Plantation journal, 1852-1869, from Orangeburg County, S.C., documenting farming operations, slave records, and other activities during antebellum, Civil War, Reconstruction and subsequent periods; entries recorded by earlier owner Paul Stroman Felder (1819-1897), with subsequent entries by Jacob Wesley Martin. Notations in the journal indicate that Martin purchased the plantation property from Felder on 6 Apr. 1867. Early entries record birth and death dates for African American slaves; distribution of cloth to enslaved labor force; weather and unmeasured meteorological observations; and details of lumber rafted by Felder, including entry of 1 Dec. 1852 documenting his use of a circular saw [mill]. Specific location or name of the plantation property is not given but reference is made to Rocky Swamp lumber and to "Caw Caw Swamp Negroes." Felder was a resident of Orangeburg County, S.C. Later entries in plantation journal include draft tenant agreements for the Felder plantation, Edisto [River] Fork, accounts with freedmen and women, daily totals of cotton picked, and record of time lost by agricultural hands, who are identified by first name only. An 1865 notation references Waterville in Orangeburg District, S.C. Unbound volume, 1857-1868, contains pencil entries, presumably in the hand of Jacob Wesley Martin. Single-page record of expenditures documents a journey from Georgia to Chappell Hill, Texas, with stops in Atlanta, Montgomery, Mobile, New Orleans, Galveston, and Houston. Notation, 18 Apr. 1864 [1865?], Greensboro, N.C., states that "the Bearer of Co. H, 8th [Regiment] of [Texas] Vols. a Paroled Prisoner of the [Army of the Tennessee]" was permitted to return home undisturbed. Martin served as a private with the 8th Regiment, Texas Infantry. Unbound manuscripts include bills and receipts, promissory notes, and Orangeburg County tax receipts. Also arrest warrant, 1 May 1872, issued by trial justice C.G. Stephens, Orangeburg County, against Caesar Ancrum for assault and battery; appointment of Martin as overseer of public highway, Holman's Bridge Road, Willow Township, Orangeburg County, signed by W.L.W. Riley, road surveyor, 18 Aug. 1873; and several printed advertisements promoting agricultural products and literary publications: 17 Feb. 1876, "Black's Improved Fertilizer," with formula per ton and directions for mixing ingredients, signed in print by Geo. W. Anderson, sole manager, State of South Carolina, and countersigned by J.F. Boykin, general agent for Edgefield and other counties; and fragmented printed subscription circulars for War Poetry of the South, by W. Gilmore Simms, Southern History of the War, by Edward A. Pollard, and Lee and His Generals, by Wm. Parker Snow.
