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Rebecca Hawkins Hagerty

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Rebecca Hawkins Hagerty (née McIntosh; March 15, 1815 – c. 1888) was an American plantation owner and enslaver who, in 19th-century America, managed two plantations in Texas, enslaving over 100 people, with real and personal property values above $100,000, equivalent to $3 million in 2023, for more than a decade.

Rebecca Hawkins Hagerty
Born
Rebecca McIntosh

(1815-03-15)March 15, 1815
Diedc. 1888
Other namesRebecca Hawkins Hagerty
CitizenshipMuscogee Nation
Known forEnslaving people on Texas plantations
FatherWilliam McIntosh

Early life and marriages

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Rebecca was born on March 15, 1815[1][2][3] to William McIntosh, the half Scottish and half Creek Chief of the Lower Creek Indian Nation, and Susannah Rowe, a Cherokee woman.[4][5][6][7][8][9]: 187  

On April 30, 1825, Creek Indians murdered Rebecca's father for his involvement in creating the Treaty of Indian Springs, which ceded Indigenous lands in Georgia in exchange for territorial lands west of the Mississippi River.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]

Rebecca's blended family consisted of her parents, two step-mothers, and thirteen (half and whole) siblings.[7][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] Her full-blood siblings included Delilah, Catherine Hettie, and Daniel Newnan (D. N.) McIntosh.[1][20][22][27] Rebecca's paternal McIntosh and maternal Rowe pedigree placed her among the Five Civilized Tribes.[28]

Rebecca and her McIntosh Family were part of the initial migrants removed westward from the Southern United States during the early 1830s to the Arkansas Territory (later Indian Territory, presently Oklahoma).[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38] While residing in the Indian Territory of the West, during March 1831, Rebecca married into the Hawkins Family when she wed her brother-in-law's brother Benjamin Hawkins—an Anglo-Creek man.[39][40][41][23][25][42] Benjamin acquired wealth through the John Jacob Astor trading company; through domestic slave trading; and as a removal agent, brokering land deals between Native Americans and Anglo Americans.[43][32][2][44][45] During the early 1830s while in Oklahoma, Rebecca and Benjamin started their family.[46][2][47] Their first two children born while in the territory were William, who died young, and Louisa, who was born at Fort Gibson and reached maturity.[46][2]

Coffle lines in tow, Rebecca, Benjamin, and their family moved into Nacogdoches (later Red River, presently Marion County, Texas,[48][49][50] securing a league and labor of land (over 4,000 acres).[41][51][52][53][54] Benjamin began selling the people he enslaved to his wife Rebecca as a legal precaution; by early 1838, she was purchasing land and enslaving people on her own.[55][56] While in Nacogdoches, Rebecca's second daughter Anna was born between 1833 and 1835.[57][53] In March 1836, offenders killed Benjamin because of his involvement in re-settling Native Americans into Texas, though Benjamin was allegedly in alliance with Sam Houston or Archibald Hotchkiss.[51][52][58][53][56] Rebecca inherited land and chattel wealth from her father and husband Benjamin,[55][16][59][56][60] and she continued purchasing land and enslaved people from her extended family, building her plantation-based business.[61][62]

During March 1838 in Texas, Rebecca married another land broker and enslaver, Spire M. Hagerty—an Anglo of Alabama.[2][39][41][63][64][65][66][67] With Spire, Rebecca moved into Port Caddo, Shelby County (later Harrison County), Texas, where they jointly managed the Phoenix Planation, expanding crop production and enslavement.[68][69][2] Rebecca had several children with Spire; three of whom died in infancy. Two children, Frances and Spire, Jr., lived to adulthood.[1][2]

Rebecca and Spire's difficult marriage led to a divorce proceeding, which halted at Spire's untimely death.[2][70][71][72] Rebecca enlarged her plantation holdings by petitioning the courts to protect her daughters' inherited interest in their plantation operations. In one instance, Rebecca purchased controlling interest in the Marion County Refuge Plantation[73][74] and sued Spire's executors in another court for possession and control of enslaved people on the Hagerty Estate of Harrison County.[2][54] At the adjudication of Spire's will, Rebecca gained controlling interest in the Harrison County plantation and estate.[2][75] Rebecca continued managing both the Phoenix Plantation and the Refuge Plantation, modeling affluent plantation owners such as Reese Huges, Willis Whitaker, Sr., and William Thomas Scott.[76][77] The chief crop on both plantations was cotton, and they produced 500-600 bales of it annually, primarily for buyers in New Orleans.[78][79] For over a decade, Rebecca operated the two plantations, increasing property values to over $100,000 and enslaving over 100 people; Rebecca became the wealthiest female and Native American enslaver in Texas.[76][80][81]

