Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Feeding the Slaves




Well I'm gonna roll the dice again and post more information from family records,




This post shows the weekly food allowance for the slaves owned by an ancestor.




I can see it now - a Yankee blogger crying / " But what did the owners eat"?


"What type of home did the owners have as compaired to the slaves"?




Yea I guess that's fair / but what do the CEOs of major companys have for dinner as opposed to the guy in the mail room? And what about living conditions ?


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7 comments:

  1. I don't knowNovember 30, 2011 at 6:42 PM

    2 questions.

    1. What is the word after "1 1/2" and before "meal."

    2. How many slaves were there.

    ReplyDelete
  2. David Tatum JrDecember 1, 2011 at 6:07 AM

    It looks like 1 1/2 Pks. your guess is as good as mine.

    I wonder about the ammount of ground bacon, is it lbs ( pounds seems high ) or tbs (table spoons) for seasoning seems more like it !

    The records are a tad confusing but I think the number of slaves mentioned in this passage were 6.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousDecember 1, 2011 at 8:31 AM

    David,

    Pks...I would guess pecks...a dry measure of 8 quarts; the fourth part of a bushel, equal to 537.6 cubic inches (8.81 liters).

    Also, I don't think it says "ground" bacon but "sound" bacon...what that is I have no clue. Might refer to it being good bacon.

    ReplyDelete
  4. David Tatum JrDecember 1, 2011 at 1:31 PM

    Thanks for the input!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I don't knowDecember 1, 2011 at 3:23 PM

    I think you're right, "sound" bacon. What looks like th top of a G is the extension on the eye above. Take that out and it is similair to the "S" in "Salt." But I have no idea about Sound. You would think it meant, whole, sturdy, as in a whole piece but it looks like the abbreviation to tablespoon is in front of it and that doesn't make sense.

    ReplyDelete
  6. David Tatum JrDecember 1, 2011 at 4:41 PM

    If I had to guess I would say 3 lbs sound bacon,
    John who wrote the ledger did not have the education as did William his older Brother, John got caught up in the war at a younger age.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I don't knowDecember 1, 2011 at 6:27 PM

    I'm not sure about lbs, that looks like a valid 't.' I've been asking some older folks to see if they had heard of the term and they said it could mean bacon grease. The hardened grease after you pan fry bacon was usually kept in a separate container and used. Salt fish can be different things, but there is a bag of it. THis almost looks like a massive cooking recipe.

    ReplyDelete

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