Letter VI: 1869 – After Slavery (Black Mingo)
Our Mahogany Heritage Institute
Letter VI: The Post-War Years at Black Mingo
| Collection: | Best and Hext Family Papers |
| Location: | Black Mingo, South Carolina |
| Date: | 1869 |
The Charleston Daily News
Legal Notice: 1868
Public Record of John Thomas McConnell’s Bankruptcy in the District of South Carolina.
[MANUSCRIPT SCAN PENDING]
The original 1869 correspondence is currently being processed.
Complete Transcription:
Black Mingo S:C 1869
My Dear Aunty
It has been nearly a year since we heard from you Ma wrote a letter some time months ago but have received no answer and we are very anxious to hear from you, we occasionally hear from Aunt Tody and she wrote us word that you ware keeping house for a Mr. Allen in Allendale I hope that you are doing as well this year as you did last Oh Aunty there has been so many changes since you left us so many have died so many grown up and married that you would hardly know any of your old friends.
Aunt Gussie left us last Tuesday she has a school at a Mr. Sallies in Orangeburg Aunts Maria and Lizzy are still with us Bakey also Uncle Quill is living in Georgetown Aunt Sarah has two children the last is a girl they have named it Jane Quill but call it Jinnie it is nearly a year old none of us have seen it but Pa he says it would be pretty if its mouth ware not so big I am very anxious to see it for I am so fond of babies and Zulie is getting two big being in his fifth year Bubber is quite a big boy and Pa makes him very useful Aunt Maria and I do our cooking Ma keeps house and dose the sweeping we have the washing done out well Aunty I must close hoping this may not share the fate of mas but will be answered shortly I with ma and all the rest send much love to you and all Aunt Leany family,
I remain your affectionate neice
E.A.M
I hope you will save enough this year to pay us a visit next winter. Mary has talked of visiting you but we are all too poor to gratify our desires. If you dont take a notion to get spliced before that time we will look for you, Regards to all. Yrs truly J.T. McC
Historical Interpretation
The 1868 notice in The Charleston Daily News regarding John Thomas McConnell’s bankruptcy serves as a critical lens for this 1869 letter. The McConnell family, once comfortable on the labor of the enslaved, is now described by the author as “all too poor to gratify our desires.”
This financial ruin explains why the white women of the house (Aunt Maria and Eliza Ann) are now “doing our cooking” and “the sweeping.” The era of forced labor has ended, and the bankruptcy proceedings signify the final collapse of the old plantation economy. For Elvira and Tenah’s descendants, this period of white insolvency often meant further community disruption as assets—and any lingering labor ties—were dissolved.
Archival Citation
ALS, 1869, Black Mingo, [South Carolina], E[liza] A[nn] M[cConnell] to “My Dear Aunty.” Papers of the Best and Hext Families, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina.Supplemental Record: Bankruptcy Notice, John Thomas McConnell, The Charleston Daily News, 1868.
Curated and interpreted by Our Mahogany Heritage Institute.
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