Career and Civil War era

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The abolition of slavery in the United States depleted Rebecca's fortune[2][78] and subsequent business ventures proved futile in replenishing her slavery-based wealth.[82] During the war, Rebecca initially tried to negate her financial losses by selling beef and pork to the Jefferson, Texas Confederate Commissary. Partnering with her son-in-law, Samuel H. McFarland, this business venture failed.[83] After the Emancipation Proclamation, Rebecca partnered with a local Jefferson, Texas merchant, Thomas B. Goyne, offering mortgage-backed lines of credit. This venture likewise eventually failed.[84] During the Reconstruction era, Rebecca failed to shift to railway transit of her cotton crops and cattle hides,[85] when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cleared the Great Red River Raft, decreasing navigable waters around the vicinity of Jefferson and Marshall, Texas.[86] Both the clearing of the river raft and the development of the railroad eventually impacted the population and property assessment, in the area.[87][88]

Death and legacy

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Rebecca arranged to build a log cabin in Oklahoma in 1866 to prepare for her return to Oklahoma.[41][78] Returning to Oklahoma two decades later, Rebecca died circa 1888 while visiting her brother, Daniel Newnan McIntosh; some sources cite her dying earlier, in 1886 or 1887.[55][2][89][90][91][92]

Rebecca reportedly outlived eleven of her thirteen siblings. She was also reportedly predeceased by all of her brothers-in-law and sons-in-law except one and six of her own eight children.[93]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Corbin 1967, p. 85, 87.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Thurman 1974, p. A13.
  3. ^ McArthur 1986, p. 19.
  4. ^ Foreman 1943, p. 271, 273.
  5. ^ Bonner 1971, p. 43.
  6. ^ Halliburton 1978, p. 303.
  7. ^ a b Littlefield 1979, p. 100.
  8. ^ Wright 1986, p. 238, 293.
  9. ^ Griffith, Benjamin W. Jr. (1988). McIntosh And Weatherford, Creek Indian Leaders. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.
  10. ^ Meserve 1932, p. 316.
  11. ^ Debo 1941, p. 89-90.
  12. ^ Foreman 1943, p. 271.
  13. ^ Coulter, E. Merton (1960). Georgia A Short History. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 227.
  14. ^ Bonner 1971, p. 15.
  15. ^ Savage 1976, p. 39.
  16. ^ a b Halliburton 1978, p. 305-306.
  17. ^ Littlefield 1979, p. 98, 110, 113.
  18. ^ Wright 1986, p. 238-240.
  19. ^ Griffith 1988, p. 267.
  20. ^ a b Meserve 1932, p. 313-314, 324.
  21. ^ Foreman 1936, p. 250.
  22. ^ a b Foreman 1943, p. 273-274.
  23. ^ a b Bonner 1971, p. 7-8.
  24. ^ DuChateau 1974, p. 306.
  25. ^ a b Bonner 1978, p. 43.
  26. ^ Wright 1986, p. 290, 293.
  27. ^ Siah 1994, p. 3-4.
  28. ^ McKelvey 2024, p. 8, 15.
  29. ^ Meserve 1932, p. 318.
  30. ^ Foreman 1936, p. 256-259.
  31. ^ Debo 1941, p. 95.
  32. ^ a b Foreman 1972, p. 125.
  33. ^ DuChateau 1974, p. 291.
  34. ^ Savage 1976, p. 39-41.
  35. ^ Culbertson 1976, p. 21.
  36. ^ Littlefield 1979, p. 110-111.
