Count the Dead

The death of one man is a tragedy,” Stalin is supposed to have said. “The death of millions is a statistic.” There is value, however, in taking a statistical view, if only to reveal the depth and nature of the tragedy. CSI:D digitizes, datafies, and makes publicly available 2,444 coroners inquests taken over the course of the nineteenth century in ten South Carolina counties. The counties were chosen for a simple reason: they had the largest, most complete sets of records. In addition, the CSI:D visualization engine allows users to examine two other inquest samples, one from Virginia and one from Missouri, digitized under different auspices but datafied to the CSI:D standard.

I believe it is especially incumbent upon digital humanities projects to state very clearly at the outset not what their data does and doesn’t say but what it can and can’t say. Humanities data is almost never like scientific data, which is to say highly controlled and created in a laboratory under ideal conditions. Humanities data, especially older data, is created amid the Sturm und Drang of human life; it is highly contextualized, limited by the ends and means—what I call the ‘data conception’—of the people who created it. In later sections, I highlight what our data does say and invite users to explore alternative readings and insights; in this section, we explore what our data can say, and especially what it can’t.

In the nineteenth century South, the coroner investigated a tiny fraction of deaths. (My ‘best case’ estimate, as we’ll see, is 3%.) A woman who died on the birthing couch was so unfortunately common that the coroner would never have been called. Too often, an overseer could whip a slave to death, bury the remains, and a coroner might never have known about it. In the nineteenth-century, coroners tended to stand over bodies that could not be immediately explained or explained away: a dead woman washed up on a foreign shore, a stranger expired in the public square, a body hanging from a rafter who had no friends to cut him down. Especially early in the century coroners were the kissing-cousins of the sheriff, with all that that implies about their potential biases and priorities; coroners specialized in mortal intrusions upon the body politic—civic problems that needed to be solved. Though it pains me to put it this way, coroners were the ‘road-kill’ crew of the county bureaucracy, and it took the whole of the nineteenth century for them to (imperfectly) become what we hope they might be today, medical examiners and agents of public health. No graphic on the whole of this site, then, is more important than this one:

csid_image_cod_cot.jpg

This graphic may look like tangled spaghetti, but what we’re seeing is this: as a percentage of total inquests over time, accidents and suicides stay roughly constant; homicides and natural causes switch places. What does this mean? Were our forebears more murderous than we are, and now we live more innocent lives? No. Once, as imperfect agents of law enforcement, coroners specialized in the ‘horrible’ until gradually and unevenly they became agents of the more ‘mundane’ and typical, which is to say they became medical examiners or at least medical-examiner adjacent. A nineteenth-century inquest, then, does not correlate with death generally but with a specific kind of death—the kind the then-constituted authorities chose to investigate. CSI:D, it should be admitted at the outset, is erected on a foundation of bureaucratic bias and whim, putting me in my mind of Edgar Allan Poe’s last line as an author: “The basis on which the [entire] structure rests seems to me to be chalk.” Except that this isn’t quite true. The entire structure rests upon shifting sand, which is more or less true for any data gathering system. While I would love as a historian to look at this data and make broad claims about change over time, the data doesn’t permit it, just as it wouldn’t permit it over a long period today. The solution is always to compare apples to apples. If, as a percent of an entire decade’s sample of homicides, more homicides were committed by gun in the 1860s than in the 1840s, this is a valid claim, and one worth investigating. There is no known bias in the coroners’ system that would suddenly cause them to care, one way or the other, about the weapon-of-choice for the homicidally-inclined. This raises another important point. The earliest DH projects (Valley of the Shadow, for instance) revolutionized how we store and access information—massive archives of raw data were made searchable via the web. If the data were more available, however, they were not necessarily more digested; the mess of the past had merely been reproduced in digital form. Newer DH projects revolutionize how we collect, sift, render, layer, visualize, and analyze information. They tend not, as in cliometrics, to answer questions but to raise them, using computing technologies to find (and display) new patterns and meanings within the data that we can then subject to further qualitative analysis and study. The ethic that animates CSI:D is humility, and a determination to use imperfect data to raise interesting questions.

There are other, equally important, caveats about this data, beginning with the differences in the samples for each state:


The South Carolina Data

CSI:D datafies, which is to say categorizes and disciplines, three state datasets, each with its own origins and strengths. The South Carolina sample, funded by the ACLS and the Willson Center, is eHistory’s attempt to gather together every extant coroner’s inquest for the state over the whole of the nineteenth century. We began with the counties for which the most records survive and worked our way down. (Sherman made a particular point of decimating county courthouses, and fires and floods have done an equal amount of damage since. Even today, county records are the most deeply endangered in the historical profession, and yet they are the most historically important: Especially in the nineteenth century, most Americans lived their legal lives at the county level.) By deliberately gathering data for the whole of a century, the South Carolina sample has the peculiar advantage of balance, representing the lives (which is to say deaths) of blacks and whites, enslaved and free, over the broadest temporal spectrum. (See “Extant Historic Inquests for Nineteenth Century South Carolina” (below) for the current status of our digitization and datafication efforts.) In South Carolina all county-level records from the nineteenth century were supposed to have been sent from their county courthouses to the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. A trip to the Kershaw County Courthouse, however, proved that a small number of nineteenth-century records, including a small clutch of coroner’s inquisitions, had been missed. Could some of the records from other counties have been similarly overlooked or lost? Absolutely. Coroner’s reports can also occasionally be found inter-filed with other relevant court documents in an individual case file, collected by the court as the case proceeded to trial. Are some such inquests still lurking in SCDAH’s voluminous indictment files? Almost certainly. From a statistical perspective we can only hope that what we are missing is essentially random, leaving us a representative sample from each of our ten counties.


The Virginia Data

The Virginia Sample depends upon our partnership with the Library of Virginia's Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative, which “aims to provide greater accessibility to pre-1865 African American history and genealogy found in the rich primary sources in our holdings.” Logically, then, the Virginia data cannot be used to make racial comparisons or say something about Reconstruction—that’s not what the project was designed to do. Where the Virginia data is particularly strong, however, is in taking researchers inside the lives (and deaths) of Virginia’s antebellum black population, enslaved and free.


The Missouri Data

The Missouri data also bears the stamp of its origins in the Missouri Digital Heritage Coroner's Inquest Database, which datafied records for various Missouri counties, the City of St. Louis, and the St. Louis Medical Examiner. This last point is critical. While medical examiners and coroners often perform similar functions, the medical examiner's portfolio is usually broader, encompassing criminal justice, forensics, medical diagnostics, and public health. In practical effect, this means that a medical examiner's office casts off more records of a broader nature. St. Louis was relatively rare in having a city medical examiner in the nineteenth century, which makes the Missouri data particularly fascinating as an early example of a Southern city under the dominion of an M.E. The records are also fantastic for taking us into city life (which is to say city death), amid the fatal bustle of streetcars, steamships, trains, elevators, and early automobiles. Like the other samples, the Missouri data has its weaknesses as well; it was never encoded for enslaved status, for instance, partly because it skews so massively toward the latter end of the century. Given its volume, the Missouri data can easily overwhelm the peculiar features of the other samples.


Anatomy of an Inquest

Before treating the sample in the aggregate, we might examine the anatomy of a single inquest file to get a better feel for the information it typically does and does not contain. Virtually every inquest record has at least two documents. The first is a note from the coroner charging a magistrate near the site of the body with the task of rounding up a jury that must appear and meet the coroner at a specified time and place. Typical language would be: “These acts require you immediately on receipt ... hereof to summon and warn verbally or otherwise fourteen men of the said district to be and appear before the ... coroner of said district up the Road leading to the boat yard about the end of York Street at the edge of the town of Camden within the said district between the hours of four & five o’clock this afternoon then and there to enquire upon the view of a body of certain person there lying dead how he came to his death. Fail not herein as you will answer the contrary at your peril.”

The other standard document in an inquest file is the coroner’s “cover sheet,” which is similarly formulaic and written in legalese. The typical document records: 1) the place where the inquest was taken; 2) the date; 3) the name of the coroner; 4) the name of the deceased; 5) the names of the jurors; and 6) the finding of the jury, usually preceded by the phrase “do say upon their oaths....” (In the case at left a man considered to be deranged escaped his family’s care and died in the woods of neglect or exposure.)

In addition to these two documents, an inquest often includes the testimony of witnesses, usually dictated to the coroner himself, with the witness’s signature (or mark) at the bottom swearing to the truthfulness of the statement. Testimony from a physician (what might be called an expert witness) is also typical. It is critical to emphasize that women and slaves could and often did testify at inquests (though they were often barred from participating at any subsequent trial). Their testimony is not documented verbatim, and certainly their words and ideas come to us as distilled and edited by the coroner, but at least we have them. Very occasionally an inquest contains what might be called a ‘minority report’ in cases where a juror or jurors does not agree with the majority finding.

For most of the nineteenth century, coroner's were expected to keep duplicative records. One (loose) copy of each inquest was expected to be filed with the court and to follow any subsequent legal case through the court system. A second copy was expected to be inscribed into the coroner's inquisition book. Being bound, these are generally preferable, providing greater confidence that the record set is continuous and in tact.


Points of Comparison

As it happens, CSI:D’s South Carolina counties are predominantly in the piedmont, a region of moderately fertile clay soils that cotton cultivation devastated over the course of the nineteenth century. By comparison to the antebellum South as a whole, these CSI:D counties had relatively high concentrations of slaves. By comparison to South Carolina as a whole, however, these counties had somewhat low concentrations of slaves, with only Edgefield and Kershaw being above average for the state.

Statistical differences between the ten counties are explored in the Counties section. It should be noted at the outset, however, that the counties are more similar than they are different, especially when put into a comparative frame with the (few) other systematic studies of coroners’ reports. Sixty-six inquests survive from Plymouth, Massachusetts, for instance, spanning the years 1636 to 1684 (see below). The overwhelming majority (85%) of cases were found to be accidents. In 1661, Jeremiah Burroughs turned over in his “naughty canoo” and drowned. In 1672, John Barnes was gored by a bull, and John Richmond was run over by a cart. But in the almost fifty year span, only two people were found to have committed suicide and two were found to have been murdered, one beaten to death by his master in 1655, and the other killed by unspecified means in 1684.

Another, much larger study of the inquests conducted on Nottingham, England (see below) came to similar conclusions. Between 1828 and 1866, 86% of the deaths were found to be the result of accidents or natural causes. Burning, scalding, and “traffic accidents” accounted for most of the accidental deaths. Homicides were relatively rare, accounting for just 2% of cases.

In the CSI:D South Carolina sample, by contrast, homicides were more than ten times more likely. The discrepancy could be explained away, but only partially. Perhaps colonial coroners were less rigorous investigators, finding accidents where there were murders. Maybe Nottingham was the scene of a massive number of homicidal hit-and-runs by horse. But the more obvious conclusion, upheld by all anecdotal evidence, is that South Carolina was simply more violent. Gun-related deaths of any kind were all-but-unknown in Plymouth and Nottingham; in South Carolina men apparently shot themselves and others with an abandon that went well-beyond any conceivable margin of error. There is a danger, though, in presupposing that this simply confirms our notion of the south as an honor-bound region of gratuitous dueling and eye-gouging. There is violence of this kind aplenty, but as Acts lays bare the view from the coroner’s office is really much bleaker.

Indeed, what I have learned at a nineteenth-century southern morgue is what I ought to have deduced from the beginning—what a social worker could have told me before I started. In 1860, seventy-five percent of whites belonged to families that owned no slaves; forty percent of whites belonged to families that owned no slaves and no land, qualifying them for the label ‘poor white.’ Add to these the massive number of African Americans who were held in forced bondage and illiteracy, and our image of the Old South shifts from a land of massive slave fortunes to a land of large-scale rural poverty. Things did not particularly change in the second half of the nineteenth century. The war laid waste millions of acres of farm and forest in the South, destroyed two-thirds of Southern wealth, slaughtered two-fifths of the region’s livestock, killed a third of those who had fought and one-quarter of the South’s white males of military age. The industries and labor forms that move in after the war—debt peonage, chain gangs, sharecropping, extractive industries, over-production of cash crops steadily sinking in value—ensured that by 1935, Franklin Roosevelt would still call the South “the nation’s No. 1 economic problem.”

