Lauderdale County Alabama 1860 slaveholders and 1870 African Americans

LAUDERDALE COUNTY, ALABAMA

LARGEST SLAVEHOLDERS FROM 1860 SLAVE CENSUS SCHEDULES

and

SURNAME MATCHES FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS ON 1870 CENSUS

Transcribed by Tom Blake, April 2001

PURPOSE. Published information giving names of slaveholders and numbers of slaves held in most all Counties in the United States, in 1860, is either non-existent or not readily available. It is possible to locate a free person on the County census for 1860 and not know whether that person was also listed as a slaveholder on the slave census, because published indexes almost always do not include the slave census.

Those who have found a free ancestor on the 1860 Lauderdale County, Alabama census can check this list to learn if their ancestor was one of the larger slaveholders in the County. If the ancestor is not on this list, then Lauderdale County researchers are fortunate in having full lists of all slaveholders from the 1850 and 1860 census, credited as transcribed in 1988 by the late Theo Williford, Sr., available through the Lauderdale County Gen Web site, whose link is at the bottom of this page. Whether or not the ancestor is found to have been a slaveholder, a viewing of the slave census film itself would provide an informed sense of the extent of slavery in Lauderdale County, particularly for those who have never viewed a slave census. An ancestor not shown to hold slaves on the 1850 or 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 Lauderdale County, Alabama in 1860, if they have an idea of the surname of the slaveholder, can check this list and those at the Lauderdale Gen Web site for the surname. If the surname is found, they can then view the microfilm for the details listed regarding the sex, age and color of the slaves. If the surname is not on this list, the Gen Web lists can be viewed to see if there were smaller slaveholders with that surname. To check a master surname list for other States and Counties, return to Home and Links Page.

The information on surname matches of 1870 African Americans and 1860 large slaveholders is intended merely to provide data for consideration by those seeking to make connections between slaveholders and former slaves. Particularly in the case of these larger slaveholders, the data seems to show in general not many freed slaves in 1870 were using the surname of their 1860 slaveholder. However, the data should be checked for the particular surname to see the extent of the matching.

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 they would have been counted as a separate slaveholder 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 process of publication of slaveholder names beginning with larger slaveholders will enable naming of the holders of the most slaves with the least amount of transcription work.

SOURCES. The 1860 U.S. Census Slave Schedules for Lauderdale County, Alabama (NARA microfilm series M653, Roll 31) reportedly includes a total of 6,737 slaves. This transcription includes 21 slaveholders who held 50 or more slaves in Lauderdale County, accounting for 1,957 slaves, or 29% of the County total. The rest of the slaves in the County were held by a total of 501 slaveholders, and those slaveholders have not been included here. Due to variable film quality, handwriting interpretation questions and inconsistent counting and page numbering methods used by the census enumerators, interested researchers should view the source film personally to verify or modify the information in this transcription for their own purposes. Census data for 1860 was obtained from the Historical United States Census Data Browser, which is a very detailed, searchable and highly recommended database that can found at http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/census/ . Census data on African Americans in the 1870 census was obtained using Heritage Quest's CD "African-Americans in the 1870 U.S. Federal Census", available through Heritage Quest at http://www.heritagequest.com/ .

FORMAT. This transcription lists the names of those largest slaveholders in the County, the number of slaves they held in the County where the slaves were enumerated and the first census page on which they were listed. The page numbers used are the rubber stamped numbers in the upper right corner of every set of two pages, with the previous stamped number and a "B" being used to designate the pages without a stamped number. Following the holder list is a separate list of the surnames of the holders with information on numbers of African Americans on the 1870 census who were enumerated with the same surname. The term "County" is used to describe the main subdivisions of the State by which the census was enumerated.

TERMINOLOGY. Though the census schedules speak in terms of "slave owners", the transcriber has chosen to use the term "slaveholder" rather than "slave owner", so that questions of justice and legality of claims of ownership need not be addressed in this transcription. Racially related terms such as African American, black, mulatto and colored are used as in the source or at the time of the source, with African American being used otherwise.

PLANTATION NAMES. Plantation names were not shown on the census. Using plantation names to locate ancestors can be difficult because the name of a plantation may have been changed through the years and because the sizeable number of large farms must have resulted in lots of duplication of plantation names. In Alabama in 1860 there were 482 farms of 1,000 acres or more, the largest size category enumerated in the census, and another 1,359 farms of 500-999 acres. Linking names of plantations in this County with the names of the large holders on this list should not be a difficult research task, but it is beyond the scope of this transcription.

FORMER SLAVES. The 1860 U.S. Census was the last U.S. census showing slaves and slaveholders. Slaves were enumerated in 1860 without giving their names, only their sex and age and indication of any handicaps, such as deaf or blind Slaves 100 years of age or older were supposed to be named on the 1860 slave schedule, but there were only 1,570 slaves of such age enumerated, out of a total of 3,950,546 slaves, and the transcriber did not find any such information on the enumeration of the transcribed slaveholders. The enumerator did apparently actually view some of the slaves, as he wrote on page 227B about a 23 year old female who "has 6 toes on each foot" and about an 8 month old girl who "has 6 perfect fingers on its right hand and 6 toes on each foot and is daughter of the above mentioned woman." Freed slaves, if listed in the next census, in 1870, would have been reported with their full name, including surname. Some of these former slaves may have been using the surname of their 1860 slaveholder at the time of the 1870 census and they may have still been living in the same State or County. Before presuming an African American was a slave on the 1860 census, the free census for 1860 should be checked, as almost 11% of African Americans were enumerated as free in 1860, with about half of those living in the southern States. Estimates of the number of former slaves who used the surname of a former owner in 1870, vary widely and from region to region. If an African American ancestor with one of these surnames is found on the 1870 census, then making the link to finding that ancestor as a slave requires advanced research techniques involving all obtainable records of the holder.