  37. ^ Wright 1986, p. 242-243, 291.
  38. ^ Griffith 1988, p. 267-268.
  39. ^ a b Woodward 1859, p. 99.
  40. ^ Debo 1941, p. 90.
  41. ^ a b c d Foreman 1943, p. 274.
  42. ^ Littlefield 1979, p. 100-101.
  43. ^ Corbin 1967, p. 87, 89.
  44. ^ Littlefield 1979, p. 115.
  45. ^ McArthur 1986, p. 22-23.
  46. ^ a b Corbin 1967, p. 89-90.
  47. ^ McArthur 1986, p. 22.
  48. ^ McKay, Mrs. Arch; Spelling, Mrs. H. A. A History of Jefferson Marion County Texas 1836-1936 (2nd ed.). Texas. p. 41.
  49. ^ Cooner 1965, p. 9.
  50. ^ Russell, Traylor (1973). Carpetbaggers, Scalawags & Others. Texas: Texian Press. pp. 7, 12–13.
  51. ^ a b Porter 1946, p. 56-57.
  52. ^ a b Corbin 1967, p. 87-88.
  53. ^ a b c Thurman 1974, p. A13, A23.
  54. ^ a b McArthur 1986, p. 26.
  55. ^ a b c Corbin 1967, p. 87.
  56. ^ a b c McArthur 1986, p. 23.
  57. ^ Corbin 1967, p. 89, 97.
  58. ^ Foreman 1972, p. 136.
  59. ^ Littlefield 1979, p. 91, fn 17, 101, 113.
  60. ^ Krauthamer 2000, p. 42.
  61. ^ McKelvey 2024, p. 27, 3, 40, 42, 48.
  62. ^ Krauthamer 2000, p. 43.
  63. ^ Bonner 1971, p. 8.
  64. ^ Culbertson 1976, p. 22.
  65. ^ McArthur 1986, p. 23-24.
  66. ^ Nimmo, Sylvia L. (1993). Weaver, McKnight, Hagerty, And Clute Families of Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, And North Carolina. Oklahoma: Timbercreek Ltd. p. 30.
  67. ^ Krauthamer 2000, p. 37-39, fn 19.
  68. ^ Hackney, V. H. (1966). Port Caddo A Vanished Village. Texas: The Marshall National Bank.
  69. ^ McKelvey 2024, p. 28.
  70. ^ John H. McLean, Reminiscences of Rev. Jno. H. McLean, A.M., D.D. (Tennessee: Smith & Lamar Publishing House M. E. Church, South, 1918), 33-34.
  71. ^ McArthur 1986, p. 24-25.
  72. ^ Campbell 1989, p. 202-203.
  73. ^ McArthur 1986, p. 24.
  74. ^ Campbell 1989, p. 161, fn 17.
  75. ^ McArthur 1986, p. 25.
  76. ^ a b Campbell 1989, p. 192, 274-276.
  77. ^ McKelvey 2024, p. 35-36, 44-47, 54, 61, 68.
  78. ^ a b c McArthur 1986, p. 28.
  79. ^ Krauthamer 2000, p. 42-44.
  80. ^ Wooster, Ralph A. (July 1961). "Notes on Texas' Largest Slaveholders, 1860". Southwestern Historical Quarterly. 65 (1): 76, fn12, 78–79.
  81. ^ Wooster, Ralph A. (October 1967). "Wealthy Texans, 1860". Southwestern Historical Quarterly. 71 (2): 167, 169–180.
  82. ^ McKelvey 2024, p. 50-53, 60-63.
  83. ^ McKelvey 2024, p. 51.
  84. ^ McKelvey 2024, p. 63.
  85. ^ McKelvey 2024, p. 61-62.
  86. ^ Army Corps of Engineers (1994). Red River Waterway Project, Shreveport, LA to Daingerfield, TX, Reach Revaluation Study: In-Progress Review Documentation. Mississippi: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg District. pp. 59–60.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  87. ^ Cooner 1965, p. 93, 142-143.
  88. ^ Mills, Gary B. (1978). Of Men & Rivers The Story of The Vicksburg District (Mississippi: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg District. pp. 56–58.
  89. ^ McArthur 1986, p. 29.
  90. ^ The New Handbook of Texas. Vol. 3. p. 403.
  91. ^ Siah 1994, p. 3.
  92. ^ Cawthon, Juanita Davis (1996). Some Early Citizens of Marion County Texas. p. 35.
  93. ^ McKelvey 2024, p. 67.

