Research Notes - Joel Washington Perry as Slave Owner

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Early, Georgia, United States
Surname/tag: Perry

Evidence to support or disprove conjecture that Joel Washington Perry (1801-1885) was the slave owner for the family of William Perry (abt.1828-aft.1890)

Contents 1 Will / Estate Records 2 Deeds 3 Census Records 4 Summary / Conclusions 5 Sources

Will / Estate Records

Joel W. Perry did not die until 3 July 1885, thus his Will is not of use to identify any slaves. No bequests were made to persons who were not family members.

Deeds

No deeds have been found to date that mention slaves.

Census Records

In the 1850 census Joel was a owner in Blakely, Early, Georgia, United States.^[1]

Name	Relation	Sex	Age
Joel W Perry	Owner
	Slave	F	60
	Slave	F	60
	Slave	F	45
	Slave	M	45
	Slave	M	42
	Slave	F	35
	Slave	M	23
	Slave	M	21
	Slave	F	25
	Slave	F	21
	Slave	F	23
	Slave	F	17
	Slave	M	16
	Slave	F	16
	Slave	F	13
	Slave	F	13
	Slave	M	14
	Slave	M	12
	Slave	F	10
	Slave	F	8
	Slave	M	6
	Slave	M	3
	Slave	F	2
	Slave	F	2
	Slave	M	1
	Slave	M	2
	Slave	F	8
	Slave	F	8

In the 1860 census Joel was a owner for minors of G W Alexander in Early, Georgia, United States.^[2] Note: Joel's 2nd wife, Elizabeth had been married to George W. Alexander who died. These are the children of George and Elizabeth.

Name	Relation	Sex	Age
Joel W Perry	Owner
	Slave	M	50
	Slave	F	55
	Slave	M	45
	Slave	M	35
	Slave	M	33
	Slave	M	31
	Slave	M	20
	Slave	F	35
	Slave	F	30
	Slave	F	32
	Slave	F	34
	Slave	F	26
	Slave	F	25
	Slave	F	15
	Slave	F	14
	Slave	F	13
	Slave	M	16
	Slave	M	14
	Slave	M	13
	Slave	F	12
	Slave	F	12
	Slave	F	10
	Slave	M	10
	Slave	M	10
	Slave	F	9
	Slave	M	9
	Slave	F	16
	Slave	F	8
	Slave	F	7
	Slave	M	4
	Slave	F	4
	Slave	M	1
	Slave	F	1

In the 1860 census Joel was listed as a slave owner in the 28th District of Early County, Georgia, United States.^[3]

Name	Relation	Sex	Age
Joel W Perry	Owner
	Slave	M	35
	Slave	M	28
	Slave	M	35
	Slave	M	23
	Slave	M	24
	Slave	M	20
	Slave	M	30
	Slave	M	30
	Slave	M	25
	Slave	M	32
	Slave	M	32
	Slave	M	23
	Slave	M	23
	Slave	M	23
	Slave	M	20
	Slave	M	22
	Slave	M	23
	Slave	M	14
	Slave	M	0
	Slave	M	0
	Slave	M	0
	Slave	M	0
	Slave	M	9
	Slave	M	9
	Slave	M	4
	Slave	F	2
	Slave	F	4
	Slave	F	30
	Slave	F	35
	Slave	F	25
	Slave	F	32
	Slave	F	21
	Slave	F	20
	Slave	F	22
	Slave	F	23
	Slave	F	14
	Slave	F	12
	Slave	F	0
	Slave	F	0
	Slave	F	0

The ages for Bill Perry's family were regressed to show how old each would be in 1850 and 1860.

Name	Birth Place	Age (1850)	Age (1860)	Age (1870)
Bill Perry	Georgia	22	32	42
Bethia Perry	Virginia	20	30	40
Lawson Perry	Georgia	0	10	20
Hartwell Perry	Georgia	0	8	18
Ella Perry	Georgia	0	6	16
Hatty Perry	Georgia	0	3	13
Rena Perry	Georgia	0	1	11
Mary Perry	Georgia	0	0	2

A comparison was made of the slaves listed for Joel W. Perry and the estimated ages of Bill Perry's family regressed for the comparison. The results are mixed Bill Perry, Bethia, and Lawson could match both the 1850 and 1860 slave lists. Hartwell Perry could match the 1860 slave list, but there don't seem to be matches on the 1860 slave list for Ella Perry, Hatty Perry, Rena Perry, or Mary Perry. When the same comparison was made to using the 1860 slave listing for the Alexander heirs, there was almost a one to on correlation with Bill Perry's family.

