Call us for a free consultation
801-531-0920
Home
Resources
Immigrant Servants Database
Services
Contact Us
Testimonials
About Us
Case Studies
Blog
menu
Home
Resources
Immigrant Servants Database
Services
Testimonials
About Us
Case Studies
Blog
Contact Us
Immigrant Servants Database
Search
Advanced Search
Learning Center
About
Research Services
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Individual Record
Name
Surname:
Raven
Given Name:
John
Soundex Code:
R150
Birth, Christening and Other Information
Gender:
Male
Orphan:
Unknown
Position in Parent's Family:
Unknown
Landowner:
Unknown
Literate:
Unknown
Convict:
Unknown
Length of Indenture
Year of Indenture:
1672
Year of Freedom:
by 1683
Place of Indenture
Colony:
South Carolina
Death Information
Date of Death:
by 1719
Testate:
Yes
Research Notes
Comments:
"A third example of striking upward mobility among persons who began life in South Carolina in servitude is of interest because sufficient details of the servant's life have been recorded to allow us to gain some sense of the means employed by early Carolinians to achieve wealth and prominence in the colony. John Raven came to Carolina as a servant to Hugh Carteret, arriving in April, 1672. While no record has survived of his acquisition of land for his own immigration, he probably did claim his 'freedom dues,' for in 1683 he is referred to as a 'victualer,' which implies he had acquired cattle or hogs that he probably grazed on his own land. The next year he claimed a warrant for 50 acres on behalf of his wife Ruth, whose arrival in 1682 entitled her to receive that amount of land as her headright. We hear little of the Ravens until 1692 when the Grand Council listened to the complaint of Elizabeth Jones against 'her Master John Raven.' Raven obviously had been successful enough in his business to acquire a servant of his own, and one reason may have been that he demanded a great deal of those whose labor he controlled and spent as little as possible on their maintenance. For Elizabeth Jones had run away from her Master, and the Council was forced to command her to 'Returne to and Continue with ... [him] and behave her Selfe ....' But the Council simultaneously ordered 'that the Said John Raven doe alsoe observe his part of [providing her with] ... Sufficient Cloathing, Meatt and drinck and moderatt Corrections onely ... and [take the time] to teach [her] ... what he is obliged to doe ....' Clearly, having been a servant did not dictate that once free, one would use his own servants mildly and compassionately. Raven's concern to protect his own interests - the Council had, after all, ordered a supplier of food to feed a member of his own household adequately - ultimately yielded the result he desired. He managed to acquire a sufficient number of cattle and hogs to justify the registering with the government a brand to identify them as his property. He purchased vast amounts of land, sold a little his second wife had inherited from her deceased husband, served as a trustee of his church, and was elected to the Commons House of Assembly. He died some time between 1715 and 1719. His son, John Raven, Jr., was a Captain (in the militia), served in the Commons House and on the Grand Jury, and proved title to 3758 acres of land, of which 2300 came directly from his father." (1)
Source Citations:
(1) Aaron M. Shatzman, Servants into Planters: The Origin of an American Image: Land Acquisition and Status Mobility in Seventeenth-Century South Carolina (New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1989), 39-41.