Somerset Place

Josiah Collins I passed away #OnThisDay May 14,1819 at the age of 83.

His will stated: “To son Josiah, Jr. during his lifetime the land on Lake Phelps with all improvements. Also all the negroes, ‘upwards of one hundred in number,’ for his lifetime.”

By 1819 most of the enslaved families at Somerset Place had already formed a web of kinship that included all the enslaved people once owned by the Lake Company as well as people living on the neighboring Bonarva plantation.

When Josiah, Jr., took over Somerset, he sought to increase the number of enslaved laborers.

He forcibly sent people from properties he inherited in Chowan County and purchased others, including from the estate of Stephen Cabarrus in 1819 and John Littlejohn in 1826. Consequently, the enslaved population at Somerset grew from 117 in 1819 to 229 in 1830.

Image: ledger with slave's names.

Source for image and narrative: Somerset Place State Historic Site - North Carolina
(Somerset Plantation)