Sex	Age	Match		1860	Sex	Age	Match		Sex	Age	Match
Perry (1850				Perry (1860)					Alexander (1860)
M	45			Slave	M	35	Bill		M	50
M	42			Slave	M	28			M	45
M	23	Bill		Slave	M	35			M	35
M	21	Bill		Slave	M	23			M	33	Bill
M	16			Slave	M	24			M	31	Bill
M	14			Slave	M	20			M	20
M	12			Slave	M	30			M	16
M	6			Slave	M	30			M	14
M	3			Slave	M	25			M	13
M	2			Slave	M	32			M	10	Lawson
M	1	Lawson		Slave	M	32			M	10	Lawson
F	60			Slave	M	23			M	9	Hartwell
F	60			Slave	M	23			M	4
F	45			Slave	M	23			M	1
F	35			Slave	M	20			F	55
F	25	Bethia		Slave	M	22			F	35
F	23	Bethia		Slave	M	23			F	34
F	21			Slave	M	14	Lawson		F	32
F	17			Slave	M	0			F	30	Bethia
F	16			Slave	M	0			F	26
F	13			Slave	M	0			F	25
F	13			Slave	M	0			F	16
F	10			Slave	M	9	Hartwell		F	15
F	8			Slave	M	9	Hartwell		F	14
F	8			Slave	M	4			F	13
F	8			Slave	F	2			F	12
F	2			Slave	F	4			F	12
F	2			Slave	F	30	Bethia		F	10
				Slave	F	35			F	9
				Slave	F	25			F	8
				Slave	F	32			F	7	Ella
				Slave	F	21			F	4	Hatty
				Slave	F	20			F	1	Rena
				Slave	F	22
				Slave	F	23
				Slave	F	14
				Slave	F	12
				Slave	F	0
				Slave	F	0
				Slave	F	0

In the 1870 census Joel (age 64) was the head of household in Early, Georgia, Districts 4 and 5, United States.^[4]

Name	Sex	Race	Age	Occupation	Birth Place
Joel W Perry	M	W	64	Ins. Agent	Georgia
Elizabeth Perry	F	W	53	Keeping House	Georgia
R Kiturah Perry	F	W	25	At home	Georgia
Retus H Perry	M	W	19	At school	Georgia
Martha Alexander	F	B	35	Cook	Georgia
Mark Windsor	M	B	25	Farm laborer	Georgia
Ned Battle	M	B	14	Waiting boy	Georgia
Minnie Alexander	F	B	1		Georgia
Green Willis	M	W	26	Farm Laborer	Georgia

Summary / Conclusions

The examination of the slave records for Joel W. Perry in 1850 and 1860 Slave listings, to include the slave listing for the minor heirs of George W. Alexander (Joel's step children), yielded sufficient matches that Joel cannot be excluded as the potential slave owner.

No other information has yet been uncovered to support the inclusion or exclusion of Joel W. Perry as the slave owner of Bill Perry's family.

Sources

1. ↑ 1850 Census: "United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1850"
   citing Affiliate Publication Number: M432; Line: 1; FHL microfilm: 442899; Record number: 10204;
   FamilySearch Record: HR7X-HHPZ (accessed 1 March 2023)
   FamilySearch Image: S3HY-63J3-TR6 Image number 00129
   Joel W Perry owner in household of Joel W Perry in Blakely, Early, Georgia, United States.
2. ↑ 1860 Census: "United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1860"
   citing Page: 45; Line: 1; FHL microfilm: 000803145; Record number: 090673;
   FamilySearch Record: WKV4-NQMM (accessed 1 March 2023)
   FamilySearch Image: 33S7-9YBX-1LP Image number 00206
   Joel W Perry owner in household of Joel W Perry in Early, Georgia, United States.
3. ↑ 1860 Census: "United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1860"
   citing Page: 29; Line: 5; FHL microfilm: 000803145; Record number: 090587;
   FamilySearch Record: WKVH-SJMM (accessed 1 March 2023)
   FamilySearch Image: 33SQ-GYBX-9M81 Image number 00190
   Joel W Perry owner in household of Joel W Perry in Georgia, United States.
4. ↑ 1870 Census: "United States Census, 1870"
   citing Page: 26; Affiliate Publication Number: M593; Line: 10; FHL microfilm: 000545647; Record number: 1014;
   FamilySearch Record: MCS1-LP4 (accessed 1 March 2023)
   FamilySearch Image: S3HY-64L9-6DX Image number 00030
   Joel W Perry (64) head of household in Early, Georgia, United States. Born in Georgia.