Existing comment:
"... Put to work in making tobacco"
Tobacco production is labor intensive; a good number of Belair's slaves most probably worked the tobacco fields and lived in close proximity to them. Slave records from Belair are inconclusive. While inventories list names and ages of the work force here, they shed little light on actual day to day occupations.
The 1816 Probate Inventory of Henrietta Margaret Ogle's slaves does give some clues:
William, about 50 years old a Carpenter... Jacob a Black Smith about 60 yrs old
While not specific occupations are listed for female slaves, several are listed in inventories at values equal to that of male slaves. The 1775 sale of Col. Benjamin Tasker's effects includes:
Negro Pompey £ 56.10.0
Kate 56.0.0
Kate's value, nearly as much as Pompey's, indicates that she was a skilled worker, possibly a cook or a laundress, probably of child-bearing age. |