If you have read some of my other blog posts, you know that I am interested in giving a voice to the people enslaved by my ancestors. I have the advantage of either already having family papers or easily locating manuscript collections dealing with my ancestors since I know their names an where they lived. The tough part sometimes is finding the pieces of paper that list enslaved people by name. Before the pandemic in 2019, I found a source related to some of my Carter ancestors in Virginia, which lists enslaved people by name and connects them to a specific time and place.
In July 2019, I spent a few days researching in the library of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture (VMHC), formerly the Virginia Historical Society, in Richmond, Virginia. To maximize my time, I took digital photos of the items I requested, thinking I would go through the photos at a later date. Two years later…I still haven’t read through most of them, but I remembered that a plantation account book of one of my Carter ancestors had tons of great genealogical information on the enslaved and formerly enslaved who worked on the plantation. It is very possible that many of the names and relationships in this account book cannot be found in other records. I wanted to share some of the photos I took of the account book, but due to copyright, I am not allowed to publish them here without paying VHMC a small fortune. So, I did the next best thing and I have started to transcribe the account book. This blog post is the first step.
Thomas Henry Carter (1831–1908), one of my paternal third-great-grandfathers, owned Pampatike, a plantation in King William County, Virginia. Pampatike is located along the Pamunkey River, northeast of Richmond. The library at the VMHC has his account book, as well as many other Carter family papers. According to the account book, Thomas H. Carter, his half-brother, William Page Carter (1836–1913), and their father, Thomas Nelson Carter (1800–1883), decided to invest in land in Louisiana in the late 1850s. Of course, large tracts of land in the South means there will most likely be enslaved people used as the labor force. The Carters sent forty enslaved people to Louisiana from two different plantations in Virginia. As you will see below, twenty-three people were sent south from the plantation in King William County. The elder Carter sent seventeen enslaved people from Clarke County in the northern part of Virginia. My best educated guess, without further research, is that these seventeen people came from Annefield, which was a Carter plantation in Clarke County where this branch of the Carters lived during this time period.
The following is a transcription (exact copy) of the first few pages of the account book (excluding a couple torn pages with scribbles and notes dating from the 1880s):
Partial Transcription of Thomas Henry Carter’s Account Book[1]
[page 4]
Susan E. Roy was born
on 16th January 1833[2] –
Ann S. Roy was born
on 6th August 1831[3] –
[page 5]
6 gr[?] List of names of servants sent to the
South by Thos Carter.[4]
From Pampatike[5] age age
1. Anthony 60 12. Daniel 55
2. Aggy 50 13. Tamor 60
3. Claiborne 24 14. Jim 24
4. Milly 20 15. William 20
5. Fleming 15 16. Margaret 13
6. John 12 17. Patsy 10
7. Norman 10 18. Scilla 7
8. Robert 8 19. Matilda 25
9. Joanna 6 20. Katy 3
10. Spenser 3 21. Nat 1
11. Henrietta 1 22. Sarah 22
23. Hilliard 1
——————————————————————————
From Clarke[6] age age
24. Robin 50 33. George 10
25. Lucy 40 34. Stephen 2
26. Dolly 14 35. Baby 2 months
27. Maria 12 36. Henry 50
28. Nancy 10 37. Harry 30
29. Millford 6 38. Cinthia 22
30. Robert 20 39. Mike 3
31. Stephen 38 40. Charlotte 1
32. Peggy 35
23 from Pampatike
17 from Clarke
[page 6]
January 1st 1859.
Statement of a purchase made in Louisiana
by the firm of
Thos Carter[7], Thos H Carter + Wm P Carter[8]
of M T Morrison.[9] March 30th 1858
1027 acres of land[10]
12 mules
2 horses
10 Oxen
3 Cows
1000 bushels of corn
Farming utensils and Hogs
whole amounting to $39.737. 50c[11]
in four payments.
