Slavery in Ozark County, Missouri: 1850

    I realize the topic of slavery is a very controversial issue, but this is not a reason to ignore our shared past. I have studied this part of history, parsed over the statistics, and walked away from the content a few times because the subject troubles my heart. As a historian, the topic of Ozark slavery pushes me in my research; and yet, the content troubles me during the night. This is why I have not posted on this blog as often. Nevertheless, I’ll begin to talk about slavery within the Missouri county I love and grew up in, Ozark County, Missouri.   

    Before we delve into the institution of slavery, we must go back and discover the time frame when Ozark County, was established. 

The Ozark County Genesis.

Geological Map of Ozark County, Missouri, 1857, found on the University of Alabama map database.¹ 

^{Photo by Vincent S. Anderson.}

   The Missouri State Legislature carved out Ozark County, Missouri, on January 29, 1841.  The territory roughly covered all of Ozark County, and a slice of subsequent Howell County (March 2, 1851); and the county was eventually divided in half with giving way to Douglas County (October 19, 1857). Looking at the U. S. Census records, we see pioneers from Georgia, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennesse settling in the region. 

Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Missouri: 1st Session of the Eleventh General Assembly, 1841. ²

     An odd little caveat took place after the founding of Ozark County; its name changed to Decatur County in 1843. One can assume the immigrants from Georgia pretty well "cottoned" to the name change. But as most folk dances have a courteous bow to your partner & do-si-do, this story also circles back with its original moniker, and the name Ozark County is reestablished in 1845. 

1850 Slavery
     Now we will take a look at the first official U. S. Census record showing the Ozark County slaveholders in 1850. Compared to other Ozark regional counties, Ozark County is a sparsely populated county, therefore, it stands to reason there are only a few slaveholders. Unfortunately, the Census does not list the slaves' names, but the Age, Sex, and Color give us a brief description. Below this Slave Schedule, I have parsed as much information I could for other records.

1850 United States Slave Census, Ozark County, Missouri.³

1850 Ozark County, Missouri, Slave Schedule

14 Slaves listed on 4^th of September, 1850

361 Total Households in Ozark County

354 Free White Households in Ozark County

7 Slaveholding Households in Ozark County

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5 Adults

9 Children

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13 Black

 2 Mulatto

3 Slaveholding Households holding minors separate without viable Parent.

The children are listed as:

Male – Mulatto – Age: 11
Female – Black – Age: 16
Male – Black – Age: 13

Slaveholders:

Isaac Fleetwood: 1 Slave

• Female – Black – Age: 31

What do we know about Isaac Fleetwood in 1850? 
     Issac Fleetwood immigrated from Indiana to Missouri in 1830, and he became an influential member of the county living four miles north of Rockbridge, Missouri, in present-day Douglas County. Though Douglas County touts the moniker Old Blue and faithful to the Union cause during the Civil War, ⁴ Mr. Fleetwood held one slave under his authority. If we look at the 1860 U. S. Census, Issac Fleetwood is not listed as a slaveholder. Silas Turnbo details a portion of Isaac Fleetwood's biography and residence in five stories listed in the Turnbo Manuscripts from the Springfield Greene County Library. If you would like to read a story about Isaac Fleetwood, click here: An Interview with a Pioneer of Bryant's Fork.⁵

 Rockbridge, Missouri, Ozark County Seat, Missouri, 1857.⁶

Isaac Fleetwood home. ⁷

 Mr. Fleetwood assumes the position of Postmaster the next year, on July 15, 1851.

U. S. Postoffice Register listing Isaac Fleetwood as Postmaster.⁸

    In the future, Isaac Fleetwood supports the cause for the Union during the Civil War.
By July 28th, 1861, Fleetwood joins the Capt. Upshaw's Douglas County Home Guard at Vera Cruz in Douglas County. On January 8, 1863, Fleetwood joins the 73rd Regiment, Company I, at nearby Lawrence Mill at Vera Crus in Douglas County. At age 44 on August 16, 1864, Fleetwood travels to Springfield, Missouri, and he joins the 46th Regiment - Enrolled Missouri Militia, Company H. Lastly, Fleetwood joins Capt. Charles K. Ford's Volunteer Missouri Militia for Ozark and Douglas Counties from June 17 - July 22, 1865. 

