From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Graves County (KY) Enslaved, Free Blacks, and Free Mulattoes, 1850-1870
Graves County is located in far western Kentucky on the Tennessee state line bordering five Kentucky counties. Formed in 1824 from a portion of Hickman County, it is the largest county in the Jackson Purchase Region.The county is named for Benjamin Franklin Graves. Born in Virginia, he was a soldier killed at the Battle of River Raisin during the War of 1812. The county seat Mayfield was named in 1824 for the major waterway, Mayfield Creek, which was supposedly named for George Mayfield from Mississippi, who was shot and died in the creek.
In 1830 there was one African American slave holder in Graves County. The 1830 Census for the county showed a population of 380 [heads of households]; that increased to 13,348 by 1860, excluding the enslaved. Below are the numbers for the slave holders, enslaved, free Blacks, and free Mulattoes for 1850-1870.
1850 Slave Schedule
- 353 slave owners
- 1,125 Black slaves
- 232 Mulatto slaves
- 1 free Black [Easter Negro]
- 6 free Mulattoes [last names Maples and Owens]
- 566 slave owners
- 2,309 Black slaves
- 535 Mulatto Slaves
- 2 free Blacks
- 4 free Mulattoes
- 1,933 Blacks
- 328 Mulattoes
- About 54 U.S. Colored Troops listed Graves County, KY as their birth location.