R. H. Elam
Robert H. Elam | |
---|---|
Born | c. 1820 Tennessee |
Died | after 1864 Unknown |
Other names | R. H. Elam |
Occupation | Slave trader |
Years active | 1845?–1864 |
Robert H. Elam (c. 1820 – after 1864), usually advertising as R. H. Elam, was an American interstate slave trader who worked in Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
Biography
Elam was born about 1820 in Tennessee.[1] According to a 1934 study of the interstate slave trade, Elam both exported slaves from Kentucky to the Deep South, and "served as a local broker for the small traders from the Blue Grass."[2] Elam may have served as a local broker in Mississippi for Kentucky traders Griffin & Pullum.[3]
As a property-owning white adult male, Elam was legally permitted to participate in democratic processes in the
"$200 REWARD. Ran away from the undersigned, near
Louisville Journal will copy to amount of $5 in daily and weekly paper, and charge to this office. Nashville Whig."[5]
Elam reported that he had been burglarized and offered a reward for some non-human lost property in an advertisement placed in the Mississippi Free Trader in 1851.[6] Elam would pay for the "recovery of all or any" of the missing items and pay a "$50 additional reward for the detection of the thief."[6][a]
STOLEN on the night of the 3d instant, my room at the Forks of the Road, near Natchez, was entered and the following property taken, viz: a small Calfskin POCKET BOOK, nearly new, containing a Spanish doubloon and a one dollar note on some one of the Tennessee banks; about eight dollars in silver, which was loose in my pocket; also, a plain Gold Lever Watch, with the letters "R. H. E." engraved on the back, made by James G. Bradley, Liverpool, No. 179, with a heavy Gold Vest Chain; also, a plain Silver Lever Hunting Watch, belonging to J. Q. Webb, besides various other small articles of less value.[6]
According to Frederic Bancroft in Slave-Trading in the Old South, Elam was one of the "best known" traders operating at the Forks of the Road slave market in Natchez, Mississippi in 1852–53.[7] One of Elam's ads from this era was highlighted in Harriet Beecher Stowe's coverage of the interstate slave trade in A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin: "I have just returned to my stand, at the Forks of the Road, with fifty likely young NEGROES for sale."[8]
In 1853 Elam successfully sued the
In 1858, Elam listed for sale his 365-acre (148 ha; 0.570 sq mi) property near Edgefield, outside of Nashville. Previously the property of Josiah Williams, it stood along the Gallatin Turnpike, and the Nashville and Louisville, and Edgefield and Kentucky Railroad ran through it. The property boasted "out-buildings, stables, cow-houses and poultry-yard, the splendid fish-pond, and excellent spring, fine garden and orchard," along with 100 acres of timberland and 190 acres in cultivation. The property was to be subdivided into smaller lots, and Elam's farm equipment and stock would be sold in early 1859.[14]
Elam paid for the treatment of 75 enslaved people at the Hôtel-Dieu hospital in New Orleans between 1859 and 1864.[15] It was profitable for traders to treat sickly enslaved people who had arrived "at their destinations physically and emotionally exhausted, often hungry and suffering from various illnesses—rather less attractive physical specimens than slave traders described in their advertisements for the purpose of making a sale."[16]
At the time of the 1860 federal census, Elam resided in New Orleans. His occupation was listed as "slave depot" and he reported owning $20,000 in real estate and owning $9,000 in personal property.