Isaac Fleetwood's Civil War Records.

Missouri Office of the Secretary of State, Missouri State Archives. ⁹

Isaac Fleetwood's grave is located at the Yates Cemetery, in Douglas County, Missouri.¹⁰

Thomas Baily: 1 Slave (1 Minor) 

• Male – Mulatto – Age: 11

     What do we know about Thomas Baily in 1850?

    At age 44 on August 16, 1864, Fleetwood travels to Springfield, Missouri, and he joins the 46th Regiment - Enrolled Missouri Militia, Company H.11

Thomas Baily's Civil War Records.

Missouri Office of the Secretary of State, Missouri State Archives. ¹¹

Thomas B. S. Stone: 5 Slaves (3 Minors) 
 (No, I do not know what the B. S. stands for.)

• Female –Black – Age: 30 
• Female – Black  – Age: 26 
• Male – Black – Age: 14 
• Male – Black – Age: 11 
• Female – Black – Age: 7 months

     What do we know about Thomas B. S. Stone in 1850?
    Thomas B. S. Stone owns 80 acres in the Southwest corner of Ozark County between present-day Thornfield and Theodosia, Missouri.¹²

    In the upcoming Civil War, Thomas B. S. Stone will fight for the Union and eventually form a Home Guard Militia known as Captain Thomas B. S. Stone’s Company.¹³
Next, he will join Maries County Company (A) Provisional Enrolled Missouri Militia,  organized August 2, 1864, in Vienna, Missouri.

Thomas B. S. Stone's Civil War Records. Missouri Office of the Secretary of State, Missouri State Archives. ¹⁴

Picture of Thomas B. S. Stone with a cigar in his mouth on Find a Grave.¹⁵

Joseph C. Miller: 2 Slaves

• Female – Black – Age: 60
• Male – Black – Age: 21

    What do we know about Joseph C. Miller in 1850?

Mr. Miller owns 160 acres and lives in present-day Mammoth on the confluence of Lick  & Possum Walk Creek.¹⁶

James Kean [Cain]: 1 Slave (1 Minor)

• Female – Black – Age: 16

    What do we know about James Cain in 1850?
James Cain owns 40 acres in the Northwest corner of Ozark County, west of present-day Thornfield on the county line bordering Taney County, Missouri. He also owns 80 acres on the outskirts of Thornfield, Missouri.¹⁷ 

 Charles D. Kean [Cain]: 1 Slave (1 Minor)

• Male – Black – Age: 13

    What do we know about Charles D. Cain in 1850?

Charles D. Cain owns 94.35 acres in the Southeast corner of Ozark County near St. Leger [Udall], Missouri. His land is on the eastern shore on the Big North Fork of the White River, encompassing Cedar Hollow. ¹⁸

Job Tevebaugh [Teverbaugh]: 4 Slaves (3 Minors)

• Female – Black – Age: 19 
• Male – Mulatto – Age: 4
• Female – Black – Age: 3  
• Female – Black – Age: 6 months 

  What do we know about Job Teverbaugh in 1850?

    Mr. Teverbaugh was born in Kentucky on November 28, 1807. Teverbaugh married Elenor Driver in Warren County, Indiana, on March 11, 1830, and they had two children. After Elinor's death, Mr. Teverbaugh married Sarah Ann, and in 1850, they are living near St. Leger [Udall], Missouri. Teverbaugh owns a total of 507.5 acres of land in Ozark County on the Big North Fork of the White River. In his holdings, he also owns 120 acres near Zanoni, Missouri. This piece of land is acquired by using a Land Bounty when Teverbaugh enlisted in the Black Hawk War and served Capt. James Orr's Cavalry Indiana Militia on July 2, 1832. Another 131.50 acres is acquired under the Scrip Warrant Act of 1855 for serving in Captain McMahan's Company Tennessee Militia.¹⁹

Job Teverbaugh Land¹⁹.

