The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 65, July 1961 - April, 1962 Page: 73
663 p. : ill., maps (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Notes and Documents
through the manuscript returns of Schedule No. 1, Free Inhabit-
ants, and Schedule No. 4, Productions of Agriculture, the writer
found additional personal information such as age, place of birth,
property holdings, size of landholdings, and types of crops pro-
duced in 1859.4 Data from these various schedules permit various
analyses of the characteristics of these great slaveholders, which is
the purpose of the present study.
The median age of the great slaveholders found in the manu-
script census returns was fifty-one years. The ages ranged from
the twenty-two years for William A. Kennedy of Brazoria County
to the seventy-nine years for W. G. L. Foley of Lavaca County.
Two planters were in their twenties, five in their thirties, fifteen
in their forties, thirteen in their fifties, nine in their sixties, and
four in their seventies. Three holders of one hundred or more
slaves were not located in Schedule No. 1 of the manuscript re-
turns and therefore their ages are not included here.5
All of the great planters found by the writer in the manuscript
returns of Schedule No. i were born in slaveholding states.
Georgia led as a place of birth for twelve of Texas' great slave-
holders were born there. Seven planters were born in Virginia,
six each in North Carolina and Tennessee, five each in South
Carolina and Kentucky, four in Alabama, two in Texas, and one
in Mississippi."
The total property holding of the great planters ranged from
the $60,000 held by William Harbert of Colorado County to the
4The manuscript Texas returns for Schedule No. 1, Free Inhabitants, of the
United States Census, 186o, are in the National Archives, Washington, D. C., and
the returns for Schedule No. 4, Productions of Agriculture, are in Archives, Texas
State Library. Microfilm copies in the Library of Lamar State College of Tech-
nology, Beaumont, were used by the writer.
5Benjamin F. Terry and William J. Kyle of Ft. Bend County were listed as joint
holders of 105 slaves and James E. and Richard M. Hopkins of Red River County
were listed as joint holders of 141 slaves; however, they are counted in this study
as separate holders in order that their personal data may be analyzed. A total of
195 slaves were listed in Montgomery County for what appears to be "Goldthwart,"
but as the writer could find no such person listed in either Schedule No. 1 or
Schedule No. 4 (although he did find data listed under the names of his agents
in the agricultural returns) "Goldthwart" has not been included in this analysis
or in Appendix I which lists some of the personal characteristics for individual
large slaveholders.
6See Appendix I for birth place of individual slaveholders.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 65, July 1961 - April, 1962, periodical, 1962; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101195/m1/93/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.