Slavery at Hopemont

By

Brenna Pye, M.A.

 In 1795, John Wesley Hunt migrated to Lexington, KY from the east coast. This was a significant time in the history of the United States and Kentucky was the Western frontier; a place where people were moving to make their fortunes. Hunt came to Lexington as a pioneer, ready to build his business, and he was a very successful entrepreneur in a variety of sectors, including investing, banking, and land. From 1803 to 1813, John Wesley Hunt was a successful hemp manufacturer, owning both a hemp farm and a “rope walk” (rope-making factory) in Lexington. In the 19th century, both agricultural labor and industrial labor was performed by enslaved Africans and their descendants. Between 1802 and 1814 John Wesley Hunt enslaved as many as 77 people, which included both agricultural and industrial laborers, as well as domestic laborers in service to the Hunt family.

Slavery was the engine that powered 19th century Lexington. By 1800, the population of enslaved people in Lexington was 439. The town was 25% Black, and during the antebellum era, the Black population never dropped below 30%. In the early 1800s, antebellum Lexington was experiencing population growth and was dubbed by many as the “Athens of the West” due to its economic opportunities, its beneficial location for trade, and its commitment to higher education as evidenced by the significance of Transylvania University. However, at least a quarter of the town’s population was in bondage and could not benefit from any of the economic growth of Lexington. Much of the economic growth was due to the labor of the people who were enslaved. One of the reasons hemp was such a successful cash crop for farmers and manufacturers in the commonwealth was because of the abundance of enslaved labor.

For a very short time before becoming a hemp manufacturer, John Wesley Hunt speculated in slaves and the slave trade. He also enslaved twelve people in domestic and agricultural labor during this time. The individuals he purchased to labor in his rope walk were bonded (meaning bound by a legal agreement) for eleven years and over half of them were sixteen years old or younger. Many of the enslaved people that provided industrial labor to Hunt’s rope walk were rented out to him. An aspect of the slavery system was the “hiring out” of enslaved labor which generated revenue for enslavers, without any direct investment. Using enslaved labor in his hemp factory was financially beneficial to John Wesley Hunt and increased his wealth.

The thread of slavery was woven throughout life in the 19th century. For domestic laborers in an urban setting like Lexington, life was very different than for those enslaved in rural settings. Urban slavery differed from rural farm or plantation slavery in several ways, including the kinds of tasks enslaved laborers did and the kinds of relationships they had with their enslavers. A wealthy town patriarch like John Wesley Hunt had enslaved people running his household which included cooking, cleaning, and nursing children. People who were enslaved in domestic labor in urban settings likely had very intimate contact and connections with their enslavers, including living in the same home and perhaps having to sleep in the same room as their enslaver to attend to that person’s needs. In urban settings, where people’s homes were closer together and the population was denser, enslaved people intermingled more often with white citizens and free people of color.

By the time John Wesley Hunt built Hopemont in 1814, he had gotten out of the hemp manufacturing business, but the work of enslaved laborers still touched every part of his life. According to Kentucky Tax Records for that same year, the number of people enslaved by Hunt went down to eight. And while enslaved urban domestic laborers seemingly enjoyed more “freedoms” than their rural counterparts, Lexington still prohibited large gatherings of enslaved people on Saturdays and Sundays and enforced a curfew from 10 pm to 6 am during the week. People enslaved in Lexington, whether they were industrial or domestic laborers, still lived with the fear of being sold or separated from their friends and family. While urban slavery provided enslaved people the opportunity to move more freely in the community, they were still considered property and their lives were dictated by the whims and fortunes of their enslavers.

One aspect of slavery at Hopemont that requires more research is learning about the lives of the specific individuals who were enslaved here. We do know the names of some of the people that were domestic laborers for the Hunt family, but their lives separate from their labor are for the most part lost to us. We also have the names of some of the individuals that were enslaved as industrial laborers in Hunt’s rope walk because bills of sale for over 50 young boys still exist. But we may never know what happened to Reuben, or Harry, or Harvey.

In an urban setting like 19th century Lexington, industrial laborers served as engines of wealth for people like John Wesley Hunt. Their labor allowed for a home like Hopemont to be built. Whereas domestic laborers served as symbols of that wealth, and allowed a large family like the Hunt’s to thrive. Domestic laborers functioned in the community as representatives of their enslavers largesse and financial success. While domestic labor in an urban setting can give the impression of being less traumatizing or “easier” than agricultural labor in a rural setting, in both instances enslaved people had no control over their own lives and were deemed property by those who enslaved them. In 1849, at the end of John Wesley Hunt’s life,  in the summary of the inventory of his estate, the total amount for both “farm slaves” and “house servants” equaled over fifteen thousand dollars, which is equal to over $500,000 today.