The Mott Letters: Enslaved Persons

Descendants of enslaved persons struggle with that is known as the “slave wall” in American Research. This wall is defined as the period before the 1870 US Census, which was the first census many former slaves were named.[i] Before the US Civil War existing records on slavery are limited, and far fewer exist which name the slaves owned.

When a new record set which contains the names of enslaved person is discovered this information typically documented at the repository so other researchers can find the data to determine if it will aid in their “slave wall” research. In Virginia when new records are found institutions are encouraged to send copies to the “Unknown No Longer: A Database of Virginia Slave Names” for use by patrons of the Virginia Library and Archives.[ii] 

The Mott letter collection has a few names of slaves included in its pages, not only from Virginia but also with the extended Mott family in Kentucky, and in South Carolina. As a collection, which until now, was only seen by family members, these names and details may help a future researcher break the slave wall for their family or client.

The table below shows the named slaves, unnamed slaves, and person who were possibly slaves from the Mott letter collection. Since these families were confirmed slave-owning families through secondary sources, I presumed that mentions of maid or types of “help” referred to a slave.

We can be sure Sarah was a slave in the Bentley home, but only on loan to them from another person. Since Nancy, also identified in the letter was offered in trade, we can also label Nancy as a slave.

 Identified and possible slaves identified from the Mott letter collection.

Figure ID	Name	To Whom	Date
1840_12_29_VM	Hannah	slave/servant to the Bentley family
1840_12_29_VM	Joe	slave/servant to the Bentley family
1840_12_29_VM	Nancy	slave in the Bentley family
1840_12_29_VM	Sarah	Loaned to Bentley Family	Before 29 Dec 1840
1840_12_29_VM	None	Robert Bentley purchased 2 “servants”	29 Dec 1840
1842_10_15_VM	Sandy	slave/servant to the Legaré Family
1844_08_02_AM	Old Tom
1844_11_05_AM	Jimbo	Mr Gilchrist	Before 5 Nov 1844
1844_11_05_AM		Albert Long	Before 5 Nov 1844
1845_02_17_AM	Lucy	slave/servant to Mary E Martin
1845_04_10_AM		Robert Winston's Mother	Before 10 Apr 1845
1846_10_28_VM	Rose	maid / slave to Lizzie Legaré

"Sarah has left and gone to live with her Master, she did not like the idea much of leaving. Father proposed buying her off her master or trading Nancy for her, but her master said he could not part with her."

Due to the loss of Sarah Robert Bentley, father of Virginia Bentley purchased servants on 29 December 1840. These persons were slaves as indentured servitude was no longer practice at that time in Virginia.

"Father went down to Prince William this morning to purchase a servant for the house and one for the farm"

However, no records were located for a bill of sale at that time. They were either lost, destroyed, or not recorded.

Mary related information to her brother about slaves in possession of friends and extended family. Sometime before 5 November 1844 she tells Armistead that “Mr Gilchrest’s Jimbo” died. While there were no records found for slaves in 1844, there was an RJ Gilcrest on the 1850 Slave Schedule for Union County, Kentucky where Mary lived at the time.[iii] In the same letter, she relates that their Uncle Albert [Long] sold more of his slaves, but a bill of sale was not found.

Knowing when and where a slave was sold are clues used by researchers to build cases for placing slaves in a time and place. Unfortunately, no existing records were found for Albert Long owning slaves, but that does not mean he did not or that he did not bring them with him to Kentucky from Virginia.

With the limitations of this project, research into the Winston family also did not take place. However, descendants of the slaves associated with Robert Winston, who according to Mary Mott Martin inherited slaves from his mother’s estate, may not have known their ancestors were originally from Virginia. In her letter to Armistead, she stated

"Robert has inherited some negros from Mrs Rs estate which he expects to carry out. He will buy a light wagon in which we will all over out we will be provided with a tent under which we will expect to lodge.”

At this time without further detail, the identification of who his mother was and when he collected his inheritance is not known. That fact does not mean this information is not significant, however.

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[i] Griggs, Cara F. (2015) African American Research at the Library of Virginia to 1870. Library of Virginia. https://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/guides/AA_Genealogical_Research.pdf : March 2019.

[ii] Virginia Museum of History & Culture. Unknown No Longer: A Database of Virginia Slave Names. https://www.virginiahistory.org/collections/unknown-no-longer-database-virginia-slave-names : accessed March 2019.

[iii] Census records. USA. Slave Schedule. District 1, Loudoun County, Virginia. 1 June 1840. http://www.ancestry.com : accessed February – May 2019.