John Armfield
b. 1797 · d. 1871
North Carolina–born slave trader who managed the Alexandria operations of Franklin & Armfield from 1828 to 1836, directing the collection and forced transport of thousands of enslaved people to the Deep South.
John Armfield was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, in 1797. In 1828 he entered partnership with his uncle Isaac Franklin, taking charge of the Alexandria end of the interstate slave trade from a brick compound at 1315 Duke Street. Armfield assembled coffles — groups of enslaved people chained in pairs — for overland marches to Tennessee and for shipment aboard the firm’s three brigs, the Tribune, the Uncas, and the Isaac Franklin [1] Franklin & Armfield ledgers Manuscript .
Armfield retired to Beersheba Springs, Tennessee, in 1836. After the Civil War he donated funds to the founding of the University of the South at Sewanee [2] Miller, Artisans and Merchants, 1991 Book . He died in Tennessee in 1871. The Alexandria compound he and Franklin operated survives at 1315 Duke Street and is now the Freedom House Museum.
Associated places
1315 Duke Street — Franklin & Armfield
1828–1836John Armfield ran the Alexandria compound day-to-day, assembling coffles and shipments.
Sources
- 1.
Franklin & Armfield business records, ledgers, and ship manifests held in various archives including the Chicago History Museum and the New Orleans Notarial Archives.
Manuscript
- 2.
T. Michael Miller, Artisans and Merchants of Alexandria, Virginia 1780-1820, Heritage Books, 1991.
Book
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