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Lewis Family Tobacco Plantation

Privacy Level: Open (White)
Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Howard, Missouri, United Statesmap
Surnames/tags: Slavery Heritage_Exchange US_Black_Heritage_Project
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Index of Plantations

Contents

Lewis Tobacco Plantation

Benjamin Lewis was born Jan. 10, 1812, in Buckingham County, Virginia. He was the son of Thomas Lewis and Jedidah Whitehead. They had six children, of whom four boys survived to adulthood. Benjamin was the eldest son. Thomas Lewis died in 1825 or 1826 in Buckingham County, Virginia.[1]

In 1831, along with her late husband's brothers (Henry, Edmund, and Stephen Walker Lewis), Jedidah and her sons moved to Missouri, where they rented a farm near Glasgow in Howard County. About 1835, Benjamin Lewis began a career in the tobacco growing and marketing business, first taking a job in a tobacco factory in Glasgow, Missouri. He formed a partnership with J.F. Nichols, William J. Moore, and R.P. Hanenkamp. After a year, he sold his interest in that firm and formed a new partnership with William D. Swinney.[2]

In 1843, Benjamin Lewis purchased and enslaved Spottswood Rice[3] as part of the estate of Rice's deceased slave owner, John Collins in Howard County, Missouri.[4] (See also Collins Family Plantation.) By that time, Lewis owned a large tobacco plantation. Rice's wife and children were enslaved by members of the Digges family in Glasgow, Howard County, Missouri. (See also Digges Family Plantation.)

In 1850, Benjamin Lewis went into partnership with his two surviving brothers, James W. Lewis and William J. Lewis. "They were now working up about 4,000,000 pounds of tobacco, and exporting large quantities of plug, fine-cut, etc., to England and to the continent of Europe, their trade extending to Australia."[5] "At the commencement of the [Civil] war they were working some 500 hands. Those at Glasgow were principally slaves, about one hundred and twenty-five of whom were owned by the Lewis[es] who, on the breaking out of the rebellion took strong grounds in favor of the government."[6]

Although he was a slave owner, Benjamin Lewis supported the Union during the Civil War. Missouri, a slave state, remained in the Union, although many Missouri residents supported the Confederacy. In February 1864, Spottswood Rice enlisted without Lewis's permission in Company A of the 3rd Missouri Colored Infantry, later the 67th Regiment Infantry U.S. Colored Troops.[7] Lewis and other slave owners pursued their enslaved men but were turned away by Union officers. Lewis submitted his bill of sale for Spottswood Rice, in hopes of being compensated for the loss of his "property."[8]

Heritage Exchange

1850 Unidentified Slaves

  1. 1 UNKNOWN Male 45 years old
  2. 1 UNKNOWN Male 45 years old
  3. 1 UNKNOWN Male 36 years old
  4. 1 UNKNOWN Male 34 years old
  5. 1 UNKNOWN Male 30 years old (This may have been Spottswood Rice.[9])
  6. 1 UNKNOWN Male 28 years old
  7. 1 UNKNOWN Male 28 years old
  8. 1 UNKNOWN Male 28 years old
  9. 1 UNKNOWN Male 28 years old
  10. 1 UNKNOWN Male 28 years old
  11. 1 UNKNOWN Male 27 years old
  12. 1 UNKNOWN Male 27 years old
  13. 1 UNKNOWN Male 25 years old
  14. 1 UNKNOWN Male 24 years old
  15. 1 UNKNOWN Male 22 years old
  16. 1 UNKNOWN Male 20 years old
  17. 1 UNKNOWN Male 20 years old
  18. 1 UNKNOWN Male 20 years old
  19. 1 UNKNOWN Male 20 years old
  20. 1 UNKNOWN Male 20 years old
  21. 1 UNKNOWN Male 20 years old
  22. 1 UNKNOWN Male 20 years old
  23. 1 UNKNOWN Male 19 years old
  24. 1 UNKNOWN Male 18 years old
  25. 1 UNKNOWN Male 18 years old
  26. 1 UNKNOWN Male 18 years old
  27. 1 UNKNOWN Male 17 years old
  28. 1 UNKNOWN Male 17 years old
  29. 1 UNKNOWN Male 16 years old
  30. 1 UNKNOWN Male 16 years old
  31. 1 UNKNOWN Male 16 years old
  32. 1 UNKNOWN Male 16 years old
  33. 1 UNKNOWN Male 15 years old
  34. 1 UNKNOWN Male 15 years old
  35. 1 UNKNOWN Male 15 years old
  36. 1 UNKNOWN Male 15 years old
  37. 1 UNKNOWN Male 15 years old
  38. 1 UNKNOWN Male 14 years old
  39. 1 UNKNOWN Male 12 years old
  40. 1 UNKNOWN Male 12 years old
  41. 1 UNKNOWN Male 12 years old
  42. 1 UNKNOWN Male 12 years old
  43. 1 UNKNOWN Male 8 years old
  44. 1 UNKNOWN Male 5 years old
  45. 1 UNKNOWN Female 45 years old
  46. 1 UNKNOWN Female 38 years old
  47. 1 UNKNOWN Female 35 years old
  48. 1 UNKNOWN Female 35 years old
  49. 1 UNKNOWN Female 25 years old
  50. 1 UNKNOWN Female 24 years old
  51. 1 UNKNOWN Female 22 years old
  52. 1 UNKNOWN Female 18 years old
  53. 1 UNKNOWN Female 18 years old
  54. 1 UNKNOWN Female 12 years old
  55. 1 UNKNOWN Female 12 years old
  56. 1 UNKNOWN Female 6 years old
  57. 1 UNKNOWN Female 6 years old
  58. 1 UNKNOWN Female 4 years old
  59. 1 UNKNOWN Female 2 years old
  60. 1 UNKNOWN Female 1 year old

