Project: Before 1870 - Tracking Your Slave Ancestor

My family name is McFarland. Some people like to spell it as McFarlin. Our clan started with a lady named Penelope. This woman had three sons by her slave master, John McFarland. The sons names were Samuel, Pickney, and Burrell. I am from the line of Pickney McFarland and his wife Chainey Knox. I want to find information about Penelope.

This is the 1870 Census

When enlarged you see Penelope as head of household and her sons - Samuel, Pickney, and Burrell.

This is the 1860 Slave Inventory under the name Rebecca McFarland

A transcription of this 1860 document is as follows:

1 35yr male; mulato

1 35yr female; mulato

1 35yr female; black

1 21yr male; black

1 20yr male; black

1 19yr male; black

1 13yr male; black

1 12yr male; mulato

1 10yr male; mulato

1 5yr male; mulato

This is the 1857 Inventory of Slaves

Fortunately, an inventory was made in 1857 which will help collaborate the 1860 schedule. John McFarland had died in 1857 - so the reason for this inventory.

A transcription of this document is as follows:

Pleas

Terry

Peter

Ben

Daniel

Sam

Pink

Elvy

Penny and child

Now, let's combine the two schedules to give us some names to go with the 1860 document.

Pleas - 1 35 year old male, mulato

Terry - 1 35 year old female, mulato

Penny - 1 35 year old female, black

Peter - 1 21 year old male, black

Ben - 1 20 year old male, black

Daniel - 1 19 year old male, black

Samuel - 1 13 year old male, mulato

Pink - 1 12 year old male, mulato

Elvy - 1 10 year old male, mulato ( I think this should be female)

Burrell - 1 5 year old male, mulato

So here is our ten slaves belonging to John McFarland. Now let's go back to the 1850 slave schedule.

1850 Slave Schedule

A transcription of this 1850 document is as follows:

1 38 male black                []       Pleas

1 38 male mulato              []       Peter

1 29 female mulato           []       Terry

1 29 female black             []       Penny

1 18 male black                []        Ben

1 11 male black                []        Daniel

1 9 male black                  []        Elvy 

1 5 male black                  []        Samuel

1 3 male black                  []        Pinky

1 1 male black                  []        Burrell

So in 1850 we have 10 slaves. The ages are all over the place. Now let's place names to this document. The only thing we know for absolute is there are 10 slaves. John McFarland took the 1850 inventory himself. The 1860 inventory was done by one of his sons because he had died in 1857. Therefore, I would put more assurance that the 1850 document is correct. 

Okay if we look at the 1840 census we have the following:

1 male under 10                 Daniel

1 male under 10                  Ben

1 male from 10 - 23             Pleas

1 female from 10 - 23          Terry

1 female from 10 - 23           Penny

So we know that Burrell, Pinky, Samuel, and the 9 year old had not been born. The reason I know that Pleas was the male from 10 - 23 is because he was bequeathed to Rebecca when Rebecca's father, James Jackson died. To be honest, I am so glad I'm after Penny! 

Now let's go to 1830 Census. If we look at this census we have the following; 

1 male from 10 - 23

 And like I mentioned above that was Pleas who was given to Rebecca by her father in his will. So sometime between 1830 and 1840 John McDonald got Terry, Penny, and two small boys. Could one of the boys been Penny. No. The reason being there were only three boys with Penelope on the 1870 census. If one of these boys were hers they would have been with her on the census. Also, in 1870 you can find Daniel, Ben, and Peter on the census with their own families.

So my next step is to research every document that may show a transaction selling four slaves to John McFarland sometime between 1830 and 1840.