Curtis Slave Schedules – 1860

Posted on by NelleBibbie
28
Mar

While this could be considered a bit of AA Researcher’s Gold it is bittersweet. In 1860, one of the few years a slave schedule was compiled, the name of the enslaver and information on the enslaved were listed. There were no names of those enslaved provided, yet we are able to glean a great deal from what is there.

Because we know the names of the two Curtis enslavers we were able to search for them by name. Imagine that!

William Curtis and his son, Darius were the two enslavers. The former gave his son 13 slaves and he hauled them off to Texas. More on that in a bit. William, being a serial enslaver, with a huge plantation in Cahaba, Dallas County, Alabama, kept 30 slaves for himself. Hence the two separate slave schedules. Below is a listing of those slaves. We are certain many, if not most are our ancestors.

Knowing what we know from the 1870 census and other records found , e.g. Darius’ will we are able to speculate with a great deal of certainty who the ones in Texas may be. The ones in Alabama, we have no idea. The feeling is though the weren’t just slaves together on a plantation. We believe family members were left behind, some probably never saw their relatives again.

From Darius Curtis’ 1860 Slave Schedule

Note: names in red were named as property in Darius’ will

  1. Male 50, Mulatto – likely Stephen? 
  2. Female 40, Mulatto – possibly Charlotte
  3. Female 29?, Mulatto – “Fish” (as named in the will)
  4. Male 25, Black – possibly Richard (Dick), Freeman or Solomon
  5. Male 23, Black – possibly Dick or Freeman
  6. Female 23, Mulatto – likely Dollie
  7. Female 20?, Black – likely Adeline 
  8. Male 18, Mulatto – likely Spencer
  9. Female 18, Black – unk  
  10. Female 16, Mulatto – unk 
  11. Male 15, Mulatto  – possibly Simon; possible Stephen and Adeline‘s son
  12. Female 14, Black – likely Phillis? 
  13. Male 1, Mulatto – possibly Calvin or Peter, son of Stephen and Adeline 

From William Curtis’ 1860 Slave Schedule

  1. Male 45, Black
  2. Male 40, Black
  3. Female 40, Mulatto
  4. Female 35, Black
  5. Male 35, Black
  6. Male 30, Black
  7. Female 28, Black
  8. Female 28, Black
  9. Female 25, Black
  10. Female 25, Black
  11. Female 22, Black
  12. Male 22, Mulatto
  13. Male 19, Black
  14. Female 18, Mulatto
  15. Female 18, Black
  16. Female 16, Black
  17. Female 16, Black
  18. Male 15, Mulatto
  19. Male, 13 Black
  20. Male 12, Black
  21. Female 11, Black
  22. Male 9, Black
  23. Female 8, Black
  24. Female 7, Black
  25. Male 7, Black
  26. Male 6, Black
  27. Female 6, possibly Phillis
  28. Male 5, Black
  29. Male 5, Black