Suzanne Lebscok's /The Free Women of Petersburg: Status and Culture in a
Southern Town, 1784--1860/ might provide some comparative data.
Barbara Vines Little, CG
Dominion Research Services
PO Box 1273
Orange, VA 22960
540-832-3473 (7-10 p.m.; all day Sunday)
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CG, Certified Genealogist, is a service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under
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Hollis Gentry wrote:
> I am in need of assistance in evaluating the estate of
> a free black woman in Norfolk in 1831. I visted the
> website, but didn't find any sources that could help
> me place this inventory in its proper context. If
> anyone can comment on it or offer suggestions on
> sources or contacts, I'd appreciate it.
>
> Below is what I have:
>
> Inventory and appraisement of the estate of Rose
> Reynolds decd a free woman of colour
>
> Edward negro man 45 yrs of age 200.
> negro woman and three children 400.
> 1 side board 5.
> 1 old sofa 3.
> Dining table 8.
> Candle etc 2.........18.
> 2 looking glasses 3.
> 1 doz windsor chairs 4.
> 1 small tea table 2.
> 1 cupboard 3.........12.
> 3 beds 25.
> 2 ( illegible)bedsteads 5.
> 1 old dining table 1.
> Hand irons & shovels tongs 3..........34.
> 22 wooden trays .50
> Candle stick and Tea trays 1.
> Sag? Irons & kitchen
> furniture 10.
> Tubs & c 1..........12.50
> 1/2 doz table &
> 1/2 doz tea spoons (silver) 10.
> Old drawers 3.
> Bed furniture 5..........18.
>
> Total $694.50
>
> Where would she have stood economically within the
> community at that time?
>
> One historian, Tommy Bogger, thinks she operated an
> eating house, but I've not found evidence of her ever
> receiving a license or permission to do so.
>
> I don't know if she ever married, but she had mulatto
> four children. She was listed as mulatto in several
> records. Her children were educated in Baltimore,
> Maryland and were unable to return to the state by
> law. The male slave above operated a vegetable cart,
> the proceeds of which went to her estate, but there is
> no evidence that he was her husband. I've not found
> evidence that he ever gained his freedom in Norfolk.
>
> Four slaves were sold in Norfolk to slave trader
> Charles Hatcher. I've not been able to locate any
> business papers for him, nor deeds or bills of sale
> for these slaves. I did however, find him paying taxes
> on 4 slaves in 1836.
>
> Finally, Rose Reynolds paid taxes on only one slave
> from 1820-1824. Then her sister Mary A. Roberston paid
> tax on a single slave from 1825-1829. When Rose's
> estate was probated, her brother-in-law, James
> Robertson paid the tax on a single slave in 1830.
> After 1830, different members of the family continued
> to pay taxes on the single slave until 1839.
>
> By the 1850's, Rose's children had moved from
> Baltimore to St. Louis and joined the African American
> community. Author Cyprian Clamorgan identified her
> descendants as being amongst the "colored aristocracy"
> in that city. One branch of the family intermarried
> with whites to the extent of no longer being
> considered African American. I've not been able to
> find any of her living African American descendants.
>
> Hollis L. Gentry
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