Slavery on the Cleage Plantations

This is a brief summary of Samuel, Alexander and David Cleage from 1810 to 1870 as the family went from enslaving no one, to collectively owning over 120 people. These are the plantations on which the people in this series lived during slavery.

Samuel Cleage

Samuel Cleage was born in 1781 in Pennsylvania.  The family later moved to Botecourt, VA.  His father, Alexander Cleage, had no enslaved persons according to the Federal Censuses he appeared in.

Samuel worked as a building contractor in Virginia. In 1810 he was 29, had a household consisting of 7 white people and 1 enslaved person.  After his parents died in 1823 he moved his whole household to McMinn County, Tennessee.  He was about 42 years old. Read about the move at C is for Cleage Bricks.

The trip took several years because he stopped to build brick houses at farms along the way, collecting pay in gold and enslaved people.  Although some sources say that he arrived with hundreds of enslaved and barrels of gold, the 1830 Census lists a household of 4 free whites and 15 enslaved blacks. After arriving, Samuel picked out a parcel of about 1,125 acres and using enslaved labor, built a fine brick house.  The land that Samuel Cleage bought was part of the land opened for white settlement when some Cherokee, hoping to profit from the already occurring influx of whites, signed the Calhoun Treaty.  It was called the Hiwassiee Purchase.

In a 1834 agreement between Samuel Cleage and his overseer, 7 enslaved persons were named and 2 little boys were unnamed. Some of the tasks mentioned in the agreement are clearing land, distilling and planting. Article of Agreement Between Samuel Cleage and Overseer – 1834.

By 1840 the household consisted of himself and his wife and 23 enslaved people.  Eleven are involved in agriculture.  In the 1850 census Samuel and his wife shared their home with his son David, his wife and 2 small sons.  They now owned 31 slaves, 1,200 improved acres and 20 unimproved with a value of $20,500.  That translates to about $560.000 in today’s dollars. Samuel Cleage died in 1850 at age 69.

Alexander Cleage

Alexander Cleage, born in 1801, was the oldest son of Samuel and Mary Cleage.   He married Jemima Hurst in 1832 when he was 31.  She brought 4 enslaved women to the marriage.  One was my 2X great grandmother. They were named in her father Elijah Hurst’s Will.  The first census I found him was for 1840. There were 6 white family members and 4 slaves – 3 women and a boy. That is 1 less woman than the 4 that came to the marriage.

By 1850, Alexander was a bank officer.  There were 9 white family members and 31 slaves, 24 women and 7 males.  His real estate was worth $5,750.  In 1852 there was some moving around of slaves from Samuel Cleage’s estate and Alexander came into possession of 12 named slaves.  In 1857 there was a bill of sale for an unnamed slave.

In 1860, Alexander was a farmer with estate was worth $43,500 and a personal estate worth $55,000.  There were 7 family members, 52 slaves and 8 slave dwellings.  He wrote his Will that year and gave the names of the 12 slaves his wife received at her marriage and “their increase”, plus two men.  I only recognize 2 of the names as being the same as those in Elijah Hurst’s  Will.

In 1870, Alexander was a 69 year old farmer.  He owned land worth $40,000 and his personal estate was worth $20,000.  Two of his 2 children, a young man 23 and a girl 13, at home and both attended school during the past year. Everyone in the family was literate.  There are no slaves in the household, but the 16 year old live in black servant is illiterate and she has not attended school during the past year.

David Cleage

David Cleage was born in 1806 in Virginia.  I have 2 bills of sale for 3 named slave boys, ages 10, 11 and 13 for 1841 and 1842.  In 1846 David married Martha Bridgman.  She brought at least 1 enslaved girl with her, Charlotte who was about 10.

In 1850, David Cleage was 44. He was a cashier at the bank in Athens, TN.  His real estate is valued at $1,000.  He and his family are sharing a home with his parents.  He owns 32 slaves.

By 1860, the number has risen to 75 slaves living in 8 slave dwellings. He is still a cashier at the bank, real estate worth $2,000 and personal estate worth $90,000.  The household includes 5 family members and an overseer.

In 1870 David was 64,a   retired banker with real estate worth $18,700 and a personal estate worth $41,995.  All 7 people in the household are literate. The children between ages 21 and 8 attended school within the last year.

 Sources:  I used documents founds on Ancestry.com and Familysearch.com, several bills of sale that I have copies of, “The Cleage Slaves and the Bricks of History” by Joe Guy and “Botetourt County, Virginia Heritage Book – 1770-2000”

Samuel Cleage was the owner of my 2 X great grandfather, Frank Cleage. In July of 1850, Samuel Cleage was killed by Ambrose Griffith. Unfortunately the only information that I have is a very splochy xerox copy of an article from (I think) a 1850  Athenian Post.  I do not have the previous article that talks about the reason for the argument that led to the murder.  I looked for Ambrose Griffith in the 1840 and 1850 and 1860 census.  The only person by that name was a young man born in 1842 (too young to have been the murderer.)  In 1860 he was overseer for Samuel Cleage’s son, David. 

After Samuel’s death, my great grandfather, Frank ended up with Samuel’s other son, Alexander. He was mentioned in these three documents: A letter to the overseer from Samuel Cleage in 1834,  Bill of sale from David to Alexander Cleage in 1852, The Will of Alexander Cleage in 1860.

“In the last issue of our paper appeared an account of a difficulty between Samuel Cleage and Ambrose Griffith in which the former was cut and stabbed by the latter.  This occurred on the morning of the 17th June.  Sam Cleage died of his wounds the following Saturday night.  The funeral sermon was preached on the succeeding Monday by the Rev. J.H. Martin at Mars Hill Presbyterian Church, Athens of which the deceased was a member.  His friends who were with him in his last hours state that he was conscious of his dying condition and full of hope – even forgiving(?) the miserable man who’s fatal act was depriving a stricken wife and  _____  children of their natural protector. We are __________ with him ___ and_____ was regarded him as ________ Since his connection with the church which occurred seven  years ago, his walk had been consistent with _____ actions.  The widow and the ______ children ___ the ___ this afternoon that was___upon them.

It is said that Griffith remained secreted in the neighborhood until he learned that Cleage was dying and then fled the country.  We are not advised whether any steps are being taken to have him captured and brought to ______ for his crime.  This is the fourth murder committed within the last two or three years – two in this town and two in the immediate vicinity-  and in neither case has any vigorous or well directed effort been made to bring the murderer to the seat (?) of justice.  Here as elsewhere the community is horrified at such things for a day or two and then drops into stolid indifference until  startled(?) by the announcement of another bloody tragedy.  It is so all over the United States.  Punishment for crime of the higher grade is the exception and immunity the rule and the fault rests not with the officers of the law, but a demoralized and degenerate public sentiment which hunts down and sends a  petty thief to the penitentiary and lets the red handed murderer escape without an effort.”