WebLists of Slave owners with names of slaves 781-----Edward, 660 Michael, 735 Adam, Andrew George, 425, 498, 533, 621 Guy, 498 Jack, 729 Lucy, 729 Peter, 533 Sam, 621 4 Cotton plantations. WebAnd for greater certainty I here give the names of the slaves mentioned and intended to pass to said children by this my 5th bequeath to the best of my resolution, to wit, 1 Scott 2 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." [14][15], In 1821 at the conclusion of the Mexican War of Independence, Texas was included in the new nation. But how would they make their way in the world after 1865? [7] The 1783 census for all of Texas listed a total of 36enslaved people. New Orleans was the center of this trade in the Deep South, but there were slave dealers in Galveston and Houston, too. accessed March 05, 2023, Many slave families, however, were disrupted. Texas was a colonial territory, then part of Mexico, later Republic in 1836, and U.S. state in 1845. WIKITREE HOME | ABOUT | G2G FORUM | HELP | SEARCH. 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 [54] The drop in proportion of population reflected greatly-increased European immigration to the state in the 19th century, as well as population growth. Although the law contained some recognition of their humanity, slaves in Texas had the legal status of personal property. Once established as an economic institution, slavery became a key social institution as well. Slavery was a complex institution that varied according to time and place. The greatest concentration of large slave plantations was along the lower Brazos and Colorado rivers in Brazoria, Matagorda, Fort Bend, and Wharton counties. Free persons of African descent were required to petition the. Religion and music were also key elements of slave culture. 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 page has been viewed 87,667 times (5,509 via redirect). 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.. Some slaveowners did not free their enslaved people until late in 1865. In rural areas, counties often set up patrols to enforce restrictions on enslaved people traveling without passes from planter owners. The supposed "poison" found in enslaved quarters was baby powder. FS Library 973 D25ngs. See the Heritage Exchange Portal for more information on how to document slaves and slave owners. 25 percent. 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. 389-412)Page Count: 24, Texas Runaway Slave Project. States that had used it adopted other means to keep most African Americans from voting. There were a few slaves in Texas while it was a Spanish province, but slavery did not really become an institution of significance in the region until the arrival of AngloAmerican settlers. This fact is not a tribute to the benevolence of slavery, but a testimony to the human spirit of the enslaved African Americans. %PDF-1.6 % Texas had many runaways and thousands escaped to Mexico. A slave had a right to trial by jury and a court-appointed attorney when charged with a crime greater than petty larceny. These records often include full names, former masters and plantations, and current residences. The great majority of slaves in Texas came with their owners from the older slave states. Most slaves, however, were neither loyal servants nor rebels. 0 Anderson County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Austin County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 0, 1), Bastrop County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 0, 1), Bell County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 3, 0), Bexar County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Bosque County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Brazos County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Burleson County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 2, 0), Caldwell County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 12, 2), Cass County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 3, 0), Chambers County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Cherokee County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 3, 0), Collin County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Cooke County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Dallas County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), DeWitt County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Ellis County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Falls County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Fannin County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 2, 0), Fayette County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 0, 1), Fort Bend County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Freestone County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Galveston County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Gonzales County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 1), Grayson County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 3, 0), Guadalupe County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 3, 1), Harris County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 4, 0), Harrison County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 6, 1), Hays County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 0, 1), Hill County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 2, 0), Hopkins County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 2, 0), Houston County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Johnson County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 1), Kaufman County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Lavaca County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 2, 0), Leon County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 2, 0), Madison County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Marion County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Matagorda County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 2, 0), McLennan County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Milam County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 3, 0), Montgomery County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 5, 0), Nacogdoches County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Navarro County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Nueces County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Panola County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 12, 2), Polk County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Red River County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 4, 0), Rusk County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 2, 0), Sabine County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 2, 0), San Augustine County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Shelby County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 9, 3), Smith County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 