My guess is that looking for "Good Negroes" is a call to rent slaves. This was very common in the South always. There is a huge rental market. Think of think of the number of widows and orphans who own slaves but rent them out. Whenever there is a death of a large slaveowner, the administrator of the estate is likely to rent slaves out for a while, until the estate is settled. Business on the other hand, don't want to own slaves -- too much upfront investment and they would have more trouble profiting from ownership because of the need to supply housing for slave families. One of the great profit sources of slavery was the birth of slave children. A mill or factory does not want to worry about that and might have less economic need for children or women, depending on the business. So renting is the sensible way to go.
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Paul Finkelman, Ph.D.
President
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From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Sarah Goldberger <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, June 5, 2018 11:59 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Hired men or slaves?
Rita,
There is a possibility they were free or purchased by the mill owners, but
renting slaves to mill owners was very common in eastern Virginia. Some of
these mills had a variety of workers, free and enslaved, who worked side by
side. My guess is that they wanted to rent skilled slaves. You might want
to read one of the books on Gabriel Prosser's rebellion, which examines the
complexities of labor and freedom in Richmond.
Sarah
On Tue, Jun 5, 2018 at 11:29 AM, Rita Goldberg <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> In an 1812 ad placed in a Richmond paper, Gallego, Richard & Co. are
> seeking a "number of good negroes" to work in their mills as well as "some
> good negro coopers." Would these be free men, slaves who were hired out by
> their owners or slaves that the company would buy from their owners? If
> they were free, why would the ad specify the race and not just say
> "workers" or "coopers"?
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> Rita Goldberg
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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