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The Tayloes, Slave Labor, and Entrepreneurialism in Virginia, 1710-1830

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The Tayloes, Slave Labor, and Entrepreneurialism in Virginia, 1710-1830 W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1999 Three generations of planter -businessmen: The Tayloes, slave labor, and entrepreneurialism in Virginia, 1710-1830 Laura Croghan Kamoie College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the African History Commons, Economic History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Kamoie, Laura Croghan, "Three generations of planter -businessmen: The Tayloes, slave labor, and entrepreneurialism in Virginia, 1710-1830" (1999). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539623966. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-brye-4e16 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has bean reproduced from the microfilm m aster. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction la dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bieedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. Bell & Howell Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with with permission permission of the of copyright the copyright owner. owner.Further reproductionFurther reproduction prohibited without prohibited permission. without permission. THREE GENERATIONS OF PLANTER-BUSINESSMEN: THE TAYLOES, SLAVE LABOR, AND ENTREPRENEURIALISM IN VIRGINIA, 1710-1830 A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Department of History The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Laura Croghan Kamoie 1999 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number 9974956 Copyright 2000 by Kamoie, Laura Croghan All rights reserved. UMI* UMI Microform9974956 Copyright 2000 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPROVAL SHEET This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy oie Approved, August 1999 James'P. Philip D. Morgan Melvin Ely Camille Wells University of Virginia ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. To Brian iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v LIST OF TABLES vi LIST OF FIGURES vii ABSTRACT viii INTRODUCTION 2 CHAPTER L IRONS IN THE FIRE: JOHN TAYLOE I, FOUNDER AND INNOVATOR 21 CHAPTER B. A MODEL PLANTER-BUSINESSMAN: JOHN TAYLOE II 52 CHAPTER UI. NEABSCO AND OCCOQUAN: THE TAYLOE IRON PLANTATIONS 96 CHAPTER IV. ADJUSTMENTS AT MT. AIRY: JOHN TAYLOE 01, BUSINESSMAN 149 CHAPTER V. ENGAGED IN THE BUSINESS OF THE NEW NATION 198 CHAPTER VI. ADVENTURERS AND UNDERTAKERS: THE BUSINESS ENTERPRISE OF VIRGINIA’S EARLY PLANTER CLASS 240 CONCLUSION 272 APPENDICES 277 APPENDIX I Tayloe Family Genealogy 278 APPENDIX 2 The Chesapeake Iron Industry, Known Furnaces and Forges, ca. 1700-1830 279 APPENDIX 3 The One Hundred 284 APPENDIX 4 Business, Investment, and Entrepreneurial Activities of The One Hundred 287 BIBLIOGRAPHY 290 VITA 316 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people made important contributions to this project. My adviser Dr. James Whittenburg provided constant support, feedback, and encouragement. I am grateful for his patience, flexibility, expertise, and mentoring. Dr. Ronald Hoffman and Dr. Philip Morgan each read the entire manuscript and made extensive comments and suggestions on points of both style and content. Dr. Melvin Ely took time away from his Fulbright in Israel to edit the manuscript and suggest areas for revision. Dr. Camille Wells applied her knowledge of the Tayloe family records to her careful reading of the manuscript. I am grateful to my entire committee for their expertise, time, and attention. Others also contributed their expertise to various parts of the project. Ira Berlin, Mary Beth Corrigan, T. Stephen Whitman, and Michael Johnson helped focus my thinking on the nature of slavery in early Washington, DC. Peter Coclanis, Joyce Chaplin, and Mary Gallagher provided useful critiques of my analysis of the 100. In addition, the staffs of the Octagon Museum and Decatur House in Washington, DC, generously opened their research files to me. Staff members at other institutions including Gwynne Tayloe at the Library of Virginia and Nelson Lankford and Lee Shephard at the Virginia Historical Society expertly guided me to important sources. The interlibrary loan offices at William and Mary and Dickinson College handled innumerable requests for materials and made possible the timely completion of this project. Scott Parham of Prince William County and Dottie Kessler of Botetourt County were especially helpful in identifying relevant local sources. Frank Courts, Karen Stewart, and Douglas Sanford answered a variety of questions about the Tayloes and related issues. I would also like to thank Mrs. H. Gwynne Tayloe, Jr., for graciously giving me a tour of her beautiful home, Mt. Airy, and for answering my questions. Finally, numerous conversations with fellow graduates Lynn Nelson, Richard Chew, Tom Chambers, Jen Jones, and Mike Jarvis helped clarify my own thinking at various times. I thank this community of scholars for helping me improve the manuscript, but of course any shortcomings are my own. A number of institutions deserve to be recognized for providing financial support. I would like to thank the Prince William County Historical Commission, especially Lawson Pendleton, for recognizing my work in Chapter 3. Dickinson College welcomed me once more into its community and provided conference travel funding. The College of William and Mary, through the Provost’s and Grants’s Offices, provided grant monies; in addition, the Department of History supported my graduate studies with a four-year fellowship. The David Library of the American Revolution, the Virginia Historical Society, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Phi Alpha Theta National History Honor Society, the Society of the Cincinnati in Virginia, and the Jamestown Rediscovery Project (APVA) all provided important financial support of my project that made possible its completion. I thank the staffs of all of these institutions for the important work they do in supporting historical research and the training of professional historians. Finally, I would like to thank my friends and family who endured years of “the dissertation” and who now know more about the Tayloe family than they ever hoped. Todd Discenza, Mike King, Kelly McCabe, and Anne Ward were always supportive, encouraging, and interested in my progress. I would especially like to thank my mother, Ann Croghan, for always believing in my ability to do anything I put my mind to. Last but not least, I dedicate this work to my best friend, Brian Kamoie, for helping me find things to laugh at along the way. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Mt. Airy Blacksmithing: Seasonality and Value of Transactions per 80 Month, 1773, 1775-1781 2. Mt. Airy Blacksmithing: Average and Total Transaction Values, in £ Currency, per Year, 1773, 1775-1781 81 3. Mt. Airy Blacksmithing: Frequency of Blacksmithing Activities, 1773, 84 1775-1781 4. Pig Iron Exports from Maryland and Virginia, 1723-1755 100 5. Average Price Per Ton of Pig Iron, in £ Sterling, Received by John 113 Tayloe, 1754-1774 6. John Tayloe II Tobacco and Iron Production, 1751-1774 115 7. Estate-Wide Agricultural Production, 1792-1823 163 8. Slave Occupations at Mt. Airy, 1808-1828 169 9. The One Hundred 242 10. The Twenty Wealthiest Planter-Businessmen
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