER Added 10-26-2001
JEFFERSON Added 10-26-2001
JONES Added 10-26-2001
LAURENS
LEE
LIBERTY
LINCOLN Added April 3, 2003
MCINTOSH
MORGAN Added April 3, 2003
OGLETHORPE - Transcriptions by Jeanne Arguelles - Complete slaveholder index and also Full slave schedule counts
PUTNAM Added April 3, 2003
TALBOT Added April 17, 2002
THOMAS Added April 17, 2002
TROUP Added April 17, 2002
TWIGGS Added April 17, 2002
UPSON - Full transcription by David Paterson Added January 29,2005
WILKES Added April 17, 2003
Louisiana Parishes:
ASCENSION
ASSUMPTION Added 9-21-2001
AVOYELLES Added 9-21-2001
BOSSIER Added 9-26-2001
CADDO Added 9-25-2001
CARROLL Added 9-26-2001
CATAHOULA Added 9-25-2001
CONCORDIA
DESOTO
EAST BATON ROUGE Added 9-23-2001
IBERVILLE
JEFFERSON
LAFOURCHE
MADISON
MOREHOUSE
NATCHITOCHES
PLAQUEMINES
POINT COUPEE
RAPIDES Revised November 3, 2001. Includes link to full transcription by Dale Detert.
ST. BERNARD
ST. CHARLES
ST. JAMES
ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST
ST. LANDRY
ST. MARY
TENSAS
TERREBONNE
WEST BATON ROUGE Added 9-21-2001
WEST FELICIANA
Mississippi Counties:
ADAMS
AMITE
BOLIVAR
CARROLL Added 11-16-2001
CHICKASAW Added 11-16-2001
CLAIBORNE Added 11-16-2001
CLARKE Added 11-16-2001
COAHOMA Added 11-16-2001
COPIAH Added 11-16-2001 (Includes link to Linda Durr Rudd's page with full list of names of holders and number of slaves)
DESOTO Added 11-16-2001
HINDS Added 11-16-2001
HOLMES Added May 10, 2003
ISSAQUENA
JEFFERSON Added May 10, 2003
JEFFERSON (Linda Durr Rudd's page with full list of names of holders and number of slaves)
LOWNDES Added 11-16-2001
MADISON Added 11-16-2001
MARSHALL Added May 12, 2002
MONROE Added May 12, 2002
NOXUBEE Added 11-16-2001
OKTIBBEHA Added 11-16-2001
PANOLA Added 11-16-2001
SIMPSON (Linda Durr Rudd's page with full list of names of holders and number of slaves)
TALLAHATCHIE Added May 12, 2002
TUNICA Added May 12, 2002
WARREN Added May 12, 2002
WAYNE
WILKINSON
YALOBUSHA Added May 10, 2003
YAZOO
North Carolina Counties:
BERTIE Added June 30, 2003
EDGECOMBE Added June 30, 2003
FRANKLIN Added June 30, 2003
GRANVILLE-Barnetta McGhee White's site Enslaved ancestor abstracts from deed books, 1746-1864
(scroll to bottom of Barnetta's page for the abstract links).
HALIFAX Added June 30, 2003
WARREN Added June 30, 2003
South Carolina Counties:
ABBEVILLE-Sonia Walker's site with full transcription.
BARNWELL Added May 12, 2002
BEAUFORT
COLLETON
CHARLESTON - 200 largest slaveholders Added 12/2001
CHARLESTON - 2,853 slaveholders alphabetically Added 12/2001
CHARLESTON - 2,853 slaveholders in order counted Added 12/2001
CLARENDON Added 4-17-2003
DARLINGTON Added 11-19-2001
EDGEFIELD Added 11-19-2001
FAIRFIELD
GEORGETOWN
MARION Added May 12, 2002
MARLBORO Added May 12, 2002
NEWBERRY
ORANGEBURG Added May 12, 2002
RICHLAND Added 11-25-2001
SUMTER
UNION
WILLIAMSBURG
Texas Counties:
BRAZORIA Added 5-22-2003
Virginia Counties:
AMELIA Added 7-29-2003
ESs*x Added 7-29-2003
HALIFAX Added Sept.12-2003
HENRY Added Sept.12-2003
KING WILLIAM Added 7-29-2003
MECKLENBURG Added Sept.12-2003
NELSON Added 7-29-2003
NOTTOWAY Added 7-29-2003
POWHATAN Added Sept.12-2003
PRINCE GEORGE Added Sept.12-2003
More Links Here are links to some other genealogy sites of related interest:
AFRIGENEAS Everything to do with African American genealogy, including slavery.
ROOTSWEB The oldest and largest free genealogy site.
USGENWEB Genealogy sites for every State and County.
ADDITIONAL LINKS PAGE More related links of interest to African American and slavery researchers.
Posted By: Yaiqab Saint
Sunday, January 10th 2016 at 10:13PM
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