Mason Harwell

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Mason Harwell
"...said negro was bought of Mason Harwell..." The Weekly Advertiser, Montgomery, Ala., June 18, 1856
Born(1806-02-14)February 14, 1806
Mississippi Territory, U.S.
DiedMay 7, 1879(1879-05-07) (aged 73)
Montgomery, Alabama, U.S.
Occupation(s)Slave trader, commission merchant, auctioneer, insurance salesman

Mason Harwell (February 14, 1806 – May 7, 1879) was an auctioneer, insurance broker, and a leading, if not the leading, slave trader in antebellum Montgomery, Alabama.[1] According to Slavery in Alabama (1950), "After 1840 Montgomery was the principal market in the state."[2] Sales in 1850s Montgomery often took place outdoors at a central landmark called the Artesian Basin.[1] Around the turn of the century, an older resident of Montgomery told historian Frederic Bancroft, author of Slave-Trading in the Old South, that Harwell was "a man of respectable standing."[1] Mason Harwell worked out of 21 Market Street (now Dexter).[3] He had a second location at Coosa St. and Monroe.[4][5]

Biography[edit]

Harwell was said to have been born in Washington County, Alabama, when Alabama was still part of the Mississippi Territory.[6] In 1830, Harwell was resident in the pioneer settlement of Washington, Alabama, living in a household of five free whites.[7] In 1839, Harwell obtained a land patent from the government of 80 acres at 1 E½SE ST STEPHENS No 17N 29E 11.[8] He supposedly moved to Montgomery County, Alabama, about 40 years before his death, thus around 1839.[6] At the time of the 1850 federal census Harwell listed his occupation as auctioneer.[9] The Alabama state census of 1850 listed Harwell as the head of a household of nine free whites and five enslaved people.[10]

According to Charles S. Davis' The Cotton Kingdom in Alabama, Harwell was "one of the most active dealers" in enslaved people of 1850s Alabama, although "from his advertisements in the newspapers one might infer that he was a general auctioneer for on his own account; he bought and sold almost everything, including railroad stock. He also carried on various kinds of slave trading, including a hiring agency, and as a representative of the Knickerbocker Life Insurance Company of New York, he was always ready to insure slaves at 'reasonable rates.' "[11] In 1916, upon the occasion of the demolition of an old building on Dexter, the Montgomery Times described what had been the city's antebellum slave depot:[12]

Before the war it was known as the principal slave depot of Montgomery, which was one of the largest slave markets in the south. Traders would bring their slaves through from North Carolina and Virginia and stop here in Montgomery, selling as many as they could and then take the remainder on to some other market where they would be disposed of. The entrance to the slave depot was through an entrance where the east half of The Advertiser building now stands, and up to the time it was torn down for the new structure that occupies it, some ten or twelve years ago, the bars that were placed at the entrance to keep slaves from escaping at night were still in position. They entered the slave depot through this enclosure and the depot extended up the street to the lot where the Grand theatre now stands. Sixth avenue, between Lawrence and McDonough contained three slave depots."[12]

In 1860, Harwell built an "impressive brick house on Lawrence street."[13] His occupation at the time of the 1860 federal census was "auction & commis."[14] He owned real estate valued at US$25,000 (equivalent to $847,778 in 2023) and had personal wealth, including the value of slaves owned, of US$20,000 (equivalent to $678,222 in 2023).[14] He was listed on the 1860 slave schedules as the legal enslaver of 34 people, ranging in age from 55 years to seven months old.[15] On June 28, 1863, at age 57, he enlisted in the Edmund Harrison's Company, Alabama Rebels, part of the Alabama Home Guard.[16] On August 27, the Confederate Army paid or promised Harwell 500 Confederate dollars for a horse.[17] On October 25 of the same year he was paid or promised 50.50 Confederate dollars for a stove and "drayage of same."[17] On June 7, 1864, he was paid or promised 90 Confederate dollars for 18 brooms for use in a Confederate military hospital.[17]

On July 24, 1865, Mason Harwell swore allegiance to the United States, completing the Confederate pardon-amnesty process, and was readmitted to the Union.[18] In 1867, Harwell registered to vote in Precinct 5 of Montgomery, Alabama.[19] At the time of the 1870 census, he owned real estate worth US$5,000 (equivalent to $120,474 in 2023) and his personal estate was valued at US$1,000 (equivalent to $24,095 in 2023).[20]

Harwell died of apoplexy in 1879 at his desk in his office at 23 Market Street.[21][6] The Montgomery Advertiser remarked in the death announcement, "Mr. Harwell enjoyed an enviable character for honesty, integrity and fair dealing, and possessed rare business qualifications. He leaves a widow, several children and numerous acquaintances and friends to mourn his loss."[6] Just before Christmas 1879, Harwell's widow hosted two probate-mandated estate sales.[22] The first was a sale of personal property at the family home "about one mile south of Montgomery, Alabama."[22] The second was a sale, at the Artesian Basin in downtown Montgomery, of six mules.[22]