MIGRATION OF FORMER SLAVES: According to U.S. Census data, the 1860 Lauderdale County population included 10,639 whites, 44 "free colored" and 6,737 slaves. By the 1870 census, the white population of Lauderdale County had decreased just under 7% to 9,921, while the "colored" population decreased almost 24% to 5,170. (As a side note, by 1960, 100 years later, the County was listed as having 54,355 whites, a five fold increase, but the 1960 total of 7,242 "Negroes"was only about 7% more than what the colored population had been 100 years before.) Where did the freed slaves go? Montgomery, Mobile and Dallas Counties in Alabama all saw increases in the colored population between 1860 and 1870, so that could be where some of these freed slaves went. Between 1860 and 1870, the Alabama colored population increased by 37,000, to 475,000, a 17% increase. Where did freed Alabama slaves go if they did not stay in Alabama? States that saw significant increases in colored population during that time, and were therefore more likely possible places of relocation for colored persons from Lauderdale County, included the following: Georgia, up 80,000 to 545,000 (17%); Texas, up 70,000 (38%); North Carolina, up 31,000 (8%); Florida, up 27,000 (41%); Ohio, up 26,000 (70%); Indiana, up 25,000 (127%); and Kansas up from 265 to 17,000 (6,400%).

SLAVEHOLDER LIST:

ARMISTEAD, George, 61 slaves, Dist. 2, page 215B

BODDIE, Nathan?, 94 slaves, Dist. 2, page 211B

COLLIER, Mrs. James, 83 slaves, Dist. 2, page 206

CUNNINGHAM, J. M., 74 slaves, Dist. 1., page 192

FOSTER, George W., 87 slaves, Dist. 2, page 210B

HARDEN, P. N.?, 70 slaves, Dist. 1, page 190B

HUTCHINS, Andrew J., 156 slaves, Dist. 2, page 205

JACKSON, Mrs. Sarah, 82 slaves, Dist. 2, page 219B

KEYS, William H., 130 slaves, Dist. 2, page 209

L??IE?, Jesse?, 97 slaves, Western Div., page 223B

PATTON, Robert M., 113 slaves, Dist. 2, page 200B

PERKINS, Thomas, 50 slaves, Western Div., page 227B

PETERS, John, 313 slaves, Dist. 2, page 207

POWELL, Neal, 99 slaves, Western Div., page 226

SIMPSON, John, 107 slaves, Dist. 2, page 212B

SMITH, Henry D.? By ?. ?. Burns overseer, 54 slaves, Dist. 2, page 206B

THOMPSON, Joseph, J. J. Howell? Overseer, 106 slaves, Dist. 2, page 213B

THOMPSON, Patricia? By Henry Thompson manager, 64 slaves, Dist. 2, page 212

WILSON, John S., 92 slaves, Dist. 2, page 198

WILSON, Matthew?, 73 slaves, Dist. 2, page 214

WOOD, John M., 82 slaves, Dist. 2, page 214B

SURNAME MATCHES AMONG AFRICAN AMERICANS ON 1870 CENSUS:

(exact surname spellings only are reported, no spelling variations or soundex)

(SURNAME, # in US, in State, in County, born in State, born and living in State, born in State and living in County)

ARMISTEAD, 121, 13, 0, 12, 11, 0

BODDIE, 79, 15, 7, 11, 7, 4

COLLIER, 632, 91, 9, 87, 60, 8

CUNNINGHAM, 1016, 242, 7, 155, 133, 6

FOSTER, 2611, 408, 13, 291, 242, 7

HARDEN, 577, 49, 0, 29, 19, 0

HUTCHINS, 211, 39, 5, 28, 26, 4

JACKSON, 19100, 1454, 22, 1371, 872, 14

KEYS, 265, 11, 2, 12, 1, 0

L??IE?, Name not legible enough to search

PATTON, 675, 144, 5, 145, 100, 4

PERKINS, 1897, 165, 11, 164, 102, 9

PETERS, 936, 106, 42, 97, 70, 30

POWELL, 2420, 298, 1, 232, 183, 1

SIMPSON, 1788, 170, 25, 139, 95, 16

SMITH, 29087, 2290, 38, 1820, 1286, 27

THOMPSON, 8826, 783, 32, 757, 494, 24

WILSON, 10819, 789, 19, 706, 476, 16

WOOD, 2672, 333, 4, 272, 222, 2

Return to Home and Links Page

Lauderdale Co., AL GenWeb (County genealogical resources) Includes transcriptions of all slaveholders from 1850 and 1860 census.

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