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Slaves of Henry Johnson, Louisiana

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Location: Pointe Coupee, Louisiana, United Statesmap
Surnames/tags: Slavery Black_Heritage Johnson
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This page's purpose is to record the people enslaved by Henry Johnson (1783-1864) in Louisiana and attempt to connect them to their families.


In June 1838, Henry Johnson and a fellow Louisiana planter, Jesse Batey, signed articles of agreement to purchase 272 enslaved people for $115,000 from four Jesuit plantations in southern Maryland.[1]

The articles of agreement listed each of the slaves being sold by name. More than half were younger than 20, and nearly a third were not yet 10 years old. The agreement provided that 51 slaves would be sent to the port of Alexandria, Virginia, in order to be shipped to Louisiana. Upon receipt of these 51, Johnson and Batey were to pay the first $25,000. The first payment on the remaining $90,000 would become due after five years. The remainder of the slaves were accounted for in three subsequent bills of sale executed in November 1838, which specified that 64 would go to Batey's plantation named West Oak in Iberville Parish and 140 slaves would be sent to Johnson's two plantations, Ascension Plantation (later known as Chatham Plantation) in Ascension Parish and another in Maringouin in Iberville Parish.[2][3]

In the 1840 census, Henry Johnson was living in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, and enslaving 92 people:[4]

  • Males under 10 years = 18
  • Males 10-24 years = 13
  • Males 24-36 years = 13
  • Males 36-55 years = 3
  • Females under 10 years = 13
  • Females 10-24 years = 20
  • Females 24-36 years = 7
  • Females 36-55 years = 5

Beginning in 1844 "part of the enslaved community were sold again by Johnson, who ran into financial difficulty. Johnson sold a half share of his property to Philip Barton Key in 1844, who then transferred his portion to John R. Thompson. Then, in 1851, Johnson sold his remaining half share to John R. Thompson in 1851. It appears that by the time of the Civil War, the people sold to Henry Johnson, along with their children born after the initial sale, had come to be owned by John R. Thompson."[5]

Please see Georgetown University, GU272 Slaves for profiles of these enslaved people, including those purchased by Henry Johnson.

Sources

  1. 1838 Jesuit Slave Sale - Wikipedia Entry: [1838 Jesuit Slave Sale]. Accessed 27 Dec 2023.
  2. "Georgetown University and the Business of Slavery" by Rothman, Adam. Washington History. Fall 2017. 29 (2): 18–22. JSTOR Link.
  3. "The Fate and Legacy of the GU272" - AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society. Archived from the original on June 21, 2021. Retrieved 27 Dec 2023. The Fate and Legacy of the GU272.
  4. 1840 Census - "United States Census, 1840", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHTD-R4V : Wed Oct 04 05:08:52 UTC 2023), Entry for Henry Johnson, 1840.
  5. Henry Johnson Slave Sales - Georgetown Slavery Archive. Accessed 27 Dec 2023. Henry Johnson Slave Sales.




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Chatham Plantation
Chatham Plantation

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