JESUIT PLANTATION PROJECT

The Society of Jesus owned six plantations in the seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries which they relied on to support their ministries. The estates totaled 12,000 acres on four large properties in southern Prince Georges, Charles and St. Mary's counties and two smaller estates on Maryland's eastern shore. These estates were presented to them by the Lords Baltimore who were Catholic and used slaves to work them. The slaves were gifts to the Jesuits from wealthy Catholic familes to sustain the church.

The records of these plantations, Jesuit Plantation Project(JPP), form part of the archives of the Jesuits and have been converted to an electronic by students of American Studies department at Georgetown University. The archives contain personal papers like the diaries of Br. Mobberly who spent time on many of the plantations, Sale Contract of 272 Slaves in 1838, documents regarding plantation conditions, the welfare and religious needs of the slaves, resources and a JPP bibliography.

The sale of the slaves by the Jesuits had nothing to do with morals but was a decision based on economics. They feared the devaluation of their property, at a time in which the abolitionist movement was spreading. The economy was no longer driven by slave labor and the slaves were getting very costly to feed and clothed. They were also experiencing difficulty with governing the slaves and thought they could make more money by selling the slaves and employing tenant farmers.

My Butler family was among the 272 slaves sold downriver to Louisiana plantation owners. According to the JPP site, sixty-four negroes including the "Butler Breed" as they were designated on a Slave Transfer from St. Inagoes(sic) Plantation in St. Mary's County, were shipped to Louisiana on Ship #2.

Nace and Biby Butlers are my great-great-great grandparents.