Lot 502: Slave Ledger, Merrill Plantations, Natchez, MS & Concordia, LA

Ledger book with list of names, ages, heights, and some occupations of  152 persons enslaved on the landholdings of Mississippi planter and Southern aristocrat Ayres Phillips Merrill Jr. (Mississippi, 1825-1883). Pages 1-6 include a list of 93 individuals enslaved on Scotland and Genevieve plantations, Concordia Parish, Louisiana (Concordia County): 38 (ages 14-70) men, 31 women (ages 14-60), and 24 children (ages 1/2 to 13). Pages 7-10 with genealogical information including parent/child relationships with names plus additional notes. Pages 11-13 include a list of names and heights for 59 enslaved persons on Hedges Plantation, Natchez, MS (Adams County), some prefaced with “Big” or “Little” conveying size or possible parent/child relationships. Final page dated May 12, 1880 records goods sent to Scotland Plantation and includes: 42 women’s frocks and 42 undergarments (winter), 43 women’s frocks and 43 undergarments (summer), 21 double bias strips, 31 single bias strips, 41 winter suits for children, 14 summer suits for children, and 33 pairs of pants and 22 shirts (summer). Inscribed to cover “List of Negroes at Scotland, Genevieve, Hedges, Elmscourt.” The earliest date recorded in the ledger relates to a child named Starry Ann, who died April 1859, age 1/2. The latest date is September 3, 1902, found in marginalia regarding government reports on cotton markets. Content includes clippings from the “Cotton Letter” and other syndicated columns of the cotton trade, published by the Daily Democrat newspaper in Natchez. Many pages include pencil markings and notes from an unknown plantation manager, and a child’s handwriting practice. 12 3/4 in x 8 1/8 in x 1/4 in. Note: Ayres Phillips Merrill Jr. was a Unionist native of Natchez, Mississippi educated at Harvard Law School (1845), United States Ambassador to Belgium under the Grant Administration (1876-1877), and partner of cotton mercantile firm Goodman & Merrill, New York. Son of Dr. Ayres Phillips Merrill Sr. (1798-1873), renowned physician and educator of Pittsfield, MA; New York, NY; Memphis, TN; and Natchez, MS. Merrill married Jane Surget Merrill (1829-1866), daughter of Captain Francis Surget (1784-1856), one of the largest plantation owners of the antebellum south. He was the father of Jane “Jennie'” Surget Merrill (1861-1932), 19th-century American social reformer and member of the Kings’ Daughters, whose later life and tragic murder in Natchez is detailed in the history of “Goat Castle” (Natchez, MS). Elms Court was the Merrill family residence and was inherited by Jane when Surget died in 1856. The Hedges Plantation was also part of her inheritance. The Scotland and Genevieve plantations were located nearby in Concordia Parish, Louisiana (Concordia County). The 1860 U.S. Census Slave Schedules for Concordia Parish lists Merrill as the owner of over 200 enslaved people: 91 at St. Genevieve and 111 at Scotland Place.  

PROVENANCE: By descent through the family of Ayres Phillips Merrill Jr.

CONDITION: Overall very good condition with wear, toning, ink bleed, and dampstaining consistent with age and use.