Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#2407-z
ROBERT RUFFIN BARROW PAPERS
Inventory
Abstract: Robert Ruffin Barrow was a sugar planter and canal
operator in Terrebonne Parish, La. Barrow was the
son of Bartholomew Barrow (d. 1852), a merchant at
Fishing Creek, Halifax County, N.C., and later a
planter in West Feliciana Parish, La., where he
settled on his estate, Afton Villa, in 1820. Robert
R. Barrow's mother was Ascension Slatter Barrow. The
younger Barrow owned six Terrebonne Parish
plantations, including Residence, Myrtle Grove, and
Caillou Grove, as well as plantations in Lafourche,
Assumption, and Ascension Parishes, and in Texas.
Microfilm of a daybook, 1811-1814, of Bartholomew
Barrow, Fishing Creek, N.C., and the original and a
typed transcription of a journal, 1857-1858, for
Residence Plantation, Terrebonne Parish, La., owned
by Robert Ruffin Barrrow. The daybook includes
accounts with Fishing Creek residents, including
several blacks. The plantation journal, kept by
Residence manager Ephraim A. Knowlton and several
overseers, including Robert P. Ford, George Bucknall,
N. B. Holland, and Charles Lull, contains slave
records, details of sugar production, records of
daily operations, and reports of conflicts between
slaves and overseers and between Barrow and his
overseers, including reports of fugitive slaves.
Slave records include slave lists, birth and death
records, and mention of illnesses, tasks assigned,
and items distributed to them.
Index Terms: Barrow, Ascension Slatter, fl. 1850-1858.
Barrow, Bartholomew, d. 1852.
Barrow, Robert Ruffin, b. 1798.
Bucknall, George, fl. 1857.
Caillou Grove Plantation (Terrebonne Parish, La.).
Ford, Robert P., fl. 1857-1858.
Fugitive slaves--Louisiana.
Halifax County (N.C.)--Social life and customs--19th
century.
Holland, N. B., fl. 1857.
Knowlton, Ephraim A., fl. 1857-1858.
Louisiana--Agriculture. [local heading]
Lull, Charles, fl. 1858.
Myrtle Grove Plantation (Terrebonne Parish, La.).
Plantation life--Louisiana.
Plantations--Louisiana.
Plantations--Overseers. (local heading)
Point Farm Plantation (Terrebonne Parish, La.).
Slave records--Louisiana.
Slavery--Louisiana.
Sugar growing--Louisiana.
Terrebonne Parish (La.)--Social life and
customs--19th century.
Size: 3 items.
Provenance: The plantation journal was received from Mrs. C.
Grenes Cole of New Orleans in 1957. The typed
transcription of the journal was produced by the
Southern Historical Collection. The daybook of
Bartholomew Barrow and the plantation journal were
microfilmed in 1940-1941, apparently by Professor
J. C. Sitterson. At that time, the two volumes
were owned by Mrs. Robert Ruffin Barrow of New
Orleans.
Access: No restrictions.
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or
their descendants, as stipulated by United States
copyright law.
INTRODUCTION
Biographical Note
Robert Ruffin Barrow (b. 1798) was a sugar planter and canal
operator in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. He was the oldest son
of Bartholomew Barrow (d. 1852), a merchant at Fishing Creek,
Halifax County, North Carolina, and Ascension Slatter Barrow.
Bartholomew moved his family to West Feliciana Parish in 1820,
where he settled on his estate, Afton Villa. Robert Barrow had
two brothers, David Bennett and William Bennett Barrow, both of
whom became planters. William lived with Robert until his death
in 1842.
Barrow (usually referred to as R. R. rather than Robert)
owned six Terrebonne Parish plantations: Residence, Caillou
Grove, Honduras, Myrtle Grove, Crescent Farm, and Point Farm. In
addition, he owned the Oak Grove Plantation in Lafourche Parish;
the Locust Grove Plantation in Assumption Parish; the
Donaldsonville Plantation in Ascension Parish; and several
plantations in Texas. Barrow also operated the Barataria and
Lafourche Canal Company Number 2.
In 1850 Barrow married Volumnia Washington Hunley, and they
had two children, Volumnia Roberta (b. 1854) and Robert Ruffin,
Jr. (b. 1858).
