A DIALOGUE BETWEEN MATERIAL REMAINS, HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS, AND ORAL HISTORY: ALLENFARM AND ROGERS PLANTATION, A CASE STUDY A Dissertation by RANDAL SCOTT ALLISON Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 1996 Major Subject: Anthropology A DIALOGUE BETWEEN MATERIAL REMAINS, HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS, AND ORAL HISTORY: ALLENFARM AND ROGERS PLANTATION, A CASE STUDY A Dissertation by RANDAL SCOTT ALLISON Submitted to Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved as to style and content by: /Sylvia A. /Crider Donny L. Hamilton (Chair of Committee) (Member) (Member) May 1996 Major Subject: Anthropology Ill ABSTRACT A Dialogue Between Material Remains, Historical Documents, and Oral History: Allenfarm and Rogers Plantation, a Case Study. (May 1996) Randal Scott Allison, B.A., Texas A&M University; M.A., Texas A&M University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Sylvia Grider Often lost behind the mythic veneer of Texas history is the fact that the eastern one-third of the state was a true part of the antebellum South. As a result, research into slavery era Texas has been slow in developing. This is especially true in historical archaeological and material culture studies of slavery. With the exception of a few articles and historical archaeological studies, very little has been done in the way of material culture studies of Texas slavery. For Brazos County, there has only been one study, and much of its focus is on the postbellum period. The aim of this dissertation is to interpret and present a material culture study of antebellum life on Allenfarm, Rogers Plantation, and the Millican region of iv southwestern Brazos County with respect to those who settled the land, their lifeways, and their impact on the land. To accomplish this goal, the dissertation utilizes a variety of available materials and a cross-disciplinary approach to interpreting the materials. In doing so, a methodology for studying and inferring the meaning of the material culture in regions where there is scant physical evidence is developed. What emerges is a picture of a rich culture created by the interaction of slaves and their white owners and neighbors in a unique, frontier experience. V DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my wife, Terri, and our daughters, Kristen and Tegan. Thanks for putting up with me during this time. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The completion of this dissertation would not have been possible without the assistance and input of many people and assistance networks. A special note of thanks and acknowledgment goes to Dr. John Michael Vlach, Director of the African-American Studies Program at George Washington University, Washington DC, for his input and suggestions on pursuing this topic. Also, a special note of thanks to Dr. Alan Alter, Professor Emeritus, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, for allowing a hapless undergraduate the opportunity to find the field in which he truly belongs. I would like to thank Dr. Vaughn M. Bryant, Jr., Head, and the Department of Anthropology for allowing me to pursue my studies and research, and for allowing me to work as a Graduate Teaching Assistant during the 1994-1995 and 1995-1996 academic years. I also wish to express my gratitude to the following people for their past support and encouragement of my educational endeavors: Edd C. Hendee, Sgt. Riley Ross, USAF (Retired), Chuck Billing and Sherry Igor-Billing, Alice Barry, Michael Balog, Jean vii Raniseski, Dr. Victor Arizpe, Dr. Bedford Clark, Dr. C. Wayne Smith, and Dr. John Velasquez. My sincerest gratitude to my committee members, Dr. Thomas A. Green, Jr., Dr. Donny L. Hamilton, and David G. Woodcock, FAIA, RIBA, for their aid and enthusiasm in this endeavor. I would be remiss if I did not extend my sincerest gratitude to Dr. Sylvia Grider, friend and mentor, for guiding me in this project. Without her input and guidance, this work would never have come to fruition. The browbeating was good for me. Finally, I wish to thank all of my family, especially my parents, Bryan and Jean Allison, for their support and encouragement in pursuing my education. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT............................................... iii DEDICATION........................................... v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES....................................... x LIST OF TABLES........................................ xi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION— OPENING THE DIALOGUE............ 1 Methodology.................................. 5 Histories of Slavery in Texas............... 12 II SETTLEMENT..................................... 