Cash payment $10000 00c
2nd payment 1st Jan 1859 $,3070 83c
3rd payment 1st Jan 1860 $13,333. 33c
4th payment 1st Jan 1861 $13,333. 33c
(The first two payments made)
Of the cash payment
Thos Carter from sale of state
stock by Edwin Wortham + Co[12] $5443 92c
Thos H Carter of state stock
sold by Edwin Wortham + Co $4428.80c
advanced by the same to make up
the $10.050.00c (the exchange on New
Fork draft $50.) $177.28
In the aggregate for this payment by him $4606. 08c
$100.50. 00
Advanced by Thos H Carter order of
E Wortham + Co to Baker + Bro. Winchester[13] $100. 00
Borrowed by the same from Robt
Carter[14] + used for transportation of negroes[15] $500 00
Making whole amount now
invested by Thos H Carter $5206. 08
2nd payment made by
William P Carter $3070. 83
[page 7]
used by Wm P Carter in trans
portation of negroes + other ex
penses $479.07c
Placed to his credit in the
hands of A D Kelly of New Orleans[16]
$565.12c
Making the aggregate amount
invested by Wm Carter $4.115 02c
of this amount $500.00 borrowed
from Robt Carter. the balance
his own. rec.d in a draft from
Jno Wickham of St Louis.[17]
To simplify.
Invested by
Thos Carter $5.443. 92c
By Thos H Carter $5.206 08c
“ Wm P Carter $4.115 .02c
$14.765 .02
Jan 1st 3rd payment $13.333. 33c
1860 Thomas Carter paid of this
amount $7000
+ gave a note to A D Kelly + Co
for an advancement of $3.333 .33c
[the following line is written sideways down the left column of the page with a large bracket around the next two entries]
Loaned by Robt Carter by a draft of W Jackson + Co N O.[18] to both of $3.000
Thomas H Carter paid of this
amount $1,500
William P Carter paid of this
amount $1,500___________
$13,333.33
To sum up the several amounts
invested up to this date
By Thomas Carter $15.777. 25
“ Thomas H. Carter $6.706 08 +$5.400 [last number written in pencil]
“ William P. Carter 5.615 02
[first part written in pencil] 33.49835 $28.098 . 35
5.400 [written in pencil]
[page 8]
Of this $28.098.35 $1694.19 was
taken from the portions of Thomas
H. Carter + William P. Carter
to pay the expenses of transporting
the negroes + other incidental
expenses in settling them includ-
-ing a deposit of $565.12 with
A. D. Kelly by William P. Carter.
By subtracting this $1694.19 from
the whole amount $28.098.35 the
actual amount invested in
land is – $26.404.16
Of this Thomas Carter
has invested in land – $15.777.25
which is all the money
yet advanced by him.
Thomas H. Carter has
invested in land 6.056.08
William P. Carter has
invested in land 4.570.83
26.40416
It will be seen from the above account
that William + myself have paid all
the expenses of transporting the negroes
of my father. In them we have no
interest + this sum of $1694.19 is now
due us by him.
Of the $1694.19
Thomas H Carter paid $650.00
William P. Carter “ 479.07
Placed on deposit by
William P. Carter at
A. D. Kelly + Co 565.12
Whole amount by William $104419
[page 9]
Thomas H Carter $650.00
William P. Carter $1044.19
$16.94.19
Thos H. Carter $12.106.08 [written in pencil lower on page]
[1] Thomas Henry Carter (1831-1908), “Account book, 1859-1888,” [464] p., unpaginated bound volume originally kept at “Pampatike,” King William County, Virginia, Mss5:3 C2468:1; Virginia Museum of History and Culture (VMHC), Richmond, Virginia. Thomas Henry Carter descended from the famous or infamous Robert “King” Carter (1663–1732), one of the largest landowners and enslavers in the early 1700s in the Colony of Virginia. Thomas was educated at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), the University of Virginia (UVA), as well as Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. At the onset of the Civil War in 1861, he joined the Confederacy as a captain of an artillery unit. By the end of the war, he rose to the rank of colonel. Thomas H. Carter spent the postwar years managing his plantation. He also was a railroad commissioner for the state of Virginia and Proctor of UVA.
[2] Susan E. Roy is Susan Elizabeth Roy (1833–1902). She was born in Mathews County, Virginia at the Roy family plantation named Green Plains. Her parents were Anne Seddon (1808–1834) and William Henry Roy (1800–1859). She married Thomas Henry Carter in 1855.
[3] Ann S. Roy is Ann Seddon Roy (1831–1908), sister of Susan E. Roy. Ann married John Coles Rutherfoord and they lived in Goochland County, Virginia.
[4] It seems like all of the enslaved people sent to Louisiana were owned by Thomas Nelson Carter, the father. That makes me wonder what the exact financial arrangement was when his son, Thomas Henry Carter, lived there.
