The Henry Ravenel Crop Book, 1809-1832 is a book divided into two separate sections that also includes loose notes found within the book. The first section records the names and ages of the enslaved children born on the plantation and the names of their parents. The second half of the book, which appears upside down as the book was flipped for a new section, records the weather conditions, crop farming and the tasks completed by the slaves. The loose papers record the names of the enslaved people, slaves divided and allotted to Henry, Thomas, Rene and William Ravenel, the number of male and female slaves and a note to sell a family of slaves with their names and ages.
The Stoney Family Plantation Day Book, 1872 is a bound book kept by a member of the Stoney family recording payrolls, cash accounts and general accounts for laborers, formerly slaves and now freed persons, at Medway Plantation. The second half of the book is comprised of journal entries recording weather, work completed by laborers, conditions of the plantation crops, specifically rice, and visits from family and friends.
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 Roslin Plantation journal, kept by Archibald Simpson Johnston, documented enslaved people and slave labor on an antebellum plantation for two years (1813-1815). The journal documents correspondence, equipment, planting and harvesting, livestock, slaves and supplies related to the plantation. There are detailed descriptions of tasks and number of enslaved people working each task, particularly tasks regarding growing cotton and rice and maintainining those fields.
The Richmond Plantation Journal, 1859-1860 was kept by Anthony Weston, Benjamin Huger's overseer. Entries concern activities on the rice plantation primarily related to rice cultivation (plowing, manuring, cleaning ditches, threshing and winnowing.) Also mentioned are corn, peas, potatoes, livestocks, the weather and lists of goods and prices. The journal also includes entries relating to slave allowances as well as violence towards slaves including flogging and imprisonment. The names of the slaves are listed as: Affee, Anthony, Benego, Big Tony, Billy/Runaway Billy, Bina, Carpenter Sam, Cloe, Cornelia, Cyrus, Delia, Dina, Ellick, Ellie, Grace, Handy, Hector, Jack, Jak, John, Jose, Juda, Juiet, Margaret, Martha, Morris, Moses, Peggy, Peter, Pino, Racheal, Rock, Sally, Sarah, Simon, Thomas, Toby and William.
