Featured Document: 491 Slaves Freed From Heyward Family Plantations

One of the remarkable documents in this collection is a list of 491 enslaved people who were freed from Charles Heyward’s Amsterdam, Lewisburg, Pleasant Hill, Rose Hill, Myrtle Grove and Ashley Farm plantations. The list, dated July 1865, was filed with the estate appraisal of Charles Heyward on March 3, 1866. Freed people are listed by name, age, occupation and plantation. The original manuscript is among the Heyward family papers at the South Caroliniana Library, and they have shared it here. You may click on the MORE links in the tables below to view the complete list for each of the plantations.

Above: Detail from “List of 491 Slaves Freed from Heyward Family Plantations,”
Heyward Family Papers, 1703-1975, South Caroliniana Library at USC.

Enslaved People Freed from Amsterdam Plantation

Enslaved People Freed from Ashley Farm Plantation

Enslaved People Freed from Lewisburg Plantation

Enslaved People Freed from Myrtle Grove Plantation

Enslaved People Freed from Pleasant Hill Plantation

Enslaved People Freed from Rose Hill Plantation

Source Citation:

List of 491 Slaves Freed from Amsterdam, Ashley Farm, Lewisburg, Myrtle Grove, Pleasant Hill and Rose Hill Plantations. Charles Heyward Account Book, Heyward Family Papers, 1703 – 1975. South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina.

Terms of Use:

This document appears here with kind permission of the South Caroliniana Library at USC and may not be presented elsewhere without their permission.