Biography/History:

William Craig Rabb was born in the Mississippi Territory about 1805. His father, William, and uncle, John, settled in Adams County, where in 1801 they applied to the territorial governor for a license to open a tavern that featured a billiards table. William Rabb and his brother, John, who was from Pennsylvania, both owned land in Adams County.

Hester Isabella Luse was born in Adams County about 1810. She was the sister of Stephen Luse, Elvira Luse Swayze, and Mary B. Luse Waters. Stephen Luse was a moderately affluent planter who owned over fifty slaves in 1850. Hester Isabella Luse married William Craig Rabb in Adams County on December 18, 1835. The couple had at least four children, including Harriet, Matilda, Rachael, and William.

The Rabbs moved north to a plantation near Benton in Yazoo County, where they planted cotton and corn and raised hogs. James Ellison was William Rabb’s overseer in 1850, although Rabb continued to take an active role in farming. Rabb served on the Yazoo County Board of Police in 1852. By 1860, he owned $10,000 in real estate, $45,972 in personal assets, forty-one slaves, and ten slave cabins. Rabb continued farming after the Civil War. He also signed a Freedmen’s Bureau agreement to provide board, clothing, and medical attention for nineteen tenant farmers.

In his last will and testament written in July of 1875, William Craig Rabb divided his plantation among his wife and family and appointed John B. O’Reilly and W. C. Craig as executors. Rabb’s daughter, Matilda, had married John B. O’Reilly in June of 1855, and his daughter, Harriet, had married W. C. Craig in December of 1869.

Scope and Content:

This plantation journal was kept by William Craig Rabb and his wife, Hester, both of whom made occasional notations about a wide variety of Yazoo County activities, ranging from the weather and accounts of the crops and slaves to recipes, cures for illnesses, and sundry genealogical references about relatives and slaves. The journal is no longer in its original order, but it appears that William Rabb may have written in one-half of the journal while his wife used the other half. Most of the entries are from the 1830s through the 1860s. Some entries seem to be monthly or bimonthly, but entire years are also skipped.

William Rabb’s entries are usually brief accounts of the weather and farming activities. He is careful to list the complete date of each event, and he makes precise lists of the amount of cotton and corn picked by slaves and tenant farmers and the number of hogs killed. William Rabb records the entire names of many slaves and mentions several events such as a scarlet fever epidemic in 1853 that was killing many slaves. He also mentions several slaves who ran away and one who was shot and brought back. Some of the recipes, especially for homemade wine, may be his own, and he appears to have noted some of the home remedies for illnesses such as "stomach poison." Hester Rabb may have entered more of the genealogical references, noting many births, weddings, and deaths of relatives and slaves, and she may have written in many of the recipes for cakes and other foods. The relatives that the Rabbs mention most often are Elvira Luse Swayze and Mary B. Luse Waters. Every entry in the journal is brief, and all of the dates are entered precisely. What appears to be a different or perhaps later hand occasionally pencils in genealogical notes throughout the journal.

Series Identification:

1. Plantation Journal (Original). 1836-1878; n.d. 3 folders.

   Original journal and loose papers, including newsclippings, recipes, and a page from an 1862 almanac.

   Box 1

2. Plantation Journal (Photocopy). 1836-1878; n.d. 2 folders.

   Reference photocopies are in a different order than the original journal and loose papers.

   Box 2