John Wood

John Wood is listed in the 1853 Inventory of Robert Darnall Sewall’s estate [JH 2:699] as a 55 year old man who was appraised at $400.

In her book, The Price for a Pound of Flesh, Berry talks about the stages of an enslaved person’s life. For John Wood, age 55, he would have been considered elderly as he had surpassed the age of forty, the boundary between mature and elderly. John may still have be performing labor for the Sewall family, and yet, he had surpassed the age of most of the enslaved whose life span was shortened by hard work and captivity. Berry described the work of the “able-bodied enslaved people” over forty as performing tasks including serving as cooks, body servants, gardeners, and caretakers of enslaved children. [page 133]

Berry separates out the “soul value” — “an intangible marker that often defied monetization yet spoke to the spirit and soul of who they were as human beings.” As an elderly member of the plantation, he would have been a valuable member for the community in terms of wisdom and kin connections. He may have taken on the role of caretaker as evidenced by his placement in the 1853 inventory.

John Wood’s Daughters

He is situated between two family groups: Eliza and her children and John and Kitta Brown and their children.

It is inferred that Eliza and Kitta are John’s daughters due to their placement in the 1853 inventory, and when names and ages are compared with the 1821 [TT 4:352] and 1853 Inventory.

Name	1821 Age & EST BY	1853 Age & EST BY
John	23 – 1798	55 – 1798
Eliza	6 – 1815	38 – 1815
Kitta/Kitty	2 – 1819	34 – 1819

John Wood may have taken care of his grandchildren and other small children as the adults and older children were sent to the fields to perform labor. He has not been located in the 1870 census suggesting that he may have died prior to 1870; he would have been 72 had he lived.

John and Phillis, partners

The 1821 Inventory shows John listed with a partner, Phillis, the inferred mother of his daughters, Eliza and Kitty. Phillis, age 24, in the 1821 inventory, would have been born in 1797. She would have been 18 when she gave birth to Eliza and 22 when gave birth to Kitty. The inventories do not indicate if they had additional children. Eliza named her youngest daughter after her mother. Phillis, the grand-daughter, is listed with Eliza in both the 1853 inventory and in the 1870 US Census.

Phillis is not listed in the 1853 Inventory when she would have been 56. This suggests that she either died prior to the inventory was taken, or that she was sold by the Sewall family.

It is also unclear if the relationship between John and Phillis was self-selected or if the overseers and enslavers chose the relationship between the two.

Sources

Berry, Daina R. The Price for Their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, from Womb to Grave, in the Building of a Nation. United States: Random House Inc, 2018. Print.