Slaves of James Jones Banks, Alabama

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Macon County, Georgia
Surnames/tags: Banks Slavery Black_Heritage

James Jones Banks (1792-abt.1867) as reported on four federal and one state census records to have owned enslaved people in three locations: Elbert County, Georgia (1820); Monroe County, Georgia (1830); Macon County, Alabama (1850, 1855 and 1860). Note that Macon County later (in 1866) became Bullock County.

According to a statement by Bishop C.P. Fitzgerald, published in The Genealogical Records of the Banks Family of Elbert County, Georgia, Volume 2: "To his wife and children, and children's children his affection was a joy. To his colored servants, under the old regime he was just, and he won their respect and confidence as a Christian and master." ^[1]

Perhaps the Bishop included this as part of a eulogy for Banks' death in 1867 shortly after the Civil War ended the "old regime" of slavery. The Bishop still used terminology that dehumanized the enslaved people.

Contents 1 Federal Census, 1820: Elbert County, Georgia 2 Federal Census, 1830: Monroe County, Georgia 3 Jerry - 1846 4 1843: The Story of an Enslaved Man Named Archer 5 Federal Census, 1850: Macon County, Alabama 6 Alabama State Census, 1855: Macon County, Alabama 7 Federal Census, 1860: Macon County, Alabama 8 History of Enon Plantation in Macon County, later Bullock County, Alabama 8.1 Early History 8.2 A Story of Enon immediately following the Civil War 8.3 Modern Times 9 Research Notes 10 Sources

Federal Census, 1820: Elbert County, Georgia

In Elbert County, Georgia in 1820, Banks owned 15 slaves ranging in ages from under 14 through 44 years old. ^[2]

• 5 M under 14
• 2 M 14 thru 25
• 2 M 26 thru 44
• 4 F under 14
• 1 F 14 thru 25
• 1 F 26 thru 44

Total 15 slaves

Federal Census, 1830: Monroe County, Georgia

In Monroe County, Georgia in 1830, he owned 23 slaves ranging in age from under 10 up to 54 years old. ^[3]

• 4 M under 10
• 6 M 10 thru 23
• 1 M 24 thru 35
• 2 M 36 thru 54
• 5 F under 10
• 2 F 10 thru 23
• 3 F 23 thru 35

Total 23 slaves

Jerry - 1846

Jerry Banks (abt.1818-)

Brought to Jail^[4]

On the 21st of July last, a negro man by the name of JERRY, who says he belongs to James Banks or Monroe Tarver, of Macon county, Alabama. Said negro is about 28 years old, five feet 9 or 10 inches high, spare made and dark complexion.

M. SINQUEFIELD, Jailor

August 12, 1846

Note: this may be James G. Banks

1843: The Story of an Enslaved Man Named Archer

Archer Banks (bef.1827-)

A memoir written by the granddaughter of James Jones Banks includes a story about a "trusted slave" named Archer, who took care of her father Dunstan Marion Banks (1832-1912) when he was a boy during the difficult move in 1843 from Georgia to Alabama. The memoir commends only the White boy.

Papa [Dunstan Marion Banks], who was then eleven years old, was the youngest of seven children, six of whom were living and went to the new settlement. I interline the story he told me. As a boy, he owned a young ox, which he loved and wanted to take with him to his new home. So he and Archer, a trusted Negro slave, drove it to a cart all the way to Enon over rough roads in winter weather. He said Archer would build fires to warm them and their food. If rain or snow came, they would sleep under the cart for comforts. They arrived safely, only a bit cold and tired after the journey. No wonder boys like this grow into strong self-reliant men.^[5]

Federal Census, 1850: Macon County, Alabama

In Macon County, Alabama in 1850, he owned 32 slaves ranging in age from 9 to 50 years. ^[6]

Age|Gender|"Color"

• 60 M B
• 60 M B
• 60 M B
• 48 M B
• 38 M B
• 35 M B
• 30 M B
• 28 M B
• 28 M B
• 28 M B
• 27 M M
• 26 M B
• 24 M B
• 18 M B
• 16 M B
• 10 M B
• 10 M B
• 9 M B
• 3 M B
• 50 F B
• 50 F B
• 45 F B
• 40 F B
• 35 F B
• 35 F B
• 30 F B
• 30 F B
• 23 F B
• 18 F B
• 17 F B
• 12 F B
• 12 F B
• 9 F B

Total 32 slaves

Alabama State Census, 1855: Macon County, Alabama

The 1855 Alabama state census record for Macon County enumerates 18 people enslaved by James J Banks, only providing the number of people with no identifying information. Total 18 slaves

