(SLAVERY ABOLITION) Mississippi estate inventory naming 98

Sale 2631 - Lot 27

Price Realized: $ 2,375

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

Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900

(SLAVERY & ABOLITION.) Mississippi estate inventory naming 98 enslaved people, with their ages. 5-page manuscript estate inventory plus 2-page manuscript appraiser's statement on 4 loose sheets, 12 1/2 x 7 3/4 inches, signed by 5 appraisers and 2 executors; minor wear, short separations at folds. Jefferson County, MS, 14 July 1854

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Thomas Jefferson Chamberlain (1807-1854) was the owner of Mount Locust Plantation northeast of Natchez. This probate inventory lists 98 enslaved laborers, many of them arranged by family unit. For example, Big Jim aged 40, Linda his wife aged 49, and their children Aleck, Caroline, Serena, and Susan aged 5 to 16 are all listed together.

The original Mount Locust Inn still stands on the property, and is managed by the National Park Service. "Guide to the Natchez Trace Parkway," published in 2020, notes that "Thomas Jefferson Chamberlain . . . was a wealthy man when he died owning more than 100 enslaved African Americans. Many of these slaves joined the Union army during the Civil War, fighting as United States Colored Troops before return to work as sharecroppers after the war, some at Mount Locust."