How do people die in such places? The don’t die in duels or dandified rituals. They drown because they are not taught to swim. They are beaten to death by underemployed fathers and husbands. They hang themselves in despair or die in suicidal escape attempts. They are malnourished and over-worked and collapse in the field. They die, in short, of the consequences of rural poverty in an exploitative, extractive economy.

NEXT: Data Visualizations

 


South Carolina Inquests in CSI:D Sample by County and Decade

County / Decade 1800s 1810s 1820s 1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s other TOTAL
Anderson 0 0 0 8 14 26 31 48 22 0 4 152
Chesterfield 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 40 60 93 309 528
Edgefield 0 0 1 1 63 102 97 25 41 185 9 515
Fairfield 0 0 0 8 14 26 31 48 22 0 4 292
Greenville 0 0 1 0 1 30 24 41 42 0 1 141
Horry 0 0 0 0 1 19 16 6 0 0 0 42
Kershaw 7 17 39 33 44 31 40 13 1 4 4 262
Laurens 15 23 20 30 15 33 35 39 55 84 0 350
Spartanburg 3 8 14 26 35 29 31 53 118 0 1 326
Union 3 19 28 41 54 41 25 0 0 0 9 216

 


Nottingham Inquests

Death Type # of Cases Explanation Category
abortion 8 died as a result of attempts to terminate a pregnancy abortion
animal accident 61 died when a horse, cow, bull, ram or dog was involved accident
balloon accident 1 died due to the falling of a balloon accident
burnt or scalded 534 died from accidental burns or scalds accident
cart accident 195 killed on the road, usually run over accident
child-birth 21 mother or child died at the time of child-birth child-birth
choking 18 accidentally died from choking, usually on food accident
coach accident 3 run over by a stage coach accident
coal-mine accident 197 died at a coal-mine, usually from a roof fall or an explosion accident
drowned 354 accidentally drowned or found drowned in a river, canal, etc. accident
exposure 37 died from exposure to the weather or lack of care and attention accident
fever 25 died from an infectious disease, e.g. cholera, typhus, etc. natural causes
field accident 41 died in a field or in the street, including struck by lightning accident
fighting 7 accidentally died in a fight fighting
found dead 38 no explanation for how death occurred unknown
gangrene or tetanus 5 died from the effects of gangrene or tetanus (lock-jaw) natural causes
haemorrhage 9 died from loss of blood natural causes
hanging 2 accidentally hung themselves accident
home/public house 65 died at home or in a public house, usually falling down stairs accident
homicide 2 accidental or justifiable homicide homicide
inflammation 6 died as a result of inflame tissues natural causes
intoxication 37 died where intoxication was the primary cause accident
manslaughter 35 died as a result of another person's activity as pronounced by the coroner--a trial would follow at the Nottingham Assizes homicide
miscarried 5 died as a result of a miscarriage child-birth
miscellaneous 6 died from eating to excess, over-exertion or by fright, etc. miscellaneous
murder, known 23 killed by a person present at the inquest--a trial would follow at the Nottingham Assizes homicide
murder, unknown 21 died as a result of an unknown person or person's activity homicide
natural 1898 died from natural causes natural causes
opiates 146 accidentally died from an overdose of a medicine containing opium accident
play accident 17 children who died whilst at play accident
poison 26 died after accidentally taking or being given a poisonous substance accident
quarry accident 8 died in a quarry usually from a fall of stone or earth accident
railway accident 55 killed on a railway accident
shooting or stabbing 19 accidentally killed by a gun, bow & arrow, or a knife accident
smothered 72 died from being accidentally smothered or suffocated accident
stillbirth 31 born dead child-birth
suicide or fel-de-se 323 by hanging, drowning, shooting, jumping or taking poison suicide
trampled 1 died as a result of being accidentally crushed in a crowd accident
well accident 19 died in a well accident
windmill accident 11 killed at a windmill, usually struck by a sail accident
workplace accident 83 died in a workplace other than a coal-mine, quarry or railway accident

Credit: Bernard V. Heathcote, Viewing the Lifeless Body: A Coroner and His Inquests Held in Nottinghamshire Public Houses During the Nineteenth Century, 1828 to 1866 (Nottingham: Technical Print Services Limited, 2006), p. 24


Plymouth Inquests

Name Year Gender Primary Cause Secondary Cause
John Deacon 1636 M exposure  
John England 1638 M drown  
Thomas Cooke 1650 M drown  
John Slocume 1651 M exposure wolves
William England 1651 M drown  
Robert Wille 1652 M drown drunk
James Glasse 1652 M drown in boat during storm
John Barker 1652 M drown  
John Browning 1652 M drown  
Thomas Bradly 1653 M seizure?  
Henery Draiton 1654 M exposure  
John Walker 1655 M beaten by master  
Thankfull Pakes 1655 F drown in well  
Richard Man 1656 M drown fall through ice
Titus Waymouth 1656 M alcohol constipation
John Phillipes 1658 M lightning  
Nathaneel West 1659 M drown fall through ice
an englishman 1659 M drown  
Mary Chase 1659 F natural causes  
James Peirse 1660 M lightning  
Jeremiah Burroughs 1661 M drown "naughty cannoo"
William Day 1661 M suicide  
Robert Allin ? ? ?  
John Bard 1661 M run over by cart  
Thiston Clark Sr. 1662 M drown fall through ice
Robert Allin 1662 M suicide  
James Wyatt 1664 M natural causes  
Rebeckah Sale 1664 F suicide  
Elizabeth Walker 1664 F drown  
Mary Totman 1666 F poison accident
Daniell Dones 1667 M drown  
Nicholas Nicarson 1667 M choking  
Timothy Poole 1667 M drown  
Robert Chapell 1667 M exposure alcohol
James Nicolls 1667 M exposure alcohol
William Pidell 1667 M exposure previous sickness
a child 1668 M exposure  
an indian 1668 M fall  
Isacke Robinson 1668 M drown  
John Paybody 1669 M tree  
John Barnes 1672 M bull goring  
daughter of Lake 1672 F drown  
Peter Trebey 1672 M drown  
John Richmond Jr. 1672 M run over by cart  
Experience Leichfeld 1673 M tripped head crushed by log
daughter of Phelpps 1673 F drown  
wife of Tayler 1673 F drown  
John Fallowell 1675 M drown suicide
Bethyah Howland Jr. 1677 F drown suicide
Micaell Walker 1677 M drown saw mill
Joseph Ellis 1676 M drown  
John Rose 1677 M exposure  
Robinson 1667 M tree  
John Merritt 1667 M fall  
child of Batson 1678 ? ?  
Thomas Totman 1678 M fasting  
Samuell Drew 1678 M drown drunk
Thomas Lucase 1679 M fall  
James Colbey 1679 M drown  
child of Hatches 1680 ? suffocated  
John During 1680 M natural causes  
William Makepeace 1681 M drown  
George May 1681 M drown  
Timothy Venor 1681 M drown  
Daniell Standlake 1684 M killed Robert Trayes
John Miller 1684 M suicide  

