People Enslaved in Virginia by John James of Wythe and Smyth Counties

My 3rd great-grandfather, John James (1790-1875), was a slave holder in southwestern Virginia in the decades leading up to the Civil War. He is enumerated with enslaved people in each census from 1830 to 1860. 

In 1830 he was enumerated with 11 enslaved people.[i]

In 1840 he was enumerated with 6 enslaved people.[ii]

In 1850 he was enumerated with 8 enslaved people.[iii]

In 1860 he was enumerated with 15 enslaved people.[iv]

Eight children were born to women he enslaved in Smyth County during the years 1853-1866 when slave birth information was collected. 

·         Jane was born 28 May 1853.

·         Ballard was born 22 Jul 1853. 

·         Sanders was born to Eliza 16 Apr 1855

·         Emeline was born to Hannah 15 Sep 1855.

·         Rose was born 20 Mar 1857. 

·         Beverly R. was born to Hanner 26 Oct 1858. 

·         Thomas was born to Hannah 16 Aug 1860.

·         Charly was born to Eliza 15 April 1862. 

·         Stephen was born to Hanner 2 Nov 1862. 

After emancipation it is possible to identify some of the people and family groups enslaved by John James. The 1870 census shows a Saunders L. Bolden enumerated in 1870 living with Allen and Eliza Bolden in St. Clair, Smyth, Virginia. Both appear in the 1866 Smyth County Cohabitation List where Eliza names her last owner as John James. 

The children born to Hannah or Hanner are all named by Hannah Wadkins in the Cohabitation Lists. She does not appear to have a living partner, but names all her children and John James as the last man to own her. While Eliza Bolden and Lewis Madison appear in the 1870 census, I have not found Hannah. Nor her children. Yet.

Lewis Madison appears in the Cohabitation List, also naming John James as his last owner. His wife, Ada, named Levi Williams, another of my 3rd great-grandfathers, as her last owner. Their children were most likely owned by Levi. Another post. 

 Census Correlation

1830 Census	1840 Census	1850 Slave Schedule	1860 Slave Schedule	Possible Identity
			Male, 2 mos. old	Thomas Wadkins, born 16 Aug 1860[v]
			Male, 9 mos. old
			Male, 2 years old	Beverly Wadkins, born 26 Oct 1858[vi]
			Male, 5 years old	Sanders Bolden, born 16 Apr 1855[vii]
			Male, 7 years old	Ballard, born 22 Jul 1853[viii]
			Male, 8 years old
			Male, 10 years old
		Male, 2 years old	Male, 12 years old
	Male, under 10	Male, 7 years old
Male, under 10	Male 10-23	Male, 20 years old
Male, under 10	Male 10-23	Male, 34 years old	Male, 45 years old	Lewis Madison[ix]
Male, 24-35
			Female, 4 years old	Rose, born 20 Mar 1857[x]
			Female, 5 years old
	Female, under 10	Female, 16 years old	Female, 22 years old	Eliza Bolden[xi]
Female, under 10	Female, 10-23	Female, 24 years old	Female, 32 years old	Hannah Wadkins[xii]
Female, under 10
Female, under 10
Female, under 10
Female, 10-23	Female, 24-35
Female, 10-23
Female, 24-35		Female, 50 years old	Female 60 years old
Female, 24-35		Female, 60 years old	Female, 70 years old
11 People Enslaved	6 People Enslaved	8 People Enslaved	15 People Enslaved

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[i] 1830 U.S. census, Wythe County, Virginia, population schedule, page 336, John James; imaged in “1830 United States Federal Census,” Ancestry (1830 United States Federal Census - Ancestry.com : accessed 12 August 2026).

[ii] 1840 U.S census, Smyth County, Virginia, population schedule, page 396, John James; imaged in “1840 United States Federal Census,” Ancestry (Ancestry.com - 1840 United States Federal Census : accessed 12 August 2026).

[iii] 1850 U.S. census, Smyth County, Virginia, slave schedule, page 370, line 31, John James; imaged in “1850 United States Federal Census – Slave Schedules,” Ancestry (Ancestry.com - 1850 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules : accessed 12 August 2026).

[iv] 1860 U.S. census, Smyth County, Virginia, slave schedule, stamped page 258, line 11, John James; imaged in “1860 United States Federal Census – Slave Schedules,” Ancestry (Ancestry.com - 1860 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules : accessed 12 August 2026).

[v] Smyth County (Va.) Register of Colored Persons Cohabiting Together as Husband and Wife, 1866 Feb. 27, register page 1, Hannah Wadkins; imaged in “Cohabitation Registers Digital Collection,” Library of Virginia, Richmond, VA (Smyth County (Va.) Register of Colored Persons cohabiting together as Husband and Wife, 1866 Feb. 27 : accessed 12 August 2026. See also Slave Index to Births, 1853-1866, State of Virginia: Virginia. Birth Record Indexes 1853–1866: "Index to Births, 1853-1866, State of Virginia: Virginia. Birth Record Indexes 1853–1866", Image path: #008249760 > Item 1 > image 118 of 546, FamilySearch Image (accessed 12 August 2026).

[vi] Smyth County (Va.) Cohabitation Registers [register page 1, Hannah Wadkins]. See also Slave Index to Births, 1853-1866, image 118 of 546.

[vii] 1870 U.S. census, Smyth County, Virginia, population schedule, page 95B, dwelling 10, Eliza Bolden and Saunders L. Bolden; imaged in “1870 United States Federal Census,” Ancestry (1870 United States Federal Census - Ancestry.com : accessed 12 August 2026).