3, 0), Tarrant County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Titus County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 2, 0), Travis County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 2, 0), Tyler County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 3, 0), Upshur County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 0), Walker County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 2, 0), Washington County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 1, 1), Wharton County, Texas, Slave Owners (0, 2, 0). [8] There was intermarriage among blacks, Indians and Europeans. Levin R. Marshall, Concordia (2), Louisiana: 248 slaves. [41] See Underground Railroad South to Mexico. Slave prices inflated rapidly as the institution expanded in Texas. A list of resources for African American research of ancestors who lived in Texas. They therefore followed a basic human instinct and sought to survive on the best terms possible. [5], Both the civil and religious authorities in Spanish Texas officially encouraged freeing enslaved people, but the laws were often ignored. Slavery in Waco. WebThe Neals, Foxes, and Timberlakes were all white families of at least moderate wealth that was dependent upon the forced labor of enslaved people. Every dollar helps. Others simply called their enslaved people indentured servants without legally changing their status. WebOne in four families owned slaves. Section 9 of Constitution of the Republic of Texas read in part as follows: All persons of color who were slaves for life previous to their emigration to Texas, and who are now held in bondage, shall remain in the like state of servitude Congress shall pass no laws to prohibit emigrants from bringing their slaves into the republic with them, and holding them by the same tenure by which such slaves were held in the United States; nor shall congress have the power to emancipate slaves; nor shall any slave holder be allowed to emancipate his or her slave without the consent of congress, unless he or she shall send his or her slave or slaves without the limits of the republic. 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. Arthur Blake of Charleston, South Carolina: 538 slaves. laws in Texas. 4807 Caroline Slavery guaranteed that. Web1800 Slave Owners 1. R. R. Barrow, Lafourche, Louisiana: 74 slaves; Terrebonne: 399 slaves. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. To Berry, having slave-owning ancestors shouldnt disqualify someone form holding office. Moreover, individuals with family ties were probably more easily controlled than those who had none. Because of their economic success, these planters represented the social ideal for many other Texans. Only one in every four families in antebellum Texas owned slaves, but these slaveholders, especially the planters who held twenty or more slaves, generally constituted the state's wealthiest class. You can also look up Charleston Manifests by Slave Owner [table striped="true" The Comanche sold any captured enslaved people to the Cherokee and Creek in Indian Territory, as they were both slaveholding tribes. And a rich woman with slaves of her own to boot. Later he was given leadership of a Spanish expedition. Slavery may have thus hindered economic modernization in Texas. Sources Taken from Szucs, Loretto Dennis, "Research in Census Records." [citation needed], In the 1870s, a system of legalized racial segregation and white supremacy was enforced. [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. O. J. Morgan, Carroll, Louisiana: 500+ slaves. 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. [52] By the late 19th century, Texas passed other Jim Crow laws. [9] When some French and Spanish slaveholders moved to Texas, they were allowed to retain their enslaved people. WebJoseph Marryat (17571824), owned slaves in Grenada, Trinidad, St. Lucia, and Jamaica. This page was last modified 06:24, 6 May 2021. As Texas was much more distant from the Union Army lines for much of the war, enslaved people were unable to reach them. 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. The son of Capt. Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), Constitution of the State of Coahuila and Texas, http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. Slaves, however, tended to hear the message of individual equality before God and salvation for all. In 1850 the number was 2,852. 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. 2008 - 2023 INTERESTING.COM, INC. One result was the Turtle Bayou Resolutions, which were an explanation of the grievances that had led to the disturbances. Slavery thus linked Texas inextricably with the Old South. Like Georgia, the Texas Democratic Party adopted a whites-only primary. This did not mean that the majority of slaves were content with their status. But Texas was once the site of an illegal racket led by pirates who brought slaves into the state and sold them throughout the United Eliza Denwoo Henry David Rhodes, planter, was born in Alabama about 1819. The following information is included: The records are categorized by county. WebWhat percentage of Texas families owned slaves? ILester G. BugbeePolitical Science QuarterlyVol. Jerrett Brown of Sumter, Alabama: 540 slaves. William Mills 20 2. Mario Marcel, "Foundation Myth in Political Thought: The Racial Moorings of Foundation Myth", Dubugue:Kendal Hunt Publishers,2011, This page was last edited on 8 January 2023, at 01:53. John Burneside of Ascension, Louisiana: 753 slaves; Saint James: 187 slaves. If they died, the boss did not suffer a monetary loss. Some hid in the bayous for a time, while others lived among the Indians, and a few managed to board ships bound for northern or foreign ports. The emancipated slaves celebrated joyously (if Whites allowed it), but then they had to find out just what freedom meant. The Gregory School Historical collections at The Gregory School include: Access to Houston Public Library databases and indexes Books Pamphlets Periodicals Photographs Oral history recordings Manuscripts Newspapers and clippings Personal family archives and Ephemera documenting Houstons African American History and culture. If you change your mind, you can easily unsubscribe. Salas. Slavery certainly promoted development of the agricultural economy; it provided the labor for a 600 percent increase in cotton production during the 1850s. Andrew Lyda 3 8. LEVI JORDAN HISTORY Levi Jordan arrived in Texas in 1848. Thomas Justice 2 11. The slaveholder hired William Barret Travis, a local lawyer, in an attempt to retrieve the men. The history of slavery in Texas began slowly at first during the first few phases in Texas' history. Through organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), African Americans continued to work to regain their ability to exercise their civil and voting rights as citizens. Sizable numbers, however, came through the domestic slave trade. Length of residence (in state, in county, in precinct), General Remarks--race is noted when the registrant was "colored". 