Credit: Jeff Norcross, The Plymouth Colony Archive Project


Sample of African American Inquests from the Library of Virginia

Name Date Status Cause of Death Details Descriptor
Unidentified November, 1728 drowning Drowned
Thomas Savage June, 1729 drowning Drowned in Cowpen Creek
Cato August 13, 1759 slave homicide Nan by force of arms did assault Cato with a knife. She gave Cato a mortal wound in the left breast, from which Cato instantly died.
Unidentified February 23, 1774 unknown drowning Accidental drowning
Kendall May 2, 1774 slave accidental injuries Lost his life by accident.
Daniel December 28, 1777 slave accidental injuries Died when he fell from a horse and was dragged half a mile due to the rope halter being tyed around his left art
Fellow October 27, 1779 slave unknown Unknown
George Innis November 14, 1780 free natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way
Jacob May 25, 1782 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
Polydore December 8, 1782 slave homicide Death was occasioned by Abram Lockett and John Claybrooks beating him with a large stick and other ill usage.
Davey April 27, 1784 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
Bob November 5, 1785 slave injuries Blow given to him half inch above his right eye, another blow near his right ear and many stripes on his body, by whom given unknown.
Jeny February 10, 1786 slave injuries Died from the whipping given her by William Tuggle.
Major March 23, 1786 slave accidental injuries, homicide Died by the explosion of a gun held by James Hubbard.
Unidentified August 12, 1786 slave unknown unknown
Marklin August 16, 1786 slave homicide Shot by Simeon Walton Jr of Nottoway County
Dick December 17, 1786 slave accidental injuries Death by accident in a scuffle with one of his fellow servants.
Ben July 7, 1787 slave drowning Drowned by accident in the Little Nottoway.
Charles Sprouse August 11, 1787 homicide Murdered by John Forsiei.
unknown February 15, 1788 slave accidental injuries Killed by a tree falling.
Emanuel July 12, 1788 slave drowning Drowned in Allans Creek.
Joe November 3, 1788 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
Unidentified May, 1789 unknown unknown, drowning Cause of death is unknown, the body being so putrified a state, but supposed him to have been accidentally drowned.
Dudder August 27, 1789 slave homicide Died from wound received in a fist fight
Gelbert October 21, 1790 slave accidental injuries Died when a tree accidentally fell on him
Dick April 10, 1791 slave homicide Murdered by Nathan Anderson by blow to the head with stick.
Moses April 19, 1792 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
Jim January 10, 1793 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
Daphney June 9, 1793 slave accidental injuries Died after being forced to eat tobacco and other treatment at the hands of slaves Patty and Abraham
Frank June 25, 1793 slave homicide Assaulted by force and armes with whips, and was given too many strokes of the whip by Robert Self, causing Frank's death
Joe July 25, 1793 slave natural causes Death by an Act of Providence.
Mourning September 12, 1793 slave homicide John B Pittman used sticks or switches to beat and wound Mourning, which caused her death.
Tom November 28, 1793 slave homicide, accidental injuries Killed by a gun fired from the hand of Peter Jones; it was an accident.
Joan December 18, 1793 slave suicide Died by strangling or hanging herself with a small cord or rope.
Lewis December 26, 1793 slave natural causes Death by an Act of Providence.
Unidentified Undated, 1793 slave drowning Drowned.
Phil September 1, 1795 slave homicide An unknown person using a certain weapon struck Phil on the right side of the head and right breast which resulted in a mortal wound.
Dilce March 8, 1796 slave homicide Died from a broken neck committed by a person unknown
Humphrey August 3, 1796 slave natural causes Died by an Act of God.
Will Undated, 1796 slave homocide came to his death be being beaten with a cowhide and fence rail negro
Charles January 17, 1797 slave homicide Death was probably occasioned by a blow on the forehead--also found several burns on his face, arms, breast, knees, and legs, also a few slight marks on his back which appear to be occasioned by a switch, the body of the above named Charles we found in the plantation of ...James Wade Jr laying on a plank near on open grave.
David May, 1797 slave unknown, homicide Cause of death not shown, but possibly murdered.
Holland November, 1797 slave unknown, homicide Cause of death not shown, but possibly murdered.
Unidentified April 28, 1798 homicide A person unknown did kill and murder the unknown mulatto by shooting from a gun or pistol a large number of shot into the back of the said unknown mulatto. mulatto
James July, 1798 slave homicide Death was occasioned from violent blows particularly with one blow to the back of the head.
Dick January, 1799 slave homicide A certain person unknown did kill and murder Dick.
Unidentified April, 1799 unknown homicide Died from being murdered by an unknown person.
Unidentified September 17, 1799 Infanticide A certain person unknown did kill and murder the infant daughter of Mary Sadler by mashing the skull in the back of the head.
Joshua Butt October, 1799 homicide Throat was cut from ear to ear by his just purchased slaves while traveling on the main road.
Harris Spears October, 1799 homicide Throat was cut from ear to ear by his just purchased slaves while traveling on the main road.
Robbin July 20, 1800 slave drowning, accidental injuries Was accidentally drowned in a river commonly called Appomattox
Obedience Creasey July 28, 1800 homicide, drowning Believed to have been forcibly drowned by Tom, a slave.
Joe Gooding December, 1800 free homicide Shot with a gun willfully, deliberately and premeditably, while lying asleep.
Dan July 13, 1801 slave homicide Jury believes that the slave Manuel did kill and knock in the head the said Phill.
Peter September, 1801 slave drowning Being alone at the mill pond voluntarily and feloniously drowned himself.
Yender November 24, 1801 homicide Murdered by repeated strokes to the head supposedly inflicted by two mulatto persons namely William Weller Taylor and George Weller Taylor
Roose January 6, 1802 slave injuries Death by severe beating by Edmund King, not having God before his eyes but by being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil.
Judy January 10, 1802 slave homicide Was killed by--Cowey, --Cowey did--struck and gave Ellick a mortal wound, of which he died. person of color
Will February 8, 1802 slave homicide Was murdered by some person unknown.
Lewes June 18, 1802 slave homicide Supposed to have been shot, but body was in such a state of putrification that jury could not proceed.
Unidentified July 5, 1802 free accidental injuries Accidentally died moments after birth
Sarah September, 1802 slave suicide Alone in a kitchen with certain leather strings which she put around her neck, tied the same so tight--as to suffocate herself and cause her own death.
Harry September, 1802 slave unknown Cause of death is unknown.
Edward Fitzpatrick November 21, 1802 homicide Death by mortal wound to the head.
Moll December 13, 1802 slave injuries The abuse heretofore received was the cause of her death, but by whom we cannot assertain.
Aberdeen March 7, 1803 slave accidental injuries Died from wounds received to both legs when a gun accidentally discharged
Dafney June 9, 1803 unknown natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
Milley June 9, 1803 slave exposure Death was occasioned by exposure to intense cold while run away on that day, and reexposure again before she had recovered from the effect of the first impression.
Peter March 27, 1804 slave drowning Falling through ice on river and drowning
King April 1, 1804 slave homicide Assault with a black oak club and blows to his head and temples by unknown person.
Richardson May 30, 1804 free alcohol, drowning Intoxicated and drowning black
Arthur Stewart June 30, 1804 free accidental injuries, drowning Crushed between boat and wharf and drowned black
Bristol July 30, 1804 slave homicide Had an affray with Ross Richardson in which he received several blows about the lower part of his belly and upon his privates which might have occasioned his death but the matter is doubtful and he was much intoxicated at the time.
Richard August 24, 1804 free alcohol, natural causes Natural death, causes unknown but known to be addicted to liquor black
Amey November 8, 1804 slave natural causes Died of a natural death.
Margaret November 22, 1804 slave natural causes Died of the infirmities of old age
Jack Robinson January 2, 1805 slave alcohol, exposure Died naturally by freezing to death in a field where he had stopped, being overcome with drink and from the severity and inclemency of the weather
John January 27, 1805 slave alcohol, exposure Died naturally, caused by drinking too much liquor and was overcome thereby, and by the inclemency of the night
Ceasar January 31, 1805 accidental injuries Died from an accidental wound on his left leg by the striking of a stump while riding in a wagon
Unidentified April 11, 1805 slave infanticide Infant was buried just under the ground with its face downwards; it appears that the infant was smothered to death with dirt, having been buried by its mother Milley, who confessed to the child's death.
Peter April 18, 1805 slave homicide "Stabbed in the stomach with a knife by Isham, a slaved owned by Emanuel Wills after a game of "five coins"
Unidentified June 4, 1805 slave natural causes Was born dead, having been delivered several months previous to the usual time of delivery.
Unidentified June 30, 1805 drowning Drowned accidentally while crossing the river
Unidentified August 3, 1805 slave natural causes Stillborn
Ellick October 14, 1805 slave homicide Was shot and killed by Colonel Richard Kennon's business manager John Clark, because large shot was in Clark's gun instead of drop shot. Emanuel ran off when he was attempted to be taken hold of. --Clark ought to be aquited and exonerated.
Rose October 17, 1805 slave homicide Died from the cruel treatment by Sarah Tucker, wife of William Tucker, from beating and administering medicene improperly and maliciously with an intent to destroy said Rose
Aron October 24, 1805 slave drowning Accidentally and by misfortune got drowned.
Charles December 19, 1805 accidental injuries Compound fracture in right leg
Old Simmon February 16, 1806 unknown drowning by the will of the almighty God had lost the principal force of his eye being on his way to his brothers from the mill and drowned black
Julius March 30, 1806 slave intoxication; drowning being in a state of intoxication and in attempting to cross the Rivanna river in a batteux being then and there alone fell out of said batteux by accident and was then and there casually drowned negro
Charles April 21, 1806 slave natural causes Died of a natural death.
Nanny April 21, 1806 slave homicide Killed by Fras. Houchins, Polly Houchins, and Sally Houchins with a stick or sword to the head.
Bob July 14, 1806 slave homicide Was murdered by the slave Hal, property of David Walker of Mecklenburg County. Said Hal confessed to the murder.
Amey September 25, 1806 slave homicide, drowning A negro woman named Molley the property of Peter Johnson did feloniously murder the aforesaid Amey by drowning, suffocating or otherwise.
Peter October 13, 1806 slave drowning While attempting to cross the middle of Blue Stone Creek at Susanna Burtons Mill, she fell into the mill pond and drowned.
Unidentified November 13, 1806 slave infanticide Died from want of proper attention at the time of its delivery and also from want of proper assistance through the neglect of Sarah, its mother.
Arthur November 30, 1806 slave homicide stabbed to the forehead by a spade
Fillis January 10, 1807 slave natural causes Found dead; died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
Tom April 4, 1807 slave suicide, drowning The said Tom not having God before his eyes but being seduced and moved by the instigation of the devil, at the bank of the Appomattox River--then and there being alone in the said river himself voluntarily and feloniously drowned.
Billy Still April 17, 1807 slave inconclusive Unknown causes
Cuatia May 11, 1807 unknown drowning drowned black
Unidentified May 17, 1807 unknown natural causes Died of a visitation of God in a natural way.
Nathan May 29, 1807 slave accidental injuries Death by a hurt he got from a seat bench of a lighter at the draw bridge of the southern branch of Elizabeth River.
Unidentified July 6, 1807 drowning Accidental drowning black
George Butler July 24, 1807 drowning Drowning black
Unidentified August 17, 1807 inconclusive Cause of death unknown due to the state of the body person of color
Jane Murrey August 18, 1807 slave suicide Suicide by drowning black
Patt August, 1807 slave unknown Cause of death is unknown: she was found dead with no marks of violence appearing on her body.
Bob November 8, 1807 slave alcohol, drowning Intoxicated and strangled in a gully full of water
Derny November 18, 1807 unknown exposure being far advanced in old age and letting down to rest himself and the weather being very cold chilled him so that he died before any relief came to him black
Unidentified January 21, 1808 slave Infanticide Hannah, mother of the newly delivered child, strangled the baby and broke its neck. She then concealed the body in some brush.
Henny January 24, 1808 slave suicide Suicide by hanging
James April 20, 1808 slave accidental injuries Burned to death from his clothing catching fire, when he made a fire near the side of the road by which to lye
Bob June 7, 1808 slave natural causes Died a natural death.
William Whittenton August 25, 1808 homicide Killed by being struck in the head and stomach with a club by slave Flora, the property of Nathaniel Jackson
Bob September, 1808 slave unknown, injuries Cause of death cannot be discovered, but we are of the opinion from the limberness of her neck that it is broke, but by whom we cannot say.
Jacob December, 1808 free suicide Hung himself with a cord around his neck, and tied to a joist.
Isaac January 11, 1809 slave drowning drowned by falling in the creek black
Cloe March 10, 1809 slave accidental injuries Death by an accident in an affray with a negroe woman named Clarisa.
