Slavery At Kittiewan Plantation
African-Descent Americans At Kittiewan
Kittiewan Plantation used slave labor, as did a large percentage of the plantations in Virginia. Tracing the slave families and locating living descendants is an important aspect for the history of Kittiewan Plantation, and recently, a descendant of slave Pleasant Whiting was the first slave descendant to visit Kittiewan since the ASV received the property. More research may lead to the identification of more names as well as enhancing the knowledge of slave life at Kittiewan Plantation.
The earliest records place slaves on the property by the 1780s, but no doubt they were on site whenever the land was first inhabited by European colonists. The numbers of slaves at Kittiewan Plantation is unknown for most of the antebellum period, however the 1850 Slave Census listed William Selden with 31 slaves with 20 males ranging from 9 months to 68 years old and 11 females ranging from 9 months to 70 years old. By the 1860 Slave Census, Selden had 41 slaves with 23 males ranging from 1 to 50 years old and 18 females ranging from 9 months to 70 years old.
Historic records relating to Kittiewan Plantation yield given names for many slaves and five slave names with given and surnames. Two slave names were identified on historic photographs of unknown origin found in the manor house: "Aunt" Patsy Hilton and Pleasant Whiting, which both stated Hilton and Whiting were former slaves at Kittiewan. Patsy Hilton (nee Wyatt) and Pleasant Whiting were found in the census records after the Civil War in Harrison Township, the township containing Kittiewan, and descendants still live in the area.
|
Slave name |
Information |
Pleasant
Whiting |
Photograph stating he was former Kittiewan slave |
|
Patsy
Wyatt Hilton |
Photograph stating she was former Kittiewan slave |
|
Edmund
Johnson |
baptized at Kittiewan
by the Rector of Westover Church on August 25, 1849 (Westover Church
records); listed as servant of Doctor [William] Selden; in Harrison Township
of Charles City County in 1880 census |
|
Amy
Whiting |
baptized at Kittiewan
by the Rector of Westover Church on August 25, 1849 (Westover Church
records); listed as servant of Doctor [William] Selden |
|
Agnes
Jones |
baptized at Kittiewan
by the Rector of Westover Church on August 25, 1849 (Westover Church
records); listed as servant of Thomas Wilcox of North Bend; in Harrison
Township of Charles City County in 1870 census |
|
low
servant man |
buried at Kittiewan
in May 1845 (Westover Church records, page 48); services by Dr. Wade |
|
William |
born ca. 1831 and died September 1852;
servant of Dr. Selden; accidentally drowned at night while killing zora (a bird); from Levell's
register, minister at Westover Episcopal Church |
|
Female
servant |
Born ca. 1780 and buried 25 August
1850; servant of Dr. Selden; name not remembered; from Levell's
register, minister at Westover Episcopal Church |
|
Nancy |
born ca. 1783 and buried 07 August 1853
at Kittewan where she lived; from Levell's register, minister at Westover Episcopal Church |
|
Ned |
born ca. 1831 and died of diarrhea at Kittewan in 1856; County Death Register |
|
Miles |
born ca. 1826 and died 20 September
1856, aged 30; male slave of Dr. Selden |
|
low
servant |
died May 1857; County Death Register. |
|
Fuqua
family |
Mary Fuqua died at "Kitty Wan" 1877
at Kittiewan, niece of Agnes Jones listed above;
her parents were Phillip and Delia Jones Fuqua and were probable slaves at Kittiewan or North Bend |
Dr. Wade, minister at Westover Church, kept a baptismal book and recorded the baptismal of dozens of slaves in the parish in the 1840s and 1850s, including two from Kittiewan and one from neighboring North Bend, all baptized on the same day on Kittiewan Plantation, presumably on Kittiewan Creek by the landing. Edmund Johnson and Amy Whiting were identified as servants of Dr. Selden and Agnes Jones was listed as a servant of Thomas H. Wilcox from neighboring North Bend Plantation. All three slaves were baptized at Kittiewan on August 25, 1849. While baptism of slaves was not totally unheard of, finding names to identify them is not as easy to find. Johnson, Whiting, and Jones were also found in the Harrison Township area in the 1870 and 1880 census records and descendants still live in the area.