(SLAVERY ABOLITION) Lists of enslaved people and their ages

Sale 2631 - Lot 24

Price Realized: $ 625

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900

(SLAVERY & ABOLITION.) Lists of enslaved people and their ages on a Tennessee plantation. [8] manuscript pages, 6 1/4 x 3 3/4 inches, on 4 unbound folding sheets; moderate foxing and minor wear. [Hardeman County, TN?], circa 1846-1847

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Additional Details

This small notebook contains three inventories of enslaved people, apparently at the same plantation over a close period of time, as many of the names are repeated and their ages change only slightly. One list has 12 names plus 5 unnamed children; another has 19 names plus Kitty's 2-month old child; and the other lists the same 19 in a different order, with the same ages but different valuations. The notebook was kept by one J.J. Polk, although it is unclear whether he was listing his own plantation hands or assessing an estate.

We believe the compiler was John Jackson Polk (1813-1871) of Hardeman County, TN, and this apparently comes from his personal papers. The notebook also contains a page of C.T. Howard probate accounts from 1847, and two pages of William Parmer probate accounts from 1846. The Tennessee State Library holds a collection of family papers relating to William Palmer, J.J. Polk, and Charles T. Howard, which helps place these inventories in their proper place. Another clue: Parmer's estate made payments to Somerville Bank. Somerville, TN is in the next county west from Hardeson.