Enslaved Individuals: Nelson

Nelson

Documented History

Nelson is listed as one of three enslaved individuals in an inventory of Samuel Brumback’s estate taken 19 February 1850 in Page County, Virginia. Brumback died intestate; most of his personal estate was sold in February 1850, but chancery court records reveal that an order of the Page County court in January term, 1851, instructed three commissioners to “divide the slaves belonging to the Estate of the said deceased.” As of 6 February 1851 these commissioners “allotted and assigned to Catharine Brumback the girl by the name of Martha” but their report does not indicate what happened to Nelson.

A black man of 25 years and a boy of 12 years were enumerated under Samuel’s widow Catherine Brumback in District 49 of Page County on the slave schedule of the 1850 U.S. Census. The timing of Brumback’s probate makes it almost certain that Nelson is one of these two individuals, and that he was born between 1824 and 1838.

While no record of Nelson’s role on Brumback’s farm has been located, he is very likely to have been involved in its agricultural production. The 1850 agricultural census provides a sense of activity on the farm, which comprised 200 acres of improved land and 685 acres of unimproved land. Livestock included five horses, four cows, seven cattle, 16 sheep, and 20 pigs. During the year ending 1 June 1850, 500 bushels of wheat, 500 bushels of corn, 65 pounds of wool, 12 bushels of potatoes, four bushels of sweet potatoes, 250 pounds of butter, 10 tons of hay, 11 bushels of clover seed, 1 bushel of other grass seed, and 43 pounds of beeswax were produced.

Speculations

Both the inventory of Samuel Brumback’s estate and the report of the commissioners on the division of his estate assign monetary values to the three people he enslaved, Dennis, Nelson, and Martha. While the values themselves are not consistent between these two documents, the value assigned to Nelson is lower than that assigned to either Dennis or Martha in both. Daina Ramey Berry’s research suggests that enslaved children were frequently assigned lower monetary values than adults in their working prime; thus, the lower monetary value assigned to Nelson may indicate that he was a child. If that is true, Nelson is likely to be the 12-year-old boy enumerated in Catherine Brumback’s household in 1850, making his birth year about 1837 or 1838.

If Nelson was born in approximately 1837 he could be the “male slave, under 10” enumerated in Samuel Brumback’s household in 1840. If he was born in 1824 or 1825, he could be the “male slave of 10 and under 24” listed in that same household.