Stinson Plantation, Meriwether County, Georgia

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Meriwether, Georgia, United States
Surnames/tags: Stinson Slavery Black_Heritage

US Black Heritage Index of Plantations

Georgia Plantations

Contents 1 Introduction 1.1 Day Book Record 1.2 Census & Slave Schedules 1.3 Deeds 2 Sources

Introduction

See also: Stinson Plantation Research Notes

Stinson Plantation was built by James Winslow Stinson in Meriwether County, Georgia around 1834 near what is now the unincorporated town of Durand, Georgia. The town was originally named "Stinson" in honor of Dr. James W. Stinson, but was renamed Durand in 1911.^[1]

Dr. James Stinson, originally from North Carolina, married Martha Lashely Jackson on January 14, 1830 in Upson County, Georgia. In 1834, the newly married couple moved to Meriwether County, Georgia where he worked as a physician and soon built his plantation. Although the plantation is gone today after it burnt down on November 21, 1896, the trinity unity Methodist Church can be found in its place today.^[2]

Day Book Record

STINSON PLANTATION SLAVE RECORD, 1832-60 Ogletree Manuscript Collection page 176^[3]

At most plantations, as a good business practice, a record of Negro slave births was made and kept in the plantation office or in the home. Often names and dates were entered on a family data page in the family Bible, or on a separate sheet tucked into the Bible.

Accuracy of age was an important factor in the worth of a slave and age was generally stated in bills of sale, along with name, a brief description of the slave, condition of health and other pertinent facts.

Dr. James Winslow Stinson (1799-1883), kept his record of slaves in a small ledger for the period 1832-1860. Due to the condition of the ledger, the edges of the pages of which are tattered in some instances, during the 1840 and 1850 decades, it is not possible to give all dates completely. The last digits of some years, written so closely to the edge of the sheet, are gone.^[4]

Name Birth
Chloe Ann December 25, 1832
John May May 15, 1833
Frances June 15, 1837
Milly April 14, 1838
Caroline February 3, 1840
Aggy July 10, 1840
George January 8, 1842
Tom January 15, 1842
Baltimore 1843
Morgan 184-
Devenport 1846
Mack 184-
Henry 184-
Susan 184-
Eliza 184-
Taylor 184-
Charity 184-
Eugenia November 5, 184-
BostonSeptember 20, 184-
Sealy March 30, 184-
George March 25, 184-
Nelson March, 185-
Ardelia 185-
Noah 185-
Filmore 185-
Silas 185-
Frederick 185-
Ella 185-
Joseph December 25,1854
C--- May 15, 185-
Chesterfield May, 1855
Elek Stephens July 1855
Pauline November 1855
Hilliard January 1856
Alexander January 1856
Steven 1856
Marcus Aurelius 1856
Albert 1856
Julia Adelaide Pope December 1856
Wiley Wilford 1856
Judge Allen 1857
Edward Herbert June 4, 1857
Emily Cornelia June 8, 1857
Porter Benson August 10, 1857
David February 19, 1858
Chloe Ann’s twins February 22, 1858
Henry King March 13, 1858
Greene March 19, 1858
Abraham May 22, 1858
Charles August 28, 1858
Tom June 21, 1859
Isaiah July 12, 1859
Phebe December 1859
America Ann February 2, 1860
David February 2, 1860
Willis February 5, 1860
James February 15, 1860
Martha April 15, 1860
Smith July 17, 1860

Census & Slave Schedules

The 1850 Slave Schedule includes 58 slaves belonging to James W. Stinson (pages 43 and 44):^[5]

Line	Age	Sex	Race
17	60	M	B
18	45	M	B
19	45	M	B
20	45	M	B
21	44	M	B
22	43	M	B
23	40	M	B
24	39	M	B
25	39	M	B
26	39	M	B
27	22	M	B
28	20	M	B
29	20	M	B
30	18	M	B
31	17	M	B
32	16	M	B
33	16	M	B
34	16	M	B
35	14	M	B
36	13	M	B
37	25	M	B
38	13	M	B
39	10	M	B
40	10	M	B
41	9	M	B
42	8	M	B
1	7	M	B
2	6	M	B
3	5	M	B
4	5	M	B
5	3	M	B
6	4	M	B
7	2	M	B
8	1	M	B
9	40	F	B
10	40	F	B
11	39	F	B
12	35	F	B
13	30	F	B
14	25	F	B
15	25	F	B
16	20	F	B
17	20	F	B
18	17	F	B
19	20	F	B
20	14	F	B
21	14	F	B
22	12	F	B
23	12	F	B
24	12	F	B
25	10	F	B
26	8	F	B
27	6	F	B
28	5	F	B
29	3	F	B
30	2	F	B
31	2	F	B
32	3	F	B

Slaves of James W. Stinson are listed on the 1860 Slave Schedule for Meriwether County, Georgia enumerated on 20 Jun 1860.^[6] Three slaves on that listing are marked as "Fugitive from the State" (one 30 year-old mulatto female, one 24 year-old female mulatto, and one 7 year-old male mulatto.)

