So today it’s time to write my first Substack post.
This is not my first day in an archive. I had intended to start this substack project using notes from my actual first experiences and memories in an archive, but today’s whispers have bothered me too much to leave it to sit until I get around to it eventually, in the chronological order of my life. I need to do this today. I will eventually write some introductory posts- tell you how I got here, why I chose to go here, what has motivated me to write a blog at all. I have a bunch of stories to tell- my own, and others- I’ll get around to those. But today, this story has been waiting too long to be told.
Today I am going to tell you what I know of 30 people I found in the archives just a couple of hours ago. I am supposed to be processing a collection of a very important man who lived in my city. Until today I was making pretty good progress, documenting a folder or two at each visit. Last week I started on a folder that I figured I’d end up weeding- tossing out- because the items in the folder didn’t seem to have any context to my subject. They certainly weren’t written by him or to him. They seem to be a bunch of wills. (You know, as in “My Last Will and Testament.”) Well, copies of wills. And not very good copies, at that. When clerks or notaries entered important information into court or notarial records in the 19th century- at least the ones I’ve seen here in Virginia, (and also in New Orleans, how cool is that? That’s another story, eventually.) Anyway, each entry starts with who submitted this information, who recorded it, the date, and what the information actually is- a deed? A will? An inventory of an estate? Just an agreement that needed a witness? This info is in the left margin, and the rest follows. In some places, it’s at the top of the page. Well, the first five copies in this folder are awful and some of that information was cut off in the copying process. Worse- there’s a two inch margin on the right, and all the words on the left of the entire document are gone. Some are incomplete- I have no closing phrase to indicate that it’s the end, some even have no discernable date. They read like wills but the people mentioned in the documents didn’t ring a bell. I’ve read through the genealogical documents we have about this famous man’s family, and none of the names I saw were familiar. Frustrating. So like I said, I made notes in my inventory list to weed these, probably.
But then, in the sixth one, my famous guy’s father is mentioned. And he’s a baby. “...the infant son of my daughter, A.M.” This is a will and it is my famous guy’s Great Grandmother’s will! In this document she’s using her married name, of course. This is a matrilineal line and those are blurred anyway because women traditionally take their husband’s name and will include their maiden names as initials if they even do that much. This lady’s name is a common one of the day, but she signed her name on the will as a shortened version, further blurring the line. But I’m not here to talk about her, or her locally-famous great grandson. I’m here to talk about the other 30 names I found in the next few documents. I managed to read through only four more documents in the 3 hours I was in the archive today. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from them. I kept comparing them, re-reading. Each time I understood a little more.
The first document, the one that mentioned the “infant son” was a will entered into the court record on Christmas Day- a Monday- of 1820. The will had been written on the 22nd when E. said she was of sound mind but of “infirm” body. In this will she states that upon her death, she leaves to "G.M.S.M infant son of my daughter A. M. a negro boy named Armistead." She states also that each of her daughters is to choose “a negro girl” and her sons are to choose “a negro boy” as part of their inheritance. There are eight people who will be splitting up this estate. Eight people will be inheriting one person each. That’s 8 enslaved CHILDREN that will be taken from their homes and given away to adult children- and one baby- if this lady dies soon. She does.
She died in February of 1821. The next few documents in this folder are inventories of her estates. Plural. You see, this lady owned at least two pieces of real estate and everything on those two parcels had to be inventoried, documented, and appraised for their value after she died.
I don’t have details about the size of these properties but that’s not my focus here. Today, my attention was seized by the THIRTY people listed in her inventories. Read that again. The PEOPLE listed in her inventories. These human beings whispered to me today in the archive. 28 from one plantation, two from another.
The two from the smaller holding were “1 Negro man…” valued at $400, and “A Girl… $250.” The next most valuable asset was “1 yoke of red Oxen” appraised at just $35. The next document, the 8th one in this folder, listed 28 individuals ranging in assessed value from $425, down to one valued as, and I quote, “nothing.” Together these 28 human beings were valued at $5,675. I am not going to tell you the values placed on individual people. I am not going to tell you the name of the man valued at $450, or the child given away - someone’s baby- given to another baby as an inheritance. If their descendants ever come to this archive looking for this information it will be open and available to them. It will be their story to tell.
I don’t know the stories of these enslaved people. There is scant little information about them in these documents to tell us anything about them. I know that at least two of them were rented out to other people for a fee. I know that at least one was sold. I can only tell you that the documents show that they were the most valuable property owned by one other person. More than a walnut bookcase ($15). More than a mama pig and her babies ($7.50). More than a coffee pot. (.25)
How can I make the stories of the enslaved real? The best I can do as an archivist is to make them findable. Their names will be listed in my finding aid. Their descendants will be able to find their ancestors here.*
Say their names:
Lee
Suckey
Frank
Milley
Jenny
Abraham
Betty
Lewis
Patty
Carter
Armistead
Robert
Rebecca
Ephen
Esther
Matilda
Phil
Selena
Caroline
James
George
Fanny
Humphrey
Mary Ann
Lucy Ann
Lumrro?
Martha
Jenny
Billy
Violet
(*Note: These estates were in Middlesex County and the town of Urbanna, Virginia. The larger plantation was on the Piankitank River. The timeline is December 1820- September 1822. If you are a descendant looking for your ancestors or a researcher looking for enslavers and their property lists in or around Charlottesville, Virginia, reach out to me. I’ll connect you to the right people.)