Hi Vanessa

You're question is a bit of a tricky one to answer, but I think its best to say that it was easier for white craftsmen to compete against enslaved craftsmen simply because white craftsmen were free to compete, while enslaved tradesmen worked at the direction of their owners.  First, it is important to point out from a skills standpoint that slaves were as good as the training they were provided as well as the leeway their owners allowed for them to develop as tradesmen.  Evidence for this is the furniture made at Monticello, the stonemasons that John Hartwell Cocke trained at Bremo in Fluvanna, or David Drake, the enslaved, high skilled potter from Edgefield South Carolina (each of these is well documented).  While there is ample evidence that enslaved tradesmen were responsible for the exquisite construction details of plantations like Monticello and Bremo (and many other buildings), the vast majority of slaves trained in the building trades were sound, accomplished builders, but few were given the opportunity to become masters because the need wasn't there - most were trained to frame and finish structures.  Then again, the same could be said for white builders working through much of the rural South. So, I would say that there wasn't technically a difference in the skill sets. 

There is evidence that some slaveholders, engaged in milling and other trades as by-employment, particularly on smaller farms and in regions less devoted to labor intensive market crops like tobacco and cotton. In these cases, directed his slaves in the operation of his business. Perhaps more frequently, slaveholders hired their skilled slaves out to maximize the return on those trades - quite simply, there is only so much building, smithing, stonecutting, etc. that a skilled slave could do on the average farm or plantation, and it was a better business decision to make money renting them out to individuals who were in need of those skills rather than have them work at lower skilled jobs like tending crops and livestock.  I'd recommend a recent book on this from 2013 called, Slaves for Hire: Renting Enslaved Laborers in Antebellum Virginia.  

All the best
John
________________________________________
From: Research and writing about Virginia genealogy and family history. [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Vanessa Crews [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2017 4:01 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VA-ROOTS] Early 19th Century Carpenters

My husband’s Crews ancestors from Louisa County, Nelson County and Buckingham County were carpenters. They built Grace Church in Buckingham, and I’ve found records of a mill and tavern in Nelson County.

I understand that as Quakers, they may have gone into the trades as a result of their anti-slavery beliefs. How could they compete against slaves trained as carpenters? Was there a different skill set?

I’ve tried a Google search but mostly came up with information on colonial era carpenters.

Thank you for your help.

Vanessa Crews



> On Mar 29, 2017, at 8:17 AM, Elaine McRey <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> I found several family trees on Ancestry that suggest that Jourden Henry
> Banks moved to Australia by 1867, when he married Sarah McMullen and had a
> large family.  One of his sons, James Albert "Darky" Banks was a "famous
> Australian Rules footballer."  Jourden died in 1887 in Maryborough,
> Victoria, Australia.  The *Australia Death Index 1787-1985* gives this
> information:
>
> Name: Jordan Hy Banks
> Birth Year: abt 1833
> Age: 54
> Death Place: Maryborough, Victoria
> Father's name: Norel
> Mother's name: Frances Jackson
> Registration Year: 1887
> Registration Place: Victoria
> Registration Number: 7066
>
> Elaine (McHale) McRey
> Librarian
> Fairfax County (VA) Public Library
>
> On Tue, Mar 28, 2017 at 6:02 PM, Madaline Preston <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> I have just finishing reading "A Narrative of Events of the Life of J. H.
>> Banks, an Escaped Slave......" written for him by J. W. C. Pennington, the
>> first black man (slave) to attend Yale Divinity School in 1834.  Banks was
>> born in 1833 to Mary Frances and Novel both slaves of Charles L. Yancey in
>> Rockingham Co., VA.  He was sold to a man in Alabama to help Mr. Yancey
>> raise money to pay his debts.
>>
>> I want to know more about Mr. Banks,  did he marry, get an education, have
>> children, have some semblance of contentment after fleeing to England in
>> 1861..... but Google isn't being much help?
>> If you learned souls will give me some input for resources I would greatly
>> appreciate your help.
>> M. Preston
>>
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