African American Owners of Enslaved Persons in Kentucky

In 1924 the Research Department of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History completed a study of the free Negro slave owners found in the 1830 U. S. Federal Census. The study found 3,777 Negro slave owners in the United States. Negro slave owners were listed in 29 Kentucky counties (see below).

* [The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History has been renamed the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH).The organization is located in Washington, D.C.]

Ownership of an enslaved person may have meant the purchase of a spouse, an individual's children, or other relatives who were not emancipated. Ownership was also an investment: purchased children and adults may or may not have been given the opportunity to work off their purchase price in exchange for their freedom.

A History of World Societies documents a total of 6,000 Negro slave owners in the U.S. for the year 1840 [p. 846]. Please note that the 1850 and 1860 Slave Schedules DO NOT identify slave owners by race; the individual names of slave owners must be searched in the U.S. Federal Census to identify the individual's race.

For more see the Research Department of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History's article, "Free Negro owners of slaves in the United States in 1830," The Journal of Negro History, vol. 9, no. 1 (Jan., 1924), pp. 41-85; A History of World Societies, by J. P. McKay, et al. [2006]; and A History of Blacks in Kentucky, by M. B. Lucas.

Kentucky Counties with Negro Slave Owners in 1830
[Book source: Free Negro Owners of Slaves in the United States in 1830, compiled and edited by C. G. Woodson, pp. 4-6. Available online, click on the link.].

1. Adair County (1) - Swaney Burbridge
2. Barren County (1) - Leander Force
3. Bourbon County (9) - Peter Allen, Sally Wallace, Isaac Jones, James Monday, Peter Grant, Gabriel, Allen Heathman, Edmon Hurley, Stephen Brooks
4. Bracken County (1) - Lethia Thomas
5. Bullitt County, [Mt. Washington] (2) - Isaac Ellison, Bash Oldridge
6. Christian County, [Hopkinsville] (1) - Michael Cocke
7. Clark County (2) - John Dudley, George Birth
8. Fayette County (13), [Lexington] (15) - Nancy Scott, Peter Whiting, Robert Gray, Charlotte Lewis, Richard Bird, William Tucker, Jesse Smith, Nathan Keifer, Benjamin Tibbs, Jane Brittain, Hannah Travis, Wittshire Brackenridge, Harvey Phillips, Frank Lee, Nicholas Black -- Peter Davis, Adam B. Martin, Isaac Howard, William Burk, Benjamin Caulden, Peter Francess, Ben Williams, Anaka Shores, Jer'y Allen, Alexander Allen, Samuel Dunlap, Rhody Clark, Robert Smith
9. Fleming County (1) - Jacob Truett
10. Franklin County, [Frankfort] (6) - Harry Mordecai, David Jones, John Ward, Burrel Chiles, John S. Goin, Samuel Brown
11. Graves County (1) - Alias Keeling
12. Green County (1) - Thomas Malone
13. Harrison County (1) - Benjamin Berton
14. Henderson County (1) - Liverpool Pointer
15. Jefferson County (1), [Louisville] (5) - J. T. Gray -- Betty Cozzens, David Straws, Frank Merriwether, Daniel Brigadier, Sally
16. Jessamine County (3) - Judith Higenbothan, Anthony of colour, William a man of color
17. Knox County (1) - Isaiah Goins
18. Logan County, [Russellville] (5) - Nicholas Valentine, Robert Buckner, Edward Jones, Isham Husketh, William Barber
19. Madison County (1) - George White
20. Mason County (9), [Washington] (3) - Thomas F. Bowles, John Glasford, Edward Cooper, H. Markham, Roseann Wann, Charles More, Ann Baylor, Edmond Toliver, Acam Diggs -- Peggy Miles, John Lightfoot, Isaac Johnson
21. Mercer County (9) - Anderson Harris, Ben Harris, Spencer Easton, Fielding Melvin, Jemima Fry, Hercules Jenkins, George Warman, Adam Beaty, Sanko Robinson
22. Montgomery County (1) - Richard Lee
23. Nelson County, [Bardstown] (4) - Thomas Smiley, Joe Cocke, Thomas Rudd, George Aud
24. Nicholas County (1) - George Mallery
25. Rockcastle County (1) - David Cable
26. Shelby County (1), [Shelbyville] (3) - John Edwards -- Peter Short, Hannah Harris, Jim Henson
27. Warren County (2) - Jane Palmore, Bazzle Russell
28. Washington County, [Springfield] (2) - Robert C. Palmer, Ignatius Sandy
29. Woodford County (13) - Joe Miller, Lawrence Corbin, Betty Tutt, Billy Campbell, Henry Mason, Tom Stratford, Ambrose Hardy, Richard Harvey, Samuel Cloak, Nathan Twiner, Joel Hawkins, Moses Weaver, Jordan Ritchie