names of families that owned slaves in texas

Houston, Texas 77004, African American Genealogical Interest Group William Fletcher 4 6. [20], Many enslaved people who escaped from slaveholders in Texas or in the United States joined various East Texas Indian tribes. [19] In 1832, the state passed legislation prohibiting worker contracts from lasting more than tenyears. Sam Houston made illegal importation from Mexico a crime in 1836. Marie Therese Metoyer. 4807 Caroline [22], By the 1800s, most enslaved people in Texas had been brought by slaveholders from the United States. Slave houses were usually small log cabins with fireplaces for cooking. Africans and the descendants of Africans and Indians were excluded from the class of 'persons' having rights. Wood was born into slavery in the early 19th century on a Kentucky farm owned by a man named Moses Tousey, McDaniel writes. To Berry, having slave-owning ancestors shouldnt disqualify someone form holding office. 2021 Texas Standard. 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. The supposed "poison" found in enslaved quarters was baby powder. For the first time, free persons were listed individually instead of by family. 13, No. Geni requires JavaScript! Abraham Kuykendall 5 5. [7], Importation of enslaved Africans was not widespread in Spanish Texas. Slave plantations were concentrated along the low-lying farmlands of East Texas. On the other hand, there was little comfort and no luxury. Slavery was also vital socially because it reflected basic racial views. On the other hand, the institution may well have contributed in several ways to retarding commercialization and industrialization. There were two questionnaires: one for free inhabitants and one for slaves. 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. 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. Before The Guardian interviewed him for the story, he said neither he nor Amy knew that side of their heritage. On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger and over 2,000 federal troops arrived at Galveston Island to take possession of the state and enforce the two-year-old Emancipation Proclamation. 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. Although no major rebellions occurred, individual acts of violence against owners were carried out. The list below is compiled from the 1860 United States Slave Census Schedule. In 1865, 95% of the enslaved were illiterate.[39]. 2 Online Resources. The TSHA makes every effort to conform to the principles of fair use and to comply with copyright law. Farmers. (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. . FS Library 976.4 D3sl, Garrett-Nelson, LaBrenda. Most worked as house servants or on farms on the edges of towns, but others served as cooks and waiters in hotels, as teamsters or boatmen, or as coachmen and skilled artisans, such as blacksmiths, carpenters, and barbers. Joseph Henry 8 3. 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. Of course, because Texas did not consider itself part of the United States, Lincolns proclamation could have no effect until federal troops gained control of the state. [35] Enslaved people often lived similarly to poor whites in Texas, especially those new to the territory and just getting started. 4 History. The Slave Narratives of Texas. 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. The original empresario commission given Moses Austin by Spanish authorities in 1821 did not mention slaves, but when Stephen F. Austin was recognized as heir to his father's contract later that year, it was agreed that settlers could receive eighty acres of land for each enslaved person they brought to the colony. Sugar. It contains a very significant number of Texas' African-American population. This page was last edited on 22 February 2023, at 11:16. The Comanche indiscriminately killed enslaved people and their white owners during raids. [30] As planters increased cotton production, they rapidly increased the purchase and transport of enslaved workers. Every dollar helps. Texas, Special Voter Registration, 1867-1869. In cases where African Americans registered, their race is specified as "colored." American slavery was preeminently an economic institutiona system of unfree labor used to produce cash crops for profit. [46], Unlike in other Southern states, only a small number of enslaved Texans, estimated at 47, joined the Union Army. Some slave hunters illegally traveled to Mexico and captured runaways. [citation needed], In the 1870s, a system of legalized racial segregation and white supremacy was enforced. 5.5 Emancipation Records. An excellent source is the Freedmans Savings and Trust Company (visit the African American Freedman's Savings and Trust Company Records page to learn more). Early and family life 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]. Col. Joshua John Ward of Georgetown, South Carolina: These films do not appear to contain the names of former slaves. Randolph B. This company was created to assist African American soldiers of the Civil War and freed slaves. Nevertheless, slavery was a curse to Texans, Black and White alike, until 1865 and beyond. Legally slaves were categorized as chattel (moveable property), but they were men, women and children who clearly despised their condition of servitude. In August 1831, Juan Davis Bradburn, the military commander of the custom station on Upper Galveston Bay, gave asylum to two men who had escaped from slavery in Louisiana. WebList of the largest American slave owners The list below is compiled from the 1860 United States Slave Census Schedule. Some slaveowners did not free their enslaved people until late in 1865. [27] Other enslaved people joined the Texan forces, with some killed while fighting Mexican soldiers. [52] By the late 19th century, Texas passed other Jim Crow laws. [9] Of these, only 15 were enslaved, 4males and 11females. On June 19, 1865 word of the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached enslaved African The Bureau created a wide variety of records extremely valuable to genealogists. [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. Slaves adjusted their behavior to the conditions of servitude in a variety of ways. Alwyn Barr. 