The Ferry Hill labor force consisted of twenty-five slaves and a large number of hired workers. Among the slaves were seven young children. Two of the adults regularly attended the Ferry and an unknown number were household servants. The remainder worked at whatever was to be done on the plantation - cutting fire wood and saw timber, caring for the livestock, planting, cultivating, and harvesting the grain, hay, and apple crops, and such irregular jobs as filling the two ice houses, and rebuilding the cistern and water works for Ferry Hill Place. During the year three births were recorded, two of which were stillborn.

The slaves were generally satisfactory workers. Ned and Jupe, who were assigned as “Foremen of the Ferry,” were never criticized in regard to their work. Occasionally Blackford would complain that some of the field hands or woodcutters were “piddling at the job” but only one severe criticism was recorded of any of the slaves workers. Once, three slaves and an equal number of hired laborers, including one German, were hauling wheat from the fields and storing it in the barns. Blackford found their work wanting, and recorded of their activities, “Bad planned and poorly managed Negroe dictation.”

The slaves were generally trusted and rarely closely supervised. As already noted Ned and Jupe were given full command of the Ferry. They were premitted to hire extra labor at rush periods and to spend money from the ferriage receipts without specific authorization. Other slaves were sent to Shepherdstown, Sharpsburg, or even to Boonsboro with cash with which to purchase groceries, tobacco, clothing, and various other commodities. In fact Blackford once sent one of his slaves to town to purchase trimming for a fancy vest he had had a tailor cut for himself. They were permitted to drive horses and carriages to the neighboring towns, and in no instant was this trust violated.

The slaves were well clothed and well fed. Blackford bought clothing for his slaves individually and when needed, and did not distribute it to them at stated periods in the fall and spring as most planters did. In fact he often let the slave purchase his own clothing. The following entries taken from the journal are typical. “Gave Ned $1.50 to pay for a Blanket which he bought of Lane and Webb.” “Gave Murf a new coat good Lindsey.” “Gave Will 12 1/2 cents to buy him some tobacco.”

Blackford was most solicitous about the health and well-being of his slaves. Little Caroline fell while playing in the barnyard and Doctor Richard Parran was called to treat her bruises. Little George fell ill and Blackford immediately sent for Doctor Parran to attend him. When Hannah, Will's wife, was delivered of a female child Mrs. Israel Fry a midwife attended her. Daphney, who was pregnant, was taken ill and Doctor Parran and Mrs. Fry were both called. She had a miscarriage and was hospitalized for eleven days.

Blackford showered his slaves with special favors. In addition to furnishing them with tobacco he bought and distributed whiskey to the workers. He permitted them to visit the family and slaves of his daughter, Mrs. Otho J. Smith, in Boonsboro. They drove a cart and carried chickens, eggs, butter, and other such commodities to them. Occasionally they were given stagecoach fare to make the trip of some eleven miles to Boonsboro. Despite such treatment Blackford's slaves were not a contented lot. Caroline, Daphney, Will, and Isaiah were all reported as runaways more than once. Daphney, on one occasion, got to Sharpsburg where she spent the night before Henry, who “went in parsuit,” overtook her. Isaiah, a house servant who was reported “absent without parmition,” went to Boonsboro. Were they merely taking advantage of their liberties; were they stimulated in their efforts by the numerous free Negroes who resided in the neighborhood; or did they seek freedom as a natural right?

Some of the Blackford slaves were an ill-behaved lot. They frequently indulged in excessive use of liquor. Ned, a foreman of the Ferry was reported by Helen Blackford to be “quite much intoxicated” at high noon. Again he “came up from the Ferry after dark quite stupid with liquor.” The following entries in the Journal are typical. “Murf and Julious both drunk.” “Murf drunk as usual,” “Murf down at the ferry pretty drunk.” Blackford, who reported that he once got “very high” on champagne when on a business trip to Hagerstown, did not punish his slaves for drunkenness. In fact he seemed to condone the practice, and once excused them for being a little “slow and stiff” at the harvesting of wheat because “they had no bitters the whiskey which they all love dearly has given out.”

But Blackford did not fail to administer punishment when he felt it was deserved. Careless or deliberate destruction of property he would not tolerate. Enoch “suffered the grey mare to run off and broke off shafts of the cart” and Blackford “corrected him. . . by giving him a few lashes.” “Isaiah sat the peoples victuals down and the hoggs destroyed it,” and Blackford “whipped him.” Again Blackford “punished Isaiah pretty severely for his misconduct.” Among other offenses recorded, several of which went unpunished, were “use of profane language,” “bad conduct eave dropping and attempt to break into [Blakney's] house,” “Caroline behaved bad in the kitchen,” “Ned beat Little John,” “Jupe and Caroline behaved bad,” and Ned “confessed to the destruction of 2 pea cocks.” Two of the young slaves “little Caroline” and “little George” were accused of “pilfering money” from members of the Blackford family but neither charge was proven.

