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Robert Beaty enslaved 11 people in Limestone County, according to the 1820 U.S. Census
Robert Beaty served as a Trustee of the Athens Female Institute from 1821-1823. The 1860 census indicates that Beaty viewed himself as a farmer.
Robert Beaty was an active participant in chattel slavery. The 1820 US Federal Census records Beaty as enslaving 11 individuals. The 1830 US Federal Census records Beaty as enslaving 19 individuals.
In a handwritten document, Beaty indicated that he gave his daughter Mary Beasley: 1 negro woman (named) Pheaby, and (Pheaby’s) 2 daughters Flora and Lorah, (and) 1 negro boy Lewis.
-Beaty, Robert. “Memorandum of Property Given by me on this Day”.
-McLlin, Elva B
-Alabama Acts of General Assembly
-1860 Census
-1820 US Census
-1830 US Census
Daniel Coleman was the first President of the Board of Trustees for the Tennessee Conference Female Institute and served through 1856. Coleman was also a Lawyer, Judge of the County Court, and Judge of the Circuit Court, even serving as Limestone County's first judge. He also served as a Clerk in the first Alabama House of Representatives, and as State Senator for Limestone and Lauderdale Counties. Coleman also served an appointment to the Alabama Supreme Court.
Coleman was also a master Mason and Knight Templar. Coleman published “The Courier” “which ardently supported the Southern Cause” prior to the war between 1860, while practicing law in Athens.
Coleman established a Law School at his home, The Coleman House, which was the site of two Civil War battles. The Coleman House has been referred to as the "Old Slaveholder’s Mansion" and was possibly a site of a Union occupation.
Daniel Coleman participated in chattel slavery. Coleman enslaved 12 individuals per the 1850 US Census. Coleman enslaved 52 individuals per the 1860 Census.
-Limestone Legacy, pgs 24-25, 52-53
-HHC Index
-Limestone Democrat, 1903
-Catalogue and Announcements, 1849-1850, Tennessee Conference Female Institute, Athens, Alabama.
-Acts of General Assembly, Acts of Incorporation, Alabama.
-McLin, Elva B.
-History of Methodism in Alabama
-1850 US Census and Slave Schedule
-1860 US Census and Slave Schedule
Due to the shortage in laborers, Ira Hobbs, among many others, forced enslaved individuals to work for the Confederate army. Payment was not made to the enslaved, but rather, their enslavers.
Ira Edward Hobbs (1803-1869) served on the Board of Trustees for the Female Institute from 1842-1869. Hobbs is considered to be one of the institution’s Founders. Ira Edward Hobbs was married to Rebecca E.M. Hobbs, and father to Thomas Hubbard Hobbs.
Per the 1860 Census, Hobbs viewed himself as a Farmer.
After the institute was acquired by the Tennessee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Hobbs “oversaw the woodwork…(during the) construction of Founders Hall”
The Hobbs family were one of several families in Athens who took in female students from out of town as boarders while they were studying at the institute.
-History of Methodism in Alabama,
-1849-50 catalog, Female Institute of the Tennessee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church
-General Assembly, Acts of Al
-US Federal Census 1860
-Mary Norman Moore, History of Athens Female Institute, 1916
-Hobbs Family papers, page 69
Thomas Hubbard (TH) Hobbs is considered to be one of the Founders of the institution.
Hubbard’s release of claim to 4 lots of land which he inherited from his grandfather made him a donor along with his mother Rebecca, of land for the campus grounds. Like his mother, TH also inherited enslaved persons from his grandfather.
In addition to being a land donor for grounds, TH Hobbs also served as Secretary for the Board of Trustees, and as Superintendent of Education for Limestone County.
Thomas Hubbard Hobbs actively participated in chattel slavery. Per the 1860 US Federal Census and Slave Schedule, TH Hobbs is recorded as enslaving 79 individuals.
TH Hobbs served in the Confederate Army in the US Civil War. Hobbs commanded Company G, was wounded at Cold Harbor, and died at Lynchburg.
