Virginia’s peculiar institution of slavery was very much a part of the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula for more than 200 years and laws were embedded in our courthouses to control and maintain that way of life.
Middlesex County antebellum guardian records reveal that enslaved not only had concerns of being sold after the death of a master, but also of their master dying and leaving a trust to look after the wife and children. In that case, a trustee was named in the will and that trustee was in charge of distributing and monitoring the family’s assets — including the enslaved.
The trustee had power to hire out the enslaved to collect funds to support the family as in the case of trustee John Chowning in 1850. He became trustee in January 1850 for Sarah E. Owens and her children. The family had one male slave John and three female slaves, Emily, Esther and Patty and their children.
As trustee of the family, Chowning hired them out to himself and worked the Owens’ family enslaved on his own property. He paid the trust annually for their services. The Owens’ estate was paid $75 for John in 1851. Emily and child were worth $10 annually to the estate and Esther and her children were also worth $10. Patty and child were listed as an asset but not given a value. It can only be speculated that perhaps Patty served the Owens family and not the Chowning, so she was listed as an asset but her services were not charged to the trust. By 1853, she was no longer listed in the records, which could mean she was either sold, died or perhaps since she worked full-time for the Owens was just not listed.
From 1851 to 1854, John’s value to the Owen’s trust continued at $75 annually. Emily and her child stayed at $10 but Esther and her children’s value dropped in 1853 to $5 annually.
Middlesex Guardian Account Book 1840-1856, P. 298.
It Happened Here in Rivah Country!
