The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 84, July 1980 - April, 1981 Page: 51
502 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:
Plantation Journal of John B. Webster
loosa on November 18, 1822. Although he was educated in the law at
the University of Alabama and at William and Mary College, John B.
Webster apparently never practiced the profession. He married Julia
Maria Meade Steel on April 9, 1846, and joined his father in operating
the family's plantation. Harrison County tax records indicate that until
1849 all of the property remained in the hands of his father. In 1849,
for example, John J. Webster paid taxes on 7,913 acres of land and
eighty-three slaves. Sometime during that year, however, John B. Web-
ster received title to a portion of the plantation's land and slaves. He
paid taxes on 873 acres of land and twelve slaves in 1850.4
The United States Census of 1850, taken at least six months after
taxes were assessed for that year, revealed two Webster family house-
holds in Harrison County. John J. Webster reported a plantation of
3,571 acres, valued at $16,596. His slave force consisted of eighty men,
women, and children. They produced 6,ooo bushels of corn, 500 bush-
els of wheat and oats, 2,385 bushels of food crops such as sweet potatoes,
and 87 bales of the key cash crop-cotton. John B. Webster, age twenty-
seven, his wife, and their three young children owned 1,ooo acres and
nineteen slaves. The younger Webster also grew grain, food crops, and
cotton (24 bales). Land was inexpensive in that era, but slaves were not.
And cotton prices were reasonably good in 1849--1850. If the slaves aver-
aged $400 in value, and if the cotton bales averaged 500 pounds each,
at nine cents per pound, the Websters had nearly $40,000 worth of
human property producing $5,000 worth of cotton as the last ante-
bellum decade opened. This is no place to debate the profitability of
slavery, but it should be clear that the Websters, father and son, were
wealthy men by the standards of antebellum Texas.5
John J. Webster died on January 19, 1854, leaving, in effect, three
heirs; the children of his deceased daughter Mary Ann Webster Heard
Saunders, the son of his deceased daughter Eliza Jane Webster Saun-
4Finnell (comp.), "Brown . . . and Allied Families." Mrs. Webster was the daughter
of the Reverend William Moore Steel, one of the first Episcopal ministers in East Texas.
Records of the Comptroller of Public Accounts, Ad Valorem Tax Division: County Real
and Personal Property Tax Rolls: Harrison County Tax Rolls, 1849, 185o (Archives Di-
vision, Texas State Library, Austin).
5Information on the Websters in.1850 was drawn from the United States Seventh Cen-
sus (1850), Schedule 1: Free Inhabitants; Schedule 2: Slave Inhabitants; and Schedule 4:
Productions of Agriculture (microfilm; Library, North Texas State University, Denton).
For substantiation of the values of Harrison County slaves and cotton in 1850, see the dis-
cussion in Randolph B. Campbell, "Local Archives as a Source of Slave Prices: Harrison
County, Texas, as a Test Case," The Historian, XXXVI (Aug., 1974), 660-669, and Ran-
dolph B. Campbell and Richard G. Lowe, "Some Aspects of Antebellum Texas Agllcul-
ture," Southwestern Historical Quarterly, LXXXII (Apr., 1979), 351-378.
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 84, July 1980 - April, 1981, periodical, 1980/1981; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101225/m1/71/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.