Bibliography

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  • Army Corps of Engineers. Red River Waterway Project, Shreveport, LA to Daingerfield, TX, Reach Revaluation Study: In-Progress Review Documentation. Mississippi: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg District, 1994.
  • Bonner, James C. (1971). Georgia's Last Frontier. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-8203-0303-1.
  • Bonner, James C. (1978). Milledgeville Georgia's Antebellum Capital. University of Georgia Press.
  • Campbell, Randolph B. (1989). An Empire For Slavery The Peculiar Institution in Texas 1821-1865. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. pp. 202–203.
  • Cawthon, Juanita Davis (1996). Some Early Citizens of Marion County Texas. p. 35.
  • Cooner, Ben C. (January 1965). The Rise And Decline of Jefferson, Texas (B. A. thesis). North Texas State University.
  • Corbin, Harriet Turner Porter (1967). A History And Genealogy of Chief William McIntosh, Jr. And His Known Descendants. California.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Coulter, E. Merton. Georgia A Short History. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1960.
  • Culbertson, Gilbert M. (Fall 1976). "The Creek Indians in East Texas". East Texas Historical Journal. 14 (2): 22.
  • Debo, Angie (1941). The Road to Disappearance. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
  • DuChateau, Andre Paul (Fall 1974). "The Creek Nation on The Eve of The Civil War". Chronicles of Oklahoma. 52 (3).
  • Foreman, Carolyn Thomas (September 1943). "A Creek Pioneer". Chronicles of Oklahoma. 21 (3).
  • Foreman, Grant (1936). Indians & Pioneers. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
  • Foreman, Grant (1972). Indian Removal. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
  • Griffith, Benjamin W., Jr. McIntosh and Weatherford, Creek Indian Leaders. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, 1988.
  • Hackney, V. H. Port Caddo A Vanished Village. Texas: The Marshall National Bank, 1966.
  • Halliburton, Janet (Fall 1978). "Black Slavery in The Creek Nation". Chronicles of Oklahoma. 56 (3).
  • Krauthamer, Barbara (November 2000). Blacks on The Borders: African-Americans' Transition From Slavery to Freedom in Texas And The Indian Territory, 1836-1907 (Thesis). Princeton University.
  • Littlefield, Daniel F. Jr. (1979). Africans And Creeks. Connecticut: Greenwood Press.
  • McArthur, Judith N. (October 1986). "Myth, Reality, And Anomaly: The Complex World of Rebecca Hagerty". East Texas Historical Journal. 24 (2).
  • McKay, Arch, Mrs. and Mrs. H. A. Spelling. A History of Jefferson Marion County Texas 1836-1936, 2nd ed. Texas: no publisher listed, no year.
  • McKelvey, Greta (2024). Regarding Rebecca. Texas.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • McLean, John H. Reminiscences of Rev. Jno. H. McLean, A.M., D.D. Tennessee: Smith & Lamar Publishing House M. E. Church, South, 1918.
  • Meserve, John Bartlett (March 1932). "The MacIntoshes". Chronicles of Oklahoma. 10 (1).
  • Mills, Gary B. (1978). Of Men & Rivers The Story of The Vicksburg District (Mississippi: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg District. pp. 56–58.
  • Nimmo, Sylvia, L. Weaver, McKnight, Hagerty, And Clute Families of Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, And North Carolina. Oklahoma: Timbercreek Ltd., 1993.
  • Porter, Kenneth Wiggins (Spring 1946). "The Hawkins' Negroes go to Mexico". Chronicles of Oklahoma. 24 (1).
  • Siah, Lillie McIntosh (1994). Descendants of John McIntosh. Oklahoma.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Thurman, Nita (1974-08-25). "Rebecca Hagerty: A Legendary Pioneer". Marshall News Messenger.
  • Tarpley, Fred. Jefferson: Riverport to The Southwest. Texas: Eakin Press, 1983.
  • Savage, William W. Jr. (Spring 1976). "Creek Colonization in Oklahoma". Chronicles of Oklahoma. 54 (1): 39.
  • Traylor, Russell. Carpetbaggers, Scalawags & Others. Texas: Texian Press, 1973.
  • Woodward, Thomas S. (1859). Woodward's Reminiscences of The Creek And Muscogee Indians. Alabama: Barrett & Wimbish. p. 99.
  • Wooster, Ralph A. "Notes on Texas' Largest Slaveholders, 1860." Southwestern Historical Quarterly vol. 65, no. 1 (July 1961).
  • Wooster, Ralph A. "Wealthy Texans, 1860." Southwestern Historical Quarterly vol. 71, no. 2 (October 1967).
  • Wright, J. Leitch Jr. (1986). Creeks And Seminoles. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press.

Further reading

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  • Ashcraft, Allan C. "Confederate Beef Packing at Jefferson, Texas." Southwestern Historical Quarterly vol. 65, no. 2 (October 1964).
  • Campbell, Randolph B. "Human Property: The Negro Slave in Harrison County, 1850-1860." Southwestern Historical Quarterly vol. 76, no. 4 (April 1973).
  • Campbell, Randolph B. Grass-Roots Reconstruction in Texas, 1865-1880. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1997.
  • Foreman, Grant. Pioneer Days in The Early Southwest. Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1926.
  • Holbrook, Abigail Curlee. "A Glimpse of Life on Antebellum Slave Plantations in Texas." Southwestern Historical Quarterly vol. 76, no. 4 (April 1973).
  • Jackson, LaVonne Roberts. "Freedom And Family: The Freedmen's Bureau And African-American Women in Texas in The Reconstruction Era 1865-1872." Ph.D. Dissertation, Howard University, May 1996.
  • Martini, Don. Who Was Who Among The Southern Indians A Genealogical Notebook,1698-1907. Mississippi: privately printed, 1998.
  • Wooster, Ralph A. "East of The Trinity: Glimpses of Life in East Texas in The Early 1850s." East Texas Historical Journal vol. 13, no. 2 (October 1975).
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