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John Armfield Slave Trader

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John Armfield Slave Trader J JOHN ARMFIELD FRANKLIN & ARMFIELD OFFICE 1797 – SEPTEMBER 20, 1871 ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA QUAKER SLAVE TRADER Linda Willard Jamestown Friends Meeting John Armfield, the son of Nathan and Polly Dempsey Armfield, was born in Guilford County, North Carolina in 1797. The Armfield family was descended from English Quakers. It’s not known if Armfield’s parents were members of any local Quaker meeting. Armfield’s grandfather, William Armfield, was disowned (removed from membership) in his local meeting for taking up arms during the Battle of Guilford Courthouse during the American Revolution. William Armfield was probably a member of New Garden Friends Meeting. New Garden Friends Meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina is not far from where the Battle of Guilford Courthouse was fought. There is no information regarding Armfield’s early years or his education. At some point, he ran away from home and worked as a stagecoach driver. In the 1820’s, Armfield took up slave trading. In 1828, Armfield and his uncle by marriage, Isaac Franklin had formed the partnership of Franklin & Armfield for the purpose of buying slaves in the mid-Atlantic states and selling them in the states in the Deep South, such as Mississippi. The Franklin & Armfield firm was unique in that it utilized sea travel to transport the slaves. Their office in Alexandria, Virginia was essentially a prison compound used to hold the slaves in preparation for sale. The Franklin & Armfield firm has been called the most successful slave traders the United States has ever seen. In an advertisement, Armfield claims that he will pay the highest price for a group of slaves. Between 1828 and 1835 Franklin and Armfield sold an average of 1,200 slaves per year. In 1831, Armfield married Martha Franklin, the niece of his business partner, Isaac Franklin. Armfield joined the Episcopal church and his wife, who had been a member of the Presbyterian church, also join the Episcopal church. The Armfield’s attended Christ Cathedral in Nashville, Tennessee. The Armfield’s did not have any children. In 1836, Armfield quit the slave trading business and the partnership of Franklin & Armfield was dissolved. By 1849, Armfield and his wife had settled in Sumner County, Tennessee where he had purchased 339 acres of land. Armfield named his estate Hard Times. In 1854, Armfield purchased the town of Beersheba Springs, Tennessee and developed it as a resort. In March of 1857, Armfield was offered a seat on the board of trustees of the new University of the South, present day Sewanee University. During the Civil War, Armfield paid to equip a company of Confederate volunteers. In 1869, he promoted Beersheba Springs as the site of a colony of Swiss immigrants. His business suffered from the effects of the Civil War and the fortune he had made in slave trading, shrank from $500,000 in 1850 to just $57,670 in 1870. Armfield died at his home in Beersheba Springs, Tennessee on September 20, 1871. Armfield is buried in a nearby private cemetery. Ironically, Nathan Bracken, Armfield’s African-American body servant for more than forty years, is buried beside of Armfield. Bracken had been born into slavery and apparently was never able to entirely escape from slavery even in death. .
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