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Date Original
1861 November 14
Description
Listed here are the records of individual slaves by the weight of cotton they picked each day between November 4th and 11th, 1861. The number of pounds picked per day are listed, with a total at the bottom. After 8 days, 22,869 pounds of cotton were picked in this particular instance.
Biographical/Historical Note
In the pre-Civil War South, slave-owning plantation owners would keep records of how much individual slaves picked in cotton each day, in order to maximize production and income revenue.
Transcription
Cotton Picking 1861
Novv [sic] 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th
Bill 216 240 240 266 315 334 333 254
L Tom 158 148 158 178 214 230 186 176
Mose 124 132 126 146 170 178 168 159
Dave 158 166 166 180 245 207 205 217
Jo 158 166 156 182 230 292 221 208
George 102 156 160 170 174 200 167 164
Mat 146 150 142 158 156. 168 132 136
Charles 106 - Charles Charles Charles Charles Charles Charles
Rina 130 138 123 138 156 166 182 176
Lithia 240 214 226 264 325 255 250 287
Mandy 131 140 136 144 152 178 182 181
Clary 104 110 121 156 180 178 160 176
Fanny 134 168 168 173 178 190 148 183
Martha 99 100 90 97 100 112 110 107
Jane 123 138 138 160 168 173 179 164
Patsy 128 138 128 180 170 182 175 200
Hannah 74 90 94 108 134 142 97 106
Alexander 118 110 90 121 161 157 190 144
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____
2449 2504 2462 2821 3228 3338 3019 3048
22869
68355
Amt ford 68355 ______
Amt ford 91,224
Physical Description
1 page handwritten, 5.75" x 7.25"
Subjects
Slavery; Cotton
Language
English
Identifier
MS.000392
Collection
A Howard Stebbins papers, MS.000392
Publisher
Arkansas State Archives
Contributing Entity
Arkansas State Archives
Recommended Citation
Maggie E. Walker Benton diary, A Howard Stebbins papers, Arkansas State Archives, Little Rock, Arkansas.
Rights
Use and reproduction of images held by the Arkansas State Archives without prior written permission is prohibited. For information on reproducing images held by the Arkansas State Archives, please call 501-682-6900 or email at state.archives@arkansas.gov.
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