Seth Woodroof Account Book showing sales of enslaved persons from 1834-1840.
A dataset of enslaved persons mentioned in this document was published in 2023 with Enslaved.org and the Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation.
Note: A transcription is included with each of the images at the bottom of the page; click on an image to read the transcription.
Manuscript 1047 ("Seth Woodroof Account Book") is a handwritten notebook which lists enslaved persons, buyers, and sellers in the slave trade in Lynchburg, Virginia between 1834 and 1840. The book lists individuals by name and is believed to have belonged to Seth Woodroof.
Seth Woodroof was an enslaver and slave trader operating in Lynchburg in the 1800s. He is known to have had business dealings with other slave traders in the city, including John Harris and Rowan Harris.
Manuscript 1047 is a tan colored, leather notebook. Imprinted on the cover in cursive writing is "Seth Woodroof Lynchburg March 1st 1834" and in print "S.W. No. 2". In white lettering at the bottom left are call (classification) numbers "658 W".
The book contains 74 unnumbered interior pages. Page numbering has been assigned to the digitized images by the library. Pages 16 to 61 and page 74 are blank with no linguistic content attributable to Seth Woodroof. Pages 1-16 and 62-73 contain handwritten entries believed to have been made by Seth Woodroof. In the original item, there appear to be missing pages between 10 and 11. Entries on pages 8 and 9 are labeled as "October 16, 1835. " Entries on pages 10 and 11 are labeled as "July 1840."
Woodroof's entries are in black ink and list the names of enslaved persons being sold along with the names of buyers and sellers. Most persons in the book, including enslaved persons, are listed with first and last names. The activity documented in the book is for the period 1834 to 1840.
Most of the entries that document the sales of enslaved persons is entered across the width of adjacent pages in the book. For this reason, the book has been scanned so that images include both the left and right hand pages. Most interior pages in the book are empty with handwritten entries only appearing at the front and back of the book; images of blank pages have been included to provide a complete digital record of the physical manuscript.
It appears that Woodroof recorded the date, place of sales, and seller(s) name across the top of the pages. Woodroof then recorded the first name, last name, age, and original purchase price of each enslaved person on the left hand side of the ledger. In cases where a sale was made on a date differing from that at the top of the page, Woodroof noted the date on the left hand side above or next to the enslaved person's name. On the right hand page, he repeated the first and last names of the enslaved individual, followed by the sales price and buyer's name.
Woodroof appears to have used the notation "do" as shorthand for "ditto", indicating that information on the line above is repeated (i.e., multiple transactions by one buyer). At the bottom or side of each page, Woodroof frequently entered a total numerical amount which represented the dollar sum of purchases and sales.
Pages 02-15 contain handwritten data on sales of enslaved persons, including names and amounts for dates between 01 March 1834 to 08 August 1840. Data entered on page 4 appears to have been continued on pages 72-73.
Pages 16 through 61 are blank with no data.
Pages 62-71 contain information for years 1834-1835. The ten pages at the back of the book include handwritten entries that were entered inverted (upside down and back- to-front). Inverted images have been saved as right-side up images for the digital copy.
An oval stamp marked "Jones Memorial Library" appears on the inside front cover, pages 3, 63, 72, 73, and the inside back cover. The binding string is found between pages 32 and 33.
Additional images of the front and back cover were taken with a ruler to illustrate dimensions of the original item.
A transcription of each image is included and can be accessed by clicking on the image.
To aid the reader, extra markings (such as periods, dashes, and hyphens) that do not significantly add to interpretation of the data have not been included in the transcription. In instances when data is not complete, or there is clarifying data that can assist with interpretation, entries are [bracketed]. In some instances, the order in which words appear has been altered slightly in the transcription so as to enable better interpretation for the reader (i.e., when parts of a date were entered on two lines, they are entered as if on one line, to avoid confusion with the names of persons that follow).
An article and dataset which record the names of individuals in this manuscript has been submitted to Enslaved.org
Researchers and readers who would like to submit a correction or transcription enhancement are invited to contact Jones Memorial Library via the online collection form, with an email to
[email protected], or by telephone at 1-434-846-0501.
