Daybook (1847-1869) including credits and debits, list of birth and deaths, sale of enslaved black persons, and dates of sale of enslaved persons.
The enslaver Richard Williams was a Pitt County physician- as well as, perhaps, a surveyor- who enslaved a number of persons. Also, judging from the amount of foodstuffs he sold, Dr. Williams probably owned a sizable farm or plantation. He served his community- both whites and blacks- before, during, and after the Civil War (1847-1869).
This one-hundred-page volume contains enslaver Dr. Williams' daybook and accompanying account book, as well as lists of birth, death and sale dates of enslaved black persons. This daybook gives a good indication of the extent of Dr. Williams' practice and plantation. Its entries include a debtor's or creditor's name, the guardian's name (where applicable), the amount owed, and a description of the service rendered or material sold. Medical services include doctor's visits, cutting gums, tooth extracting, cupping, purging, "midwifing," and even making a coffin. For these services, the patient's race was noted if "Negro." Other services were mostly those performed by enslaver Williams' enslaved persons for white people in the community and they include working at "the apple mill" or making various repairs. The Hiring-out system allowed a hirer to temporarily lease an enslaved person from an enslaver, generating revenue for the enslaver through the labor of the enslaved people completing the work. However, Dr. Williams apparently did do some surveying. Materials bought from Dr. Williams include various medicines as well as foodstuffs, tobacco, wool, and other miscellany.
Accompanying the daybook is an indexed, name-by-name record of most of the debits and credits created in the daybook transactions.
The list of enslaved persons births pertains to the enslaver Dr. Williams' approximately forty enslaved persons that includes the first name of the enslaved person's mother, the date of birth (the earliest being 1775) and, for many of them, the date of death. Several entries give the date where an enslaved person was sold.
Gift of Pitt County Historical Society
Processed by Irwin Berent, January 1981
Encoded by Apex Data Services
Descriptions updated by Ashlyn Racine, May 2023
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.