A Life In Bondage

A Life In Bondage. Slavery on the Huntsberry Farm. You're standing in the middle of what was the Huntsberry Farm. The 400-acre farm included 300 highly productive "improved” acres. Much of that productivity came from the labor of the enslaved who were owned by the Huntsberrys., Unfortunately, there is little recorded information about the enslaved persons who worked these fields. The best records come from the "slave schedules” that were part of the 1850 and 1860 United States censuses. Both the 1850 and 1860 censuses included two "schedules" , Schedule 1 for "Free Inhabitants” and Schedule 2 for "Slave Inhabitants.", In 1850, the slave schedule reported 10 slaves on the Huntsberry Farm: , And the 1860 schedule showed 8 slaves on the farm:, Comparing the two lists, it's clear that most of the persons on the list in 1850 were gone by 1860, and other slaves had been brought to the farm , a testament to the uncertainty and instability of life in bondage., Sadly, nothing more is yet known about them. No names. No clue to their fate. What became of them during and after the Civil War? Did any leave the farm during the conflict when they saw their chance for freedom, especially after the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863? Did they leave after the war and the passage of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery? Or did some stay and become paid workers on the farm? If so, no records have yet been found. Their story , and the story of untold others who were enslaved , may never be known., In 1860, there were 24,779 slaves in the Shenandoah Valley , over 20% of the Valley's population.