    Teverbaugh was appointed postmaster at St. Leger in Ozark County on January 17, 1857 - November 16, 1864.²⁰

Map of St. Ledger, Missouri, 1857. Modified by Vincent S. Anderson.²¹

    Teverbaugh passed away on February 22, 1866, at the age of 58 years. He is buried in the Lunenburg Cemetery in Izard County, Arkansas. ²²

    As a slaveholder, Mr. Teverbaugh holds a 19-year-old female living under his authority.
This young lady is a potential mother because three (3) children are of a viable age within the household.
If so, there are at least two (2) potential fathers.

If this black female is the mother of the 4-year-old male, she could have potentially conceived her firstborn son at 14 years of age. This 4-year-old male child is listed as a Mulatto. Therefore, we know he has some white lineage, but his paternity is not given.

The other two (2) female children are 3 years and 6 months of age, and they have a black father.

Ozark County Slavery Statistics

3 Slaveholding Households holding Minors as slaves without a viable Parent:

• Thomas Baily:   Male – Mulatto – Age: 11
• James Cain:   Female – Black – Age: 16
• Charles D. Cain:   Male – Black – Age: 13

Questions:

• If the evidence shows the lack of complete Slave Nuclear Families with no potential or eligible Father & Mother, do parents or family members live nearby these minors?

• Do children held in slavery know their father, mother, siblings, or extended family?

  In our next post, we will take another look at slavery in Ozark County in 1860. It is this decade that will give us a few more details. Then, we will discover some of our nameless souls we are searching for and where they traveled after their annulment of slavery.

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Personal Reflection:

    In this posting, I wanted to discover if Ozark County slaveholders served as Confederate soldiers and/or were Southern sympathizers.  I have discovered at least 5 of the 7 slaveholders were young enough to serve as Union officers or soldiers in the upcoming Civil War.  This answer may be puzzling to some people. Actually, the results surprised me.

    When I think of Ozark County, I think of a happy childhood, a safe home, and close family & friends. But looking at its past, I begin to see nameless people listed on a document and shuffled lives. In the past few months, my mind and heart travel back inquiring about their condition and circumstances. The institution of slavery abruptly displays the separation of nuclear & extended families. I often wonder what joys they chanced and the broken hearts they encountered. 

     I am not here to judge anyone's family. A few of my family in Tennessee and Virginia participated in this cruel, antebellum institution. I am thankful our nation has walked a long path of restoration, and it never should have taken the many decades to affirm the reconciliation of our brotherhood. Yet regrettably, we are not in the Promised Land that still echos from Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech:

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.²³

    Even today, our destiny as a nation is encumbered with lobbyists' agendas, special interests, corporate concerns, and political parties. These factions segment our county from attaining unity, and many leaders continue to manipulate and profit from our divisions and diversities. The answer is not a Big Red Wave or a Big Blue Wave. We need to acknowledge our Brotherhood as Americans. If we do not have brotherhood in our ranks, we have traitors in our midst. I fear if we do not come to terms with our brotherhood, we will willingly shackle ourselves to the tyrant's chain of slavery. Or, have we already?

     I wish you the best, as we ponder our Ozarks' History.

References:

¹ Shumard, B. F. and R. B. Price. Geological Map of Ozark County, Missouri, 1857.  University of Alabama, Retrieved March 11, 2020.

² Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Missouri Passed at the First Session of the Eleventh General Assembly. Printed by Calvin Gunn, Jefferson City, MO, 1841. Google Books. Accessed 25 March 2020. https://books.google.com/books?id=CCtYOXuf5TwC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

³1850 United States Slave Census, Ozark County, Missouri, digital image Ancestry.com. Accessed 27 January 2020.

⁴ Blevins, Brooks. A History of the Ozarks, Volume 2: the Conflicted Ozarks, (Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2019), 13-14.