Judging from the record Blackford was a kindly, even indulgent, master. His slaves were well fed, well clothed, worked almost entirely without supervision, were given all sorts of special privileges, were given the same sort of medical care as members of their master's family, and were not severely punished. Blackford hired out two of his slaves to close personal friends and in each case the contract called for “good and sufficient clothing and provisions.” Finally, in his will Blackford declared “It is my will and desire that care shall be taken to prevent any of my slaves being sold out of the State or to slave traders or their agents unless for grave faults, or to any but humane and good masters.”

Blackford employed a large number of hired laborers for seasonal farm work, for cutting wood and timber, and for special jobs such as filling the ice houses and repair work on barns and houses. Some few were hired for the year. The hired laborers included native whites, foreigners whom Blackford called Germans, Dutch, Scotch, Irish and Italian, free Negroes, slaves belonging to his neighbors, and Indians. Most of these were unskilled workers but Blackford occasionally hired skilled carpenters and brick masons. The latter were employed to remodel his own house and to rebuild a cistern and water works. It is impossible to say just how many workers Blackford employed, but a count for two months in 1838 discloses 3 slaves, 4 free Negroes, 3 Indians, 2 Dutchmen, 6 Germans, 1 Irishman, 1 Italian, and 21 local whites. Nor is there sufficient evidence to generalize about wages or the quality of work done. One white man was paid $1.00 per day, a white woman 62 1/2 cents, and a Negro girl 87 1/2 cents in wheat harvesting. An old man who did what Blackford called “piddling work” was given his keep, a little tobacco, and an occasional sum of money for making fence palings. An “old Negro” was hired to make brooms of broom corn grown on the plantation at 6 1/4 cents each. One free Negro cut 18 1/2 cords of wood, split 550 fence rails, and sawed blocks for shingles and logs for lumber, but his wages were not recorded. One white laborer split 2,640 shingles by hand, a carpenter pulled off the old roof on the barn and smokehouse on Shepherd Farm and nailed on 6,800 shingles on the house in Shepherdstown. The brick mason who rebuilt the cistern and water works at Ferry Hill Place was engaged in the task for more than a month.

The hired laborers generally proved satisfactory workers, but they occasionally fell under condemnation. For instance two free Negro wood cutters were denied the use of Blackford's grindstone because “they had carelessly broken the handle off of the crank.” Isaac Widows, a white wood cutter also “broke the crank of my grindstone. I conclude he is very Trifeling.” Martin Shellman, another white man and a “trifeling fellow,” was discharged but continued on the place and “ate in the kitchen with the Negroes.” Both these men had been employed for the year and both were re-employed after having been discharged.

Blackford's chief grievance against his hired laborers was their excessive use of whiskey. He himself contributed to this habit by serving them liquor and by furnishing them money to purchase it for themselves. On one occasion Nicholas and Martin came to work, but “booth are for a sprey.” Blackford gave “Nicholas $2.75 and Martin $1.00 which will keep them drunk for some time.” After Shellman “went on a sprey for more than a week,” which he had spent in Sharpsburg and where he had taken one of Blackford's sheep dogs, Blackford called him in on August 26 and gave him a lecture on whiskey drinking. “He said he would quit and drink no more.” On September 4, Blackford wrote “Shellman making shingles, sober and stedy”; September 20, “Shellman still perfectly sober.” Blackford thought he had worked a cure. But alas, on September 30, “Shellman came in the evening. has been Drunk in Sharpsburg all last night.” A few days later a stranger called and asked for a job but Blackford decided “he looked like a drinker therefore I would not imploy him.” It might be noted that Blackford treated his hired laborers as individuals be they black or white, slave or free, and judged each on his own merits. One example will suffice. Isaac Widows, a white man employed for the year, “called wants meat, bread, & money gave him none. Negro George came, gave him $1 to purchase a hat.”