[viii] Slave Index to Births, 1853-1866, image 118 of 546.

[ix] Smyth County (Va.) Register of Colored Persons Cohabiting Together as Husband and Wife, 1866 Feb. 27, [register page 2, Lewis Madison].

[x] Slave Index to Births, 1853-1866, image 118 of 546.

[xi] Smyth County (Va.) Register of Colored Persons Cohabiting Together as Husband and Wife, 1866 Feb. 27, [register page 2, Eliza Bolin]. See also 1870 U.S. census, Smyth County, Virginia, population schedule, page 95B, dwelling 10, Eliza Bolden and Saunders L. Bolden and Slave Index to Births, 1853-1866, image 118 of 546. Eliza Bolin’s children listed in the Cohabitation Register are Lloyd (b. abt 1853), Sanders (b. abt 1856), Jackson, (b.abt 1859), and Sarah, (b. abt 1861).

[xii] Smyth County (Va.) Register of Colored Persons Cohabiting Together as Husband and Wife, 1866 Feb. 27, [register page 1, Hannah Wadkins]. See also Slave Index to Births, 1853-1866, image 118 of 546. In addition to the children named in the Birth Index, Hannah Wadkins also names children Lee (b.abt 1845), Allen (b. abt 1847), Martin (b. abt. 1848), Daniel (b. abt 1849) and Jane (b. abt 1854).

Moses and Sarah, bought and sold by Joseph Duncan ~ A Friend of Friends Friday

I recently spent a couple days at the library in Jonesborough, TN reviewing some of their microfilm records. I was startled to find two bills of sale recorded at the same November 1810 Session that involved a Joseph Duncan buying and selling two slaves. Duncan (either the Joseph born in 1751 or his son, Joseph, born 1788) purchased a man, Moses, and and woman, Sarah, in November 1809 and sold them two months later to Elias Bowman. The Duncans were closely associated with the Allison family, though I do not have Frank Allison listed in my database. Joseph the younger was married to Polly Allison, a daughter of Robert Allison.  

It is not a surprise the Duncans owned slaves. They appear in census records as slave holders. But they also signed a petition around the same time as these sales asking the State Legislature to abolish or reform the slave laws. Here they appear more as slave traders. 

November Sessions 1810

A Bill of Sale from Joseph Duncan to Elias Bowman for a Negro man named Moses and a Negro woman named Sarah, dated the 22d day of January 1810  Acknowledged in open court by Joseph Duncan & recorded            50  

November Sessions 1810

A Bill of Sale from Frank Allison to Joseph Duncan for two negroes a man named Moses and a woman named Sarah, dated 23 day of November 1809  Acknowledged in open court by Frank Allison & recorded          


Sources
      Washington, Tennessee, Quarterly Court Minute Books Minute Feb 1809-Jan 1826: 90, Joseph Duncan Bill of Sale, 22 Jan 1810; Washington County Library Roll No. 130_Washington. 

      Washington, Tennessee, Quarterly Court Minute Books Minute Feb 1809-Jan 1826: 93, Frank Allison Bill of Sale, 23 Nov 1809; Washington County Library Roll No. 130_Washington. 

Stephen Mahorney, 1827 Maryland - A Friend of Friends Friday

$50 REWARD
Ran Away from the subscriber, living about 40 miles west of Cumberland, Allegany co., Md. on the 16th inst., a Negro Man named STEPHEN; calls himself Stephen Mahorney. He is about 21 years old, about 5 foot 7 inches high, stout made, dark complexion, has a grum countenance & down look when spoken to. Had on when he went off a pair of grey cloth pantaloons, not much worn, a short brown country cloth coat, about half worn, which fits him very loose, shoes or bootees, of very strong leather, pegged and nailed with sparables, white yarn stockings, a country linen shirt, a good yellow striped summer jacket, and a half worn wool hat. He took with him a small black and white spotted Dog. He has no doubt made for Pennsylvania. The above reward will be given for securing him in jail so that I get him again, and all reasonable expenses paid if secured in the Cumberland, Frederick or Hagers-town Jail.
LEONARD SMITH.
April 26.       26-3w.

Leonard Smith is my husband's 2nd great-grandfather. A slave family named Mahawney, listed as belonging to Henry Mattingly, appear in Richard Koch's Western Maryland Catholics, 1819-1851. A cursory examination of census records showed no records for Stephen Mahorney, but the 1830 census includes a free colored Mahorney (or McHerney) family living south of Pittsburg, PA about 80 miles northwest of Smith's land in Maryland. In 1880 a 15 year old black male, Steven Mahorney, is enumerated in the Hagerstown, MD household of his grandfather Francis Nelson. This Steven is obviously not the same young man who fled more than 50 years earlier, but were I researching this man I would investigate a possible relationship.

Sources
     [Hagerstown, MD] Torch Light, "$50 Reward," 3 May 1827, p. 3, col. 3; digital images, GenealogyBank.com (accessed 7 Jul 2012), Historical Newspapers.
     Koch, Richard T., "Western Maryland Catholics, 1819-1851," database and images, Ancestry.com (accessed 7 Jul 2012); Register of Baptisms, p. 80, record for John Mahawney.
     1830 U.S. census, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, St. Clair, p. 209, line 15, Robt Mahorney; digital images, Ancestry.com (accessed 7 Jul 2012); citing NARA microfilm M19, roll 144. 
     1880 U.S. census, Washington, Maryland, Hagerstown, p. 66, Steven Mahorney; digital images, Ancestry.com (accessed 7 Jul 2012); citing NARA microfilm T9, roll 516.