The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 76, July 1972 - April, 1973 Page: 387
539 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
The Negro Slave in Harrison County
unreasonable or cruel treatment and made the murder of a slave, or
deliberate action causing a bondsman's death, a felony comparable to a
similar act perpetrated against a white man. The Texas Supreme Court
in the cases that came before it in the antebellum period, several of
which began in Harrison County, was careful to read this law with em-
phasis on the slave as humanity rather than as property. Legislation, of
course, also called for punishing the slave's criminal offenses as though
committed by whites. Punishment, however, was either whipping or
death, and eventually the legislature came to enact the ultimate legal
recognition of the slave as humanity and property when in 1852 it
passed "An Act to Indemnify the Owners for the Loss of Slaves Execut-
ed for Capital Offenses." The slave was human enough to be tried for
his crimes and property enough to be paid for if destroyed."
Many slaveholders in Harrison County did not need constitutional
or legislative reminders that their slave property differed significantly
from their other chattels personal such as cattle and horses. The coun-
ty's estate and probate records from the antebellum period provide
evidence of this fact in the many wills which conferred special status
on individual slaves or groups of bondsmen. John P. Thompson's will
of August 11, 1849, for example, referred to an "old favorite Negro
man . . . whom I desire to maintain on the place with his mistress and
to perform easy labor, but I do not wish him to be regarded as the
property of anyone." J. M. Saunders directed his wife to provide five
dollars per month to a Negro man named Henry, "said Negro at no
time nor under any circumstances to be subject to sale." In 1853, J. J.
Webster requested "that my Negroes be so distributed as to allot the
families by families in the partition [of his estate] that members of the
same family may remain together."' When William T. Weathersby's
will freeing three of his slaves was contested by would-be heirs, his
brother-in-law and executor, John L. Sherrod, successfully defended
6 Gammel (comp.), Laws of Texas, II, 345-346, 1296; III, 911-912; Oldham and White,
Digest of the Laws, 561; A. E. Keir Nash, "The Texas Supreme Court and Trial Rights of
Blacks, 1845-1860," Journal of American History, LVIII (December, 1971), 622-642. Impor-
tant legal cases rising from Harrison County, that are discussed in this article, included
Purvis v. Sherrod, 12 Texas 14o and Moore v. Minerva, 17 Texas 20o. The quote from the
constitution is found in Gammel (comp.), Laws of Texas, II, 345-346. Laws such as the
"Act to Indemnify the Owners" were not unusual in the slave South.
7 Harrison County Estate Records (County Clerk's Office, Marshall), B, 266-267; E, 30o7-
309; Harrison County Probate Minutes (ibid.), E, 353-354. Thompson's and Webster's wills
are quoted from Estate Records B and E respectively. Saunders's will, made on January 2,
1861, is quoted from Probate Minutes.387
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 76, July 1972 - April, 1973, periodical, 1973; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101202/m1/443/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.