Federal Census, 1860: Macon County, Alabama

In 1860, James J Banks held 12 slaves in Macon County.^[7]

• 60 M B
• 38 M B
• 32 M B
• 30 M B
• 28 M B
• 27 M B
• F 35 B
• F 12 B
• F 12 B
• F 30 B
• F 6 B
• M 3 B

Total 18 slaves

History of Enon Plantation in Macon County, later Bullock County, Alabama

Early History

As the enslavers took over land following the forced eviction of native people, it is not surprising that James Jones Banks moved to an area directly on the Trail of Tears, previously occupied by the Creek people. Enon and the adjoining Sehoy plantation together comprised 25,000 acres in the early 1900's the largest privately held plantation in Alabama.

James built (presumably using slave labor) a house at Enon in about 1843, along with other buildings. He was instrumental in building on his property the Enon Methodist Church (which was demolished in the 1920's) and a log school house, used for a time for preaching by both Methodist and Baptist ministers.^[8]

Shortly before he died in 1867, James Jones Banks sold the house at Enon to his son Newton Paley Banks (1824-1901). Newton in turn allowed his brother Dunstan Marion Banks (1832-1912) to live in the house after the latter's cotton crop burned. It is not clear if Dunstan ended up owning the house, and to whom or when ownership changed after Dunstan and his family moved to Union Springs in 1878.^[9]

A Story of Enon immediately following the Civil War

A memoir about life growing up at Enon from the perspective of a white girl was written in 1937 by James Jones Banks' granddaughter Mamie (Banks) Barnett late in life.^[10] James Jones Banks died two years after the war, and Mamie (born in 1862) remained there with her family to around 1879. She describes it as a beautiful, idyllic place for her family. Here, they lived among 35 or 40 other families "and countless numbers of negoes. Most of the slaves remained on the plantations of their former owners [presumably as sharecroppers]. So I knew a number of ex-slaves who had belonged to my grandfather Banks." Some matter-of-fact assumptions about inequities were made, for example: "Everybody except the darkies, who could stand the sun's rays, stayed in the shade."

Unfortunately Mamie names almost none of the formerly enslaved people she "knew." One was Archer (profiled in the section above, as he was enslaved by James Jones Banks). Another was a Black man named Sam Crymes, supposedly known by whites to drink too much whiskey, who served as the "town alarm clock," alerting people who needed to take the train out of town early. Later, a Black man named Wesley Allen came to see her father, with whom he had studied in years past "coming from Cousin Will's plantation" and now having "made some name for himself as a leader among his race," teaching and editing a Black newspaper.

The memoir makes no references to the oppression suffered by Black people during the Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras, except for one act of cruelty by a Judge White (also the village post-master). When a Black man was brought before him accused of stealing, "the judge said, 'Let me see your hands.' The verdict was 'guilty' because no hair grew on his palms. 'All negroes,' he said, 'who have no hair on the inside of their hands will steal.' " Judge White had Black couples he married jump over a broom stick.

Mamie mentions a "negro church not far from the post-office and down the road from our house," and describes quite fondly the singing of congregation members on their way to church, along with "superstitions" she heard about.

An important reference is made to "a big, log room, a servants room in the slavery days," perhaps still surviving (see "Modern Times" below).

Modern Times

From the 1930's to the 1970's, nearly 18,000 acres of land and countryside adjoining Enon were owned by the wealthy Dupont family, who named the property Sehoy after Sehoy III, a prominent member of the Creek clan whose son became famed Chief "Red Eagle" of the Wind Clan, the highest ranking tribe of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.^[11]

As for Enon, ownership of this property after the departure of Dunstan Banks in 1878 (see above) is not clear, but we do know that Enon and adjoining Sehoy were owned jointly until 2011, when attempts to sell them together failed, and Enon was sold separately. Enon currently consists of approximately 4,000 acres of land lying east of Flower Garden Rd. and north of old Co Rd 103.

When Enon Plantation sold most recently (as of 2024) in 2021 for nearly $10 million, it had been marketed as a luxury hunting lodge "at the top of Alabama's most treasured properties," and "in the heart of Alabama's Union Springs Area plantation belt."^[12] The realtor's listing includes the main plantation house built in the 1840's (fully renovated), several other buildings, and an 1800's log cabin which may have been slave quarters, as suggested by James Jones Banks' granddaughter's memoir about her childhood (see above): "On the opposite side of the yard, was a big, log room, a servants room in the slavery days."^[13] The property is now maintained as a private hunting reserve used by a family and their invited guests.

