Tombstone Tuesday A Nice Cover

Grand Gulf Military State Park Cemetery
Summer 2013
Grand Gulf, Mississippi

Mad Men of Color

L to R: McKinley Winfield, Leroy Shephard and James Shephard
Leroy Shephard married paternal cousin Dora Overton.

I love the way my dapper Dans are dressed and groomed. They look like they walked off the set of Mad Men, all clean shaven with their white shirts, thin ties, suits, and hats.

Photograph courtesy of Shelia Easley
Taken in the 1960s, Detroit, MI

The Brick Makers of Windsor

Standing amidst the picturesque Windsor ruins, you can't help but think of the grandeur of the Old South but I also think of those who were enslaved, the nameless brick makers who labored with no payment.

Smith Coffee Daniell, II, per a newspaper article, vast holdings included 800 slaves. He was a property owner almost without peer in the Deep South. At one time he owned 21, 789 acres of land - much of it in the finest farming belts of the state: 400 acres in Attala County, 1440 in Bolivar, 800 in Carroll, 3211 in Claiborne, 1040 in Issaquena, 1500 in Leflore, 3440 in Sunflower, 3440 also in Washington and 6510 in Louisiana. According to Daniell's will, he asked that overseers be hired for his three plantations in Louisiana.

1860 Slave Schedules for Smith C Daniell II

Plantation	No. of Slaves	County
-	150	Claiborne County, MS
Locustwood	164	Tensas Parish, LA
Brierland	107	Tensas Parish, LA

Smith was an only child whose wealth was partially built on inheritance from his parents and in-laws. His father's estate in 1836 equally divided Negroes, lands in Mississippi and Arkansas Territory to Smith Daniell and his mother Priscilla Skinner Daniell.

Catherine Freeland Daniell, Smith's wife, inherited 44 slaves upon her father's death. The slaves were divided by what appears to be family groups. Listed below are their names. There must be a brick maker or two among this list.

Jim Smothers, Patsey, Pricilla, Ned, Little Jim, Cordelia, Little Patsey, and Rachel

Elisha, Julia and Bill McIntosh

Grigg, Kate, Henry, and Jacob

Henry Thomas, Abram, Susan, Nancy, and Jim Green

Bill McAllister, Hannah & child, Mary

Manuel Dorman, Sally & child and Alex

Old George, Rachel & child, Little George, Eli, John, Bob, Hetty, Bedley, and Mirley

Priscilla & infant

Here are additional Windsor posts:
The Magnificent House ~ Windsor
Cecilia Beall's Letter ~ 1854 Reunion of Slaves
E. M. Ross's Letter - 1860 Go Without a Servant
E. M. Ross' Letter ~1867 All Our House Servants Left Us
E. M. Ross Letter ~ 1867 No One to Protect Us

SOURCES
Thomas Freeland's Claiborne County Probate Records - 1857
Smith Coffee Daniell, Sr.'s, Will - 1836
Smith Coffee Daniell, Jr.'s, Will - 1862
Vertical File - Smith Coffee Daniel II
All records found at Mississippi Department of Archives and History