[5] Pampatike was a Carter plantation in King William County, Virginia. Thomas Henry Carter, his wife, and children lived there for many years. Thomas Nelson Carter also lived there prior, however, I am not sure when. Pampatike is located along the Pamunkey River, northeast of Richmond. Today, it is still a functioning farm although it is not still owned by the Carter family. The farm is on private property. For more information about the history of the land and farm, see: http://www.pampatike.org/
[6] The elder Carter sent seventeen enslaved people from Clarke County in the northern part of Virginia. My best educated guess is that these people came from Annefield, which was the Carter plantation in Clarke County where this branch of the Carters lived. For more information on this property, see the Virginia Department of Historic Resources webpage on Annefield: https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/021-0002/
[7] Thomas Nelson Carter (1800–1883) rarely used his middle name in documents. His parents were Mary Nelson (1774–1803) and Robert Carter (abt 1771–1805). Thomas first married Juliet Muse Gaines (1806–1831) and one of their sons being Thomas Henry Carter. After Juliet died, Thomas married Anne Willing Page (1815–1891) in 1835. One of their sons was William Pleasants Page Carter.
[8] William Pleasants Page Carter (1836–1913), son of Thomas Nelson Carter and half-brother of Thomas Henry Carter. For a time, William was in the same artillery unit as his half-brother. Fold3 (https://www.fold3.com/image/20/8401344 : viewed 17 September 2021), William P Carter (Capt. W. P. Carter’s Co., Light Artillery), Civil War Service Records (CMSR) – Confederate – Virginia. William was captured in May 1864 and would eventually be one of the “Immortal 600” Confederate POWs. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immortal_Six_Hundred .
[9] Possibly Malcolm Thomas Morrison (1831–aft 1900?). See: Bruce Gunn, “Gunn, George, Margaret, 09-18-2016,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/27811013/person/27581235463/facts : viewed 17 September 2021), Malcom Thomas “M.T.” Morrison -B1831/D aft 1900 – HINDS CO MS – son of Angus Morrison1797 and Catherine Watts- m Fannie Wyche [yes, this is really all in the name field].
[10] The land was probably in Madison County, Louisiana, based on newspaper advertisements for land for sale placed by M T Morrison “Land for Sale,” Vicksburg Daily Whig, 04 March 1858, page 2, col. 5; Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/228525393 : viewed 17 September 2021).
[11] Throughout the account book, periods and commas are used interchangeably when showing amounts of money.
[12] Edwin Wortham & Co. was a “Richmond grocer and commission merchant [company who] acted as an agent for the Carters in the purchase and sale of insurance, farm produce, and livestock.” Kenneth M. Stampp, ed., A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of RECORDS OF ANTE-BELLUM SOUTHERN PLANTATIONS FROM THE REVOLUTION THROUGH THE CIVIL WAR Selections from The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, The Shirley Plantation Collection, 1650-1888, Series K, (University Publications of America: Bethesda, Maryland, 1993), 4; LexisNexis (http://www.lexisnexis.com/documents/academic/upa_cis/2462_AnteBellSouthPlanSerK.pdf : viewed 17 September 2021).
[13] I am not exactly sure what Baker Bros & Co did as an organization, although it apparently changed over the years.
[14] Probably Robert Carter (1827–1911), son of Thomas Nelson Carter and brother of Thomas Henry Carter. Robert Carter would later become a doctor and move to Philadelphia.
[15] As of 17 September 2021, no ship manifests have been located to record the journey of the forty enslaved persons sent to Louisiana from Virginia.
[16] Probably Alexander D Kelly (abt 1806–1870). “Alexander D Kelly obituary,” Times-Democrat (New Orleans, LA) 18 January 1870, page 6, col. 2; Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/226607810 : viewed 17 September 2021). This obituary states Mr. Kelly was from Fauquier County, Virginia, so this might be the possible connection to the Carter family.
[17] Possibly John Wickham (1825–1902), who married Thomas Henry Carter’s first cousin, Elizabeth Hill Carter, on 29 November 1859 at Shirley Plantation in Charles City County, Virginia.
[18] Possibly Jackson & Co, which made machinery for the Confederates. Confederate States of America, War Department, Proceedings of the Court of Inquiry, Relative to the Fall of New Orleans (United States: R. M. Smith, public printer, 1864) 114; Google Books (https://www.google.com/books/edition/Proceedings_of_the_Court_of_Inquiry_Rela/pLoTAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 : viewed 17 September 2021).
Too Many Ancestors, Too Little Time 