Raynors HCA 2018-10
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/20/2018
Carte de visite of South Carolina Governor WIlliam Aiken with Anthony/Brady backmark, period manuscript beneath image reads “Gov. W. Aiken, S.C. in 1860 owned one 1000 slaves.” Fine condition. William Aiken Jr. (1806-1887) was the 61st governor of South Carolina, serving from 1844 to 1846. He also served in the state legislature and the U. S. Congress. According to 1850 slave schedules, he possessed 878 slaves in Charleston and Colleton Districts. Aiken was one of the state's wealthiest citizens, owner of the largest rice plantation in the state — Jehossee Island — with over 700 enslaved Blacks on 1,500 acres under cultivation, almost twice the acreage of the next largest plantation. By 1860, Aiken owned the entire Jehossee Island, and the plantation produced 1.5 million pounds of rice in addition to sweet potatoes and corn — in the middle of the 19th century, rice was king in South Carolina — of the 10 largest cash crops in 1850, seven were rice, two cotton and one sugar. After the Civil War, the plantation regained its preeminence, producing 1.2 million pounds of rice.
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