Source record · Census

1860 U.S. Census Slave Schedule — H. G. D. Brown Household, Copiah County, Mississippi

Name: BEFORE TILL: The Living Evidence Archive
Creator: Amberly R. Carter-Mills
License: https://beforetill.com/terms

United States Bureau of the Census · 1860 · FamilySearch

4 observations2 claims touched3 transcribed2 images published

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The document and its words

The record

Handwritten 1860 federal slave schedule page. In the right-hand column the name H. G. D. Brown is written, followed by a run of single-line entries giving only an age, a sex, and a color for each enslaved person.

U.S. Census Bureau, assistant marshal, Copiah County, Mississippi · 19 June 1860 · FamilySearch · National Archives and Records Administration · Public domain - United States federal record

What the record says

WORKING TRANSCRIPTION - page 11 (penned), enumerated 19 June 1860, Copiah County, Mississippi.
The schedule records no names. Each line is one human being, entered only as a tally, an age, a sex, and a color.

Column head: NAMES OF SLAVE OWNERS | Number of Slaves | Age | Sex | Color

Entry: H. G. D. Brown
  1 | 60 | M | (ditto)
  1 | 45 | " | "
  1 | 40 | " | M (mulatto)
  1 | 40 | " | "
  1 | 35 | " | B (black)
  1 | 27 | " | "
  1 | 26 | " | "
  1 | 26 | " | "
  1 | 18 | " | "
  1 | 16 | " | "
  1 | 16 | " | "
  1 | 15 | " | "
  1 | 11 | " | "
  1 | 11 | " | "
  1 | 10 | " | "
  1 |  9 | " | "
  1 |  8 | " | "
  1 |  7 | " | "
  1 |  6 | " | M (mulatto)
(the entry continues on the following page)

Read from the digital image by Amberly R. Carter-Mills. The sex column under Brown reads male throughout
this page. This is a working transcription and is open to correction.

Transcribed as written, including spelling, abbreviation and error. Editorial additions appear in [brackets]; illegible words appear as [illegible].

2 images are attached to this record. Additional pages are listed in the provenance panel below.

What was drawn from it

Observations

BT-EVD-00145Enslavementp. 12 (penned), right column, H. G. D. Brown entry, line 5; digital image 12 of 101
A man of about thirty-five is entered in the H. G. D. Brown block of the 1860 slave schedule. Hilliard is recorded elsewhere as born about 1823, which would make him about thirty-seven in June 1860. The schedule records no names, so this line is age-consistent with Hilliard; it does not identify him. What gives it weight is the company it keeps: Hilliard's own later account names H. G. D. Brown as the man who held him. Read against the 1865 Freedmen's Bureau register, which names this person under the same former owner, this line is consistent with the documented household rather than standing alone.
“1 | 35 | M | B”
Partly supportsWas H. G. D. Brown the buyer of Hilliard in the 1856 sale?
BT-EVD-00042Enslavementp. 13 (penned), left column, H. G. D. Brown entry continued, female column line 17; digital image 12 of 101
An eight-year-old girl is entered in the female column of the H. G. D. Brown block of the 1860 slave schedule. Laura is recorded elsewhere as born about 1852, which would make her eight in June 1860. The schedule records no names. This is an age match, not an identification - but it is the only entry on these pages that matches her recorded age exactly. Read against the 1865 Freedmen's Bureau register, which names this person under the same former owner, this line is consistent with the documented household rather than standing alone.
“1 | 8 | F | B”
Gives context toLaura Tolliver was formerly enslaved by H. G. D. Brown.
BT-EVD-00393Enslavementp. 13 (penned), left column, H. G. D. Brown entry continued, female column lines 8 and 7; digital image 12 of 101
Two women of roughly Bettie's recorded age appear in the female column of the H. G. D. Brown block - one entered at twenty-four and one at twenty-six. Bettie is recorded elsewhere as born about 1837, which would make her about twenty-three in June 1860. The schedule records no names, and no single line can be assigned to her. Her presence in this household rests on the household's later documented composition, not on this page alone.
“1 | 24 | F | B / 1 | 26 | F | B”
Not yet attached to a published claim.
BT-EVD-00394Record Silencepp. 12-13 (penned); digital image 12 of 101
Forty-six people are entered under H. G. D. Brown across these two pages, and not one of them is named. The form had no column for a name. Everything the federal government chose to record about them fits in four marks: a tally, an age, a sex, a color. Three of those lines are age-consistent with Hilliard, Bettie, and Laura. The other forty-three are people whose names this archive does not know and may never recover. They are counted here because they were counted there.
No verbatim wording has been transcribed for this observation yet.
Not yet attached to a published claim.

Page by page

Which page each quotation came from

Every quoted line filed under the page it was read from, with the citation for that page, so any reader can check the wording against the original.

p. 12 (penned), right column, H. G. D. Brown entry, line 5; digital image 12 of 101

1 quotation

“1 | 35 | M | B”
A man of about thirty-five is entered in the H. G. D. Brown block of the 1860 slave schedule. Hilliard is recorded elsewhere as born about 1823, which would make him about thirty-seven in June 1860. The schedule records no names, so this line is age-consistent with Hilliard; it does not identify him. What gives it weight is the company it keeps: Hilliard's own later account names H. G. D. Brown as the man who held him. Read against the 1865 Freedmen's Bureau register, which names this person under the same former owner, this line is consistent with the documented household rather than standing alone.
BT-EVD-00145

