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The People Who Lived on the Land that is Now Redstone Arsenal, page 92
Perroni said that written in the margin of Deed Record T:531 is a statement that declares the indenture was satisfied on March 28, 1844, and all slaves were released except seven. They were shown as “Moody, his wife Nancy, Coleman, Little Moody, Litha, Nelson, and Mary.”
Perroni continues the record of the landowners:
On February 1844, one month prior to the recording of the release indenture, George and Peyton Manning sold 1,360 acres of the land east and south, southeast, and southwest of the project area [Elko Switch Cemetery] (project site inclusive), to Bartley M. Lowe for $14,000 (Deed Record U:230).
In addition to the land conveyed to Bartley Lowe from James Manning in 1836 (Deed Record Q:121), and property conveyed by William Gray to Bartley Lowe in 1838 (Deed Record R:55), Bartley Lowe owned approximately 2,100 acres near the project area [Elko Switch Cemetery].
Bartley M. Lowe was a very wealthy and prominent citizen of Huntsville during 1820-1850, acquiring much of his wealth from cotton manufacturing (Lowe Manufacturing Co.). He was exceedingly popular and was elected Major-General of the militia during 1820-1830. Bartley M. Lowe married a daughter of James and Sophia Manning (Taylor 1976:78). He was born in South Carolina and died 24 June 1967.
Records indicate that Bartley Lowe owned approximately 130 slaves in 1840 (Deed Record V:273). It is likely that many of the descendants of these slaves remained in the project area working as farm laborers.
On 13 May 1845 B. Lowe sold approximately 1,633 acres to Thomas W. White for $12,865. This sale included the same land conveyed to Bartley Lowe by George and Peyton Manning (8 February 1844), and also the northeast quarter of Section 19, Township 4 South, Range 1 West (a tract formerly owned and occupied by Young Scruggs), both parcels having been conveyed by William McDonnell, Benjamin Patterson, and William Weeden on 7 November 1837.
Thomas W. White is a descendant of James White, for whom the town of Whitesburg, Madison County, Alabama was named. He immigrated to Madison County from Virginia in the early 1810s. Thomas White married Susan Withers White of Madison County. Records indicate Thomas and his wife, Susan Withers White, lived in Huntsville's Third Ward. Thomas W. White died on 30 May 1890, age 72, and his wife, Susan Withers White, age 47, passed away on 12 January 1893.
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