Witherspoon Project | Family Group 1

James

Katy

Abram

Mitty

Family Group 1, 1860 Plantation Inventory of John D. Witherspoon Estate

Family Group 1 (FG-01) appears to be composed of a father, a mother and their five children who range in age from infancy to early teens. The most likely family organization suggests that Jacob is the husband of Penny, likely a slightly younger woman, based on the higher monetary value assigned to her in an 1860 appraisal conducted after death of planter John D. Witherspoon ¹. Jacob and Penny are the parents of Katy, Abram, Mitty, Silvy, and James. James would be an infant, based his low monetary value and the positioning of his name immediately following his mother’s name on the appraisal documentation. The placement of an infant’s name directly after an enslaved mother’s name was common practice in regional antebellum legal documents.

All members of Family Group 1 were enslaved on Lowthers Lake Plantation near Mechanicsville, South Carolina, according to Witherspoon family estate documents. Background on the Lowthers Lake Plantation and the Witherspoon family can be found here.

Historic Witherspoon family correspondence sheds some light on Jacob, who is often referred to as “Old Jacob”. Jacob was one of the enslaved drivers on John D. Witherspoon’s Lowthers Lake plantation. As driver, Jacob would have been responsible for managing much of the work carried out by other enslaved laborers on the plantation. In 1861, Jacob was removed from his post likely due to advanced age. He was reassigned by the Witherspoon family and their current overseer William H. Harris to a position tending to the plantation mules.

“I went to the plantation on monday, & drove into the field beyond the Barn, where I had never been before, the Cotton & corn both look well. Will [FG-18] says it is the best crop he ever saw on the land, it is in nice order & if the seasons are propitious it must do better than usual. Harris [current overseer at Lowthers Lake] is attentive & seems pleased with his situation, he & John [John Witherspoon] concluded to make old Jacob give up his post as driver, he was worse than nothing, his duty now is to cut food for the mules, & chop the weeds about the Lot, & as the mules are there only when they are ploughing he has an easy time.”

June 21, 1861 – Elizabeth B. Witherspoon, widow of John D. Witherspoon,
corresponding with her daughter-in-law Bessie Witherspoon located in Louisiana.

Jacob is also mentioned in an 1855 correspondence where he was forced to attend to planter John D. Witherspoon who suffered an acute medical event, likely a stroke, while visiting the Lowthers Lake plantation.

“I was at my plantation on 12 Nov. [1854] & started early in the morning with my big gun to shoot wild hogs in the swamp. I rode all day through a perfectly dry swamp, killed but one little shoat [a young hog], got home a little before sundown, had my dinner, [& I] had mixed my toddy & reached it to my mouth, felt an inclination to fall forward, recovered, tried a second time, the motion was renewed. I recovered sat down to the table, soon fell over on the right side insensible for a little while. My overseer happened to be over on this side [of the plantation]. Phillis [FG-02] called him & Jacob, by this time, I had come to my senses again & was helped to bed. I felt no pain, but was paralyzed on the right side from the end of my nose to the foot. My sight & brain was but slightly touched. My overseer remained till 9 o’c & finding myself grow no worse, I told him to go home. I kept Jacob in the room, took a cup of coffee, made him put a hot brick to my foot, he made it too hot, no pain or sensation. The brick was too hot & burnt my leg which took two or three months to cure up but is perfectly well.”

April 6, 1855 – John D. Witherspoon writing to his son Boykin Witherspoon in Louisiana.

Penny was younger than her husband Jacob and may have been his second wife based on their potential age gap. Penny was a member of the Mechanicsville Baptist Church along with many other enslaved families at Lowthers Lake Plantation. She was baptized in September of 1838 and appears occasionally in the church records. As a church of the Southern Baptist denomination, the Mechanicsville congregation practiced an adult believer’s baptism suggesting that Penny would have been an adolescent or adult at the time of her 1838 baptism. Minutes from Mechanicsville Baptist Church show that Penny was charged with a disciplinary infraction (accused of adultery) resulting in her exclusion from the church in July of 1845. This infraction suggests Penny was married, likely to Jacob, by 1845. Penny was later restored to full church membership in January of 1846².

After the death of John D. Witherspoon in 1860 and the murder of his wife Elizabeth 1861, the enslaved community was divided by court order. Jacob, Penny and all their children were given to John D. Witherspoon’s son, John Witherspoon, as part of the estate division. It is unclear if Jacob and Penny were moved across the Pee Dee River to John Witherspoon’s plantation in Marlboro District or if they were dispersed among other Witherspoon family members³.

Census and vital records are missing or currently unidentified for most members of Family Group 1 after emancipation. Only Silvy and James have credible documentary leads after 1865. Silvy is the best documented member of Family Group 1 (FG-01) who first appears in the 1880 federal census records as Silvia Gee, wife of Ben Gee, living in Darlington District. The linkage between Silvy from FG-01 and Silvia Gee was determined in several ways:

First, Silvia’s age. In 1880 Silvia Gee is listed as 20 years old, approximately a good match for Silvy’s value of $250 in the 1860 inventory, which suggests she would have been a toddler.
Second, a 1917 death certificate for a Silvia Gee, married to Ben Gee, lists her father as Jacob Witherspoon. This is perhaps the best evidence of the match between Silvy from FG-01 and Silvia Gee. A transcribed copy of this death certificate can be found here.
In the 1880 census records for Ben Gee, James Wright is part of the household. He is listed as the younger brother of Silvia Gee, and is living with the family. This individual is a good match in age and relationship to James from FG-01 and offers another important link between Silvia Gee and FG-01.

Many more details of Silvia Gee’s life are available from census records. Silvia, Ben, and their children can be found in the 1880, 1900 and 1910 federal census records (see below).

1880 census with Ben Gee and family — 1880 census

1900 census with Ben Gee and family — 1900 census

1910 census with Ben Gee and family — 1910 census

Darlington District Sales and Appraisal Book 1860, Darlington County Historical Commission, Darlington, SC
Minutes of Mechanicsville Baptist Church 1829–1867 (Darlington County, S.C.), South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
Writ of Partition, Equity Case 484, Darlington County Historical Commission, Darlington, SC

Family Group 1

Lowthers Lake Plantation

About the Family

JACOB

PENNY

OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS

References