Alexander June 3, 1809 slave homicide Death by blow to the side of the head with a board inflicted by John Thompson, who against his will and therefore casually and by misfortune did kill
Unidentified June 28, 1809 slave infanticide Mother Patty, struck the child's skull with a stone and did break and pierce so as to occasion its death
Vainey July, 1809 slave homicide Was shot by some unknown person.
Peter August 10, 1809 slave accidental injuries, natural causes Came to his death by his own imprudent act by falling on his head upon a rock, as he was walking down a decent; or by the visitation of God by his having a fit.
Joe Jackson November 13, 1809 slave alcohol, drowning Intoxication and drowning
Peg February 24, 1810 slave natural causes died by the visitation of God in a natural way
Sam April 3, 1810 slave homicide Some unknown person murdered the said Sam by sundry blows upon his head which we suppose were the cause of his death.
Marsha May 7, 1810 homicide Was killed and murdered by an unknown person
Unidentified Pope May, 1810 homicide Feloniously murdered by choking to death, by his own mother, Marion Pope, wife of John Pope. mulatto
Joe September 30, 1810 slave homicide Died from a mortal blow received about the body by the overseer in self defense
David Gray October 25, 1810 free natural causes Died by a visitation of God in a natural way person of color
Cloe October 28, 1810 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
Phill November 2, 1810 slave homicide James Campbell -- did feloniously and with malice aforethought by excessive driving cause the death of the slave Dan, who suddenly died upon his arrival at this place.
George George February 9, 1811 free natural causes was going across or in a creek called Wallops Creek in search of some game that he--had just before killed and by the act of providence was attacked with a fit which fit we believe was the occasion of his death black
Ned February 23, 1811 slave natural causes died by the visitation of God in a natural way
Unidentified March 25, 1811 drowning Accidental drowning black
Jacob April 12, 1811 slave drowning; alcohol accidentally drowned while drunk black
Peggy Berry April 13, 1811 free natural causes fainted or was seized or taken with some kind of fit which we suppose was the occasion of her death black
John Holt June 20, 1811 free alcohol, drowning Intoxication and accidental drowning person of color
Unidentified September 9, 1811 slave unknown There is no testamoney to the jury on how or in what manner the infant came to its death, or was born alive.
Eliza September 14, 1811 slave drowning Accidental drowning after running away
Daniel September 19, 1811 slave accidental injuries Died from a fall off of a horse
John Gibbon February 10, 1812 homicide died from being choked and strangled at the hands of George, a black man slave
Peter February 25, 1812 slave homicide Death by a blow to the head with a stick resulting from an altercation with slave Jack owned by William Taylor
Jeff April 3, 1812 slave suicide killed himself by using a bridle to hang himself by the neck from an oak tree
Guy April 5, 1812 unknown exposure was attempting to cross the Pocomoke River and by the badness of the weather and the severity of the cold that he got numbed in such a manner that he became helpless--was frozen and died black
Unidentified April 7, 1812 inconclusive Cause of death unknown due to the putrification of the body
Jain April 19, 1812 slave drowning Drowned.
Jane Banks May 11, 1812 free alcohol, drowning Intoxication and accidental drowning black
Phill May 27, 1812 slave natural causes Death by visitation of God.
Lucy June 8, 1812 slave homicide In protest of original ruling, upon mature deliberation of our inquiry we are of opinion that we have made an improper return and are now induced to believe that the abuse which the said Lucy received was the means of her death.
Tilbury June 9, 1812 drowning Accidental drowning black
George June 9, 1812 drowning Drowning black
Unidentified June 27, 1812 free drowning Accidental drowning black
Brutus June, 1812 slave suicide Suicide by hanging
Jack July 7, 1812 slave homicide Jack assaulted an unknown person who then shot him in the back with a gun
Edward Teague July 9, 1812 free drowning; alcohol was drunken or so much intoxicated in spiritous liquors that he had not his reason--he was going down Jenkins Creek in a lighter loaded with corn--without any cause as we understand he jumped overboard and was drowned black
James July 27, 1812 slave homicide killed by Allen, a black slave, by the striking of James' head with an iron hoe
Solomon August 4, 1812 slave inconclusive Jury was unable to locate the body
Will August 4, 1812 slave drowning Died by accidental drowning
Dalpney August 5, 1812 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way
George August 18, 1812 unknown drowning was trying or attempting to cross a cut or a small prong that makes out of Back Creek and not being able to get over it or got in to some hole out of his depth and so was drowned black
Charles September 10, 1812 slave suicide Voluntarily and feloniously with malice aforethought did kill, strangle and murder himself, by putting a grape vine around his neck and the other end of the vine tied about a dogwood tree limb.
Wilkes October 8, 1812 drowning Accidental drowning black
Jenny November 1, 1812 slave homicide died from blows received in a whipping administered feloniously by Benjamin Taylor
Gold November 12, 1812 slave homicide Died from a gun shot wound upon the left thigh, fired by the hands of some person unknown.
Anaka November 16, 1812 natural causes Died by the visitation of God, in a natural way, and not otherwise.
Robin Scott December 16, 1812 free natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way free person of color
Ellick February 25, 1813 slave exposure died by the visitation of God in a natural way, by freezing to death
Darcus February 26, 1813 slave drowning Accidental drowning
Phill March 2, 1813 slave homicide killed by the sticking, stabbing, wounding, thrusting and penetrating with a knife in the belly. Knife was in the hands of slave Rose.
Sam March 18, 1813 unknown homicide A certain person unknown, did kill and murder the said Sam.
Charles April 3, 1813 slave drowning Accidental drowning due to sloop capsizing black
Charly April 20, 1813 slave homicide Died from being shot with a musket ball through the right shoulder by John Cuffery (free black).
Jordan April 21, 1813 slave homicide Died from wounds inflicted upon his back from whippings or beatings
Ellick May 13, 1813 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
Amos May 16, 1813 slave homicide Struck in the head with a stone in the hands of Simeon Robertson.
Mirrus May 17, 1813 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God, in a natural way, and not otherwise.
Edmund May 19, 1813 slave drowning came to his death by being drowned in a creek black
Bob June 8, 1813 slave homicide Isam a negroe man slave the property of Josiah Perkinson--not having God before his eyes but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil, struck Bob on the head with a stick and inflicted a mortal wound.
Minga July, 1813 slave homicide Shot to death by Spratly Holt.
Unidentified Vines November, 1813 free homicide, infanticide Choked to death at the hands of its mother, Milly Vines.
Amey Adams December 8, 1813 homicide Feloniously killed and murdered by boy slave named Matt, property of John A Anthony.
Dubling January 11, 1814 slave exposure died of cold and not otherwise black
Tom January 14, 1814 slave homicide Must have been murdered by some unknown person from number of blows on his face, and his neck entirely broken from the stroke of some unlawful weapon.
Unidentified January 17, 1814 slave alcohol, exposure Died from drinking an over quantity of spiritous liquor and he froze to death.
Frances February 15, 1814 slave natural causes died by the visitation of God and in a natural way
Nancy March 24, 1814 homicide Assaulted by Samuel Farley with weapons unknown in and upon her head and body. She died from these wounds.
John Smith April 14, 1814 homicide Died from a broken skull from an assault by Tom, his slave, with a grubbing hoe.
Revel George May 20, 1814 free drowning was on board a small canoe with two other men in Folly Creek--turned over whereby the said Revel George was drowned by accident black
Unidentified July 29, 1814 natural causes Stillborn
Sally Whitehurst August 23, 1814 accidental injuries, drowning Death was accidental by an Act of God, drowned after gust of wind upset boat. mulatto
Unidentified August, 1814 unknown natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
Bob September 5, 1814 slave exposure Died from fatigue by traveling in the heat of the day and by drinking water being at the same time over heated
Mich September 8, 1814 drowning Accidentally drowned when he fell from his boat into the James River
Bob September 22, 1814 slave homicide Lewis Clark with a gun made of iron and steel--loaded with gun powder and lead did shoot in the right side of his belly of the said negro Bob.
Unidentified October 3, 1814 drowning Died by the visitation of God, by accidental drowning
Unidentified October 6, 1814 drowning Accidental drowning black
Abby November 18, 1814 slave injuries The abuse heretofore received was the cause of her death, but by whom we cannot assertain.
Samuel Dover November 19, 1814 alcohol, exposure Drunkenness and exposure to inclemency of the weather person of color
Billy December 21, 1814 slave drowning Drowned in attempting to cross Blue Stone Creek.
Unidentified January 5, 1815 slave exposure Frozen to death in a stockyard black
Tom January 18, 1815 slave homicide Death was facilitated and happened sooner in consequence of being beaten with a cow hide by James Satterwhite
Onisimmious February, 1815 slave homicide Died from gun shot wound to the back inflictd by Typpe L Charles.
Charles March 10, 1815 slave natural causes died by the visitation of God and not otherwise black
Unidentified March 19, 1815 unknown drowning voluntarily and feloniously drowned black
Agga March, 1815 unknown unknown Died an unnatural death, but by what means we cannot say since she has been dead two or three weeks.
Harry April 3, 1815 homicide Shot in the back and killed by a gun shot in the hands of Archebard Johnston
Unidentified June 16, 1815 free homicide Being delivered thereof and bruises apparent on it, was willfully and feloniously murdered.
Lewis Cousins June 18, 1815 unknown injuries Died from a severe whipping and beating that he received. person of color
Tom June 20, 1815 slave homicide Frances Powell then and there with switches or a cowhide did wound and beat the aforesaid negro man Tom and of such wounds and beating the aforesaid negro man Tom died.
Aaron September 18, 1815 slave homicide Stabbed by his wife Betty, after beating her. Witnesses state she had previously sworn that if Aaron ever laid a hand on her she would kill him.
Dick September, 1815 slave homicide came to his death by violent and unlawful means--beaten, cut, bruised in an unlawful and unmerciful manner--the said Sterling Harwell striked, beat, and abuse the said Dick on and about the head--so that Dick came to his death in consequence of the said wounds, blows, stripes, and bruises.
Isaac October 1, 1815 free drowning was drowned in the creek black
David Scott October 30, 1815 free homicide Shot by a gun by either Stephen Baranzzino or Johnathan Piercy person of color
Rhody Lawrence November 10, 1815 free homicide Violence committed on her body by Joseph Bird person of color
Henry December 20, 1815 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
Natt Herring January 3, 1816 free homicide Joe, a slave of Allen Fulgham, struck Herring on the neck with a stick
Jack January 6, 1816 slave natural caues Died by the visitation of God.
Billy Perry January 15, 1816 free exposure Froze to death.
Hardy January 25, 1816 slave homicide Whipped, beat, and bruised by paddel in the hands of Asa Craddock.
Will January 25, 1816 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God.
Tom February 8, 1816 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way, while being committed to jail for a felony.
Egyp March 3, 1816 slave natural causes died by the hand of providence black
Robin March 26, 1816 free natural causes died by the visitation of God black
Jerome March 29, 1816 slave drowning voluntarily and feloniously drowned black
Sarah April 24, 1816 slave homicide Died from two whippings given her by Stephen Redman.
Ben June, 1816 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
Wilson August 21, 1816 slave homicide Killed by a fractured skull inflicted by Bob, a slave and property of William Stratton
Tom September 26, 1816 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God.
Harrison October, 1816 slave suicide Suicide by hanging
Goshen Watson December 7, 1816 free homicide killed by gun shot to the back of the head by William Goodrich person of color
Billy December 13, 1816 free exposure, alcohol Died from exceedingly cold weather due to his state of intoxication
Daniel January 15, 1817 slave drowning Drowned in Mecraws creek
Moses May 8, 1817 slave homicide James Andrews, age 10 or 11, casually and by misfortune did kill and slay the negro boy Moses by discharge of gunpowder and shot in upon the throat of the said negro.
Jim May, 1817 slave alcohol, drowning Died while attempting to ride across Seacock Swamp, being intoxicated did fall into said swamp and drowned.
Andrew June 25, 1817 slave homicide Murdered by whipping and abuse committed by Pleasants Clarke.
Unidentified June 25, 1817 slave unknown Unable to determine that the said child ws murdered. There was no appearance of violence on the body.
John S Pennington August 31, 1817 homicide murdered with a shot gun blast to his breast, by an unknown negro man
Henry W Wells September 1, 1817 homicide Struck in the head with a wooden pestle by Tom, a slave
Caleb October 23, 1817 slave drowning Either drowned by accident or willfully drowned himself.
Peter October 23, 1817 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God.
Dick Edwards December 1, 1817 free drowning Voluntarily went in the river and was accidentally drowned
Peggy Undated, 1817 slave natural causes Died a natural death, or died by an Act of Providence.
Joseph January, 1818 slave accidental injuries Died apparently from a kick to the belly in a boxing match.
