
You cannot understand the men and women who emerged from slavery to appear in the 1870 census of Wilson County without understanding who was not there — the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and children sold South in America’s domestic slave trade, known as the Second Middle Passage.
I have no ancestors from Alabama or Mississippi or Louisiana or Texas, but my DNA matches scores of African-Americans who do. They are descended from the close kin of my North Carolina and Virginia ancestors, and the bits of identical chromosome we share is the only evidence of the crime that befell our common forebears.
To understand the depth and breadth of this trade, please study Edward E. Baptist’s The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism.
To glimpse how this trade unfolded among our own Wilson County people, see:
- Luke, Guilford, Orange, and Willis, who were taken to Alabama by John Scarborough circa 1836
- Aberdeen and Abraham, who were sent to Mississippi in 1848
- Martha, John, Adeline, Viney, and Mary, who were taken by local slavetrading firm Moye and Adams to Mississippi in 1849
- Jason, who was sold out of state by “Father of Wilson County” Joshua Barnes in 1855
- Arch Daniels‘ heartbreaking provisions for his long-lost children
To see how buying and selling men, women, and children even locally devastated families:
- the sale of Sukey in 1842
- the sale of Marina in 1849
- the sales of Harry, 19, Alfred, 18, Oney, 17, and Gray, 14, in 1855
- the purchase of Agnes and her child in 1855
- the sales of Penelope, Emily, Rose, Caroline, Isham, Harriet, Lewis, Haywood, and Eugena in 1856
- the sale of Silah and her daughter Lucinda, about 1856
- the sale of Easter, 9, in 1857
- the sale of Westley, 8, in 1858
- the sales of 15 unnamed children in 1859
- the sale of Axey and two of her children in 1859
- the sale of Rachel and her child in 1859
- the sales of Dicy, Teresa, Guilford, Mary “Moll,” Judah, and William “Bill” in 1859
- the sale of George, 12, in 1859
- the sale of Harry, 28, in 1859
- the sale of Albert, 8, in 1859
- the sales of Peggy, 25, and her children Henry, 7, and Mourning, 3, and Harry, 19, in 1860
- the sales of Elvy, Essex, Aaron, and Julia in 1860
- the sale of Matilda in 1861
- the sale of Charity, 30, Aaron, 13, Sarah, 7, Lucinda, 5, and Cloe, 9, on Christmas Eve 1861
- the sale of Mariah, age 17, circa 1864
This says so much. Thank you.
Thank you for this post and recommendation. Like you, I have DNA matches from all over the south, including Louisiana and Florida, but my immediate family lines originally trace back to Virginia from North Carolina and Georgia.
Let this freedom of factual information pierce the hearts and souls of all who read it.
I am so glad that God is the judge of all records!
I am grateful that these, our ancestors, towed the line despite such atrocities. We are because they truly were!!
May God bless their lineage as we honor them in all we do, think, and say….till death us do part.
Lisa Henderson, you were sent to tell these stories. I read every posting that you submit..and I share it out. I honor you. ASHAY.
Heartbreaking to read but grateful for the history re. My Wilson ancestors.
Thank You for these footprints of Wilson History. Knowing that our families was included is a sobering reminder.