Enslaved Communities on Drayton Family Plantations: SC, GA, FL and TX

Introduction

In the first project of its kind, the Magnolia Plantation Foundation of Charleston, SC has sponsored genealogical research to reconstruct the lineages of enslaved communities on Drayton family plantations in the United States and Barbados. For the past four years, the Lowcountry Africana team and known descendants of families formerly enslaved on Drayton family plantations have worked together to rediscover the scattered paper trail which may connect the enslaved ancestors on Drayton family plantations with many thousands of living descendants throughout the United States. We are now compiling the research for presentation here.

The documents presented here are small fraction of those to be presented. In the course of our research we have gathered more than 30,000 pages of documentary evidence which spans the years 1724 to 1930.

To begin exploring the Drayton family records, you may follow the links to the first and second generation of the slaveholding Drayton family in the column bar to the right.

Project Scope And Research Goals

The goal of the present study is to trace the descendants of the founding enslaved populations on Drayton family plantations by bringing the lineages of enslaved ancestors forward through time to connect with the family oral history and genealogical research of living descendants.

The first component, presented here, documents the founding enslaved communities on Drayton family plantations. With the estate settlement of Thomas Drayton, Jr. in 1724, the slaveholding Drayton family lineages diverge, as Thomas Drayton's estate was divided among his sons. Please be sure to visit often as we track lineages forward.

Known Descendant Families

The research team includes known descendants of Drayton family freedmen and researchers from Lowcountry Africana. Descendants have shared family oral history, documents, photographs and results of past genealogical research. Working with these vital pieces of the puzzle, we have compiled known family histories, then searched the historical record for documents which would fill gaps in known lineages.

You may view the lineages of known descendants by following the link below:

Genealogy of Enslaved Communities on Drayton Family Plantations: A Research Project Sponsored by the Magnolia Plantation Foundation of Charleston, SC

Research - Phase I

• Gathering oral histories of known descendants and constructing family tree files from known lineages
• Identifying slaveholding Drayton family members for each generation from 1724 to 1865
• Gathering will and probate records for Drayton family slaveholders to learn the names of those enslaved on Drayton family plantations
• Gathering an array of other historical documents such as runaway slave advertisements, court records, Drayton family correspondence and plantation records which reveal more about the lives of enslaved ancestors on Drayton family plantations
• Gathering post-Emancipation records for known descendants of enslaved ancestors to learn more about their lives

Phase II: Underway

Phase II is underway. We are now compiling the historical documents and presenting them here at Lowcountry Africana. We've posted the wills, estate inventories and plantation records of known Drayton family slaveholders in the Lowcountry Africana document database in order to make them available for researchers as we work to build the website presentation.

Each new document brings new information and as the pieces of the puzzle come together, the names and lives of enslaved ancestors begin to come into focus.

As we layer on documents and lineages, we will weave those stories together and present them here.

Join the Research Project

If your family has roots on Drayton family plantations, we would love to hear from you, and we invite you to join in the ongoing research. Please let us hear from you! You can write to us at info@lowcountryafricana.com.