16 Brazos County Statistics..................... 20 Early Settlement in Austin's Colony......... 24 Slavery in the Colonial Period.............. 28 Slavery:Post-Colonialism to the CivilWar.... 33 Brazos County: Colonialism to the Republic... 40 Brazos County: Republic to the CivilWar ..... 48 Brazos County: Reconstruction and Beyond..... 59 III LIFEWAYS....................................... 75 Out of Africa................................ 84 Patterns of Work............................. 93 Patterns of Life............................. 99 The Slaves' Perspective: A Synthesis of Slavery in the Region......................... 132 ix CHAPTER IV STRUCTURES..................................... 139 Building the Landscape...................... 140 Historical Archaeology of Allenfarm and Rogers Plantation........................... 142 Conceptualizing the Architecture........... 148 The Big House............................... 151 Slave Quarters.............................. 164 Other Structures............................ 171 V CONCLUSION— CLOSING THE DIALOGUE............... 178 REFERENCES........................................... 187 APPENDIX 1............................................ 202 APPENDIX II........................................... 206 APPENDIX III.......................................... 260 VITA 264 X LIST OF FIGURES Page FIGURE 1. Allenfarm and Rogers Plantation........... 4 FIGURE 2. Map of Brazos County...................... 21 FIGURE 3. Detail Map of Southwestern Brazos County.. 22 FIGURE 4. Elevated Building, Rogers Plantation...... 145 FIGURE 5. Single-Pen Structure, Washington County... 156 FIGURE 6. Double-Pen or Dog-Trot House, Washington County......................... 156 FIGURE 7. Stagecoach Inn............................. 159 FIGURE 8a. John P. Cole's House, Washington County... 160 FIGURE 8b. Detail of Structure, circa 1824.......... 160 FIGURE 9. Typical Sharecropper House, Allenfarm...... 170 FIGURE 10. H & TC Terminal, Millican................. 172 xi LIST OF TABLES Page TABLE 1. 1850 White and Slave Populations.......... 35 TABLE 2. White and Slave Populations in 1850 and 1860................................... 36 TABLE 3. Slave Populations, Republic to 1864........ 38 TABLE 4. Slave Populations in Brazos County, 1841-1864 55 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION— OPENING THE DIALOGUE In 1822, the lands of Brazos County were changed forever by the arrival of the first wave of Anglo settlers on this virgin land. The abundant and cheap lands attracted these settlers, who found in the southwestern part of the county a band of rich, alluvial soils suitable for large-scale agriculture. Bordered by the Brazos River to the west and the Navasota River to the east, these alluvial plains offered the promise of high crop yields and profits for the new settlers. Early crops focussed on corn and grains which could provide food for the settlers and their livestock as they carved out a life for themselves on the frontier. As the land became more settled, cotton became a primary crop. By 1831, the terraced slopes with their accompanying rocky soils and post oak cover were beginning to be settled. Although these areas were less productive, they were suitable for grazing. Farther inland, the town of Millican grew, and would become a major city by the 1860s. Yet except for This dissertation follows the style and format of Historical Archaeology. Millican, this section of the county remained a rural, sparsely populated region. Given over to agriculture, the land's stewards focussed on raising crops and livestock. By the 1850s, the plains along the Brazos River, which we now call Allenfarm and Rogers Plantation, were devoted wholly to raising cotton. In the neighboring counties— Burleson, Grimes, Milam, Robertson, and Washington— the pattern was much the same. With the exception of the Brazos Bluffs in Washington County, the lands along the rivers and major streams were similar to southwestern Brazos County. Lands along the Brazos and Navasota watershed were settled first, and soon became major farming centers. By the 1850s, these areas, like Allenfarm and Rogers Plantation, were devoted to growing cotton, and also remained rural, sparsely populated lands. In all of these counties, settlement, the development of the cotton industry, and the development of the landscape depended primarily on labor by the slaves brought into the area. Although Brazos County was not a traditional "black county," slaves in Brazos and her neighboring counties accounted for nearly one-fifth of the total slave population in Texas by 1860 (Bornhorst 1971; Campbell 1989). In 1995, the lands in southwestern Brazos County, 3 especially around Allenfarm and Rogers Plantation, look much as they did in the mid-nineteenth century