The members of the Blackford family seem never to have had a dull moment. Situated in a thickly populated area and within easy driving distance of Hagerstown, Boonsboro, and Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Shepherdstown and Harpers Ferry, Virginia, Ferry Hill Place was hardly ever without one or more visitors, some of whom spent days and weeks at a time. Furthermore the Ferry led many travelers and strangers to stop at the plantation house. Many of Blackford's close friends and relatives called every day to inquire about Mrs. Blackford's health and dined or supped with them, and travelers often ate at the plantation. A check for one month shows that daily callers ranged from two to ten, those who dined ranged from two to five, those who spent the night ranged from two to four, and that individual guests remained three, five, nine, and twenty-four days. Some came, like Miss Berry of Sharpsburg, to bring delicacies, “cake and jelly for Mrs. B” and remained for only a few minutes. Some were business men, and some laborers seeking employment. And among them were Scotsmen seeking subcriptions to magazines and Irish and German peddlers with their packs on their backs.

The Blackford family, white and black, suffered many ills. Mrs. Blackford had been ill for some time before January 4, 1838, when the journal opens. Dr. Richard Parran paid professional calls nearly every day for several months, sometimes twice per day. But he was also a close friend and he, his wife, and the widow of Doctor Charles MacGill paid many social calls and often dined at Ferry Hill Place. Dr. Otho J. Smith, Blackford's son-in-law, paid professional calls as did Mrs. Israel Fry, a midwife who attended the Blackford slave women. But she also paid social calls. Blackford himself administered drugs and patent medicines to members of both his black and white families. These medicines included Sedlitz Powers, Brandreth Pills, castor oil, calomel, epsom salts, spirits of niter, saltpeter, magnesia, and laudanum.

Another person who was often at Ferry Hill Place was Mrs. Nafe, a seamstress. She seems to have made most of the clothing for the slaves and much of that for the Blackford family. Blackford and his sons patronized tailors in the nearby towns who measured and cut their garments but Mrs. Nafe would sew the garments which the tailor had cut. This was true also of the clothing of his wife and daughter. But Mrs. Nafe was more than a hired worker, she was a friend and she and her daughter were often guests in the home.

Blackford was a well educated and widely read man; his family too was educated and well read. Blackford was an avid reader of the Baltimore Patriot and always noted in his journal the failure of its arrival. He also subscribed to the Hagerstown Torch Light, the New York Whig, a Virginia paper probably the Richmond Whig, and an unidentified Philadelphia paper. He subscribed to the American Farmer of Baltimore and the Ladies' Companion of New York. His library consisted of a “Large collection of books” including encyclopaedias, dictionaries, a set of State Papers, history, classics, and biographies. Among the latter were John Marshall's Life of Washington and Plutarch's Lives. Blackford's son Franklin and other young men of the vicinity made use of both the newspapers and books at Ferry Hill Place. Blackford sent one of his sons, Henry, to the well known Mercersburgh (Pennsylvania) Academy and the youngest one, William, to Francis Dreary's School in Boonsboro. It was to please Henry that Blackford subscribed to the Philadelphia newspaper.

The Blackford family was deeply religious and, except for Blackford himself, were ardent churchgoers. Blackford was a member of the Episcopal Church, Mrs. Blackford of the Presbyterian and the children were divided in their affiliation. Jeannette married a Roman Catholic. The other children attended various churches, including Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, German Reformed, and Dunkard. They attended also inter-denominational revival services in Sharpsburg and a camp meeting in Pleasant Valley. The Blackfords entertained seven different ministers, two Episcopalian, two Presbyterian, and one Methodist, one Dunkard, and one German Reformed, at Ferry Hill Place during the year. All of them dined at least once and two of them spent the night. The family contributed regularly to the support of the Episcopal, Presbyterian, and German Reformed churches and made large contributions to building both Episcopal and German Reformed edifices. They also made small contributions to the Methodist church program.

The Blackfords enjoyed the social life typical of the rural farmer and planter class. Men and boys enjoyed fishing and hunting and the women quilting parties. Blackford himself took great delight in shooting foxes because of their destruction of birds and poultry. Franklin shot quail and pigeons in Virginia which abounded in great numbers “flying in all directions.” The young people of both sexes enjoyed boat riding on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal during the summer and skating and sleigh riding in the winter. They organized “Oyster Parties” at Shepherdstown and “fishing parties” at “Anti Eatem” Creek, as Blackford always wrote it. Three circuses made their appearance at Shepherdstown and Boonsboro during the summer of 1838 one of which the Blackford boys attended “to the great dissatisfaction of their mother.” The Blackfords also enjoyed the visits of Irish and German peddlers from whom they purchased linens and trinkets. They joined in the public celebration of Washington's birthday and July Fourth in Shepherdstown where they enjoyed military parades, martial music, and the firing of small arms as well as the “refreshments at the Springs as customary.” But Blackford looked askance at the “Fandango barbacue or whatever you call it” given in the park.