-1860 US Census and Slave Schedule
-Will of Thomas Maclin
-Early Settlers of Alabama by James Edmonds Saunders and Elizabeth Saunders, p.129
George Smith Houston was a farmer, lawyer, and congressman. Houston was admitted to the bar in 1831. That same year Houston married Mary Beasley, the daughter of Robert Beaty. Mary died 1856. Houston then remarried Ellen Irvine of Florence.
In 1832 Houston represented Lauderdale County as State Senator. In 1841, Houston was elected to US Congress and served as the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.In 1861, Houston “retired with his colleagues from the house of representatives in obedience to the ordinance of secession passed by the people of Alabama”.
After the war, in 1865, Houston was elected back to the US Senate, however Alabama was “denied representation”. In 1874 Houston was elected as Governor of Alabama, and he served 2 terms. In 1879, Houston was again elected to the US Senate.
Houston was a member of the Board of Trustees for the Athens Female Institute from 1867-1879. He served as president of the Board of Trustees from 1867 through the 1870s. Houston is described as an “Early founder, and lifelong trustee of the institution, now Athens College, is becoming more and more an honor to our town and state all prevail his memory”.
Governor George Smith Houston was an active participant in chattel slavery. Houston is recorded in the US Census and Slave Index of 1860 as enslaving 65 individuals. Additionally, Houston was a proponent of the convict-lease system.
-Acts of Alabama, Acts of Incorporation, 1867- Dec.1879
-History of Methodism in Alabama
-McLin, Elva B.
-Athens Female Institute, Catalog, 1849-1850
-1860 US Census and Slave Schedule
-Alabama Blue Book and Social Register,
-History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography, p 68
Due to the shortage in laborers, Benjamin Maclin, among many others, forced enslaved individuals to work for the Confederate army. Payment was not made to the enslaved, but rather, their enslavers.
Benjamin William (BW) Maclin (1806-1879) was the son of Major Thomas MacLin, and brother to Rebecca E.M. Hobbs. BW Maclin served as the Secretary of the Board of Trustees for the Athens Female Institute from 1842-1871. Maclin also served on the County Commission, and was a farmer.
BW Maclin released his paternally inherited claim of 4 lots of land to the trustees of the Female Institute of the Tennessee Annual Conference of Methodist Episcopal Church of Athens Alabama, making him a major land donor for the original institution and today’s campus.In addition to the land, BW Maclin also inherited enslaved individuals from his father Thomas Maclin.
Benjamin W. Maclin was an active participant in chattel slavery. In the 1850 US Census and Slave Schedule, he is recorded as enslaving 10 individuals. In the 1860 US Census and Slave Schedule, Maclin is recorded as enslaving 76 individuals.
-1849-50 Catalogue and Announcements, Female Institute of the Tennessee Conference Methodist Episcopal Church
-Will of Thomas Maclin
-Codicil of Thomas Maclin
-Acts of Alabama, Acts of Incorporatin p322, no. 277
-1850 US Census and Slave Index
-1860 US Census and Slave Index
-History of Methodism in Alabama
-A History of Athens Female College by Mary Norman Moore
Thomas Stith Malone actively participated in chattel slavery.
In the 1820 Census, Thomas Malone is recorded as enslaving 50 individuals. In the 1860 census, Malone is recorded as enslaving 1 man in Limestone County.
One of these individuals was Mahalia (Jackson). Mahalia was the mother to Patti Julia Malone, born in1858 at Cedars Plantation near Athens. Patti enrolled in Trinity School after emancipation, an AMA School.
Mahalia continued to work for Malone, her former enslaver, with the understanding that her work would enable her daughter Patti to go to school. However, the Malones would give Patti tasks to keep her from going to school. Principal Mary Wells intervened by offering employment, later sending Patti to Fisk in Nashville.
-History of Methodism in Alabama
-Catalogue and Announcements for the Female Institute of the Tennessee Conference of The Methodist Epsicopal Church, 1849-150
-Acts of Incorporation, Acts of Alabama, p332, no.277
-1820 US Census
-1860 US Census and Slave Index
