Overview
Israel Elliot Trask (1773-1835) was a Massachusetts-born lawyer, businessman, enslaver and landowner with ties to Brimfield and Springfield, Massachusetts; Adams County and Wilkinson County, Mississippi; and Louisiana. The collection, dated 1807-1861, contains records of Israel E. Trask’s business activities, notably including his partnership with his brother James in the ownership of several cotton plantations in Mississippi and Louisiana, through which they enslaved several hundred persons. The collection also documents the day-to-day lives of Israel E. Trask and family, and their associates, in Massachusetts, Mississippi, and Louisiana, circa 1812-1855.
Dates
- Creation: 1807-1861
Creator
Language of Materials
Collection is predominantly in English; materials in French are identified at the folder level.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research. Materials stored onsite. Please contact specialcollectionsref@hbs.edu for more information.
Extent
.417 linear feet (1 box, 1 oversize folder)This collection, dated 1807-1861, contains records of Israel E. Trask of Massachusetts and members of his family, including documentation of plantations they owned near Natchez, Mississippi, which they operated using the labor of people they enslaved. The records include a variety of legal records; financial records concerning the Mississippi and Louisiana plantations and other Trask investments; and estate records concerning Israel E. Trask, his wife Elizabeth Carter Trask, and their children. The collection also includes a set of mid-20th century typewritten transcriptions of letters and other correspondence, mainly between Israel E. Trask and his family. The original versions of these transcribed letters and other documents are part of the Israel E. Trask Papers held at Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library, Amherst, Massachusetts.
The collection documents the operations of the plantations owned by Israel E. and James L. Trask and the lives of individuals they enslaved. The legal documents concerning the Trasks’ holdings in Mississippi and Louisiana record real estate transactions, the granting of powers of attorney, and deeds and mortgages for the Second Creek plantation in Adams County, Mississippi and the Grand Cut Off plantation in Concordia Parish, Louisiana. There are three documents that record the names of the enslaved persons: an 1807 power of attorney between Israel E. and James L. Trask; an 1811 deed between Abraham Mann and William Barnard and Israel E. Trask; and an 1817 deed between James L. Trask and Israel E. Trask. Also included are two inventories of enslaved people who lived and worked on the Trasks’ holdings: one for the River Plantation, near Natchez, Mississippi, is undated; another for La Grange Plantation, near Woodville, Mississippi, is dated 1829. The estate records also contain information related to the Trask plantations and the people enslaved there. Finally, the mid-20th century typescript copies of letters between Israel E. Trask and his family in Massachusetts include numerous references to the enslaved persons who labored at their plantations.
In addition to the Southern plantations, the collection also documents Israel E. Trask’s Massachusetts-based business activities, as well as Trask family financial and estate matters. Included are bills and receipts for household goods, furniture, livestock, and other supplies acquired when the Trask family established a home in Springfield, Mass., circa 1820-1821. Also, letters, legal documents, and financial papers concerning the management of Israel E. Trask’s estate, include the sale of land, investments and account disbursements to Trask’s heirs, 1838-1861. Finally, the typescript copies of correspondence, bills, and memoranda, dated 1812-1855, document the Trask family’s personal and family life and activities, particularly the relationship between Israel E. and Elizabeth Trask.
Biographical / Historical
Israel Elliot Trask (1773-1835) was a Massachusetts-born lawyer, businessman, 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 1818, Trask was listed as a free white inhabitant of Adams County. James Lawrence Trask (1781-1855), Israel’s brother, also removed to Mississippi soon after 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 the Mississippi State Census and the U.S. Decennial Census, Israel E. Trask was listed as the enslaver of fifty-four persons in 1818 and James L. Trask was listed as the enslaver of 124 persons in 1820, 182 persons in 1830, 234 persons in 1840. According to the 1820 U.S. Decennial Census, Israel E. Trask had two free females of color between the ages of 14 and 26 living in his household in Hampden County, Massachusetts. Records included in the Israel E. Trask papers list at least 550 enslaved persons by name, spanning the years 1810 through 1829.
Israel E. Trask was born on March 18, 1773, in Brimfield, Massachusetts, the eldest son of Dr. Israel and Sarah (Lawrence) Trask. Trask attended Yale before matriculating at Harvard with the class of 1794. He did not graduate but was awarded an honorary A.M. degree from Harvard in 1814. After Harvard, Trask subsequently studied law in Virginia and Vermont. After service as a captain in the United States Army, Israel E. Trask moved to Natchez, Mississippi Territory, to practice law in 1801. Trask married Elizabeth Carter (1788-1860) in Natchez in 1803. The Trasks had nine children. Five lived to adulthood, including Elizabeth Lawrence Trask (1813-1894), who married John Gallison Tappan (1808-1883); Sarah Trask (1816-1893), who married John Remsen Onderdonk (1815-1857); and William Elliot Trask (b. 1820).
Possibly as early as 1812, Israel E. Trask and his family removed to Massachusetts, while James Trask remained in Mississippi until his death in 1855. Throughout his adult life, Israel E. Trask engaged in a variety of business ventures, including establishing the Brimfield Cotton & Woolen Manufacturing Co., and held various public offices. Even after transferring legal control of the plantations to his brother James, Israel E. Trask continued to split his time between Massachusetts and the plantations in Mississippi. Israel E. Trask died at James’s La Grange plantation in Wilkinson County, Mississippi, on November 25, 1835. Israel E. Trask’s estate was subsequently managed on his survivors’ behalf by several family members, including his sons-in-law, for several decades after his death.
Some details in the biographical note are from public records found through Ancestry Library Edition database; Tyler, W.S. History of Amherst College During the First Half Century, 1821-1871. Clark W. Bryan and Company, 1873; Chapin, Charles Wells. Sketches of the Old Inhabitants and Other Citizens of Old Springfield of the Present Century: and Its Historic Mansions of "Ye Olden Tyme.” Springfield, Mass.: Press of Springfield Print. and Binding Co., 1893; and 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].
Physical Location
MANU
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Abbie L. B. Williams (Mrs. Laidlaw Williams), 1967
Processing Information
Processed: July 2018 By: Baker Library Special Collections Staff
Harmful content note
Users should be aware that this collection may contain offensive, misrepresentative, or euphemistic content, including description of individuals or communities using derogatory or racist language. Staff have not censored terms used by the creator or removed or censored materials from the collection.
Remediation note
Remediation note: As of April 2022, staff have reviewed, remediated and enhanced the full description of this collection (including but not limited to the author/creator, title, biographical/history note, scope and content note, arrangement, folder titles, and subject headings) where necessary according to Baker Library’s Guiding Principles for Conscious and Inclusive Description. Superseded versions of the finding aid and catalog record are available in Archive-It, a web archiving tool provided by the Internet Archive. Preserving legacy finding aids and catalog records to provide transparency to researchers about how the description has evolved. Please contact Baker Library staff at specialcollectionsref@hbs.edu with any feedback.
Creator
- Author
- Baker Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- bak00576
Repository Details
Part of the Baker Library Special Collections and Archives, Harvard Business School Repository
Baker Library Special Collections and Archives holds unique resources that focus on the evolution of business and industry, as well as the records of the Harvard Business School, documenting the institution's development over the last century. These rich and varied collections support research in a diverse range of fields such as business, economic, social and cultural history as well as the history of science and technology.
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