The men who took out ads to sell or lease their antebellum
plantations left us a closer picture of what that history lived like. It is one of so many vitally important
drill-downs that tell us what the facts actually meant.
Here real estate ads published in one or another local newspaper
make clear that a plantation was much more a working farm than a grand mansion
from out of which emerged so many Rhett Butlers. As large as the foot print of these farms
was, it is impossible to imagine a cotillion sweeping through grand halls.
We recognize the quotidian nature of it to the point that
the ease of mentioning “negroes” among the chattel to be sold with the property
is chillingly familiar. They are the precursors
to the mechanical thresher, the cotton gin, the washer and drier, the
self-cleaning oven and are treated as such without a second thought. Maintenance manuals were regularly written for
them. They barely had a life beyond
what maintenance required.
Regarding the last listing, there is also the need to
meet the requirements of estate law. Civil courts were every bit as much a part
of life as they are today no matter how comparatively primitive the regions.
The real estate listing also serves as the required legal notice to possible creditors
announcing the intent to leave the area.
Virginia Gazette,
October 6, 1774.
TO BE RENTED FROM YEAR TO YEAR, OR FOR A TERM OF YEARS[1]
Belvoir, the beautiful Seat of the Honourable George William
Fairfax, Esq; lying upon Potowmack River in Fairfax County, about fourteen
Miles below Alexandria. The Mansion House is of Brick, two Stories high, with
four convenient Rooms and a large Passage on the lower Floor, five Rooms and a
Passage on the second, and a Servants Hall and Cellars below, convenient Offices,
Stables, and Coach-House adjoining, as also a large and well furnished Garden,
stored with a great Variety of valuable Fruits, in good Order. Appertaining to
the Tract on which these Houses stand, and which contains near 2000 Acres
(surrounded in a Manner by navigable Water) are several valuable Fisheries, and
a good Deal of cleared Land in different Parts, which may be let altogether, or
separately, as shall be found most convenient. The Terms may be known of
Colonel Washington, who lives near the Premises, or of me in Berkley County.
Francis Willis, Junior.
A RED RIVER ESTABLISHMENT
Red River Republican (Alexandria, La.), Jan. 6, 1849.
Sugar lands and negroes for sale on red river,
ABOVE THE TOWN OF ALEXANDRIA[2]
The proprietor of several thousand arpents[3]
of land, situated as above, (being in a body), is desirous to dispose of 45
acclimated negroes, together with any number of arpents of land not less than
one thousand, which shall include all the cleared land, about 400 arpents, now
in the culture of cotton and corn, with about 10 arpents of sugar cane for
seed, and all the improvements, viz : A spacious frame Gin House, Grist Mill,
&c. &c., a frame dwelling, Negro quarters, Corn Crib, Cistern House,
Smoke House, Black Smith Shop, (and tools) Stables, Fodder House, Cotton
Houses, and Sheds, and about fifty thousand Bricks. Also, 30 head of Horses and
Mules; Wagons and plantation implements, a good stock of cattle and hogs, and a
bountiful supply of corn and fodder.
Among the negroes there are two first rate house servants, a
man and woman ; one carpenter, one rough blacksmith, and a driver not to be
surpassed by any in the State. The balance will average with any set of hands for
good working and faithful subjects.
The land is well situated, and admitted to be equal, if not
superior, to any in the State.
The owner is determined to sell in consequence of ill health.
The terms can be made to suit a purchaser, who can command
about ten thousand dollars in money, or good property situated in the city of
New Orleans, will be received in part payment or for the whole.
In the event the property is not sold by the first of January
next, the owner will go on to pitch a crop of Cotton, Corn and Cane, and the
plantation will be still in market with the growing crop.
Possession can be given the first of January. For further
particulars address A. D., Republican Office, Alexandria, La.
Winchester (Va.) Gazette,
Jan. 9, 1799.[4]
The subscriber designing to remove to the Western Country,
gives this public notice, to all persons who have claims against him, or against
the estate of Edward Hoge desceased, or against the Administratrix thereof, to
bring forward their accounts properly attested, before the first of March next
ensuing, in order that they may be settled. He likewise requests all those who stand
indebted to him, to make payment by that time. He will also dispose of, at
private sale, his Stock, consisting of Cattle, Sheep, Hogs, Farming Utensils, Household
Furniture, two Stills with a complete set of Tubs, two Looms, four Spinning
Wheels, with sundry articles too tedious to mention. He will also lease the Plantation
he now lives on, which may be divided into two parts. A sober and steady
family, that would board one or two persons in part payment of the rent, would be
preferred. For further particulars, apply to the subscriber.
[1] Plantation
and frontier documents 1649-1863 (1909), V. 1, 246,251.
[2]
Ibid., 253-4.
[3]
French measurement of land area roughly equivalent of an acre.
[4] Ibid.,
255.
Also from the Library of Babel:
- South Carolina Debate over the U. S. Constitution (January 16, 1788). July 31, 2020. “But they don’t like our slaves, because they have none themselves, and therefore want to exclude us from this great advantage; why should the southern states allow of this without the consent of nine states?”
- Mrs. Trollope observes Andrew Jackson. July 26, 2020. “This resolution was hardly acted upon when the news reached us that the General had arrived at Louisville, and was expected at Cincinnati in a few hours.”
- An Excerpt from Joseph Addison’s Spectator #94. July 4, 2020. “Joseph Addison and Richard Steele’s Tatler and Spectator papers were a brilliant addition to the daily sheet. They developed into prototypical society pages.”
- The American Garden. January 16, 2019. 'Among the first of many "featured plant" histories in Mickey's lushly illustrated America's Romance with the English Garden are the American mayapple and black-eyed susan, both wild native plants, he informs the reader, that were domesticated in England before finding their way back to America gardens during the 19th century.'
- Be sure to check out the Browser's Guide to the Library of Babel.
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