About a mile from the renovated Banks home is a cemetery with the remains of 130 people, among them twelve white people from the Banks line, including James and his wife Hannah with some of their children. As of this writing in 2024, a team of local people with the support of Banks family descendants have worked extensively to clean up the cemetery and headstones.^[14] Appearing there are several unmarked graves that are covered with shells; it's possible these are the graves of former slaves or perhaps native people. Other locations in the area might be burial sites for the formerly enslaved.

Research Notes

• Thorough efforts to find the names of any people James Jones Banks enslaved have been unsuccessful.

• It's important to pursue further efforts to find burial places for formerly enslaved people, and to determine whether or not the "negro church" described in Mamie (Banks) Barnett's memoir still exists.

Sources

1. ↑ Banks, Elbert Augustine MD and Young, Georgia Butt, The Genealogical Records of the Banks Family of Elbert Country, Georgia, reproduction by the Church of the Latter Day Saints, Second Edition edited by Sarah Banks Franklin, p. 159.
2. ↑ 1820 Census: "1820 United States Federal Census"
   1820 U S Census; Census Place: Elbert, Georgia; Page: 191; NARA Roll: M33_8; Image: 136
   Ancestry Record 7734 #1456055 (accessed 4 December 2022)
   James J Banks in Elbert, Georgia.
3. ↑ 1830 Census: "1830 United States Federal Census"
   Year: 1830; Census Place: Monroe, Georgia; Series: M19; Roll: 19; Page: 183; Family History Library Film: 0007039
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 8058 #1853005 (accessed 5 December 2022)
   James J Banks in Monroe, Georgia.
4. ↑ Brought to Jail https://www.newspapers.com/article/weekly-columbus-enquirer-1846-slave-jerr/130751627/
   • Weekly Columbus Enquirer, Columbus, Georgia, Wed, Aug 12, 1846, Page 3
5. ↑ "Recollections of my childhood spent in Old Enon, Bullock County, Alabama" by Mrs. Albert E. Barnett (nee Mamie Banks 1862-1943), retyped by Dennis M. Jones, 1966. Transcribed and edited by Meg Betts Torbert and Roy Banks Torbert, Nov. 18, 2023. https://betts-torbert.blogspot.com/p/memoir-of-old-enon-by-mamie-banks.html
6. ↑ 1850 Census: "United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1850"
   citing Affiliate Publication Number: M432; Line: 1; FHL microfilm: 442871; Record number: 36098;
   FamilySearch Record: HRWT-472M (accessed 5 December 2022)
   FamilySearch Image: S3HY-DCTW-FF3 Image number 00460
   James J Banks in Macon, Alabama, United States.
7. ↑ 1860 Census: "1860 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules"
   The National Archives in Washington DC; Washington DC, USA; Eighth Census of the United States 1860; Series Number: M653; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry ca Record 7668 #90296545 (accessed 8 December 2022)
   James J Banks in Southern Division, Macon, Alabama, USA.
8. ↑ The Rev. Anson West D.D., A History of Methodism in Alabama, Furnishing House Methodist Episcopal Church South, 1893. https://archive.org/details/historyofmethodi01west/page/6/mode/1up
9. ↑ from family information provided by descendant of Dunstan Banks, via email of March 2024 currently in the possession of Sara Lively.
10. ↑ "Recollections of my childhood spent in Old Enon, Bullock County, Alabama" by Mrs. Albert E. Barnett (nee Mamie Banks 1862-1943), retyped by Dennis M. Jones, 1966. Transcribed and edited by Meg Betts Torbert and Roy Banks Torbert, Nov. 18, 2023. https://betts-torbert.blogspot.com/p/memoir-of-old-enon-by-mamie-banks.html
11. ↑ from family information provided by descendant of Dunstan Banks, via email of March 2024 currently in the possession of Sara Lively.
12. ↑ Announcement of the Sale of Enon Plantation offered by Jon Kohler Associates, 2021. https://jonkohler.com/property/alabama/enon-plantation/
13. ↑ "Recollections of my childhood spent in Old Enon, Bullock County, Alabama" by Mrs. Albert E. Barnett (nee Mamie Banks 1862-1943), retyped by Dennis M. Jones, 1966. Transcribed and edited by Meg Betts Torbert and Roy Banks Torbert, Nov. 18, 2023. https://betts-torbert.blogspot.com/p/memoir-of-old-enon-by-mamie-banks.html
14. ↑ Records of several conversations by email and telephone (2022-2023) with living Banks descendants and with the local leader of cemetery cleanup are in the possession of Sara Lively.