The Henry Ford, in Dearborn, Michigan, holds bill of sale dated February from Elam for February 19, 1861 for four enslaved people, Harvey, Jack Tweet, Ambrose, and Henry Hindes for US$5,100 (equivalent to $172,947 in 2023) to Daniel Morrison.[19] The state of Louisiana had recently seceded from the Union and the words United States of America were struck out by the notary.[19] Elam's last known newspaper ad, which appeared April 9, 1861, three days before the firing on Fort Sumter, read "Please call at No. 58 Baronne Street, where planters and others will at all times find a carefully selected and assorted lot of SLAVES for sale. R. H. ELAM."[20] When the U.S. Army recaptured and occupied New Orleans in 1862, Elam fled to Tennessee.[21]
Additional images
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"For Sale—40 Choice Negroes", Natchez Daily Courier, December 14, 1849
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Elam's stand at the Forks of the Road was depicted on a 1856 surveyor's map
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Baronne Street slave jails on the 1860 slave schedules, including enumeration of people incarcerated on the premises of R.H. Elam
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Slave dealers in the 1861 New Orleans city directory
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Slave depot advertisements in the New Orleans Crescent in January 1861
See also
- List of American slave traders
- William A. Pullum – American slave trader (~1809–1876)
- History of slavery in Tennessee
- History of slavery in Kentucky
- History of slavery in Louisiana
- History of slavery in Mississippi
- Female slavery in the United States
Notes
- ^ For another "lost items" notice from a slave trader, see Theophilus Freeman's newspaper ad seeking the return of papers stolen from him in Richmond, Virginia.
References
Citations
- ^ a b c "Entry for R H Elam and James Wilson, 1860", United States Census, 1860 – via FamilySearch
- ^ Clark (1934), p. 337.
- ^ McDaniel (2019), p. 106.
- ^ "Wilkinson County—Election of County Officers". The Semi-Weekly Mississippi Free Trader. Natchez, Miss. November 13, 1845. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
- ^ "$200 Reward". The Courier-Journal. September 10, 1850. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
- ^ a b c "Stolen, on the night of the 2d instant". The Mississippi Free Trader. Natchez, Miss. April 9, 1851. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
- ^ Bancroft (2023), p. 305.
- ^ Stowe (1853), p. 358.
- ^ Cushman, John F. (1855). "Samuel V. Newman v. Robert H. Elam". Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Errors and Appeals for the State of Mississippi, Volume XXVII. Vol. IV: Containing All the Cases Determined by the December Special Term, 1853, and Part of Those at the April Term, 1854. Boston: Little Brown & Co. pp. 474–476.
- ^ a b "Important Decision of the High Court". Vicksburg Whig. Vicksburg, Miss. April 5, 1854. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
- ^ Bancroft (2023), p. 310.
- ^ Tadman (1977), pp. 240–241.
- ^ Betts, Vicki (2016), "Selected articles from the Natchez Daily Free Trader, published in Natchez, Mississippi, from February 4, 1860 through September 28, 1860, and February 16, 1861.", By Title, University of Texas at Tyler
- ^ "The Best Bill Yet—Maple Wood for Sale". Republican Banner. October 22, 1858. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
- ^ Kenny (2010), p. 37.
- ^ Kenny (2010), p. 38.
- ^ a b "Entry for R H Elam, 1860", United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1860 – via FamilySearch
- . Retrieved 2023-11-29 – via HathiTrust.
- ^ a b "Bill of Sale for African-American Slaves Bought from Robert Elam by Daniel Morrison, New Orleans, Louisiana, February 19, 1861", The Henry Ford Digital Collections, Dearborn, Mich., Object ID 92.0.112.3, retrieved 2023-11-28
- ^ "Please call at No. 58 Baronne Street". The Times-Picayune. April 9, 1861. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
- OCLC 1412042395.
Sources
- OCLC 1153619151.
- Clark, T. D. (December 1934). "The Slave Trade between Kentucky and the Cotton Kingdom". The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 21 (3): 331–342. JSTOR 1897378.
- McDaniel, W. Caleb (2019). Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution. New York: Oxford University Press. LCCN 2018047090.
- Kenny, Stephen C. (2010). ""A Dictate of Both Interest and Mercy"? Slave Hospitals in the Antebellum South". Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. 65 (1): 1–47. PMID 19549698.
- OL 21879838M.
- Tadman, Michael (1977). Speculators and slaves in the old South: a study of the American domestic slave trade, 1820-1860 (Thesis). University of Hull.