Pittsylvania County, Virginia
Before the Civil War

Edited by Henry Mitchell.

G. W. Dyer was an instructor in economics and sociology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville at the time of the publication of his book Democracy in the South Before the Civil War (Publishing House of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Nashville, Tennessee, 1905, pp. 60-65). The book was apparently intended to make a number of points, including that the South was neither impoverished nor non-industrial before the Civil War, and that its difficulties after the war were due to the destruction caused by the war itself, not simply problems caused by the earlier institution of slavery. (Dyer decried the fact that a peaceful emancipation did not occur.)

In the process of making his arguments, Dyer gathered information from Pittsylvania County, and referenced his sources as “Land and Property Books, etc. in Pittsylvania County, Va., Clerk's Office.”

The following data is Dyer's compilation of figures from 1860, prior to the beginning of the war. It is interesting to compare his numbers with current census data.

Population Figures

	White Population	Slave Population	No. White Males over 21 Years Old	No. Slave Owners	Per Cent of White Males over 21 Years Old Owning Slaves
Amelia	2,897	7,655	677	486	71.7
Henry	6,773	5,018	1,454	480	33
Pittsylvania	17,105	14,340	3,253	1,225	37.6
Bedford	14,388	10,176	3,013	1,098	36.4
Campbell	13,588	8,886	1,921	866	45
Franklin	13,692	6,351	2,628	668	25.4
Roanoke	5,250	2,643	1,156	311	18.2
Washington	6,500	1,100	1,257	177	14

Capital Assets

The Amount of Capital Invested in Mining or Manufacturing in 1860 According to the Property Books in Some of the Counties.

	Value
Henry County	$85,000
Pittsylvania County	35,700
Franklin County	50,634
Roanoke County	41,265

The above amounts do not represent all of the manufacturing done in the counties named. In this investigation no account is taken of manufacturing done in towns.

Total Value of Money, Bonds, Claims, Etc., In Some of the Counties.

	Value
Amelia County	$528,591
Henry County	286,915
Pittsylvania County	1,155,050
Franklin County	443,906
Roanoke County	427,565

Notes

Electronic formatting is by Jonathan Mitchell.
Research assistance was provided by Patricia Mitchell and Sarah Mitchell.