By Meredith Melancon
Solomon Northup described his ineptitude at picking cotton and how this led to Epps hiring him out to work on various sugar plantations. Epps received $1 a day for Northup's labor. "Cutting cane was an employment that suited me, and for three successive years I held the lead row at Hawkins', leading a gang of fifty to a hundred hands." Northup spent three seasons working for Hawkins who he says was "celebrated as the producer of the finest variety of white sugar." Northup named Lambert as being Hawkins partner and added that Lambert was also part owner in over forty sugar plantations in Louisiana.
Slave auction catalog from Louisiana, 1855
.A primary source by J. A. Beard and May
On March 13 and 14, 1855, the firm of J. A. Beard & May placed on the auction block 178 enslaved men, women, and children at the Banks Arcade in New Orleans, Louisiana. They were part of the estate of William M. Lambeth, who had died in 1853. To settle the estate, Judge J. N. Lea had ordered the sale of 127 slaves from the Waverly plantation and 51 from the Meredith plantation, both in Avoyelles Parish.
The catalog from this auction includes business aspects of the slave trade but also personalizes the slaves by providing details about specific individuals and family relationships. The document stipulates that “the slaves will be sold singly, and when in families, together.” One such family includes:
178
SUGAR AND COTTON PLANTATION
SLAVES!
in the succession of Wm. M. Lambeth, and for a partition,
By J. A. Beard & May----J. A. Beard, Auct.
TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY
13th and 14th MARCH, 1855,
AT TWELVE O’CLOCK, ON EACH DAY,
Will be Sold at Auction, at BANKS’ ARCADE, Magazine street, in the city of New Orleans, by and in pursuance of an order of the Hon. J. N. Lea, Judge of the Second District Court of New Orleans, the Slaves comprising the gangs of the WAVERLY and MEREDITH PLANTATIONS, belonging to the succession of William M. Lambeth, deceased.
No comments:
Post a Comment