The legal authority to enslave Nancy passed from Lewis Smith, when he died, to his heirs, including his children, George L and Sarah C Smith. Nancy, age 7, was listed in his 1853 inventory of goods and chattel. Her estimated birth year is 1846.
Parentage
It is unclear who her parents were.
Nace, age 45, likely Ignatius Gough, is the sole adult male listed on the page. His wife, Sarah and other children are held captive by an unknown enslaver as they do not appear in the 1867 lists submitted to the Commission of Slave Statistics and they are reunited with him in the 1870 census.
Louiza, age 20, could be her mother, as Nancy and Mary Ellen are listed below her in the inventory list.
Other records, however, indicate that Mary Ellen is Mary Ellen Reeder, the daughter of Jane Reeder, who was enslaved by Ann M. Chiveral during the Civil war. Mary Ellen and her mother are reunited after the war in the District of Columbia.
Louiza can be identified as Louise Demine, age 38 in the 1867 list submitted to the Commission of Slave Statistics. She and her children (Peter, 7, Teresa,5, Alexander,3, Cecilia,1) are listed. She and her children escaped from Abell’s estate in May 1864, most likely headed to Point Lookout.
Hired Out
Abell hired out Nancy and the other people the Smith children enslaved. In 1858, he recorded receiving $18 for her hire in the Guardian Accounts. In contrast, Abell received $60 for John’s labor and $30 for Stephen’s labor. This suggests that he hired her out for “unskilled” tasks such as a laundry or other domestic tasks.
Sold
She was sold in 1859 to Wm T. Campbell, affording the Abell family a $700 gain on the Smith estate. For Nancy, the sale of her body most likely meant a removal from St. Mary’s County and proximity to her kin.
In 1860, William T Campbell is enumerated in the federal census as a trader who lived in Allens Fresh, Charles County, Maryland in the neighborhood of Port Tobacco, the major trading port of Charles County.
In 1860, Peter W. Crain, a landowner in Charles County, advertised the self-emancipation of Rose, who had fled her captivity on Crain’s farm in lower Charles County. He advertised for her return to his captivity: “I will give the above reward to any person who will deliver her to me, or to William T. Campbell, at St. Thomas’ Manor, Charles County, Md.” [Port Tobacco Times and Charles County Advertiser, May 24, 1860] This suggests that Campbell had the means to “store” Black people while waiting for enslavers. Evidence from Alexandria slave pens other slave trader sites suggests that Campbell had a store with cells and shackles to restrain Rose and others he held captive before selling.
In 1860, William T Campbell is enumerated as enslaving seven people at the time of the census. Among them, a 25 year old female. This age is consistent with Nancy. Campbell did not submit a list to the Commission of Slave Statistics.
stories of Then 