Trask, James L. (James Lawrence), 1781-1855
Dates
- Existence: 1781 - 1855
Biography
James Lawrence Trask (1781-1855) was a Massachusetts-born enslaver and landowner with ties to Brimfield and Springfield, Massachusetts; Adams County and Wilkinson County, Mississippi; and Louisiana. According to the Mississippi State Census return for 1820, Trask was listed as a free white inhabitant of Wilkinson County. James L. Trask was born on May 15, 1781, in Brimfield, Massachusetts, the second son of Dr. Israel and Sarah (Lawrence) Trask. Israel Elliot Trask (1773-1835), James’s brother, also removed to Mississippi not long before his brother. The business and personal lives of the two brothers were closely entwined and mainly involved the management of their cotton plantations in Mississippi and Louisiana: Second Creek plantation and River plantation in Adams County, Mississippi; La Grange plantation in Wilkinson County, Mississippi; and Grand Cut Off plantation in Concordia Parish, Louisiana. According to U.S. Decennial Census, James L. Trask was listed as the enslaver of 124 persons in 1820, 182 persons in 1830, 234 persons in 1840, and 245 persons in 1850.
Citation:
Some details in the biographical note are from public records found through Ancestry Library Edition; Johnson, Charles Owen. The genealogy of several allied families: Frazer, Owen, Bessellieu, Carter, Shaw, Wright, Landfair, Briggs, Neill, Tidwell, Johnson, and others. New Orleans, Pelican Pub. Co. [1961]; and Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi. Volume 2. Chicago: The Goodspeed publishing company, 1891.Places
- Brimfield (Mass.) (Place of Birth)
- United States (Associated Country)