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. Gleaning Information about Enslaved Ancestors from Probate Files NGS Magazine 48 #2 (April-June 2022): 2327. 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. University of Virginia. (re: Insurrection Scare in East Texas) "Smith County and Its Neighgors During the Slave Insurrection Panic of 1860," by Donald Eugene Reynolds, PhD (born 1931), Slavery in the Spanish New World colonies, outlawed the importation of enslaved people, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Supreme Court struck down Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act, History of African Americans in Dallas-Ft. Worth, History of African Americans in San Antonio, "Historical Census Statistics on Population Totals By Race, 1790 to 1990, and By Hispanic Origin, 1970 to 1990, For The United States, Regions, Divisions, and States", "U.S. appeals court allows Texas to implement voter ID law", "Updated: Texas voter ID law allows gun licenses, not Student ID's", "Someone did not do their due diligence: How an attempt to review Texas' voter rolls turned into a debacle", Texas Terror: the Slave Insurrection Panic of 1860 and the Secession of the Lower South, San Antonio de Bexar: A Community on New Spain's Northern Frontier, Lester G. Bugbee, "Slavery in early Texas", Foreign relations of the Republic of Texas, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_slavery_in_Texas&oldid=1132265581, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2011, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2020, Articles with failed verification from June 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. He John Butler of McIntosh, Georgia: 505 slaves. [24] Fifty percent of the enslaved people worked either alone or in groups of fewer than 20 on small farms ranging from the Nueces River to the Red River, and from the Louisiana border to the edge of the western settlements of San Antonio, Austin, Waco, and Fort Worth. Music and song served to set a pace for work and to express sorrow and hope (see AFRICAN-AMERICAN CHURCHES). [25] The department of Texas, which included the eastern settlements, expected to export 2,000 bales of cotton and 5,000 head of cattle. (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. IMPORTANT PRIVACY NOTICE & DISCLAIMER: YOU HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO USE CAUTION WHEN DISTRIBUTING PRIVATE INFORMATION. The 1867 Voter Registration includes names of voters who registered in the period between 1867 and 1869. [24], Exportation in the slave-owning areas of the state surpassed that of the non-slave-owning areas. Congress shall not have the power to emancipate enslaved people. They had no legally prescribed way to gain freedom. House servants and craftsmen worked long hours, too, but their labor was not so burdensome physically. Theirs was apparently a favored position, at least in this regard. WIKITREE PROTECTS MOST SENSITIVE INFORMATION BUT ONLY TO THE EXTENT STATED IN THE TERMS OF SERVICE AND PRIVACY POLICY. Dallas, Texas 75225-0446 [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. 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. At first, the practice involved primarily Apaches; eventually Comanche children were likewise "adopted" as servants. [19] In 1832, the state passed legislation prohibiting worker contracts from lasting more than tenyears. Slavery in Early Texas. Dallas, TX The effect of the institution on the state's general economic development is less clear. Most runaways attempted to go to Mexico. Farmers. FS Library976.4F2bjm 1970 [38] Unlike most southern states, Texas did not explicitly ban education of enslaved people, but most slaveholders did not allow the practice. 1 Introduction. The whites, however, could hope to improve their lives with their own hard work, while the enslaved people could have no such hope or expectation as, of course, their work belonged by law to their owners and not to them. Most of the early slaveholders owned only a few enslaved people, but a few brought enough to build plantations immediately. [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. [11] By 1825, however, a census of Austin's Colony showed 1,347 Anglo-Americans and 443people of African descent, including a small number of free blacks. It was Sarah Devereux that kept the plantation producing after Julien's death. This page has been accessed 1,367 times. Sugar. Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) Included are land grant requests, wills, and testaments, letters of freedom and contracts of the sale of slaves. Truly 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 resembled that of the Old South's famed Black Belt. [10], When the United States purchased Louisiana in 1803, Spain declared that any enslaved person who crossed the Sabine River into Texas would be automatically freed. 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. P.O. Slaves increased their minimal self-determination by taking what they could get from their owners and then pressing for additional latitude. Madison (1), 236 slaves. 2021 Texas Standard. In Texas, like other southern states, the treatment of slaves varied from plantation to plantation, from master to master. [33] Enslaved people were not held between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. It could happen in public spaces with town halls and forums, it could happen in our own homes at our dining room tables and have a conversation about what does it mean to be part of this lineage?. East Texas Research Center. Several confessed to a plot by white abolitionists to avenge John Brown's execution by burning food supplies and poisoning slaveowners. All copyrighted materials included within the Handbook of Texas Online are in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. On the other hand, western parts of Texas were still a frontier during the American Civil War. Later they were joined by lvar Nez Cabeza de Vaca. For a complete list, please see: American slave owners Project Profiles. 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. The census for 1840 in Henderson County included 4,662 whites, 466 slaves, 35 free blacks. WebTexas's enslaved population grew rapidly: while there were 30,000 enslaved people in Texas in 1845, the census lists 58,161 enslaved African Americans in 1850. Slavery was present in Spanish America and Mexico prior to the arrival of American settlers, but it was not highly developed, and the Spanish did not rely on it for labor during their years in Spanish Texas. WebThe British newspaper The Guardian reported this week that Democratic presidential candidate, and former Texas Congressman Beto ORourke, and his wife Amy, are It contains a very significant number of Texas' African-American population. 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. Slavery was also vital socially because it reflected basic racial views.