Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Franklin and Armfield Dealer in Slaves

John Armfield and employees guarding a coffle of enslaved men and women being marched southwest. From George W. Featherstonhaugh, Excursion through the Slave States, 2 vols. (London, 1844).


Virginia Census shows the holdings of the Armfield and Franklin slave pen. Their inventory of consisted of predominantly of children and teenagers who would be taken from Virginia and surrounding States and sold to work the Cotton Plantations.

Sex and Age for 1830 census for the slave Pen of Armfield and Franklin.(1830 DC Census Alexandria page 270)

1 male under 10
50 males 10-24
20 males 24—36
4 females under 10
50 females 10-24
20 females 24-36



Franklin and Armfield business dealings depended largely on the agents representing the enterprise, who were scattered throughout slave-holding areas of Maryland and Virginia. In Richmond there was R.C. Ballard & Co.; in Warrenton, Virginia, J.M. Saunders & Co.; in Baltimore, Rockville and Fredericktown, Maryland, George Kephart; in Frederick, Maryland, James Franklin Purvis, nephew of Isaac Franklin; and in Easton, Maryland, Thomas M. Jones (Sweig 1980;8).
Slave ship taking on slaves at the Alexandria, Virginia, USA waterfront in 1836.

There eventually were three ships traveling between New Orleans and Alexandria for Franklin and Armfield—the Tribune, the Uncas, and the Isaac Franklin. (The Alexandria Slave Pen: The Archaeology of Urban Captivity, by Janice G. Artemel, Elizabeth A. Crowell and Jeff Parker, October 1987. Engineering-Science, Inc. Washington, DC)



Franklin and Armfield Office was started in 1828 by Isaac Franklin and John Armfield. The office was known to have been the largest slave trading firm in the antebellum south. At its height in the 1830s, the firm transported between 1,000 and 1,200 slaves from Alexandria to New Orleans each year.

Franklin and Armfield Slave Office Marker (Alexandria, Virginia)

Inscription. Isaac Franklin and John Armfield leased this brick building with access to the wharves and docks in 1828 as a holding pen for enslaved people being shipped from Northern Virginia to Louisiana. They purchased the building and three lots in 1832. From this location Armfield bought bondspeople at low prices and shipped them south to his partner Franklin in Natchez Mississippi and New Orleans, Louisiana, to be sold at higher prices. By the 1830s, they often sold 1,000 people annually, operating as one of the largest slave-trading companies in the United States until 1836. Slave traders continuously owned the property until 1861.

Franklin and Armfield Slave Office/Freedom House Museum

It then closed in 1836 and was sold several times to other slave traders like George Kephart, Price, Birch, and Company, and Solomon Stover. The property was used by the Union to imprison Confederate soldiers and was then a hospital from 1878-1885. The office can be found at 1315 Duke Street in Alexandria, Virginia.

21 comments:

  1. Hello, yeah this article is truly good and
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  2. My great great grandmother, Kitty Edwards was taken to New Orleans on one of their ships, The Uncas, in 1835. She was 16 years old. She must have been in the slave pen in this building prior to boarding the ship. I will have to visit there on my next trip to DC. Henry Smith

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    1. Hello. I am doing geneology research on my 5th great grand-mother Amy who was born in Viriginia but ended up in Texas by the time she had her daughter Mary. In the 1870 census record, it shows one of her neighbors was a Kitty Pentry that was born in Maryland. Would this happen to be your great-great grandmother? If so please let me know. Thanks.

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  3. Kittty Edwards might be the person i am looking for.

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  4. My great-great grandmother Mary Ann Johnson & her 3 children were sold out of Alexandria onto the Brig Tribune and shipped to Mississippi in 1834. She probably was processed thru the Armfield & Franklin Slave Pen on Duke St. I owe myself a trip to Alexandria most likely for the memorial ceremony 9/6/14.

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    1. Hi I saw you post back in 2014 about great great grandmother who was sold out of Alexandria on the Tribune. I think I have found some of my relatives The Dodsons sold from Alexandria and arrived in New orleans on Dec 8, 1835 the shipper was Armfield. I think mine ended up in Texas. How did you find where they went after they arrived in New Orleans?

      Thanks

      Debra

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  5. As a descendant of Isaac's brother, John Franklin, y'all sure are teaching me a tough lesson in family history.

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    1. Were these Franklins also related to the Boone family?

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  7. just found out one of my great grandmothers was brought through here, I will make sure to visit soon especially since I live so close!

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    1. I have read your comment with interest and am wondering whether you know details of your great-grandmother's time at the Franklin and Armfield slave pens. I have learned that my ancestors included these two dreadful slave traders and, with others, want to open up my family's past to others. It was kept a secret for several generations, but now it is long past time to face our history.

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  8. I likewise found out my great great great grandmother was brought through here. I look forward to getting more information.

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  9. Unknown 5/2/2017: 8:27pm.
    I have discovered that my GGGrandfather was taken from New Jersey and Transported from here to New Orleans on the Uncas in 1834. Will have to stop sometime and see this place.

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  10. My GGGGrandfather was taken from New Jersey and placed on the Uncas in 1834 to New Orleans. Name Gabriel McGill he was a carpenter. any info is appreciated.

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  11. I found my Grandmother and her Sister was transported to New Orleans on the Uncas on Nov. 6,1835. Last name was Williams sold to John Armfild and Isaac Franklin they was move to Alma Plantation where they meet my Grandfather and Great Uncle who they married.

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  12. As a descendant of Franklin and Armfield, I am working with others to face my family's history. Kept a secret for several generations, we are now wanting to correct this piece of history. Does anyone have detailed knowledge of their ancestor's travel from the slave pens to New Orleans and Natchez? Or of Armfield? I, for one, want to face my family past and acknowledge its evil.

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  13. More ... Email me at susannagrannis@gmail.com.
    And thanks,

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  14. Seven of my ancestors including children (the children were all girls) as young as age 3 were transported to New Orleans on the Uncas January 12, 1836. We located a deed of sale from Maryland plantation owner William Clagett of Prince George's County, Maryland to Rice Garland of Oppelousas, Louisiana. The last names of my 7 ancestors who were sold for $3,500 by Clagett and purchased by Rice were Gordon and White. Looking at other earlier ship manifests we see names of teenaged males with those two surnames shipped separately. We have not found their deeds of sale so we have no proof, but their first names repeat for generations in our family and those of us working on this history believe in our spirit that was a way of keeping their memory alive and honored. Research shows that the strength of young males was coveted to make plantations profitable in the lower south during this era and many adolescent children were sold off alone to the lower south. Beside the profit motive there was also a spike in white fear in the upper south after Nat Turner's liberation revolt. We can't fully imagine what our people went through during this time but the truth will continue to unfold. We will never forget.

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  15. Thank you for this response. Your information is amazing. A 3 year old on one of those ships!
    Is there any possibility that we could talk?
    My email is susannagrannis@gmail.com.

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