Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1907-05-29
CHARLESTON NEGRO SHAREHOLDERS
NEGROES WHO OWNED THEIR OWN NEGRO
SLAVES BEFORE THE WAR.

There were a good many negroes
who owned negro slaves in the South
before the war. In the "List of the
Taxpayers of the City of Charleston,
1s60," published by Evans & Cogs-
well in 1861, the names of 1872 COL
ored people are given who owned
and paid taxes on 800 slaves il
Charleston. The tax on slaves was
$3 per capita, and the amount paid
on the negroes owned by negroes in
this town at the beginning of the
war aggregated $1,l70. Doubtless
there were other elayeholders among
the negroes in other parts of the
State, but of these we have no
record.
There were negro slsveholders
also in other parts of the South. J..
J. Wood, of Columbus, Ga, recently
told the Enquirer-Sun, of that city,
an interesting story about the free
negro persons who ewned Slaves in
their own right in%thst community.
One of these Shareholders was Bob
Parker, who ran . line of drays in
Columbus, owning bis hands and
drays. He also owned negro women
and children. Dilsey Pope owned
her husband and hired him out, and
when he offended her in some way
she got rid of him by selling him to
Col. Seaborn Jones. Joe Clyrk, ano-
ther negro in Columbus, a barber by
trade, owned and worked negroes
whom he bought. If the Dilsey
Pope plan could only be adopted
nowadays among the white people it
might be practicable to rid the CON-
munity of some very trifling hus-
bands; but that is another matter.
There were more negro slave
holders in Charleston than in any
other community in this State GER
tainly there was larger number of
"free persons of color" here than in
any other city in the South, with the
exception probably of New Orleans.
In this class were included eleven
Indian families who had consorted
with the negroes. Some of the fam
lily names of the free persons of color
who fourished here and owned their
own slaves are still to be found in
the City Directory, and there are
many of their descendants still liv-
ing, but most of the old slave-hold-
ing negroes have left no sign that
they ever existed. The Weston
family was the largest and most i'm
portant of the free negro families
living here, and they were all very
good people. The free negroes gene
rally held themselves in high esteem
and we're respected by their white
neighbors.
There we're 361 taxpayers among
them and in 1861 they paid taxes on
real estate that was valued at $780,
$40. The rate of taxation on real
estate was $1.40 per cent, 80 that
these people paid into the city trea-
sury, on account of their real estate
holdings, slave property and other
exactions of the municipal govern
ment, $12,208.14.
The largest owners of slaves among
the colored people here were r. E.
Dereef Indian) and Maria Weston,
each of whom had fourteen slaves.
Amos Baxter owned 13, Elizabeth
Duorat and George Shrewsbury each
owned IL, Phoebe Lewis owned II,
James Johnston owned 10, Samuel
WestoE (Trustee) owned 8, Peter B.
Matthews and Jacob Weston each
owned 7, J. A. Sasportas and Louias
Decoster each owned 5, and others,
whose names are not 80 familiar,
owned from to 6. The largest tax
payer among the "free persons Of
color" was Maria Weston, who owned
$4O,075 worth Of real estate and paid
$613.05 taxes.
Someiof the "free persons of color"
became prominent in the politics of
the city and State after the close of
the war, and all of them who went