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. Dirt floors were common, and beds attached to the walls were the only standard furnishings. 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. Dallas, TX WebAmerican Slave Narratives - An Online Anthology. Residents of Texas, 1782-1836. WebWhat percentage of Texas families owned slaves? [8] A 1777 census of San Antonio showed a total of 2,060people, with 151 of African descent. Congress shall not have the power to emancipate enslaved people. Join Geni to explore your genealogy and family history in the World's Largest Family Tree. Most slaves, however, supplemented their basic diet with sweet potatoes, garden vegetables, wild game, and fish and were thus adequately fed. We'll send you a couple of emails per month, filled with fascinating history facts that you can share with your friends. Included are land grant requests, wills, and testaments, letters of freedom and contracts of the sale of slaves. The census in As in other southern states, however, the enslaved people made Christianity their own and they developed strong religious faith. In some cases, whites with the same name may be members of the former slave holding family. The number of enslaved people in the state increased dramatically as the Union Army occupied parts of Arkansas and Louisiana. [49] Throughout the summer, many East Texas newspapers continued to recommend that slaveholders oppose ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, in the hopes that emancipation could be gradually implemented. Most slaves in Texas worked: On plantations and farms. 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. [42] Two years later, Colorado County hanged several enslaved people and drove one white man and several Mexicans from the area after uncovering a plot to equip 200enslaved people with pistols and knives to escape into Mexico. 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. Jerrett Brown of Sumter, Alabama: 540 slaves. Categories: Texas, Slavery | United States of America, Slave Owners. 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 Slave labor produced cotton (and sugar on the lower Brazos River) for profit and also cultivated the foodstuffs necessary for self-sufficiency. Dallas, Texas 75225-0446 Religion and music were also key elements of slave culture. [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. 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. The men sold enslaved people to James Bowie and others, who brought them directly to a customhouse and informed on themselves. [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. Slavery was thus a constant source of tension in the lives of slaveholders. Family ties were a source of strength for people enduring bondage and a mark of their humanity, too. 7 rolls, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, New England Historic Genealogical Society, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library at Colonial Williamsburg, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Libraries, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research, Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center, Natchitoches Genealogical and Historical Association, https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/index.php?title=African_American_Resources_for_Texas&oldid=5253354. [9] When some French and Spanish slaveholders moved to Texas, they were allowed to retain their enslaved people. Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), Constitution of the State of Coahuila and Texas, http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. They therefore followed a basic human instinct and sought to survive on the best terms possible. Texans worried constantly that the Mexicans were going to free their slaves or at least cause servile insurrection. We need your support because we are a non-profit organization that relies upon contributions from our community in order to record and preserve the history of our state. In comparison, good Texas cotton land could be bought for as little as six dollars an acre. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. New Orleans was the center of this trade in the Deep South, but there were slave dealers in Galveston and Houston, too. Texas slaves had a family-centered social life and culture that flourished in the slave quarters, where slaves were largely on their own, at least from sundown to sunup. [citation needed]. [7] The 1783 census for all of Texas listed a total of 36enslaved people. In 1792 there were 34 blacks and 414 mulattos in Spanish Texas, some of whom were free men and women. 