A 1921 biography of one of Harwell's sons-in-law noted that Confederate veteran Charles A. Allen had served as clerk of revenue for Montgomery County for almost 20 years and was "a Democrat, a Mason, a Ku Klux, and Baptist."[23] A biography of his son C. H. Harwell, Confederate veteran and businessman, described Mason Harwell as, simply, a "commission merchant" of Montgomery.[24]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Bancroft, Frederic (2023) [1931, 1996]. Slave Trading in the Old South (Original publisher: J. H. Fürst Co., Baltimore). Southern Classics Series. Introduction by Michael Tadman (Reprint ed.). Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press. p. 295. ISBN 978-1-64336-427-8. LCCN 95020493. OCLC 1153619151.
  2. ^ Sellers, James Benson (2015) [1950]. "Chapter 5: Traffic in Slaves". Slavery in Alabama. Library of Alabama Classics. Introduction by Harriet E. Amos Doss. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. p. 154. ISBN 9780817389147. LCCN 50004433. OCLC 899157440.
  3. ^ Slavery in America: The Montgomery Slave Trade (PDF) (Report). Montgomery, Ala.: Equal Justice Initiative. 2013. p. 14.
  4. ^ Initiative, Equal Justice (2018). Montgomery Slave Trade (Report). Equal Justice Initiative. pp. 31–49.
  5. ^ Initiative, Equal Justice (2018). Slavery in America (Report). Equal Justice Initiative. pp. 8–30.
  6. ^ a b c d "Mason Harwell, Esq". The Montgomery Advertiser. 1879-05-08. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-08-21.
  7. ^ Year: 1830; Census Place: Washington, Alabama; Series: M19; Roll: 3; Page: 255; Family History Library Film: 0002330 - Ancestry.com. 1830 United States Federal Census[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. -Images reproduced by FamilySearch.
  8. ^ United States, Bureau of Land Management. Alabama, U.S., Homestead and Cash Entry Patents, Pre-1908 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com
  9. ^ "1850 Federal Census Montgomery County, Alabama (Ward 3: File 1 of 2)".
  10. ^ Ancestry.com. Alabama, U.S., State Census, 1820-1866[database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Alabama State Census, 1820, 1850, 1855 and 1866. Montgomery, Alabama: Alabama Department of Archives & History. Rolls M2004.0008-M2004.0012, M2004.0036-M2004.0050, and M2008.0124.
  11. ^ "The cotton kingdom in Alabama, by Charles S. Davis". HathiTrust. p. 77. hdl:2027/wu.89037177029. Retrieved 2023-08-21.
  12. ^ a b "Another Modern Building Will Occupy Site of Former Slave Depot". The Montgomery Times. 1916-03-28. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-08-21.
  13. ^ Rogers, William Warren (2001-10-12). Confederate Home Front: Montgomery During the Civil War. University of Alabama Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-8173-1153-7.
  14. ^ a b "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch -https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHDX-DPM - Entry for Mason Harwell and Sarah A Harwell, 1860.
  15. ^ Mason Harwell 1860 District 1, Montgomery, Alabama, USA 34 Slave Owner, Ancestry.com. 1860 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Original data:United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Eighth Census of the United States, 1860. Washington, D.C.
  16. ^ Ancestry.com. Alabama, U.S., Civil War Soldiers, 1860-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Civil War Soldiers. Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama.
  17. ^ a b c Mason Harwell - Confederate Citizens File - Confederate Papers Relating to Citizens or Business Firms, 1861-65 - fold3.com
  18. ^ Ancestry.com. U.S., Confederate Applications for Presidential Pardons, 1865-1867 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: Case Files of Applications From Former Confederates for Presidential Pardons (“Amnesty Papers”) 1865-1867; Microfilm Publication M1003, 73 rolls; NAID: 656621. Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780’s-1917, Record Group 94; National Archives in Washington, D.C.
  19. ^ Ancestry.com. Alabama, U.S., Voter Registration, 1867 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Alabama 1867 Voter Registration Records Database. Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama.
  20. ^ "United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHK5-TV3  : Mon Aug 21 17:19:46 UTC 2023), Entry for Mason Harwell and Mariah Harwell, 1870.
  21. ^ "Dead". Pickens County Herald and West Alabamian. 1879-05-14. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-08-21.
  22. ^ a b c "Six Mules". The Montgomery Advertiser. 1879-12-19. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-08-21.
  23. ^ Owen, Thomas McAdory (1921). History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography. S. J. Clarke publishing Company. p. 23.
  24. ^ Confederate Military History: Texas. Broadfoot. 1989. p. 450.
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