Bob February 18, 1818 slave exposure, alcohol Died by intoxication and freezing to death
Unidentified February 18, 1818 slave exposure, alcohol Died by intoxication and extreme cold
Unidentified March 17, 1818 unknown drowning Death by accidental drowning. black
Aggy March 23, 1818 slave drowning Fell into a creek and drowned while trying to cross the creek on a log.
Henry D Carver May 18, 1818 homicide Struck in the head with a swingletree and cudgel by George, a slave.
Unidentified June 4, 1818 drowning Died by accidental drowning in the James River black
Charlotte June 6, 1818 slave injuries After taking the body of Charlotte out of the grave, found her head, body and legs very much bruised, and of opinion the wounds were the cause of her death.
Levi June 8, 1818 slave drowning died by being drowned in the waters of the Atlantic near Chincoteague Inlet black
Isaac Pew July 12, 1818 free drowning Death by accidental drowning. person of color
Jerry July 20, 1818 slave accidental injuries, homicide Died from being unintentionally thrown upon a seythe blade by Isham.
Sampson July 26, 1818 slave suicide wounds himself willfull black
Jack July, 1818 slave unknown Due to the state of putrification of the body, cause of death can not be determined.
Burwell October 7, 1818 slave accidental injuries died from wound on the upper part of right knee, occasioned we suppose from an accident
Adkin December 24, 1818 slave accidental injuries In the act of cutting a tree the said tree in falling struck against another tree and a limb was thereby broken and thrown back and fell upon said Adkin which gave him one mortal wound on the head.
John Noble December 24, 1818 homicide Struck with unknown weapon in the hands of the slave Davy, property of the late John Noble, caused a mortal wound upon John Noble's skull bone.
Hannibal February 15, 1819 slave alcohol Found dead--no marks of violence appearing on his body and died by intoxication and not otherwise.
John February 15, 1819 slave natural causes Had no marks of violence appearing on his body and died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
Mingo February 19, 1819 unknown homicide Murdered by an unknown person who shot him as they traveled from the county jail to Richmond.
Adam February 27, 1819 slave natural caues Died by the visitation of God.
Unidentified February 27, 1819 accidental injuries The death was through the carlessness of its mother and was smothered in the night or morning with out any design or intention mulatto
Unidentified May 27, 1819 drowning Death by accidental drowning.
Jack June 15, 1819 slave drowning Death by accidental drowning.
Soloman Jones July 3, 1819 free homicide Died from being whipped and burned in a most horrid and shocking manner by Thomas Lawther. Lawther was moved and seduced by the instigation of the Devil. The deceased died at the Deep Run Coal pits person of color
Unidentified July 4, 1819 unknown drowning Death by accidental drowning.
Ceasar July 7, 1819 unknown drowning Death by accidental drowning.
Jonas August 4, 1819 slave drowning, suicide Drowned himself in the North River.
Samuel Coy September 16, 1819 free accidental injuries Died by accident
James Hunter September 18, 1819 homicide Assaulted by person unknown, supposed to be a coloured man named Jerry who made many mortal wounds and left his body terribly mangled
Nancy Major October 5, 1819 free homicide Death was occasioned by severe beatings she received from her husband, a negro man slave named John, owned by Thomas Cowls person of color
Edward Nixon November 15, 1819 homicide Came to his death by being beaten with a large fence rail or piece of timber--on the right arm and on the forehead and his skull broken by the hands of--Sam, property of Arthur Butt.
Joe January 3, 1820 slave homicide Died from being stabbed with a knife by John, a slave belonging to the Estate of John Butts.
Davey January 13, 1820 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God, in a natural way.
Isaac January 17, 1820 slave homicide Struck with pipe or some other weapon by Robbin.
William Woodram February 9, 1820 homicide Died from a mortal wound to his head by a stick, in the hands of the slave Jordan, owned by Thomas Taylor, deceased most likely a white man
Davy February 19, 1820 unknown natural causes Came to his death by the visitation of Providence.
James Cook February 21, 1820 free natural causes Died in a natural way by the visitation of God.
Ben March 6, 1820 slave inconclusive Cause of death unknown, body found in mill pond
Unidentified March 11, 1820 homicide Murdered by a wound in the head and severe grip around the neck.
Unidentified March 11, 1820 homicide Murdered by mortal wounds to the head and neck.
Jerry April 16, 1820 unknown drowning Death by accidental drowning.
Lew April 30, 1820 slave natural causes died by the visitation of God in an natural way
Lucy May 15, 1820 slave homicide Some person unknown--did feloniously, volentarily and of malice forethought made an assault--with some unlawful weapons inflicting multiple wounds of which Lucy died.
Jim June 5, 1820 slave accidental injuries Died when a bank of earth fell on him while he was digging gravel
Ned June 15, 1820 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way
Luke July, 1820 slave homicide Was shot in the back with a shot gun in the hands of George Sturdevant.
James August 12, 1820 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned by falling into the river.
Unidentified August 21, 1820 unknown homicide Killed by Nicholas P Hairston, who testified that he acted in self defense.
Moses September 21, 1820 slave drowning Accidentally drowned.
Fed October 16, 1820 slave natural causes death from the visitation of God
Betsey Turner November, 1820 free accidental injuries Died of burns received in a house fire. person of color
Larn Rann December 4, 1820 free homicide Was stabbed to death with a jack leg knife by Allen Blythe. person of color
Sukey December 21, 1820 slave homicide Died from assault, mortal wounds, and bruises to the head and body by Anderson Blanton and Elizabeth Blanton
Unidentified December 24, 1820 natural causes Visitation of providence
Venus January 7, 1821 slave injuries Was not killed by violence, but the severe treatment she received from Frances Bashaw hastened her death.
Ben January 12, 1821 slave homicide Shot in the back and killed by William Claud Jr.
Unidentified January, 1821 slave infanticide Violence by mother named Nancy
Edmund January, 1821 slave homicide Blows and bruises inflicted by Randall, a stage driver
Unidentified February 16, 1821 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned.
Peter March 15, 1821 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way
Unidentified June 30, 1821 drowning Accidental drowning black
Unidentified September 6, 1821 unknown drowning The body was in such a state of putrefaction and so disfigured by birds or fish as to render it impossible for this jury to say whether or not any violence had been used toward it; therefore the jury is compelled to suppose that the body was accidentally drowned.
Peter September 8, 1821 slave accidental injuries Died of an accidental death; falling of a tree limb caused his death
Daniel September 16, 1821 accidental injuries By accident
Isham October 18, 1821 slave suicide Died by his own imprudent act by hanging himself by the neck, while a prisoner in the jail.
Davy October, 1821 slave drowning While attempting to cross the Nottoway River in a canoe he fell overboard and drowned.
Jane Hunt December 15, 1821 homicide Killed with an ax by the slave Henry, property of James Hunt.
Lilly Ann Hunt December 15, 1821 homicide Killed with an ax by the slave Henry, property of James Hunt.
Obedience Hunt December 15, 1821 homicide Killed with an ax by the slave Henry, property of James Hunt.
Moses Reid January 7, 1822 unknown exposure Perished from intense cold during the late severe snowstorm. black
Garland Harris January 13, 1822 free homicide Shot in the head by Spencer, property of __ Saunders of Franklin County, for taking Spencer's wife. person of color
Barnett March 18, 1822 slave alcohol, exposure Died from an intemperate use of intoxicating spirits and subsequent exposure to the severity of the weather.
Lewis March, 1822 slave homicide Was killed by the blow of an axe across the left side of his head, at the hands of John Harriss' slave Tom.
Isaac April 4, 1822 slave homicide Killed by the blow from an axe by which the skull was broken by a slave named George, belonging to heirs of Richard Adeon.
Jesse May 8, 1822 slave drowning Drowning
John May 13, 1822 accidental injuries Accidentally falling and being caught in plaister mill cog wheel and wallower
Epes Allen May 13, 1822 free natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way. person of color
Mary May 18, 1822 slave accidental injury while Mary was amusing herself with a gun--did receive by the accidental discharge of the said gun--in her forehead black
Susan May 23, 1822 suicide Willfully jumping into the Potomac
Unidentified May 30, 1822 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned.
Hampton June 10, 1822 slave suicide Struck himself with a rasor across his throat, inflicting one mortal wound.
Carper June 17, 1822 slave unknown Died from some unknown cause other than the flagellataion recently received from his master.
Parker June 30, 1822 slave drowning died by being drowned black
Daniel July 24, 1822 slave drowning Accidental drowning
Ellick July, 1822 slave natural causes Visitation of God in a natural way
Judea July, 1822 slave suicide Suicide by drowning
Priscy Turner July, 1822 free homicide Was beaten with whips and sticks in the hands of Edwin Croslin, Lemuel Daughtrey, Matthew Gardner and Solomon Daughtrey Jr. person of color
Edy August 6, 1822 slave homicide Feloniously killed and murdered by Plato
, property of William Millnor. mulatto
Affrica August 15, 1822 slave homicide Killed by a gun shot inflicted by John R Rays, who was acting in self defense. black
Johnathan Carroll September 4, 1822 homicide Loaded gun being discharged at him by a negro boy named Forrester
Unidentified November 14, 1822 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned.
Daniel November 19, 1822 slave homicide, injuries Was--assaulted by the striking and beating about the head by William Coleman.
Rose December 11, 1822 slave natural causes Died a natural death.
Amy December 26, 1822 slave suicide Suicide by drowning in Appomattox River.
Briscoe January 6, 1823 slave exposure Died from the want of assistance person of color
Israel January 12, 1823 unknown exposure died by being frozen black
Davy Cooper January 16, 1823 slave exposure, alcohol Died by making too free use of spiritous liquors, and lying out until he freezed to death
Sam January, 1823 slave natural causes Died a natural death.
Lucy February 10, 1823 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God.
Claiborn March 4, 1823 slave homicide Was shot and murdered by Thomas Mason.
Peter Dokey March 9, 1823 free drowning died by being drowned and suffocating in water black
Unidentified March 29, 1823 drowning Died by accidental drowning
Bob April 14, 1823 slave homicide Died from the wounds he received on his head, inflicted by the hands of the negro slave Scott.
Billy Branch April 19, 1823 slave drowning Killed by an accidental fall from the bank of the James River Canal, while engaged in a scuffle or fight with a slave named Shadrach
Juda April 23, 1823 slave inconclusive death by non-violence
Peter May 21, 1823 slave drowning Went to fish in Appomattox River, had a fit, fell into the river and was drowned
Philip May 21, 1823 slave homicide Feloniously killed and murdered by an unknown person with a shot to the forehead from a pistol.
Phil June 16, 1823 slave suicide Hung himself from the limb of a pine tree using a grape vine.
Anthony June 23, 1823 slave drowning Died by accidental drowning.
Nat July 9, 1823 slave homicide Maliciously and feloniously killed and murdered by some person or persons unknown.
Nelson July 10, 1823 slave drowning Accidentally fell out of a raft and was drowned.
Nelly August 1, 1823 slave injuries Died in consequence of the severity of whipping inflicted on her by George Halson and others acting in pursuance of the master's orders.
Edmund August 13, 1823 slave accidental injuries accidentally shot by slave named Ephraim, also owned by Hicks
Unidentified January 5, 1824 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of Providence
Polima January 19, 1824 slave injuries Died from severe, unmerciful and inhuman treatment and wounds inflicted by her owner, William T Fletcher.
Unidentified February 2, 1824 inconclusive Died by some causality unknown to the jury
Joe February 23, 1824 slave exposure Died by stragling off and freezing to death.
John Epps March 8, 1824 free homicide Was murdered by John W G Hardy by assaulting Epps on the left part of his head near the left eye with a wooden hame with an iron ring and staple therein. person of color
Unidentified April 2, 1824 unknown drowning Died from being drowned. Was in the water so long and is so mutilated, jury cannot account for his death otherwise than by supposing he was drowned.
Scipio April 12, 1824 slave drowning While attempting to cross Thomas Coleman's Mill Pond, Scipio was carried over the mill dam and was drowned.
Alice June 14, 1824 slave unknown Cause of death is not shown.
Unidentified June 22, 1824 unknown homicide Feloniously killed and murdered by her mother, Anna Jenkins, alias Anna Martin.
Eleanor Harris June 24, 1824 suicide Voluntarily drowned person of color
Nancy July 23, 1824 slave drowning, homicide Was drowned using force and violence by her mother Milley in Cub Creek.
Ceasar July 26, 1824 slave natural causes died by the visitation of God in a natural way
Jim July 27, 1824 slave accidental injuries Death is assumed to be from overheating himself and then drinking too much cold water.
Frank July, 1824 slave accidental injuries Died from a blow to his head by Cyrus Parkus without an intention to kill.
Unidentified August 5, 1824 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned. black
Jim August 21, 1824 slave drowning Was scuffling with the slave John, belonging to Holley Welch, when they fell overboard and dJim was accidentally drowned.
Henchey September 20, 1824 unknown natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
