Corotoman Enslaved Families, 1814
After the war, in a bid for compensation, Joseph Cabell gathered information on the family relationships of the Corotoman runaways. At his behest, two local notables, Addison Hall and James Kelley, “diligently enquired among the slaves” who remained behind to reconstitute “the names, surnames, nicknames & connections of the negroes” who had left. Their report revealed family dynamics and structures ordinarily opaque to uninterested masters. The following table documents the thick interweaving of connections among the runaways and illuminates the patterns of who chose to go or to stay. The record has gaps and oddities, including a surprising number of children by the same parent with the same age. Rather than indicating a spate of twins in the community, the matching ages represent guesswork by Hall and Kelley, for they had no plantation register to pin down birth dates.1
In the following table, an asterisk indicates an adult with a sibling among the escapees; the person’s age appears within parentheses; a name within brackets was a relative left behind; and an italicized name identifies a person who came from the Carter side of the estate’s partition.
FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS AMONG THE COROTOMAN REFUGEES, APRIL 1814
Husband: *Tom Saunders (29)
Wife: *Hannah Marx Saunders (28)
Children: 1. Delia Saunders (6)
2. [Tom Saunders Jr. (6)]
3. Jo Saunders (6 months)
Husband: Hostler Joe Cox (42)
Wife: *Franky Cox (38)
Children: 1. [Hearty Cox (15)]
2. Dean Bundy Cox (13)
3. Talbot Cox (11)
4. Nelley Cox (11)
5. Joe Cox Jr. (8)
6. [Nick Cox (7)]
7. Edinburgh Cox (4)
8. Peyton Cox (4)
9. Hollis Cox (2)
10. James Cox (10 months)
Husband: [*Charles Saunders (50)]
Wife: *Fanny Loney Saunders (42)
Children: 1. Dinah Saunders (16)
2. Fanny Saunders (15)
3. Henry Saunders (13)
4. Nancy Saunders (12)
5. [Elizabeth Saunders (8)]
6. [James Saunders (6)]
7. Charles Saunders (6)
8. Alfred Saunders (4)
9. Lucinda Saunders (1)
Husband: Jim Bully Cook (30)
Wife: *Betty Saunders Cook (31)
Children: 1. [James Cook (8)]
2. [Mary Anne Cook (6)]
3. Sarah Cook (6)
4. Sukey Cook (4)
5. Cordelia Cook (3)
Husband: *Dick Carter (45)
Wife: *Sukey Saunders Carter (32)
Children: 1. Morrow Carter (8)
2. George Carter (6)
3. James Carter (4)
4. Solomon Carter (2)
Husband: [Joe Brown]
Wife: *Aggy Brown (37)
Children: 1. Joseph Brown Jr. (8)
2. Edinburgh Brown (4)
3. Hollis Brown (3)
Husband: George Brown (35)
Wife: *Amy Saunders Brown (29)
Children: 1. Young Brown (8)
2. James Brown (6)
3. George Brown Jr. (3)
4. unknown infant (3 weeks)
Husband: *Ezekiel Loney (27)
Wife: *Nelly Marx Loney (23)
Children: 1. China Loney (2)
Husband: Spencer Philips Wood (26)
Wife: Betty Stevens Wood (27)
Children: 1. Willoughby Wood (6)
2. Radnor Wood (4)
3. Nancy Wood (1)
Husband: [unknown]
Wife: [*Nancy Cain]
Children: 1. Betsey Bush (13)
Husband: *Peter Craney (33)
Wife: [unknown and deceased]
Children: 1. [James (6)]
Husband: [Smith Peter Baton]
Wife: [Great Jenny]
Children: 1. Canada Baton (21)
2. [Letty]
3. [Jenny]
4. [Polly]
5. [Nancy]
6. [Julia]
7. [Rocksy]
8. [Nelson]
9. [Patty]
Husband: Henry Lee (33)
Wife: Unity Lee (34)
Children: 1. Criss Lee (15)
2. Henry Lee Jr. (12)
3. Emily Lee (8)
4. Nelly Lee (6)
5. Robert Lee (4)
Husband: [Old John Brown (60)]
Wife: *Sukey Saunders Brown (23)
Children: 1. Joe Brown Jr. (6)
Husband: [Israel Brown]
Wife: [Rachel Brown]
Children: 1. Charity Brown (15)
2. Tom Brown (11)
Husband: [unknown]
Wife: *Sarah Anne Saunders Moore (20)
Children: 1. [Eliza (unknown)]
Husband: [unknown]
Wife: Sukey Cook (38)
Children:
Husband: [unknown]
Wife: Merinda Saunders (16)
Children:
Husband: [*Old Sam Loney]
Wife: [Jenny Cook]
Children: 1. Nancy Loney (6)
2. Gabriel Loney (6)
Husband: [unknown]
Wife: [unknown]
Children: 1. Dinah Dennis (14)
Husband: [unknown]
Wife: [unknown]
Children: 1. Charles James (13)
SIBLING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ADULTS AMONG THE COROTOMAN REFUGEES, APRIL 1814
Fanny Loney Saunders (42)—Ezekiel Loney (27)—[Old Sam Loney]
Betty Saunders Cook (31)—Amy Saunders Brown (29)—Sarah Anne Saunders Moore (20)
Sukey Saunders Carter (32)—Tom Saunders (29)—[Nancy Cain]
[Charles Saunders (50)]—Sukey Saunders Brown (23)
Hannah Marx Saunders (28)—Nelly Marx Loney (23)
Dick Carter (45)—Peter Craney (33)
Franky Cox (38)—Aggy Brown (37)
Note: Names in brackets were those who stayed behind; those in italics came from the Carter side; names underlined were women.
Sources: Joseph C. Cabell to William Wirt, Oct. 8, 1827, JCC&CFP (38-111), box 19, SSCL-UVA; Addison Hall and James Kelley, deposition, Feb. 21, 1828, and Joseph C. Cabell, Argument in Support of the Claims of Joseph C. Cabell, St. George Tucker, Charles Carter and Others (n.p., n.d.), in RG 76, entry 185, box 3, folder 6, USNA-CP. For Great Jenny’s other children, see Cabell, “Account of Expences of the Removal of the Corotoman Negroes,” May 6–20, 1814, and “List of Negroes Hired in Lynchburg,” RABC, box 48, folder 5, HL.