⁵ Turnbo, Silas C. “An Interview with a Pioneer of Bryant's Fork.” Turnbo Manuscripts from the Springfield Greene County Library. Accessed 17 February 2020.

⁶ Shumard, B. F. and R. B. Price. Geological Map of Ozark County, Missouri, 1857. 

⁷ Isaac Fleetwood (Douglas County, Missouri). Homestead Patent no. 14614; “Land Patent Search,” digital images, General Land Office Records. http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch. Accessed 27 January 2020.

⁸ United States Post Offices in Ozark County, Missouri. Digital image Ancestry.com. Accessed 27 January 2020.

⁹ Isaac Fleetwood. Soldiers' Records: War of 1812 - World War I. Missouri Office of the Secretary of State, Missouri State Archives database. Accessed 27 January 2020. https://s1.sos.mo.gov/records/archives/archivesdb/soldiers

¹⁰Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 01 April 2020), memorial page for Isaac Fleetwood, Jr (1804–1878), Find a Grave Memorial no. 20775529, citing Yates Cemetery, Ava, Douglas County, Missouri, USA ; Maintained by Ancestry Seeker (contributor 46913946).

¹¹ Thomas Baily. Soldiers' Records: War of 1812 - World War I. Missouri Office of the Secretary of State, Missouri State Archives database. Accessed 27 January 2020. https://s1.sos.mo.gov/records/archives/archivesdb/soldiers

¹² Thomas B. S. Stone (Ozark County, Missouri). Homestead Patent no. 24256; “Land Patent Search,” digital images, General Land Office Records. http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch. Accessed 27 January 2020.

¹³Anderson, Vincent S. “Ozark County & Captain Stone's Mounted Company.” Ozarks’ History. Accessed 10 April 2020. https://ozarkshistory.blogspot.com/2013/01/ozark-county-captain-stones-mounted.html

¹⁴ Thomas B. S. Stone. Soldiers' Records: War of 1812 - World War I. Missouri Office of the Secretary of State, Missouri State Archives database. Accessed 27 January 2020. https://s1.sos.mo.gov/records/archives/archivesdb/soldiers

¹⁵ Thomas B. S. Stone. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 10 April 2020), memorial page for Thomas B.S. Stone (1822–23 Jan 1877), Find a Grave Memorial no. 73462040, citing Galena Cemetery, Galena, Cherokee County, Kansas, USA ; Maintained by Don Blauvelt (contributor 46932939).

¹⁶ Joseph Miller (Ozark County, Missouri). Homestead Patent no. 12604; “Land Patent Search,” digital images, General Land Office Records. http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch. Accessed 27 January 2020.

¹⁷ James Cain (Ozark County, Missouri). Homestead Patent no. 10177; “Land Patent Search,” digital images, General Land Office Records. http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch. Accessed 27 January 2020.

¹⁸ Charles D. Cain (Ozark County, Missouri). Homestead Patent no. 1895; “Land Patent Search,” digital images, General Land Office Records. http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch. Accessed 27 January 2020.

¹⁹ Job Tevebaugh [Teverbaugh] (Ozark County, Missouri) homestead patent no. 93475, 10159, 14006, 20804, 20805, 24656; “Land Patent Search,” digital images, General Land Office Records (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch: accessed 27 January 2020).

²⁰ United States Post Offices in Ozark County, Missouri. Digital image Ancestry.com. Accessed 27 January 2020.

²¹  Shumard, B. F. and R. B. Price. Geological Map of Ozark County, Missouri, 1857. 

²² Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 10 April 2020), memorial page for Job Tevebaugh (28 Nov 1807–22 Feb 1866), Find a Grave Memorial no. 33047748, citing Lunenburg Cemetery, Lunenburg, Izard County, Arkansas, USA ; Maintained by Anonymous (contributor 46969324) .

²³ Fink, Jenni. “Martin Luther King Jr. ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech Full Text and Video.” Newsweek, January 20, 2020. https://www.newsweek.com/martin-luther-king-jr-i-have-dream-speech-full-text-video-1482623.