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. 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). Sources Taken from Szucs, Loretto Dennis, "Research in Census Records." They knew that they controlled their own bodies and therefore were free to move about as they chose and not be forced to labor for others. Advocates are pushing for legislation to help them. 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 It gives the county and location, a description of the house, the number of acres owned, and the number of cabins of former slaves. Cotton. %%EOF Meredith Calhoun of Rapides, Louisiana: 709 slaves. 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 5.1 Biographies. [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. On the other hand, the legislature created political segregation; it classified free residents with at least 1/8 African heritage (the equivalent to one great-grandparent) as a separate category, and abrogated their citizens' rights, prohibiting them from voting, owning property, testifying against whites in court, or intermarrying with whites. Email: info@aamdallas.org [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. There is at least one positive outcome that could come from reckoning with slave-owning family members of the past. Many worked in other parts of the state as cowboys herding cattle or migrated for better opportunities in the Midwest, California, or southward to Mexico. House servants and craftsmen worked long hours, too, but their labor was not so burdensome physically. White society as a whole in antebellum Texas was dominated by its slaveholding minority. DAR# A105070 1. Several enslaved people ran away to serve with Mexican forces. Vol 3 contains contains mostly translated summaries documenting the Black experience in Texas. I think [the conversation] happens in a number of spaces, Berry says. There, he proclaimed his "General Order No. WIKITREE PROTECTS MOST SENSITIVE INFORMATION BUT ONLY TO THE EXTENT STATED IN THE TERMS OF SERVICE AND PRIVACY POLICY. After that, he could legally transport the enslaved people and sell them in New Orleans or areas further up the Mississippi River. The 1867 Voter Registration includes names of voters who registered in the period between 1867 and 1869. Both the Baptist and Methodist churches appointed missionaries to the enslaved people and allowed active participation by them. One result was the Turtle Bayou Resolutions, which were an explanation of the grievances that had led to the disturbances. Texas was a colonial territory, then part of Mexico, later Republic in 1836, and U.S. state in 1845. (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. endstream endobj startxref [18] A small number of enslaved were imported illegally from the West Indies or Africa. Although the law contained some recognition of their humanity, slaves in Texas had the legal status of personal property. In 1829, President Vicente Guerrero issued a decree abolishing slavery in all of Mexico, but within months he exempted Texas from that order. Sugar and cotton plantations. 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. To circumvent the law, numerous Anglo-American colonists converted their enslaved people to indentured servants, but with life terms. Andrew J. Torget, Seeds of Empire: Cotton, Slavery, and the Transformation of the Texas Borderlands, 1800-1850 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2015). John J. Middleton of Beaufort, South Carolina: 530 slaves. Instead, slaves exercised a degree of agency in their lives by maximizing the time available within the system to maintain physical, psychological and spiritual strength. [11] Under Austin's development scheme, each settler was allowed to purchase an additional 50 acres (20ha) of land for each enslaved person he brought to the territory. Texas ranked 10th in total enslaved population and 9th in percentage enslaved (30 percent of all residents). In 1850 the number was 2,852. The following information is included: The records are categorized by county. The collection is organized alphabetically by state, then city where the bank was located, then date the account was established, then account number. 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). Voter's registrations are among the few records which document African American males prior to 1870. Moreover, once the revolution came, slavery was very much on the minds of those involved. By 1865 there were an estimated 250,000enslaved people in Texas. Sizable numbers, however, came through the domestic slave trade. Elijah Williamson 3 10. All copyrighted materials included within the Handbook of Texas Online are in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. 1 Introduction. Eliza Denwoo Henry David Rhodes, planter, was born in Alabama about 1819. White Texans were fearful about revolts, and as in other southern states, rumors of uprisings took hold rapidly, often in times of economic and social tension. 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). This was 15 percent of the total 2,992 people living in Spanish Texas. [1] Estevanico accompanied his enslaver Captain Andrs Dorantes de Carranza on the Narvez expedition, which landed at present-day Tampa. John Robinson of Madison, Mississippi: 550 slaves. For example, slaves worked hard, sometimes at their own pace, and offered many forms of nonviolent resistance if pushed too hard.