Nehemiah November 28, 1824 unknown natural causes died by the visitation of God black
Israel Askins Jr December 25, 1824 homicide Discharge of wadding from a loaded gun without shot by William Roper, a boy of color
Sam January 3, 1825 slave accidental injuries Accidentally fell from a tree
Celia January 10, 1825 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God.
Charlotte February 2, 1825 unknown exposure Perished from violent cold and fatigue, having lost her way traveling in a very severe snow storm.
Joe February 8, 1825 unknown exposure Perished from fatigue and cold traveling during a violent snow storm.
Phill February 24, 1825 slave homicide Hilliard Johnson (a free man of color) then and there violently struck and gave to the said Phill a blow in and upon the forehead producing a mortal wound.
Mourning Browne February, 1825 free homicide Killed by Benjamin Brown, a free negro, with a stick or club struck her head. person of color
Nancy March, 1825 slave exposure death from freezing in the late snow storm
Lucy May 2, 1825 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way
Sylvia May 30, 1825 slave suicide died from cutting her own throat
Abram Logan July 21, 1825 free drowning Accidently drowned in John Aston's mill pond free person of color
Frank July 28, 1825 slave homicide Struck and pierced with stone or some other weapon in the hands of Sencer Chandler.
Larkin July, 1825 slave drowning Drowned when he accidentally fell into the well.
Charles September 16, 1825 slave drowning Accidental drowning
Jack October 1, 1825 slave homicide shot six times on his left side with a gun by a person or persons unknown
George October 17, 1825 slave unknown, drowning Cause of death is unknown due to the state of putrification of the body; may have drowned.
Taff November 22, 1825 slave drowning Accidently fell out of a boat and drowned in the James River
Allen November 29, 1825 slave natural causes died by the visitation of God
Cyrus December 2, 1825 slave drowning Drowned
Nelley December 9, 1825 slave unknown illness died from an unknown cause
Lettice December 14, 1825 slave exposure, natural causes Died from excessive cold or in a fit.
Unidentified December 19, 1825 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned.
Dave December 22, 1825 slave unknown illness died from unknown causes
Katy December 26, 1825 slave natural causes Died by sudden visitation of Providence.
Argyle January 3, 1826 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of Providence.
Freeman January 9, 1826 slave homicide Was murdered by the slave Anthony by the shooting of a gun loaded with large shot into the body of said Freeman.
Unidentified March 8, 1826 drowning Died by accidental drowning in the James River
Allen Drury March 14, 1826 free exposure, alcohol Being overcome by intoxication, did remain exposed to the inclemency of the night and thereby came to his death. person of color
Unidentified April 2, 1826 natural causes Died a natural death black
Charles White April 9, 1826 slave drowning Died by drowning when he fell from his boat while fishing in the James River
Richard White April 17, 1826 free natural causes Died by the visitation of God, in a natural way, and not otherwise. person of color
Richmond June 11, 1826 slave drowning Death by providential visitation which resulted in drowning by either having been strangled with the water or having been seized with a sudden spasm
Unidentified June 22, 1826 drowning Died by accidental drowning in the James River
Adam June 27, 1826 slave drowning Drowned while bathing in the creek.
Unidentified September 26, 1826 unknown natural causes Probable death caused by being stillborn. negro or mulatto
Unidentified October 28, 1826 slave drowning, infanticide Drowned, but not able to determine if it was still born or murdered after its birth by the mother.
Chelce November 8, 1826 slave homicide Killed by the slave Fagan, with a wooden mall struck and broke the skull of Chelce.
Henry November 21, 1826 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
John November 23, 1826 slave homicide Death was produced by a blow on the right side of his head just behind his ear with some other small signs on the head.
Sally Shields November 26, 1826 homicide Was stabbed in the throat and neck by her slave, Nelly.
Henry December 11, 1826 slave homicide Was killed by Hall with an axe to the head.
Unidentified January 24, 1827 slave natural causes Death during the birth process.
Elsey February 12, 1827 slave exposure Believed she froze to death.
Unidentified April 7, 1827 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned.
John Hamlin April 9, 1827 homicide Was violently assaulted, choaked and suffocated to death by his own slaves; the said slaves further did burn the body of John Hamlin to ashes with fire, scattered the bones and ashes and partially concealed the same by ploughing over the bones and ashes, and the heart of John Hamlin was found.
Bob May 14, 1827 slave homicide Was feloniously killed and murdered by the slave names Nelson, by using a bar to strike two mortal blows to the head of Bob.
Caesar May 28, 1827 slave natural causes, accidental injuries died by the visitation of God, or by a fall from a tree
Sinah June 11, 1827 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
Unidentified June 25, 1827 unknown unknown, natural causes Child was born dead, cause of death is unknown. person of color
George July 15, 1827 slave drowning Drowned when John Edmonds upset the canoe.
Isaac Reed July 19, 1827 free homicide Died from acts of violence against his body committed by William Grace, Samuel H Whipple and David Henderson, whipped and hung by rope person of color
Billy July 19, 1827 slave homicide
James L Hill August 4, 1827 homicide Died by several blows to the right side of head inflicted by Jerry Brefrie.
Phill August 29, 1827 slave homicide Killed by Benjamin A Harrison by being shot in the left side of his back with a shot gun.
Cooper September 6, 1827 slave drowning Drowned while running away.
Wiche September 6, 1827 slave drowning Drowned while running away.
Unidentified September 13, 1827 slave inconclusive Death from unknown causes but jury believed death was caused by some improper conduct of its mother Airy who buried the infant in a secret manner. The jury found it equally probable that the infant's death was caused by Airy's fall down some stairs a few days before birth
George Robinson October 2, 1827 slave drowning Died by drowning when he accidentally fell overboard from a boat in the James River
Will Wiggins October 4, 1827 free natural causes Died by the visitation of God.
Unidentified November 18, 1827 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned. person of color
John November 19, 1827 slave exposure, alcohol Died by intemperance, in having been intoxicated and the night being a cold one
Elbert Mosby December 20, 1827 homicide Died from an assault with a knife, pistols, and club by Robert Mendum and Harry
Unidentified January 9, 1828 drowning Died by accidental drowning in the James River
Anne January 14, 1828 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God.
Abraham March 4, 1828 slave suicide Being moved and seduced by the instigation of the Devil, died when he hung himself with a rope by the neck from a dogwood tree
Unidentified April 5, 1828 infanticide Drowned in a well after birth by persons unknown mulatto
John April 12, 1828 unknown natural causes Died by the visitation of God.
Natt Ash April 27, 1828 free homicide Murdered by being cruelly and inhumanely beaten or stabbed by four colored persons unknown.
Shadrac James June 18, 1828 accidental injuries Died when a brick chimney blew down in a rain and wind storm and caught him under it person of color
Edmund June 30, 1828 slave drowning accidentally drowned black
John June 30, 1828 slave drowning accidentally drowned black
Levin June 30, 1828 slave drowning accidentally drowned black
Mark July 5, 1828 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned.
James July 15, 1828 slave drowning Death came by being alarmed by information of there being patroling at or near Nelson Ferry on Staunton River, he ran off to the river attempting to cross it and drowned.
Dick August 29, 1828 slave homicide Was shot in the face by an unknown person.
Willis October 2, 1828 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned.
Judy October 17, 1828 slave accidental injuries Died from the fall of a bank of dirt at which she and others were at work.
Nancy Green December 4, 1828 homicide Was killed and murdered by being hung by a cord around her neck by the hands of slaves named Sydna and Eliza.
Edward December 24, 1828 slave accidental injury accidentally burnt to death black
Isaac January 8, 1829 slave drowning Accidentally drowned when boat he was on with four other persons overset and all persons were thrown overboard.
Elia January 18, 1829 slave natural causes died by visitation of God black
Unidentified January 21, 1829 natural causes Died by the visitation of God
Jim February 3, 1829 slave alcohol, exposure Died from freezing, as he was intoxicated on the night of his death
Rachael February 16, 1829 slave homicide, injuries Died from the results of being beaten, bruised and whipped by Isham W Clements, from the crown of her head to the sole of her feet.
Isabel February 18, 1829 slave homicide Murdered by her hired owner John S Marley, who struck her with a club or stick on the right shoulder and left thigh in November 1828. Isabel languished under the said beating until she died on 13 Feb 1829.
Sarah March 18, 1829 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way
Simon Jinkins March 21, 1829 free exposure Froze to death.
Rebecca March 26, 1829 slave drowning Death by drowning, either accidently falling into Flat Creek or throwing herself into the creek.
Willis March 26, 1829 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned by the sinking of a lighter in Lake Drummond on board of which he was employed.
Unidentified April 3, 1829 drowning Died by accidental drowning in the James River
Unidentified April 6, 1829 slave infanticide Infant died by the inhumane conducy of its mother Judea who wrapped it in cloths and placed it in a closed wooden box
Cain May 15, 1829 slave drowning Death by drowning while endeavoring to escape his pursuers who were trying to apprehend him upon a charge of theft
John May 28, 1829 slave drowning Accidentally drowned in Flat Creek.
Ritter June 15, 1829 slave unknown Said by rumour to have been brought to her death by the treatment of Carter. Body was buried on 1 April 1829 and in ground too long to make examination, so have taken uncommon pains to trace the report to its source which we are fully convinced is groundless and false.
Sally White June 15, 1829 free natural causes Died by the visitation of God, in a natural way, and not otherwise. person of color
Isaac July 20, 1829 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
Harvey August 3, 1829 slave drowning Accidental drownin while bathing
Thornton B Stone September 26, 1829 homicide Parker and Fama, slaves owned by Daniel Stone, with their fists struck Stone on the right breast which caused his shoulder and other parts to give way, received two mortal wounds which caused his instant death.
Charles October 3, 1829 slave natural causes Died under a sudden dispensation of Providence.
Unidentified October 9, 1829 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned.
Nanny October 23, 1829 unknown exposure came to his death by being exposed to the cold black
Caroline November 2, 1829 free inconclusive Cause of death unknown but jury said it was in evidence before them that William Hall, with whom Caroline lived, tied and whipped Caroline and that after the whipping, Caroline became ill and fell into a stupor state until her death though the jury found no marks of violence on her body person of color
Moses November 12, 1829 unknown homicide Died in consequence of wounds unlawfully inflicted by some heavy weaon upon the breast and body generally by Thomas Hodges and John M Cherry.
Sandy November, 1829 slave homicide Was shot by Jacob B Bryant after he (Sandy) was seen with a stolen hog, which had been killed and was over a fire.
Unidentified December 5, 1829 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned. black
Joshua December 6, 1829 slave natural causes Died by visitation of God in a natural way
Elijah December 21, 1829 slave injuries Died from a wound to the head over the left eye.
Unidentified January 11, 1830 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned. black
Unidentified January 28, 1830 unknown infanticide Was suffocated by a string tied around its neck, at the hands of Cherry Green, a free woman of color.
Cornelius March 27, 1830 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way
Jonas March 27, 1830 unknown drowning Was intoxicated, fell into the N W River Canal, and was accidentally drowned.
Anderson March, 1830 slave alcohol, accidental injuries Died of intemperance or by some accidents unknown.
Unidentified May 25, 1830 unknown unknown illness death from causes unknown black
Hockaday Homes June 1, 1830 free drowning Died by accidently drowning in the James River person of color
George Moore July 12, 1830 slave homicide Died from an assault with a brick or rock to the right side of his head by Cole Muse (alias Coleman Muse), a free man of color
Washington August 15, 1830 slave drowning Accidentally drowned while attempting to cross the James River
Sam August 21, 1830 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned.
Charles October 10, 1830 slave homicide Charles made an assault on Ned, another slave owned by Josiah Hunter, who struck Charles on the head with an axe.
Billy Wichet November 3, 1830 slave homicide Was feloniously killed and murdered by John Cumminger Waterman by an assault with a stone to the side and top of his head
Peter December 15, 1830 slave suicide Killed himself by tying a rope about his neck and tying the other end over a joist in the kitchen
Lydia Thompson December 17, 1830 free exposure, alcohol Froze to death, being intoxicated.
Fanny Johnson February 6, 1831 free exposure, alcohol Intoxication and exposure person of color
Peggy February 12, 1831 slave natural causes Died by visitation of providence
