Slavery Documented
Slavery has been a part of Davidson County’s history, quite possibly since the earliest European settlements, and much of the county’s early land, architectural, and economic development can be attributed to enslaved people and their labor.
Our understanding of slavery in Davidson County really begins to emerge in the mid-19th Century when record-keeping is becoming more common. After a state-wide ban on slave imports was lifted in 1790, enslaved populations began to significantly increase across the Carolina Backcountry. According to the 1850 census, Davidson County’s enslaved community had grown to become 20% of the county’s population.
In 1860, the census recorded 3,076 enslaved individuals among 429 “head-of-house slave owners”. The majority of county farms were not slave owning, however, of those that were, the most common number of enslaved individuals per farm was 1-5. The largest plantations in the county, primarily found along the banks of the Yadkin River and adjoining creeks, were each recorded as holding anywhere from 25 to 1,600 enslaved people.
A Master’s Thesis, Slaveholders Before and After the Civil War: Davidson County, North Carolina, 1820-1880, published in 1979 by Marguerita Sandrock, contains information about slaveholders in Davidson County gathered from census records, court minutes, deeds, wills, commissioner’s records, newspaper accounts, private papers such as letters, ledgers, receipts, and diaries housed in the Southern Historical Collection at Chapel Hill and at the State Archives, and private family documents from the heirs of former slaveholders.
From the Archives
The Museum's archive contains documents from estates and other transactions that mention slaves in the context of property settlements, bequests, or sales.
found in the collection: a debtor’s note, crica 1863. on the 25th day of december 1863, we or either of us promoise to pay juliann cameron admint of james cameron deceased Ninety three dollars for hire of negro boy augustus, and to furnish said slave with one winter and two summer suits of cloths, 2 pr shoes & stockings, one hat, pay poll tax and medical bills, and return said slave to mrs.cameron on said 25th december 1863. catalog # 88.127.122
Below is an excerpt from the will of James Cameron (1800-1861) which left directions for the disposition of his estate, which included 6 slaves:
"I give and bequeath to my beloved wife Julia Ann my two negro slaves, Spencer and Mary…. My other negro slaves, Bob, Augustus, Amos and Jane to be hired out every year until my daughter Mary becomes of age or dies, then said negroes or surviving ones and increase to be sold to the highest bidder on a credit of 12 months.”
Dispatch, August 3, 1855.
Historic Newspaper Reports
Another resource is newspapers which occasionally advertised the sale of slaves or other notices such as missing or captured enslaved people.
This ad states that a slave, Jim, will be disposed of according to law if his owner does not come forward with proof of ownership. If not, perhaps Jim would have been made available for purchase, perhaps through public auction.
Slave Sales and the 1825 Courthouse
To date, no records have revealed ads or reports regarding slave auctions being held by domestic slaver traders in Davidson County. Slave traders commonly held auctions at major cities and port towns in North Carolina like Port Bath, Port Beaufort, Port Brunswick, Port Currituck, New Bern, Port Plymouth, Port Roanoke and Wilmington.
However, it is important to distinguish that though slave auctions were likely not held by domestic slave traders at the county’s early courthouses, there is plenty of recorded history regarding the sale of enslaved people and rental of enslaved labor as occurring at the courthouse. Additionally, private sales between property owners would have been recorded as Bill of Sales at the county courthouse.
Real property auctions and estate sales were held on the steps of the county’s early courthouses. Real property auctions and estate sales sometimes included the sale of slaves. Bills of Sale were recorded and noted in the county court minutes.
The ads below were published in the Lexington and Yadkin Flag from 1855 to 1856. These slave sales would have occurred at the first county courthouse, completed in 1825, which stood in the center of the square.
Commissioners were appointed to assess the value of slaves to be distributed amongst heirs and also sell slaves in order for an estate to be divided equally among heirs. Commissioners appointed for this role were often prominent slaveholders themselves.
Witness Reports
The following newspaper clipping contains a witness report published by The Dispatch, made by George Henderson in 1911. In it Henderson describes the sale and rent of slaves and slave labor taking place at the 1825 courthouse which was located in the center of The Square - where Main and Center streets now cross.
Account of George Henderson in a Dispatch article published in August, 1911.
Slave Sales and the 1858 Courthouse
There is a local tradition that says that the granite blocks at each end of the front portico of the 1858 courthouse were used as slave auction blocks. At this time, 1 documented witness account survives as evidence to support this story.
Mark McCrary, born in 1838, in an 1911 Dispatch article, recalls his pre-Civil War memories about the sale of enslaved people and enslaved labor on the blocks at the courthouse. Although it is unknown when property auctions and estate sale and rented including the sale of slaves and slave labor ended in Davidson County, it is reasonable to surmise that this could have occurred from 1858 through Civil War, on the steps of the courthouse - just as they were held on the steps of the previous courthouse - and/or held on the granite blocks per McCrary’s 1911 account.
Account of Mark McCrary in a Dispatch article published in 1911. After checking census records, Mark McCrary would have been in his 20s at the time he witnessed the events recalled.
Additional Research Resources
For more research, the Davidson County Genealogy Department and Genealogical Society has created an "Index of Slaves & Free Persons of Color Without Surnames, 1830 through 1839". They have also transcribed Black Marriages Records from 1866-1938. Both resources are available at the Genealogy & History Room.
Brick, from yadkin college, said to be handmade by enslaved people working the kiln of henry walser.
Dr. William R. Holt was a founder of the North Carolina Agriculture Society, and engaged in experimental farming at his Linwood Plantation - the largest slave holding plantation in the county. a surviving artifact from the plantation is the “plantation commonplace book” which includes a 23-page inventory of enslaved people from 1850 to 1863. It notes births, deaths, and the monetary value on each enslaved person, and is the only such original record inthe museum’s permanent collection.
Pages from the Plantation Commonplace Book, Slave Register
