In old Virginia : slavery, farming, and society in the journal of John Walker / Claudia L. Bushman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bushman, Claudia L.

Contributor:

Walker, John, 1785-1867.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Walker, John, 1785-1867.

Walker, John.

Walker, John, 1785-1867--Diaries.

Farmers--Virginia--Tidewater (Region)--Biography.

Farmers.

Country life--Virginia--Tidewater (Region)--History--19th century.

Country life.

Agriculture--Virginia--Tidewater (Region)--History--19th century.

Agriculture.

Slavery--Virginia--Tidewater (Region)--History--19th century.

Slavery.

History.

Tidewater (Va. : Region)--Biography.

Tidewater (Va. : Region).

Tidewater (Va. : Region)--Social conditions--19th century.

Tidewater (Va. : Region)--Economic conditions--19th century.

Virginia--Tidewater (Region).

Genre:

Biographies.

Diaries.

Physical Description:

xix, 292 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.

Summary:

In 1824, John Walker purchased a 500-acre farm in King and Queen County, Virginia, and began working it with a dozen slaves. The son of a local politician and planter who grew tobacco, Walker lost status when he became a devout Methodist, raised wheat, and treated his slaves like brothers and sisters. He also kept a detailed and fascinating journal.

Drawing on this forty-three-year chronicle, Claudia L. Bushman provides a richly illuminating study, a microhistory that is rewarding to read. Walker sets aside most of the "Old South planter" stereotype. He sold wheat in Baltimore and Norfolk and invested in railroad stock, and yet he grew, spun, and wove cotton for clothing, tanned leather, and made shoes. He avoided lavish creature comforts in favor of purchasing the latest farm equipment. Rather than losing out to soil exhaustion, he experimented with improved farming methods, nourished his land, and kept his yields high.

Walker's journal describes the legal cases he tenaciously pursued, records devotion to the local Methodist church, and explains his practice of Thomsonian medicine on slaves and family members alike. He provides insight into women's work and lays out the drama of blacks and whites living in close intimacy and constant fear. Walker humbly referred to himself as "a poor illiterate worm," but his diary dramatically captures the life of a small planter in antebellum Virginia.

Contents:

Preface "in many respects a peculiar man" ix

1 Introduction "I record this for the benifit of my children" 1

2 Land and Family "writing off a kind of History of my ancestry" 9

3 Husbandry "began to plant corn" 24

4 Agriculture "an experiment to see which way will produce the best" 41

5 Economy "Income fell short this year $156.37 1/2" 59

6 Mastery "My Servant Jack ran away from me Wednesday" 81

7 Huswifery "the first piece of cloth woven here" 98

8 Community "the rich nabobs ... make us poor people give them ease" 117

9 Methodism "I am yet striving to get to glory" 134

10 Medicine "he would have been dead before this but for the Tomsonian practice" 151

11 Legalities "But for my forgiving disposition I would sue indite and prosecute him again" 167

12 Locust Grove "the greatest crop of wheat ever made in Locust Grove." 183

13 Twilight "thine poor insignificant helpless illiterate worm" 198

14 War "a most dreadfull and distressing afflicted state" 214

15 Conclusion "I am so reduced in circumstances" 231

Appendix A Genealogical Charts 244

Appendix B The Slave Populations at Chatham Hill and Locust Grove 248.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. [255]-281) and index.

ISBN:

0801867258

OCLC:

45629771