The instructions for the 1860 Slave schedule included the following:

"Fugitives.-- Under heading 6 insert, in figures, opposite the name of the owner, a mark or number designating the fugitives who, having escaped within the year, have not been returned to their owners. Such fugitives are to be described as fully as if in possession of their masters. No allusion is to be made respecting such as may have absconded subsequent to the 1st day of June; they are to be recorded as if in possession of their proper owners."

The phrase "within the year" means within the previous twelve months; in other words, any slave who had run away since June 1, 1859, and who was still missing, would be counted as a fugitive. Slaves still absent after a year would not be counted in the census.^[7]

Page	Line	Age	Sex	Race	Fugitive
33	13	82	M	B
33	14	55	M	B
33	15	55	M	B
33	16	55	M	B
33	17	55	M	B
33	18	55	M	B
33	19	55	F	B
33	20	55	F	B
33	21	53	F	B
33	22	52	M	B
33	23	50	F	B
33	24	47	M	B
33	25	46	M	B
33	26	50	M	B
33	27	45	M	B
33	28	45	M	B
33	29	45	F	B
33	30	45	F	B
33	31	35	F	B
33	32	32	M	B
33	33	32	M	B
33	34	32	M	B
33	35	30	M	B
33	36	30	M	B
33	37	30	F	M	10
33	38	30	F	B
33	39	30	F	B
33	40	28	F	B
34	1	28	M	B
34	2	25	M	B
34	3	35	M	B
34	4	25	M	B
34	5	25	M	B
34	6	30	M	B
34	7	30	M	B
34	8	22	F	B
34	9	24	F	M	14
34	10	23	F	B
34	11	23	F	B
34	12	22	F	B
34	13	21	F	B
34	14	20	F	B
34	15	22	M	B
34	16	22	M	B
34	17	22	M	B
34	18	21	M	B
34	19	20	M	B
34	20	19	M	B
34	21	19	M	B
34	22	18	M	B
34	23	18	F	B
34	24	18	F	B
34	25	17	F	B
34	26	16	M	B
34	27	16	M	B
34	28	16	M	B
34	29	16	M	B
34	30	15	M	B
34	31	15	M	B
34	32	16	M	B
34	33	13	M	B
34	34	13	M	B
34	35	12	M	B
34	36	12	F	B
34	37	12	F	B
34	38	10	F	B
34	39	8	F	B
34	40	7	M	B
34	1	7	M	M	119
34	2	6	M	B
34	3	6	M	B
34	4	5	M	B
34	5	5	M	B
34	6	5	M	B
34	7	6	F	B
34	8	4	M	B
34	9	4	F	B
34	10	4	F	B
34	11	2	F	B
34	12	6/12	F	B
34	13	3/12	F	B
34	14	2/12	F	B
34	15	3	M	B
34	16	4	M	B
34	17	2	M	B
34	18	2	M	B
34	19	3	M	B
34	20	2	M	B
34	21	2	M	B
34	22	1	M	B
34	23	1	M	B
34	24	6/12	M	B
34	25	6/12	M	B
34	26	3/12	M	B
34	27	25	M	B
34	28	19	M	B
34	29	16	M	B

This schedule reports that James W. Stinson had 22 slave houses.

Deeds

A deed in 1865 records Jas W Stinson purchasing a piece of land for the consideration of "a Boy and the sum of one thousand dollars in Confederate currency". The boy is not named.^[8]

Sources

1. ↑ Krakow, Kenneth K. (1975). Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins (PDF). Macon, GA: Winship Press. p. 66 (http://www.kenkrakow.com/gpn/d.pdf)
2. ↑ Unknown, Blog post: Stinson Plantation, 13 Oct 2012, available at http://maumeneegenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/10/stinson-plantation.html. Accessed 18 Feb 2023.
3. ↑ https://ancestors.familysearch.org/L5FM-93R/dr.-james-winslow-stinson-1799-1883
4. ↑ Reference found that indicates the Stinson Plantation Slave record may have been published in William H. Davidson's book, Brooks of Butter and Honey: Plantations and People of Meriwether County, Vol II. (Alexander City Ala.: Outlook Publishing Co., 1971)
5. ↑ "United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1850 ", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MVHY-7RN : 23 February 2021), MM9.1.1/MVHY-75G:, 1850. James W. Stinson, Meriwether, Georgia, pages 43-44.
6. ↑ "United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:WKVZ-XV2M : 16 October 2019), J W Stinson, 1860.
7. ↑ AfriGeneas Slave Research Forum Archive. Post: "Fugitive Slaves in the 1860 Census," by David, 6/13/2002, 12:13 am, In Response To: "Fugitive" classification in Slave Schedule (Alice Sykes). Available at https://www.afrigeneas.com/forumdarchive/index.cgi/md/read/id/2885/sbj/fugitive-slaves-in-the-1860-census/. Accessed 16 Feb 2023.
8. ↑ Deeds and mortgages, 1828-1918; index to deeds and mortgages, 1828-1963: "Deeds and mortgages, 1828-1918; index to deeds and mortgages, 1828-1963"
   Catalog: Deeds and mortgages, 1828-1918; index to deeds and mortgages, 1828-1963 Deeds and mortgages, v. M 1863-1869
   Film number: 008317757 > image 178 of 361
   FamilySearch Image: 3Q9M-CSR1-LS6C-W (accessed 21 June 2023)