Slave Owners in Princess Anne County, VA Transcribed by Kathy Merrill for the USGenWeb Archives Special Collections Project ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net *********************************************************************** Slave Owners in Princess Anne Co. William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Papers, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Jan., 1894), pp. 146-148 Page 146 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE QUARTERLY HISTORICAL PAPERS VOL. II. JANUARY, 1894. NO. 3. SLAVE OWNERS IN PRINCESS ANNE CO. _____ Probably in no State was property, before 1861, more equal- ly distributed than in Virginia. Such enormous disparity as ex- isted between the rich and poor of the Northern cities was unknown. Only here and there was seen a man who rose much in wealth above the average of his neighbors. The real poor class was small in proportion to the popula- tion "than anywhere in the universe,"(1). The old servant and convict class had long before left the State, spreading North and West (2). It is easy enough to take the veriest vagabond in the present Virginia counties and trace him through the county records to respectable ancestors. "Poor white trash" was a term originating with the poor negroes, who sought to bolster up their own wretchedness by bragging of the quality of their masters. But no class was more independent, or oft- entimes had better pretension to aristocratic descent, than the poor white men. Nor did any person demand, or receive, from their more fortunate neighbors, a distincter recognition ____________ (1). So stated by Smyth (by no means a friendly writer) in his "Travels" as early as 1773. (2). Spotswood, in his "Letters," speaks of the servants, when freed congregating on the frontiers of the colony. In 1751, the Pennsyl- vania papers complained of the runaways from Virginia and Mary- land (Extracts cited in the "Virginia Gazette," 1751). After Bacon's rebellion, fugitives from Virginia walked the streets of Boston (Neill's Virginia Carolorum). Page 147 of their equality before nature and the law.(1) And no won- der, for they bore the same names and were "cousins" in a near or remote degree.(2) The following list, prepared by Mr. Edward W. James, goes to show the fallacy of the opinion entertained in some quarters that Virginia was divided into two classes -- the very rich and the very poor. Names of Princess Anne County slave owners, who, during the year 1810, owned ten or more slaves: Henry Bonney 10 Thos. B. W. Corprew 13 John R. Baley 11 Jonathan Corprew 23 James Braithwaite 10 Durant Corprew 19 Gaskins Brock 10 Henry Cornick, Sr. 11 Mary Buskey 10 Jennet Dyson 10 Wm. Bishop 15 Wm. Ellegood 12 Wm.Benthall 14 Moses Fentress 11 Caleb Boush, Sr. 45 Jonathan Fentress 11 Wm. Boush, Sr. 20 Martha Gornto 10 Willis Butt 24 Geo. S. Gaskins 12 John P. Biddle 18 Joseph Grey 12 John Biddle 17 Simon Hancock 23 John Cornick 21 Erasmus Haynes 16 Lemuel Cornick 17 Thurmer Hoggard 20 Wm. B. Cornick 32 Josiah W. Hunter 13 Thomas Calvert 16 Jonathan Hopkins 20 Wm. M. Christian 16 John Haywood 12 Ezekiel Cox 14 John Hayes, Jr. 17 Thomas Cornick 21 Elizabeth Hunter 14 Henry Cornick, Jr. 14 James Haynes 24 Adam Cornick 21 Keziah Hopkins 15 Elizabeth Cornick 12 John Haynes, Sr. 17 Endymll Cornick 17 Wm. Holt 17 _______________ (1) The editor has seen letters of Henry D. Bird, (grandfather of Prof. Hugh S. Bird, of this College) a native of Pennsylvania, who came to Virginia in 1832 as civil engineer for the Petersburg and Weldon Railroad. He writes of the spirit prevailing in Virginia as "Democracy run mad," and of the haughtiness and independence of the poor people. This was to be expected, as Virginians idolized the levelling teachings of Jefferson, and his name was a shibboleth of faith. Dinwiddie and Spotswood, in their published letters fully admitted, years before, the free spirit of the Virginians. (2) Take any of the old Virginia names, and it is represented in the directories of Norfolk or Richmond by persons of all varieties of fortune. Page 148 Jonathan Hunter 11 Wm. Newsum 13 Wm. Hartagan 10 John Nimmo 14 Thomas Henley, Jr. 11 Nathaniel Nicholas 11 James Henley 10 George Norris 10 Wm. James, Sr. 16 Frederick Old 11 Edward James, son of Thomas L. B. Powell 32 Wm. James 10 Nath'l Payntar 13 Joshua James 25 Kiteley Philips 19 Edward James(1) 17 Edward Seymour 17 Rebecca Jones 12 Josiah W. Slack 21 John T. Keeling 16 Henry Sparrow 14 Thos. Keeling, Jr. 16 Simon Stone 32 Wm. T. Keeling 17 Johnson Stone 37 Elizabeth Keeling 25 Thomas Stone 12 Molly Keeling 15 Charles Sayer 10 Jacob Keeling 29 Wm. Truss 18 Wm. Kays 13 Jacob Valentine 20 Richard H. L. Lawson 18 Wm. C. Veale 14 John S. Lovett 12 James B. Vaughan 14 Francis M. Land 20 Wm. Walke 16 Ree Land 19 Edward Wilson 14 Peter Land 14 Arthur S. Woodhouse 24 Hiliary Land 31 Anthony Walke, Jr. 14 John Lovett, Sr. 20 Wm. D. Woodhouse 22 Molly Land 10 Dennis Whitehurst 11 Wm. Matthias, Sr. 10 Jona Woodhouse 11 Jesse Morris 11 James Warden 11 Dr. James McAlpine 20 Anthony Walke, son of A. Tully Moseley 12 Walke 18 Mary Moore, Jr. 17 John Woodhouse, Sr. 15 Henry Mackie 12 Anthony Walke, Sr. 65 Edward H. Mosely 24 Henry Wells 15 Isaac Murray 26 Edmund Winder 13 Amy Moseley 12 Elizabeth Weeks 19 David S. Murray 17 John Woodard 24 John Mackie 13 Daniel Whitehurst 13 Christopher Moseley 15 Ann Williamson 14 ____________ (1) Edward James was the son of John James, deceased.