Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#407
GEORGE J. KOLLOCK PLANTATION JOURNALS
Inventory
Abstract: George Jones Kollock (1810-1894) of Savannah,
Ossabaw Island, and Clarkesville, Ga., was a lawyer
and cotton planter.
The collection consists of plantation
journals for Kollock's three
plantations--Retreat, Rosedew, and Ossabaw
Island--1837-1861 with most of the journals
devoted to Ossabaw Island. The journals contain
detailed information on the management of
planting and farming on plantations using
overseers and slave labor. Kollock's cash crop
was Sea Island cotton, and he also planted corn.
The journals also provide a record of the lives
of the slaves on Kollock's plantations: their
births and deaths, sick days, and daily tasks
are noted.
Index Terms: Agriculture-Georgia.
Corn--Georgia.
Cotton gins and ginning--Georgia.
Cotton growing--Georgia.
Kollock, George J., 1810-1894.
Ossabaw Island Plantation (Ga.).
Plantations--Georgia.
Plantations-Overseers. (local heading)
Retreat Plantation (Ga.).
Rosedew Plantation (Ga.).
Slavery--Georgia.
Size: 20 items (1.0 linear feet).
Provenance: Unknown
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
George Jones Kollock (1810-1894) was born 20 April 1810 in
Savannah, Georgia, the son of Dr. Lemuel and Maria Campbell
Kollock. He attended schools in Germantown, Pennsylvania,
Northampton, Massachusetts, and Yale University although he had
no known degrees. He married Priscilla Augusta Johnston (d.
1836) in 1836 and had one child, Augusta Johnston. In 1840 he
married Susan Marion Johnston and had seven children: George
Jones, John Fenwick, William Waring, Susan Marion, Mary Fenwick,
Annie Houstoun, and Louisa Belle.
George Kollock practiced law in Savannah from 1832 to
1836. After the death of his first wife, Priscilla, he moved to
Retreat Plantation, located near Savannah on the Little Ogeechee
River at Coffee Bluff. Retreat was a 309-acre tract which his
infant daughter, Augusta, had inherited from her aunt, Priscilla
Houstoun. Kollock purchased thirteen slaves and hired six, and
also hired an overseer to commence planting Sea Island cotton at
this site. The following year (1838), Kollock came into
possession of Rose Dhu (Rosedew), an adjoining 550-acre tract
which, like Retreat, was land originally granted to Priscilla
Houstoun's grandfather Sir Patrick Houstoun. In 1848 Kollock
sold the Coffee Bluff and Rose Dhu tracts. He then purchased 800
acres on the south end of Ossabaw Island and moved his slaves to
this new site, where they again cultivated Sea Island cotton.
Kollock estimated the value of his cotton crop for the year 1850
at six thousand dollars. Kollock's slave population had
increased to 72. By 1860 Kollock, as a slaveholding planter of
coastal Georgia, was an absentee owner who visited his plantation
on Ossabaw Island at regular intervals. However, most of his
time was spent at his permanent home, Woodlands, near
Clarkesville, Habersham County, Georgia, where his family
resided. He made regular trips to Savannah and his plantation to
appraise the value of his crops and the condition of his slaves
and to check over the journals kept by his overseers.
The staple crops produced on Kollock's plantation were
cotton and corn. Rice, sugar cane, peas, potatoes, and oranges
were grown as subsistence crops for his slaves; also cattle and
hogs were raised for this purpose. A portion of these foods was
sent to the Kollock family for home use in Habersham County.
(Excerpts taken from the sketch of George Jones Kollock in the
Dictionary of Georgia Biography, pp. 585-586)
Collection Overview
This collection consists entirely of plantation journals.
Most of the journals are for Ossabaw Island Plantation. They
provide a detailed record of how planting and farming was
managed on a plantation using slave labor.
The arrangement scheme is as follows:
Series 1. Retreat Plantation
Series 2. Rosedew Plantation
Series 3. Ossabaw Island Plantation
Series 4. Slave Clothing List
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1. Retreat Plantation
1837-1840. 3 items.
Three plantation journals beginning with the year
1837. The first journal starts with the day George J.
Kollock took possession of Retreat Plantation, located
near Savannah on the Little Ogeechee River at Coffee
Bluff. In his entries he described in narrative form his
daily activities, mostly concerning planting and farming.
There are descriptions of the work the slaves did each
day, the progress of planting cotton, corn, and other
crops, and purchases of animals and equipment for the
plantation. In his later entries he described storms in
August and September of 1837 that damaged his cotton crop.
In the beginning of the volume is a list of slaves who
belonged to him and of those he had hired.