Unidentified March 7 , 1831 free infanticide Died from neglect and a broken skull after the infant's mother Letitia Briggs, a free person, placed the infant on the ground and covered it with pieces of wood person of color
Phill April 11, 1831 slave drowning Accidentally drowned in James River by falling from a lighter belonging to French and Jordan of Richmond.
Peyton May 11, 1831 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned.
Harry June 13, 1831 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
Miles June 30, 1831 slave drowning Died by drowning in the James River
Jim August 1, 1831 slave drowning Died by drowning when he accidentally fell into Great Guinea Creek.
Solomon August 10, 1831 slave drowning Died by drowning when he fell from onboard a steam boat into the James River
John August 16, 1831 slave homicide Assaulted by the slave Reuben with a hand spike to the head and face of the said John.
Spencer August 25, 1831 unknown unknown Death by some unknown person.
Frank Lewis September 21, 1831 free natural causes Died by an act of God in a natural way. person of color
Milley November 3, 1831 unknown accidental injury accidentally burned to death black
Manuel November 7, 1831 slave accidental injuries, drowning Death from a fit or by some unknown accident by which he fell into the spring and was drowned.
Milly King November 7, 1831 free homicide Murdered by Wyat Johnson, a free negro, who struck her in the head and neck with an ax. The blows caused King to fall from her chair onto her infant son, causing the death of the infant
Unidentified November 7, 1831 free homicide Murdered by Wyat Johnson, a free negro, who struck her in the head and neck with an ax. The blows caused King to fall from her chair onto her infant son, causing the death of the infant
Milly November 7, 1831 slave disease Died of a diseased womb
Andrew December 7, 1831 unknown exposure came to his death by accidental freezing black
Stehney January 13, 1832 slave alcohol, exposure Died from intemperance, and due to the inclemency of the weather he was frozen to death.
Lucy January 13, 1832 free exposure Wandered into the woods, probably from a state of mental derangement, and there perished from the cold.
Hesekiah Jackson February 26, 1832 free accidental injuries Death by a loaded wagon running accidently over his body and head. person of color
Marinda February 27, 1832 slave suicide Hung herself with a silk handkerchief from a bough of a pine tree.
Tom February 29, 1832 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned.
London Custis March 1, 1832 free natural causes died by the visitation of God black
Peg March 13, 1832 slave homicide, injuries Was assaulted with cowhides in the hands of Edwin Gray and John O'Donnelly (alias O'Dunally).
Tom March 13, 1832 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
Isaac March 16, 1832 unknown natural causes died by the visitation of God in a natural way black
Unidentified May 4, 1832 slave infanticide Struck and pierced with an iron object in and upon the body causing instant death. person of color
Unidentified June 9, 1832 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned. person of color
Henry June 10, 1832 slave drowning Drowned in attempting to swim across Johns Creek.
Jim June 15, 1832 slave accidental injuries Died by accidentally falling from Thomas Hobson's mill dam onto the rocks below.
Dick June 18, 1832 slave alcohol, exposure The said Dick through intoxication did lie out and froze to death.
Nanna June 23, 1832 slave unknown Death by convulsively to the part of personal violence. We are unable to tell or in whatever manner she did come by her death.
John June 25, 1832 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned.
Bailem Reed June 30, 1832 homicide Came to his death by kicks and blows to abdomen inflicted by Godfrey, a slave belonging to Patrick Foley
Aberdeen August 3, 1832 free natural causes Died from a sudden visitation of Providence. person of color
Joe Bailey August 7, 1832 free alcoholism Died of intemperance.
Ambrose September 17, 1832 slave homicide Was struck several times in the face by his master Jacob McCoy and fell. The examination of the body showed no signs of violence except for a small cut on his upper lip and a contusion on the left eye. Death determined to be a case of chance occurring without any design or intention
Abraham Copeland October 29, 1832 free homicide Death caused by an injury by which his skull bone was broken, inflicted by or with the knowledge of Allen Creekmore and William Jordan. person of color
John November 2, 1832 free alcoholism Died from intemperate drinking person of color
Unidentified November 21, 1832 drowning Died by drowning when he accidentally fell into a small pond of water at Poplar Spring person of color
Cumber Tynes December 3, 1832 free natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way person of color
John Martin January 7, 1833 unknown drowning came to his death by drowning from the accidental upsetting of the schooner John black
Godwyn Artes January 22, 1833 free homicide Assaulted and beaten about his body, arms, face and head with large and heavy sticks, and broke his skull. Assaulted by John T Bains, Benjamin E Bains, James Jackson, Richard Robertson and William Joyner. person of color
Jordan January, 1833 slave exposure Froze to death.
Griffin Scott March 25, 1833 free drowning Accidental drowning person of color
Davy April 6, 1833 unknown natural causes Found dead--no marks of violence appearing on his body, and died by the visitation of God in a natural way and not otherwise.
William April 23, 1833 slave drowning Died by drowning in the James River
Harry May 25, 1833 slave accidental injuries, drowning Accidentally drowned while engaged at a capstern (capstan) and was struck by a bar flying around and knocked overboard.
George June 7, 1833 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned.
Phoebe July 20, 1833 slave suicide While committed to the jail as a runaway slave, suspended herself by the neck to a bar of the window with a handkerchief until her life was extinct.
Isaac September 16, 1833 slave drowning Drowned himself in Kellor's Mill Pond.
Lucy September 19, 1833 slave accidental injuries Immediate death caused by falling and striking head on the stones of the hearth. Earlier that day Lucy had been whipped by her master as punishment for stealing some trifling article from a neighbor
Mark September 19, 1833 slave accidental injury came to his death by accidentally falling from a saw pit black
Robert Jones September 25, 1833 free natural causes Visitation by God
Henrietta October 5, 1833 free accidental injury came to her death by accidentally falling in the fire black
Jim October 14, 1833 slave exposure came to his death by lying out all night black
Howell October 17, 1833 slave homicide death caused by axe blow into the head by slave Ned
Robin October 31, 1833 slave drowning, alcohol Drowning - intoxicated
Samuel Richardson November 19, 1833 free natural causes After a full examination finding no marks of violence we are of the opinion that he died by the visitation of God in a natural way and not otherwise. person of color
William Fox November 21, 1833 free alcoholism Died from intoxication person of color
John Thomas November 28, 1833 free accidental injury came to his death by accidentally getting on fire and burning to death black
Tom December 9, 1833 slave alcohol, exposure Died from intoxication and exposing himself to the inclemency of the weather.
Jim December 16, 1833 slave exposure came to his death by wandering from home--and lying out all night in the rain and cold black
Abram December 25, 1833 slave natural causes died by the visitation of God black
Richard December 30, 1833 slave homicide Death caused by a blow to the head with a heavy weapon.
Jerry December, 1833 slave accidental injuries, exposure Died when he accidently fell into a snow filled gully and froze.
Dick January 6, 1834 slave drowning Drowned.
Jim January 13, 1834 slave homicide Was assaulted at the mill of Jonah Cole by aforesaid Cole with a stick of wook. -- Cole did feloniously kill and murder the said slave.
Unidentified January 20, 1834 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned. person of color
Dinah March 3, 1834 slave alcohol, exposure Came to her death by intoxication and exposure to the cold. Found dead in the road.
Joe April 3, 1834 slave homicide Death by a blow given to him on the head by a stone thrown at him by a certain yellow man slave called George Quickly said to be the property of the estate of Col. N. Burwell
Unidentified April 15, 1834 slave infanticide Was killed and murdered by its mother, Kesiah, by smothering or by stopping its breath by putting her hand on its face and keeping it there until it was dead. Kesiah did not have God before her eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the Devil
Unidentified April 25, 1834 unknown drowning Drowned, whether accidentally or otherwise could not be determined. person of color
Squire Jackson May 5, 1834 free natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way free person of color
Taylor May, 1834 slave homicide Died by the violence of some kicks or blows which he received from Frank.
Will Charity June 2, 1834 free drowning Accidental drowning
John Valentine July 24, 1834 free inconclusive Came to his death from some unknown cause person of color
Edmund Mallory August 20, 1834 free homicide Killed and murdered by a knife stab wound to the lower part of his belly by Frank Moss, a free man of color person of color
Mary Scott September 2, 1834 free homicide Was killed and murdered by Judy Harris, by using some sharp pointed instrument to stab Scott in her breast
Anderson September 8, 1834 slave homicide Died after being struck over the head by Ned, the property of Harden Hairston, with a piece of fence rail.
Nelson September 23, 1834 slave accidental injuries, alcohol Being alone on the North Landing Road himself voluntarily or accidentally, being drunk, in a steer cart, caught his head between the spokes of said cart and caused his death.
George Hatiney November 7, 1834 free natural causes came to his death by the visitation of God black
Tom November 17, 1834 unknown alcohol; exposure came to his death--occasioned by intemperence and cold black
Edward Jones November 18, 1834 homicide Was murdered by the slave Nelson by inflicting sundry wounds on the head, neck, back and arms with an ax
George December 13, 1834 slave natural causes came to his death by the visitation of God in a natural way black
Caleb December 14, 1834 slave accidental injury came to his death by an accidental fall off a tree black
Joe Smith December 15, 1834 free drowning, alcohol Drowned when he fell out of his boat while crossing the Nottoway River while intoxicated. person of color
Pleasant January 5, 1835 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in the natural way
Abby January 21, 1835 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way
John Dugard February 27, 1835 drowning Died by accidental drowning in the James River person of color
Unidentified March 13, 1835 unknown suicide cut his own throat with a knife black
Lewis Gray March 27, 1835 free alcoholism Death by intemperence
Moses March 30, 1835 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned by falling into the Dismal Swamp Canal.
Unidentified March, 1835 unknown infanticide, accidental injuries Died by being smothered by accident.
Unidentified April 21, 1835 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned.
Ephraim Seymour April 28, 1835 free exposure came to his death by exposure to the inclemancy of the weather black
William June 9, 1835 slave homicide Death was produced by wounds and bruises inflicted by some unknown person.
Delilah Taburn July 10, 1835 homicide Murdered with knives or other sharp instruments by Henry Mabry, Fanny Jones and Eliza Jones person of color
Unidentified July 23, 1835 slave natural causes Natural Causes
Marshall Meekins July, 1835 free natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way person of color
Winston White August 10, 1835 apprentice accidental injuries Fell into the well of Atwood Wash and from said fall White received sundry wounds which occasioned his death, including a broken neck. person of color
Toby September 14, 1835 slave natural causes, homicide Died a natural death; however, two of jurors stated Toby was killed or murdered by wounds inflicted on the head and chin, and these wounds were inflicted by an unknown person.
Emma October 19, 1835 slave drowning Drowned by falling into the Nottoway River.
Lewis Barnett November 2, 1835 free alcoholism Died in a fit occasioned by intemperence
Lewis Butler November 2, 1835 slave drowning Died by accidentally drowning while aiding and assisting in over-turning a boat at the Old Locks on the James River Canal
Jack Evans November 2, 1835 slave accidental injuries Died in an accident when a limb fell from a tree where he was cutting wood, which fractured his skull
Polly Tigner November 12, 1835 unknown drowning accidentally drowned black
Betsy Tigner November 13, 1835 unknown drowning accidentally drowned black
Gabriel November 16, 1835 slave homicide Died from wounds inflicted upon him in his rebellion and violent resistance against his master. A justifiable homicide.
Leven Blake November 21, 1835 free drowning accidentally drowned black
John December 19, 1835 slave homicide Died from being assaulted, dragged by a rope to a tree, together with excessive choking--and otherwise being mal treated and abused at the hands of Thomas H Vaughan, Pleasanat Ussery, William White, and Collin Wallace.
Ciller December 21, 1835 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
Simon January 1, 1836 slave exposure Died from the cold while in a fit of insensibility
Isaac January 18, 1836 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
Rolins February 15, 1836 slave alcohol, exposure Died from intoxication and lying out on a Saturday night
Jack February 15, 1836 slave homicide, exposure Died from strikes and bruises inflicted upon his body, head and face by an unknown person, and also from being exposed to the cold.
Sarah February 25, 1836 slave accidental injury camer to her death by accidental burning black
Donon March 21, 1836 slave accidental injuries Died by being severely burned when his body caught fire from sitting too close to a heap of burning logs.
Caleb March 28, 1836 slave alcohol; exposure came to his death--supposed to be in a state of intoxication and from cold black
