Owen Weathersby's Freedmen Bureau Labor Contract - 1865





"My fust wuk in de fields was when I was 'bout five years ole'. I was put to hoeing out de fence corners an' pulling up grass an' den on to heavier wuk as I growed bigger. De field wuk was hard, hit was all day in de hot sun, but us laked all being together." George Weathersby, ex-slave of Owen Weathersby in Simpson County, Mississippi

Extracted by Linda Durr Rudd
LRudd@aol.com

FREEDMEN LABOR CONTRACT - LIST OF FREEDMEN
Planter: Owen Weathersby
County: Simpson
DATE: AUGUST 25, 1865

NAME, AGE
(All freedmen were given the surname Weathersby)
ANDERSON, 11
BEN, 1
CA, 6
DAVID, 32
EASTER, 11
EDMON, 8*
ELCY, 23*
HARRIET, 8
HULDY, 6
JACKSON, 52
JANE, 8
JOSEPH, 19
LEROY, 17
LEWIS, 11
MARTHA, 3*
MARTHA, 50*
MILLY, 39
MINGO, 45
PASTY, 23
RACHAEL, 10*
ROSE, 15
SPENCER, 45
STEPHEN, 4
STORM, 5*
WASH, 50
WILLIAM, 2
WINEY, 28

MATCHING FAMILIES FOUND IN THE 1870 FEDERAL CENSUS
SIMPSON COUNTY, MS

Simpson County, Mt. Zion, MS, page 28
Thomas Norwood, 36
Alcy, 28*
Edmon, 12*
Storm B., 10*
Martha, 8*
Nancy, 4
George W., 2
Michael, 1month

Simpson County, Mt. Zion, MS, page 28
Wash Weathersby, 50*
Martha, 54*
Rachael, 15*
Elizabeth, 10
Patty J., 9
Susan J., 6

OWEN WEATHERSBY - SLAVE OWNER

Owen Weathersby was b. January 06, 1812 in Bladen County, North Carolina, and died March 15, 1877 in Simpson County, MS. He married Sarah Ann Magee January 31, 1833. The couple had one child, Mary Ann Weathersby, who died in early infancy. Owen was the son of Isom/Isham and Sarah Thomas Weathersby. Isom Weathersby along with brothers and other kinsmen probably left Bladen County, North Carolina, traveling to Mississippi, about 1814 or earlier. (Weathersby Family 1700 -1955, pages 12, 50, MS Deptartment of Archives and History)

Owen Weathersby of Simpson County, Mississippi, owned 14 slaves in 1850, and he owned 23 slaves in 1860.

SOURCE

Freedmen Bureau Labor Contract - List of Freedmen's Names
Microfiche Number 47-068
Slave Narrative of George Weathersby
Records Found at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History
1850 Simpson County Slave Schedule
1860 Simpson County Slave Schedule

Remembering Their Names