The later two journals are organized into various
lists to record daily activities. There are lists of
births and deaths of slaves, and a list of dates when
slaves were sick. There are also lists of allowances
made, which presumably were supplies given to the slaves,
and lists of articles received and articles delivered
which included supplies purchased for the plantation and
produce sold. The remainder of the journal consists of
entries of daily work. The number of slaves assigned to
each task, and the tasks completed were noted.
There is no direct indication that the third journal
is for Retreat Plantation. It has been placed here
because it dates from the same time period and mentions
the same slaves.
Folder 1 Vol. 1. 8 April 1837-30 June 1838
2 Vol. 2. 5 Feb 1838-23 Nov 1838
3 Vol. 3. 1 Jan 1839-9 Jan 1840
Series 2. Rosedew Plantation
1840-1849. 3 items.
Three plantation journals for Rosedew Plantation
owned by George J. Kollock. Rosedew was located next to
Retreat Plantation. These journals are also organized
into lists of births, deaths, and sick days for slaves,
articles received, articles delivered, allowance lists,
and lists of daily work. A list of the slaves at the
plantation and their rate of work, i.e., "full hand" or
"half hand," has been added in the front of each volume.
An additional list, "general statement of work," notes the
beginning and completion dates for planting various crops.
Volumes 4 and 5 include rules, on their respective
first pages, which were imposed on the plantation. In
1840-1841, for example, a slave could not receive more
than ten lashes unless the master was present. Slaves had
to be at work by sunrise, and were allowed an hour for
lunch in the winter and two hours in the summer. In the
journal dated 1842-1843, a slave could receive up to
twenty lashes before the master had to be present. The
entries for daily work are extremely brief. Each task is
listed with a number preceding it indicating the number of
slaves assigned to that task. An apparent reference to a
runaway slave appears in the entries for daily work from
29 January 1840 to 2 March 1840.
There is no direct indicator that the sixth journal
is for Rosedew Plantation. It has been placed here
because it dates from the same time period and mentions
the same slaves.
Folder 4 Vol. 4. 1840-1841
5 Vol. 5. 1842-1843
6 Vol. 6. 1844-1849
Series 3. Ossabaw Island Plantation
1849-1861. 13 items.
Thirteen plantation journals for Ossabaw Island
Plantation covering the years 1849 to 1861. The majority
of these journals appear to have been kept by various
overseers rather than by George Kollock.
The first plantation journal for 1849 follows the
same format as the previous journals with lists of births
and deaths of slaves, etc., followed by entries of daily
work. It was apparently kept by J.W. Gillam, overseer,
until 12 July 1849. The next entry, on 13 July 1849, is
in a different hand, and states that J.W. Gillam was
arrested and carried to Savannah. After this date all the
plantation journals are in chart format to record the
daily work. The charts are set up to show work done both
by the hands, who primarily planted and harvested the
crops, and also by the jobbers who did various jobs around
the plantation. Some of the daily tasks included moting
cotton, rolling and burning logs, clearing brush, listing
cotton land, ditching, ploughing, grubbing, planting and
hoeing corn and cotton, picking cotton, whipping cotton,
and operating the gin.
These journals also contain lists in the front of
each volume of births, deaths, and sick days for slaves,
tools given out to slaves, all slaves on the plantation,
articles received, and articles delivered.
Cotton appears to have been the major crop on Ossabaw
Island Plantation. Included in some of the volumes are
charts showing how much cotton each slave picked, and also
charts showing how much cotton was packed by various
slaves. Corn was also planted.
There is an occasional mention of a runaway slave in
the charts for daily work.
Folder 7 Vol. 7. 1849
8 Vol. 8. 21 January 1850-4 March 1852
9 Vol. 9. 1 January 1851-21 Jan 1852
10 Vol. 10. 1852-1853
11 Vol. 11. 1854
12 Vol. 12. 1855
13 Vol. 13. 1856
14 Vol. 14. 1857
15 Vol. 15. 1858
16 Vol. 16. Jan-11 Nov 1859
17 Vol. 17. 12 Nov-Dec 1859
18 Vol. 18. 1860
19 Vol. 19. 1861
Series 4. Slave Clothing List
1846-1861. 1 item.
This volume contains lists of clothes, shoes, and
blankets given to slaves at Rosedew, Retreat, and Ossabaw
Island Plantations between the years 1846 and 1861. Also
included, on the last page, is an undated list of slave
families who had children.
Folder 20 Vol. 20. 1846-1861
SHELF LIST
Box 1 Subseries 1.1 (folders 1-3)
Subseries 1.2 (folders 4-6)
Subseries 1.3 (folders 7-12)
Box 2 Subseries 1.3 (folders 13-19)
Subseries 1.4 (folder 20)