[From Thomas Becnel's The Barrow Family and the Barataria
and Lafourche Canal: The Transportation Revolution in Louisiana,
1829-1925 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univ. Press, 1989).]
Collection Overview
Bartholomew Barrow's daybook (1811-1814) provides little
insight into his life outside of accounts he kept with customers
at Fishing Creek, Halifax County, North Carolina. The daybook is
available only on microfilm.
The Residence Plantation journal of Robert Ruffin Barrow is
most useful for studying the complex relationships between
plantation owners and their overseers and the relationships
between overseers, field slaves, and slave drivers. The journal
also serves as an excellent source of information on slaves,
containing extensive slave lists, accounts of resistance and
punishments, and details of tasks assigned slaves. It provides
only limited information on R. R. Barrow's family life, though a
few references to his children and friends do appear.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1. Volumes
1857-1858. 2 items.
Original and typed transcription of a plantation journal for
Robert Ruffin Barrow's Residence Plantation in Terrebonne Parish,
Louisiana. A note at the top of the first page indicates that
this journal is "continued from old Plantation Book of 1856...and
Page of said Book 240". The "old Plantation Book" referred to
here is not in this collection and its whereabouts are unknown to
the staff of the Southern Historical Collection in 1990.
The pages of the original of this volume were at some point
numbered 25-277. This suggests that the volume is missing pages
1-24, but it seems impossible to conclude with certainty that
this is the case. The volume's front cover is missing.
The journal was kept primarily by Ephraim A. Knowlton, who
managed the plantation, and by several overseers, principally
Robert P. Ford, George Bucknall, N. B. Holland, and Charles Lull.
It discusses daily work on the plantation, including planting,
harvesting, sugar grinding, land clearing, and building. Other
topics are the weather, crop conditions, work on the sugar house,
equipment and hands exchanged between Residence and other
plantations owned by Barrow, and relations between the overseers
and Mr. Barrow. Though the journal pertains primarily to the
Residence Plantation, information on Barrow's Point Farm, Caillou
Grove, Oak Grove, and Myrtle Grove Plantations can be culled from
the entries. The last few pages contain accounts with Orange
Grove Sawmill, William Meadux & Co. (ditchers), and others, a
cure for fistula in horses, and slave records.
Extensive information appears in the journal on slaves, and
includes records of births, deaths, and illnesses (see especially
page 270); slave lists, including lists of new slaves arriving
(pages 107, 213, 217); articles distributed for their use; and
incidents of resistance. (Note that the list of new slaves on
page 107 records family relations.) Several entries provide
information on the relationship between slaves and overseers on
the plantation. Of note is an entry for 25 July 1857 describing
the refusal of a slave, John Smith, to work for the overseer and
the fight that resulted. Another entry, made by Robert P. Ford
upon the death of a slave, Andrew, on 21 April 1858, gives Ford's
account of Andrew's final hours. He praised Andrew for his work
as a driver on the plantation. Frequent mentions of fugitive
slaves also appear.
Note: All page numbers appearing in this description refer
to the original of the plantation journal, and numbers will
differ from those found in the typed transcription. The
transcription is paginated consecutively, beginning with page 1,
whereas pages in the original are numbered 25-277.
This plantation journal also appears on microfilm (see
Series 2).
Folder 1. Volume 1. Plantation Journal (original)
Folder 2. Volume 2. Plantation Journal (typed
transcription)
Series 2. Microfilm
1811-1814 and 1857-1858. 2 items.
Two reels of microfilm, one picturing a daybook, 1811-1814,
belonging to Bartholomew Barrow, father of Robert Ruffin Barrow,
Fishing Creek, North Carolina, and the second picturing the
Residence Plantation journal described in Series 1. The daybook
is approximately 172 pages.
The mercantile daybook of Bartholomew Barrow, 1811-1814, has
approximately 172 pages. This volume details the sale of
numerous items at Fishing Creek, Halifax County, North Carolina.
Accounts are tallied in English pounds. Scattered entries refer
to purchases made by blacks. Names of purchasers include members
of the Merritt, Pittman, Tunnel, Whitaker, Whitehead, and other
families. Receipts found within record payments made by
Bartholomew Barrow to Thomas Pittman and payments made by various
persons to Bartholomew Barrow.
M-2407/Reel 1. Daybook, 1811-1814.
M-2407/Reel 2. Residence Plantation Journal, 1857-1858.