Coney and Daniel were two young men born in Princess Anne County, Virginia in the 1810s. They were born enslaved on the farm of Henry Cornick, a wealthy Virginia planter who owned a large estate in the Kempsville area of Princess Anne County (now Virginia Beach, Virginia). The Cornick family was one of the wealthiest planter families in Princess Anne County. In 1830, Henry Cornick owned 24 enslaved people, including two men in their 20s who were likely Coney and Daniel. By the time of his death in 1855, Cornick owned over 20 enslaved people who are listed by name in his will. The men, women and children enumerated in Cornick’s will are likely Coney and Daniel’s families.
In 1831, Cornick sold Coney and David to Norfolk slave trader Robert W. Simington, who took the men to New Orleans and sold them to Jean Jacques Haydel and Marcelin Belfort Haydel, two brothers who had recently inherited a plantation in St. Jean the Baptist Parish from their father. This plantation is now known as Whitney Plantation. The family also owned nearby Evergreen Plantation and a number of other plantations in St. Jean the Baptist Parish. Shortly after purchasing Coney and Daniel, the Haydel brothers had a major falling out and divided the family property between them. We are still searching for records about Coney and Daniel’s lives in Louisiana.
Sources:
Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator. Henry T. Cornick House, Potters & Colonial Roads vicinity, Kempsville, Virginia Beach, VA. Kempsville Virginia Virginia Beach, 1933. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/va0969/.
Princess Anne Co., VA will of Henry Cornick, Sr. 1855. Currituck County, NC Wills. Transcription available online at NCGenWeb https://www.ncgenweb.us/currituck/wills/cornickhenrysr1855.html
Sale of Slaves by Robert W. Simington to Jean Jacques Haydel, Feb. 4, 1831. Notarial Acts of Felix DeArmas, 1824-1839. Act 62, vol. 31. Available online: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3MD-T92F-T?i=175&cat=154209
Seck, Ibrahima. Bouki Fait Gombo: A History of the Slave Community of Habitation Haydel (Whitney Plantation) 1750-1860. UNO Press, 2015.
“United States Census, 1830”, , FamilySearch(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH54-RMB : Sat Mar 09 11:51:35 UTC 2024), Entry for Henry Cornick, 1830.