Slaveholders in your family?

[scone]

My Family came to new world in 1660.. And And I havent seen were any of mine did. Most of my family were yankees until the late 1820's. I will have comb through my records some more see if I can find anything.

My 4th great grandfather moved to Ga. around then and that started my southern roots on My Cone Family. My Craft Family was also in Ga but have seen where they owned any either ..I did have one relatived expelled from church for gambling lol.

[Pogster]

My only slaveholding (one) ancestor was a Unionist.

[larry_cockerham]

In that day, all the clothing was made out of wool, cotton and flax. Leather was tanned in a big trough, for shoes and moccasins; nails, hinges, and all tools were made in blacksmith shops. At one time, William Bourne, when he was a member of the Legislature in Richmond, went down in a wagon loaded with fur skins and sold them. A negro woman and little girl were put on the block for sale; he bought them, paid for them and sent them back home in the wagon. The woman's name was Granny Beck. The girl's name was Aimy. I have heard Aimy say that she and her mother were sent for one evening to go and stay all night with a woman. Sometime after dark, someone came to the door and called. This woman told her to open the door; she did so, and two men came in a caught her and her mother, tied cloths over their mouths, carried them off and put them in a ship, and brought them over the ocean. They came from Africa and proved to be very valuable servants.

Granny Beck, after she came here, took charge of the cattle and stock out on the range; salted and looked after them. She could not count the number, but if one of them was missing she could tell it. She would describe its color or its size, etc., and would hunt until she found it.

Aimy was the house girl, waited on her master and mistress as long as they lived, and was very much attached to all the family.

William Bourne, in his last will stated that 'Aimy has been a faithful, good servant, and has raised for me 18 children. She is not to be sold or taken in, in the divide.' With his children, she would be free to go where she pleased."

[samgrant]

Just found out my Unionist GGGrandFather did own slaves, 127 of them.

Wow!

See my most recent post on the Southern Claims Commission thread.

[ole]

The war must have been especially hard on him. A fortune! Poof!
Ole

[samgrant]

Well unfortunately slaves were 'valued' as real property at that time, and 127 was, I think quite above the average.

Anyway I think he had less concern about that loss than he had about the fact that the Union army, with whom he had so closely collaborated, was about to leave that area in mid 1863.

His life was at stake. As then Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut later testified: "They would have executed him, sure. ... made it absolutely unsafe for him to have remained there. I do not think his life would have been worth a straw outside of the range that was covered by the U.S. troops."

Hurlbut added "There are not a great many people in the South that I can vouch for as being essentially Union people, but I can for Mr. Cossitt."

[Confederate Outlaw]

My great-great-great grandfather served as an infantryman for the Confederates for the whole war (except the 3 months at the end of the war when he was a POW). He owned slaves as well and purchased them in South Carolina at an auction house. He owned a plantation. Thats about all I know right now about him. I did know his unit, but I dont recall that at this time.

[Will Posey]

Originally Posted by samgrant

Many posts to the fact that some ancestors may have owned slaves. I was wondering not just about that fact of that, but if any one had any information (recollections, reminisscences, accounts) of what that situation was like.

As far as I've been able to determine, two of my ancestors had one slave each. One of these ancestors was a Unionist, the other, Confederate.

My Unionist ancestor freed his slave, Bob, before the War. However, Bob stayed on living with the family and working around the homeplace as well as in outside jobs. Even when he was a slave, he worked at times at outside jobs. Whether he kept the money earned outside during his slave days is unknown. Bob died in 1879 and is buried with his former master and family in the church cemetery.

My Confederate ancestor kept his slave until the end of the War, but Abe stayed on with the family until his death many years later.

This was not universal, of course, but it is my family's experience with slaves. In both cases, the relationship was much deeper than master/slave; there was two-way love and commitment.

Each slave took his respective master's surname as his own.

Bob did not marry and had no children, but Abe married and had children. His descendants today speak highly of their ancestor's master. One of them has had some health and financial problems lately and has been helped by several descendants of Abe's master.

So, there is still today a continuing relationship.