1850-1859, 1870-1879, 1860-1869, 1840-1849, 1830-1839, and 1820-1829
Description:
This is the plantation register by Mathurin Guerin Gibbs (1788-1849) for Rice Hope Plantation (January 1, 1824 to December 1844) and Jericho Plantation (December 1844 to 1875). Gibbs, a lawyer before becoming a planter, used the first several pages of the manuscript dating January 1824 to May 1829 for summarizing legal cases. The plantation register primarily documents daily labor activities on the plantation including cultivation and harvesting of staple crops such as corn, cotton (Sea Island Cotton and Santee black seed cotton), rice and potatoes, livestock, and building fences. Gibbes also writes about the use and management of slave labor, the movement of enslaved people between the plantation and Charleston, and selling and purchasing of enslaved people. Slave names are included in portions of the register. Gibbs notes throughout the register the struggles he encounters as a planter including being unable to pay the mortgage of Rice Hope Plantation and the property going into foreclosure. Most of the entries at the end of the register are regarding slave births, slave deaths and distribution of blankets. Gibbs died in 1849 and the management of the plantation was carried out by his son.
The Memo Book, 1821-1824, is a bound volume kept by or for a member of the Ball family. The volume lists crops at Hyde Park, Limerick, Jericho and Quinby Plantations as well as specifications for a rice mill at Limerick Plantation. Dried, pressed tree leaves are compressed throughout the blank pages. Also found within the volume are a list of enslaved persons given plough lines at various plantations. The names of the enslaved persons are Hercules, Jingo, Linus, Mathias, Mill Natt/Natt, Paul, Sam, Simon, Tim, Toby, Tom and Tycho.
