52 Ancestors (2020) – Week 8: Prosperity—Dempsey Welch

This is my third year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

Before the Civil War, several of my mother’s southern families showed prosperity. In 1850, Dempsey Welch, of Copiah County, Mississippi, had a real estate value of $2400.[1]


This number was only his real estate, however he also had the ownership of thirty-seven enslaved persons ranging in age from age 43 to one month old.[2] The value of his personal property was not included in the 1850 census.


Ten years later, his real estate value was listed as $15,000 while the personal value was left blank.[3] This total value probably included personal property as well. 


The number of slaves he owned in 1860 totaled fifty-two.[4]


The next page:

Dempsey died in December 1864 and no probate record has been found. Perhaps the family agreed on the distribution of his assets. Or perhaps he had sold most of his real estate property by then. Certainly, the slaves he had owned were “emancipated” by the time of his death, though the state of Mississippi had not officially abolished slavery until 1995.[5]

Much of the prosperity for many southern families prior to the Civil War was due primarily to the ownership of slaves. It is heartbreaking to see these numbers of slaves he owned. The slave schedule unfortunately does not name any of the enslaved people, but there is the gender and age. One thing to do would be to create a spreadsheet to keep track of them. Many of these people might be living in the same vicinity in the 1870 census where they are named. Checking tax records, land records, and other records looking for clues are other strategies to take.

These people were a part of Dempsey Welch’s life story. I feel obligated to tell their story, too. Stay tuned.


[1] 1850 U.S. census, Copiah Co, Mississippi, pop. sched., p. 268b, dwelling 898, family 898, Dempsey Welch, digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 21 Mar 2011), citing NARA M432, roll 371.
[2] 1850 U.S. census, Copiah Co, Mississippi, slave sched., p. 194, Dempsey Welch, digital image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org), citing NARA M432, roll 384.
[3] 1860 U.S. census, Copiah Co, Mississippi, pop. sched., p. 161, dwelling 1121, family 1130, Dempsey Welch, digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 21 Mar 2011), citing NARA M653, roll 580.
[4] 1860 U.S. census, Copiah Co, Mississippi, slave sched., p. 99 & 100, Dempsey Welch, digital image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org), citing NARA M653, roll 597.
[5] Stephanie Cordon, “After 148 years, Mississippi finally ratifies 13th Amendment, which banned slavery,” CBSNews (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/after-148-years-mississippi-finally-ratifies-13th-amendment-which-banned-slavery/), 18 Feb 2013. It was ratified in 1995 but not made official until 2013 when the U.S. Archivist was notified.

Copyright © 2020 by Lisa S. Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family, All rights reserved.

Comments

  1. Miss MerryFebruary 22, 2020 at 9:51 AM

    Gosh it would have been nice if they had included first names.

    ReplyDelete

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