Thus, the age groupings, while not precise, strongly suggest that Stanly actually owned all except a few of
the 163 slaves listed in his New Bern household or as living on his rural holdings. He had thus
become not only the largest slave owner in Craven County, and one of the largest in North
Carolina, but he owned more than twice as many slaves as the second largest free Negro slave
owner in the South.
27
25
U.S. Census, 1830: Craven County, Population Schedule, 109, 139; "Conditions for hiring the Negroes of John H.
and James Bryan," January, 1823, Personal Correspondence, Bryan Collection, PC 6; Receipt from John C. Stanly to
John H. Bryan for
Twenty Dollars for keeping Zilphia and Children, February 1, 1820, Accounts, Bills, and
Receipts, Bryan Collection, PC 6.
26
Craven County Deeds, Book 45, p. 445, Book 46, pp. 92
-
93, 225
-
256, 288
-
290, 296
-
297, 332
333, Book 47, pp.
75, 160
-
161; Petition of
John C. Stanly to Emancipate the Men Named Boston and Brister and the Women Named
Betty and Money, ca. 1829, Craven County Slaves and Free Negroes file.
27
The inventory of the fifty
-
eight slaves owned by Stanly is found in Craven County Deeds, Book 45, p.
445. The
other blacks whom he owned are mentioned in Craven County Deeds, Book 46, pp. 255
-
256, 288
-
290, 296
-
297,
Book 47, pp. 160
-
161, Book 48, p. 75. Within eleven months (May, 1828, to April, 1829) Stanly mortgaged the
slaves listed above. Most of the m
ortgaged deeds are quite specific about the names, ages, and in some cases
occupations of the mortgaged slaves, but the April 29, 1829, transaction gives the ages only as between "10 to 29
years." Those listed in this group as "young," such as "Young Peter
," the author has placed in a category with
children
—
the others with adults. Several blacks including Charles, Aaron, Jerry, Jim, Jordan, and "Young Harry,"
were mortgaged more than once. The ages of Boston, Brister, Betty, and Money were not given in prim
ary sources,
but in 1830 they were over thirty
-
five years old and included among the eighteen slaves cited in the adult category.