1860 Unidentified Slaves

  1. 1 UNKNOWN Male 50 years old
  2. 1 UNKNOWN Male 45 years old
  3. 1 UNKNOWN Male 38 years old (This may have been Spottswood Rice.[10])
  4. 1 UNKNOWN Male 35 years old
  5. 1 UNKNOWN Male 35 years old
  6. 1 UNKNOWN Male 35 years old
  7. 1 UNKNOWN Male 35 years old
  8. 1 UNKNOWN Male 30 years old
  9. 1 UNKNOWN Male 28 years old
  10. 1 UNKNOWN Male 28 years old
  11. 1 UNKNOWN Male 26 years old
  12. 1 UNKNOWN Male 26 years old
  13. 1 UNKNOWN Male 25 years old
  14. 1 UNKNOWN Male 25 years old
  15. 1 UNKNOWN Male 25 years old
  16. 1 UNKNOWN Male 20 years old
  17. 1 UNKNOWN Male 20 years old
  18. 1 UNKNOWN Male 20 years old
  19. 1 UNKNOWN Male 20 years old
  20. 1 UNKNOWN Male 19 years old
  21. 1 UNKNOWN Male 19 years old
  22. 1 UNKNOWN Male 18 years old
  23. 1 UNKNOWN Male 16 years old
  24. 1 UNKNOWN Male 16 years old
  25. 1 UNKNOWN Male 16 years old
  26. 1 UNKNOWN Male 14 years old
  27. 1 UNKNOWN Male 12 years old
  28. 1 UNKNOWN Male 10 years old
  29. 1 UNKNOWN Male 8 years old
  30. 1 UNKNOWN Male 8 years old
  31. 1 UNKNOWN Male 7 years old
  32. 1 UNKNOWN Male 7 years old
  33. 1 UNKNOWN Male 6 years old
  34. 1 UNKNOWN Male 6 years old
  35. 1 UNKNOWN Male 5 years old
  36. 1 UNKNOWN Male 4 years old
  37. 1 UNKNOWN Male 4 years old
  38. 1 UNKNOWN Male 4 years old
  39. 1 UNKNOWN Male 3 years old
  40. 1 UNKNOWN Male 1 year old
  41. 1 UNKNOWN Male 1 year old
  42. 1 UNKNOWN Female 38 years old
  43. 1 UNKNOWN Female 38 years old
  44. 1 UNKNOWN Female 30 years old
  45. 1 UNKNOWN Female 25 years old
  46. 1 UNKNOWN Female 25 years old
  47. 1 UNKNOWN Female 25 years old
  48. 1 UNKNOWN Female 20 years old
  49. 1 UNKNOWN Female 20 years old
  50. 1 UNKNOWN Female 12 years old
  51. 1 UNKNOWN Female 9 years old
  52. 1 UNKNOWN Female 8 years old
  53. 1 UNKNOWN Female 6 years old
  54. 1 UNKNOWN Female 2 years old
  55. 1 UNKNOWN Female 1 year old

Sources

  1. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/195411194/jedidah-lewis-banks : accessed 10 June 2022), memorial page for Jedidah Lewis Whitehead Banks (25 May 1791–2 Apr 1864), Find a Grave Memorial ID 195411194, citing Lewis Cemetery, Howard County, Missouri, USA ; Maintained by Mary Herndon (contributor 49044328) .
  2. History of Howard and Cooper counties, Missouri by National Historical Company, Publication date 1883, pp. 452-453: https://archive.org/details/historyofhowardc00nati/page/452/mode/2up : accessed 9 Jun 2022
  3. Wikipedia contributors, "Spottswood Rice," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spottswood_Rice&oldid=1029738711 (accessed April 26, 2022).
  4. The USCT Chronicle, Angela Y. Walton-Raji, March 29, 2012: The Words, Actions and Life of Spottswood Rice - Freedom Fighter (Part 1): http://usctchronicle.blogspot.com/2012/03/words-actions-and-life-of-spottswood.html : accessed 9 Jun 2022
  5. History of Howard and Cooper counties, Missouri by National Historical Company, Publication date 1883, pp. 452-453: https://archive.org/details/historyofhowardc00nati/page/452/mode/2up : accessed 9 Jun 2022
  6. Missouri Biographical Dictionary: https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7980/images/7980-Volume2-0037?pId=635 : accessed 13 Jun 2022
  7. Wikipedia contributors, "List of United States Colored Troops Civil War units," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_United_States_Colored_Troops_Civil_War_units&oldid=1076543549 (accessed April 22, 2022).
  8. Index to "Descriptive Recruitment Lists of Volunteers for the United States Colored Troops for the State of Missouri, 1863-1865" (NARA Microfilm Publication M1894 - 6 rolls), Index by slave owner's name | K – L: https://www.slcl.org/content/index-slave-owners-name-k-%E2%80%93-l : accessed 27 Apr 2022 (Because Missouri remained in the Union, slave owners were required to declare their loyalty in order to be compensated. The status of Missouri's enslaved people remained confusing until after the end of the Civil War.)
  9. Wikipedia contributors, "Spottswood Rice," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spottswood_Rice&oldid=1029738711 (accessed April 26, 2022).
  10. Wikipedia contributors, "Spottswood Rice," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spottswood_Rice&oldid=1029738711 (accessed April 26, 2022).




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