Bob April 4, 1836 slave suicide Suicide by drowning
Eli May 2, 1836 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned.
Margaret May 10, 1836 slave natural causes came to her death in a natural way--during a violent paroxysm of passion black
Judith Cary May 16, 1836 free unknown illness Died by strangulation or suffocation from the blood person of color
Unidentified May 25, 1836 free natural causes came to his death in a natural way black
James Sample June 20, 1836 free drowning came to his death by accidental drowning black
Cassey Mitchell June 20, 1836 free drowning came to her death by accidental drowning black
Levin June 20, 1836 slave drowning came to his death by accidental drowning black
Fanny Myers July 11, 1836 free drowning Came to her death by being drowned.
Bob July 19, 1836 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned.
Unidentified August 15, 1836 infanticide Inhumanity of Parents or other persons unknown
Edmund Thompson August 15, 1836 homicide Blow to the head by a rock by Jerry Valentine
Peter August 16, 1836 slave drowning Died by drowning when he jumped overboard from a steam boat while he was being pursued
Patrick August 17, 1836 slave natural causes Death by a visitation of God in a natural way
Isaac September 4, 1836 slave drowning accidentally drowned black
Sam Tyne October 3, 1836 free accidental injuries Accidentally shot by Dick Hill a free negro person of color
Harriet October 26, 1836 free accidental injury standing before the fire--her clothes set on fire and that she ran to the bed and got in bed and set the bed on fire black
Lewis October, 1836 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
Hercules November 7, 1836 slave inconclusive Jury is unable to say with certainty the cause of death
John Burgess November 15, 1836 free homicide Feloniously killed and murdered by being struck and beaten with a gun barrel by Thomas B Parsons.
John McCrosky November 30, 1836 slave exposure came to his death by lying out in the cold black
Frances December 3, 1836 slave unknown illness Died of some natural disease or infirmity not precisely ascertained
Patty Morton December 5, 1836 free exposure Died from her body lying outside and from exposure to the weather.
Ben December 13, 1836 slave drowning came to his death by drowning black
Bill Purnal December 13, 1836 Free natural causes died by the visitation of God black
Robert December 24, 1836 unknown alcohol Came to his death by intoxication.
Daniel December 28, 1836 slave alcohol; exposure came to his death by lying out--in a supposed state of intoxication black
Joe Mitchell January 2, 1837 free alcoholism, exposure Died from intemperence and freezing cold
Charles January 10, 1837 slave accidental injuries Death was caused instantaniously while he was at work near the foot of a hill of dirt which gave way and slid against him
William Webb January 10, 1837 homicide From marks of violence upon the body and head, and the evidence of witnesses had in the premises, strong suspicion rest on Alice Ball, a free woman of color, having been instrumental in bringing Webb to his death.
Jack January 16, 1837 slave exposure Died from the excessive cold of the night when he neglected to return to the house from the field where he was working.
Jacob January 16, 1837 slave injuries, exposure Died from receiving a severe whipping and by being exposed to the cold weather immediately after.
Nancy Thomas January 18, 1837 free exposure, alcohol Exposure to the elements due to intoxication person of color
Lewis January 29, 1837 slave homicide Murdered by the slave Martin by beating him with sticks and fence rails and by the infliction of six stabs to the body
Easter February 21, 1837 slave drowning accidentally drowned black
Unidentified February 27, 1837 slave natural causes died by the visitation of God in a natural way
Guy February , 1837 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way.
Bill Jordan March 6, 1837 free natural causes Visitation of God in a natural way
Matthew Howard April 17, 1837 unknown drowning Accidentally drowned. black
Lenah May 1, 1837 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way
Anthony May 1, 1837 slave drowning Died in a fit of insanity by drowning, either through his own design or by accident
Billy Jenkins May 1, 1837 homicide Killed by his wife Easter Jenkins by assaulting Billy with a piece of wood against his heaed
Unidentified May 6, 1837 person of color drowning Died by accidentally drowning in the James River
Ceser May 23, 1837 slave drowning Drowned.
Lucy Slaughter June 4, 1837 free natural causes Died by visitation of God in a natural way. person of color
Primos Wiatt June 4, 1837 free drowning Accidentally drowned. person of color
Isiah Johnson June 8, 1837 homicide murdered by slaves; Parker; Harry; George; Meriah; Jacob
Barnaby June 19, 1837 slave homicide Murdered and thrown into the river.
Robertson June 19, 1837 slave accidental injuries Died when he and the horse he was riding fell into the mill pond when the planks over the peerhead gave way.
Frank Gainey June 20, 1837 person of color natural causes, exposure Died by the visitation of God due to his great age and exposure at night
John June 21, 1837 slave drowning Accidentally drowned.
Richard July 21, 1837 slave drowning Fell from horse into the water of the Appomattox River and accidentally suffocated and drowned person of color
Dick Pill August 13, 1837 slave drowning Accidentally drowned.
Peyton August 14, 1837 slave unknown unknown
Berry August 21, 1837 slave suicide Hanged himself from a dogwood tree.
George October 21, 1837 slave drowning Fell into a pond of water and drowned
Jessy Dyes November 20, 1837 unknown accidental injuries Came to his death accidentally. black
Mary Hart November 22, 1837 unknown natural causes Died by the visitation of God. mulatto
Samuel Gay December 2, 1837 unknown accidental injuries, drowning "Came to his death by being drowned by the improper management of Captain Rawling of the steamboat ""Georgia,"" who ran the boat over the launch where the deceased was. " black
Clem December 8, 1837 slave inconclusive Died of unknown causes
George December 20, 1837 slave accidental injuries Came to his death accidentally by the falling of a tree. black
Joe December 20, 1837 slave exposure came to his death from exposure to cold and want of food; lost on his return from Newmarket
George January 15, 1838 slave exposure Died from freezing to death.
John Chappel January 26, 1838 free homicide Attacked and killed by George F. Hall, Peter Turner, Albert Busby and Thomas Cauell
Milly February 27, 1838 slave natural causes died with fits black
Jordan March 23, 1838 slave drowning Died by accidentally drowning when the boat overturned while crossing the James River
Robert March 24, 1838 slave drowning Died by accidentally drowning when the boat overturned while crossing the James River
Chastain Moss May 10, 1838 free drowning Died by accidental drowning. person of color
Phill Gramtham June 18, 1838 free exposure Died by lying outside and freezing to death. person of color
Henry June 18, 1838 slave exposure Died by lying outside and freezing to death.
Littleton August 7, 1838 slave drowning accidentally drowned black
Cody August 20, 1838 slave homicide murdered by Noah Bundic black
Joshua November 3, 1838 slave homicide Stabbed by Willis, a slave owned by Jesse Hawley.
Peter Blake November 27, 1838 free homicide Died from blow inflicted upon the head, which penetrated the skull and entered the brain--most likely inflicted with an iron hook.
Robert November 27, 1838 slave alcohol, exposure Died from exposure from the cold, wetness of the ground and from the liquor drink
Militia November 29, 1838 free exposure Died from exposure from the cold, wetness of the ground and from the liquor drink person of color
Tabitha December 15, 1838 slave homicide death from being struck on the left side of her head with a stick by Peterson Tutor
Jesse February 4, 1839 slave natural causes Visitation of God in a natural way
Sharley March 4, 1839 accidental injuries Burned in his room when the stables burned mulatto
Jacob Ball March 7, 1839 natural causes Visitation of God black
Unidentified March 26, 1839 slave homicide Was choked and suffocated by the hands of Charity, a slave, and grandmother of said infant.
Charles Lively March 30, 1839 exposure, alcohol Exposure to weather, intoxicated
Enoch Owen April 2, 1839 free exposure, natural causes Died either by cold or the visitation of the Almighty in a natural way. person of color
Unidentified April 5, 1839 inconclusive Causes unknown to the jury person of color
Owen April 6, 1839 slave homicide Death by a blow inflicted on his head by Jack, another slave owned by Mrs E Stone.
Frank April 26, 1839 slave homicide Death by a blow given by Robin, who was believed to be acting in his own defense.
Washington June 3, 1839 slave drowning Accidental drowning in a mill pond after entering the pond to bathe.
Isham July 8, 1839 free natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way. person of color
Daniel August 2, 1839 slave accidental injury came to his death accidentally falling from a horse black
Moses August 12, 1839 slave drowning After having examined the body and discovered no marks of violence, we come to the conclusion that Moses came to his death by drowning in an accidental manner.
Sally August 27, 1839 slave accidental injuries died by accidental drowning
Isham August 30, 1839 slave homicide Gunshot to the head
Lewis September 1, 1839 slave drowning accidentally drowned black
James Cosen December 6, 1839 free accidental injuries Accidentally falling and breaking his neck person of color
Lewis December 27, 1839 slave alcohol, exposure Died from freezing while in a state of intoxication.
Adolphus Whitehead January 14, 1840 free disease Sickness, cough and shortness of breath, without medical treatment person of color
Henry January 29, 1840 slave natural causes Found dead, had no marks of violence appearing on his body, and died by the visitation of God, in a natural way and not otherwise.
Jack Butt February 15, 1840 slave unknown Came to his death at a time unknown and by the dispensation of Providence.
John February 28, 1840 slave unknown Came to his death from some cause unknown. From the appearance of the body and the marks to be seen upon the legs, produced by whippings spoken of by the witnesses, we do not believe the whippings to have been the cause of the death.
Unidentified March 17, 1840 slave infanticide death caused either by suffocation during birth or strangulation after birth by its mother, Martha
John Davis March 29, 1840 slave drowning Came to his death by the upsetting of a boat, and accidentally drowned.
George April 13, 1840 slave accidental injuries Struck by lightning black
Corbin Webster April 13, 1840 natural causes Visitation of God black
Moses Hodges April 13, 1840 slave drowning Came to his death by the capsizing of a boat and drowning.
Ned April 24, 1840 slave natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way
George May 17, 1840 slave unknown came to his death by some cause unknown black
Mitchell Walden May 21, 1840 free alcohol, inconclusive Intoxication and unknown causes
Peter June 2, 1840 slave drowning Accidental drowning.
Newman July 10, 1840 slave natural causes died by the visitation of God, in a natural way
Washington July 22, 1840 slave disease, natural causes Disease or sickness and visitation by God
Jane Gray September 5, 1840 free inconclusive Died by some unknown cause and not by violence person of color
Dolly October 12, 1840 free homicide Died from being stabbed in the groin by Elijah Salnes Jr and James Salnes. person of color
Dick October 12, 1840 slave unknown Did not die of a natural death, but cause is unknown. person of color
Unidentified November, 1840 unknown natural causes Died by the visitation of God in a natural way. mulatto
Thomas Malory December 11, 1840 slave drowning Died by accidentally drowning when he fell from a wharf at Rockets into the James River
Ben Carter December 20, 1840 free natural causes died by the visitation of God black
Allen December 21, 1840 slave homicide Was killed by a knife stab wound to his left breast, by the hands of Malinda, also a slave of Thomas Newsom.
Arthur December 21, 1840 slave homicide Was shot in the back and right arm with a shot gun in the hands of Peterson Ivy.
Burwell Bird December 21, 1840 free homicide Was killed by Tom, a slave, by a gun shot to the left breast and side.
Peter Chapple December 21, 1840 free drowning Drowned when he fell into Vick's Mill Pond. person of color
Frank December 21, 1840 slave drowning Drowned when he lost his way and fell into the swamp.
Lydia Mingo December 21, 1840 free homicide Killed by Matthew Drake by two mortal wounds made upon the right side of her head and throat. person of color
Seth Mingo December 21, 1840 free homicide Was killed and murdered by Matthew Drake by inflicting violence with a maul on its head and body. person of color
Ann Pretlow December 21, 1840 homicide Killed by Matthew Drake by assaulting her with a maul to the back part of the head.
Sarah C Pretlow December 21, 1840 homicide Killed by Matthew Drake by assaulting her with a maul to her head.
James Scott December 21, 1840 homicide Killed by Matthew Drake by assaulting him with a maul to the forehead.
Sharper December 21, 1840 slave exposure, alcohol Died from exposure to the cold; he was so intoxicated he could not find his way home.
Tom January 1, 1841 unknown natural causes Death by a Providential visitation.
Edmond February 10, 1841 slave drowning Came to his death by falling off a lighter in Elizabeth River and accidentally drowned.
Littleton March 10, 1841 unknown unknown came to his death by some sudden way not known to the jury black
Willis Gary March 21, 1841 slave drowning Came to his death in a manner unknown, but since he was found in the creek it is supposed that he accidentally drowned.
Clary March 22, 1841 unknown drowning Died by drowning in the Great Guinea Creek, either voluntarily or by accident.
Sam Bartlett March 31, 1841 free suicide, drowning Drowned himself in the Appomattox River, according to the intelligent and respectable men of the jury. person of color
Dick April 5, 1841 slave inconclusive Cause of death unknown
Agnes Br

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