United States Bureau of the Census; 1860 U.S. Census Slave Schedule — H. G. D. Brown Household, Copiah County, Mississippi; U.S. census, Copiah County, Mississippi, slave schedule; Copiah County, Mississippi; p. 12 (penned), right column, H. G. D. Brown entry, line 5; digital image 12 of 101; image digital image 12 of 101; FHL film M653, roll 406; FamilySearch.

p. 13 (penned), left column, H. G. D. Brown entry continued, female column line 17; digital image 12 of 101

1 quotation

“1 | 8 | F | B”
An eight-year-old girl is entered in the female column of the H. G. D. Brown block of the 1860 slave schedule. Laura is recorded elsewhere as born about 1852, which would make her eight in June 1860. The schedule records no names. This is an age match, not an identification - but it is the only entry on these pages that matches her recorded age exactly. Read against the 1865 Freedmen's Bureau register, which names this person under the same former owner, this line is consistent with the documented household rather than standing alone.
BT-EVD-00042

United States Bureau of the Census; 1860 U.S. Census Slave Schedule — H. G. D. Brown Household, Copiah County, Mississippi; U.S. census, Copiah County, Mississippi, slave schedule; Copiah County, Mississippi; p. 13 (penned), left column, H. G. D. Brown entry continued, female column line 17; digital image 12 of 101; image digital image 12 of 101; FHL film M653, roll 406; FamilySearch.

p. 13 (penned), left column, H. G. D. Brown entry continued, female column lines 8 and 7; digital image 12 of 101

1 quotation

“1 | 24 | F | B / 1 | 26 | F | B”
Two women of roughly Bettie's recorded age appear in the female column of the H. G. D. Brown block - one entered at twenty-four and one at twenty-six. Bettie is recorded elsewhere as born about 1837, which would make her about twenty-three in June 1860. The schedule records no names, and no single line can be assigned to her. Her presence in this household rests on the household's later documented composition, not on this page alone.
BT-EVD-00393

United States Bureau of the Census; 1860 U.S. Census Slave Schedule — H. G. D. Brown Household, Copiah County, Mississippi; U.S. census, Copiah County, Mississippi, slave schedule; Copiah County, Mississippi; p. 13 (penned), left column, H. G. D. Brown entry continued, female column lines 8 and 7; digital image 12 of 101; image digital image 12 of 101; FHL film M653, roll 406; FamilySearch.

pp. 12-13 (penned); digital image 12 of 101

1 quotation

No verbatim wording has been transcribed for this reading yet.
Forty-six people are entered under H. G. D. Brown across these two pages, and not one of them is named. The form had no column for a name. Everything the federal government chose to record about them fits in four marks: a tally, an age, a sex, a color. Three of those lines are age-consistent with Hilliard, Bettie, and Laura. The other forty-three are people whose names this archive does not know and may never recover. They are counted here because they were counted there.
BT-EVD-00394

United States Bureau of the Census; 1860 U.S. Census Slave Schedule — H. G. D. Brown Household, Copiah County, Mississippi; U.S. census, Copiah County, Mississippi, slave schedule; Copiah County, Mississippi; pp. 12-13 (penned); digital image 12 of 101; image digital image 12 of 101; FHL film M653, roll 406; FamilySearch.

Where it lands

Claims this record bears on

Corroborated
Laura Tolliver was formerly enslaved by H. G. D. Brown.
An 1865 Freedmen's Bureau register names Laura and identifies her as formerly enslaved by H. G. D. Brown. An unnamed eight-year-old female in Brown's 1860 slave schedule is consistent in age but cannot independently be identified as Laura.
Gives context to
Follow the evidence trail
Under Investigation
Was H. G. D. Brown the buyer of Hilliard in the 1856 sale?
Brown is a plausible buyer on later evidence. The sale record itself does not identify him.
Partly supports
Follow the evidence trail

Provenance and citation

How to cite this record

1860 U.S. Census Slave Schedule — H. G. D. Brown Household, Copiah County, Mississippi

BT-SRC-00034

Digital image of original recordOriginal image: Citation entered — image review pendingA photographic image of a contemporary record held by the repository named below.

Creator: United States Bureau of the Census
Date created: 1860
Repository: FamilySearch
Collection: U.S. census, Copiah County, Mississippi, slave schedule
Record form: Digital Image
Source type: Census
Accessed: Not recorded

Access and use

SOURCE CITATION AVAILABLE. The original image has not yet been independently reviewed inside BEFORE TILL.

BEFORE TILL publishes description, transcription and analysis. Reuse of the underlying record is governed by the holding repository. Cite this archive by its persistent identifier when quoting our reading of the record.

Full citation

United States Bureau of the Census; 1860 U.S. Census Slave Schedule — H. G. D. Brown Household, Copiah County, Mississippi; 1860 slave schedule; p. pp. 12-13 (penned); image digital image 12 of 101; FHL film NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 406; FamilySearch; Copiah County, Mississippi.

1860 U.S. census, Copiah County, Mississippi, slave schedule, location not specified, pp. 12-13 (penned), digital image 12 of 101, FamilySearch.org; citing NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 406.

Persistent identifier

Cite this page

Carter-Mills, Amberly R. "1860 U.S. Census Slave Schedule — H. G. D. Brown Household, Copiah County, Mississippi." BEFORE TILL: The Living Evidence Archive. Version not yet assigned. Object BT-SRC-00034. Accessed 2026-09-24. /source/BT-SRC-00034.

Attribution: Amberly R. Carter-Mills, Founder, Creator & Descendant Archivist.

What changed

Revision history for this record

No public revision has been logged against this record. When its citation, reading, or rights status changes, the change and its reason appear here.

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