The Blackfords enjoyed visits to the Virginia Springs, to Hagerstown and Harrisburg, and to Washington and Baltimore. All members of the family made short visits to the Belinda Springs near Sharpsburg where they took the baths and the mineral water, and enjoyed the social entertainment. On these trips they were often entertained by Colonel John Miller's family who were devoted friends of long standing. Blackford and his sons visited Hagerstown and Harrisburg chiefly on business but on one of his trips he attended a party at Kalhoofers “where we drank prety freely of Champain wine,” and he arose the next morning “with head ache and bad feelings from having taken too much Champain.” Blackford and his daughter Helena made an extended business and pleasure trip by boat to Washington, thence by train to Baltimore and back home. They were accompained by Colonel and Mrs. Miller and their daughter. In Washington they visited the City Hall, the Capitol, and the White House where they talked with President Martin Van Buren. They attended musical performances at Miss English's Female School and other salons. Blackford took his wife to the Shannondale Springs in the Shenandoah Valley where they spent a week and took the medicinal waters and baths and enjoyed a quiet and peaceful rest. The season was over, so they saw few people and found little social entertaining.

Various exciting incidents and accidents occurred at Ferry Hill. Among others was the drowning of a horse that fell from the tow path into the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. More tragic was the accidental drowning of a young man in the Potomac River. He was a member of a skating party. The thin ice broke and he sank beneath the surface and was drowned before his companions could rescue him. The incident that caused greatest excitement, however, was the robbery at Ferry Hill Place. While Blackford was away at the Shannondale Springs a slave boy, belonging to Dr. Joseph Hays of Sharpsburg, broke into his office and took $170.77 from his cash box. “Yealow boy Charles,” as Blackford called him, was tried and convicted of the crime in the Washington County Superior Court on November 27, 1838.

John Blackford, author of the Ferry Hill Plantation Journal published herewith, died from a lingering illness in less than a year after he made the last entry in the Journal on January 15, 1839. In his will, dated November 1, 1839, he disposed of his large estate. He divided Ferry Hill Plantation among his three sons. To Franklin he bequeathed lands purchased from Thomas Van Swearingen, including the Ferry, the Ferry House Landing and Lot, together with the boats and apparatus, the franchises and privileges, and the Landing in Virginia and the land thereto attached. In addition Franklin was given Orchard Field, the Lot along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and the dwelling house and vacant lot in Shepherdstown. With the Ferry went Edmund and Julious the Foremen. Henry Blackford was given Ferry Hill Place. William Moore Blackford was given the Lower Farm, the Shepherd Place, the Bedford or Bedinger Farm, and his father's gold watch. Jeannette Smith, Blackford's eldest daughter, received $12,000 in money and her mother's gold watch. Helena Blackford received $12,000 and the family portraits. Catherine Knode, Blackford's wife's sister, received the income on $3,333.00 which yielded an annuity of $200.00 for life. After the above bequests were taken care of the executors were to sell the other property and divide the proceeds equally among the five children.

The executors ordered a public sale of Blackford's personal estate to begin on December 10, 1839. The inventory of the property reveals a house well stocked with sliver; a large quantity of Brussels, Ingrain, and Garth carpets some completely new; a large number of mahogany and cherry bedsteads, tables, sofas, lounges and secretaries; eight dozen Windsor chairs; a “Large Collection of valuable books”; lamps of all kinds; glass ware, clocks, and Williams and Frankin stoves; and a great variety of kitchen furniture. The plantation was stocked with work and breeding horses; milk, beef, and breeding cattle; fifty fat hogs and numerous brood sows and stock hogs; a large herd of Saxon and Merino sheep; wagons, carts, plows, cultivators, rollers, and wind mills; large quantities of hay, wheat, rye, corn, oats, hemp, and flax; timber, plank, shingles, locust posts, saw logs, and fire wood; a blacksmith shop and saw mill; a carriage, barouche, sleigh, gig, cart, and harness; and, finally, sixteen slaves. The executors reported $30,917.22 derived from the sale. No report was made on debts collected, sale of stocks and shares, or the Kentucky lands Blackford is known to have purchased.

A clearer understanding of the value of the estate may be gotten from the knowledge that in 1846 Henry Blackford sold Ferry Hill Place to his brother Franklin for $17,180. Assuming that the portions of the landed estate which fell to Franklin and William were about equal in value to that which went to their brother, John Blackford left a landed estate of something like $52,000 exclusive of the land in Kentucky. His personal estate amounted to about $54,000, exclusive of the value of shares in various business enterprises and money, certainly over $2,500, at interest. The total would have amounted to about $110,000, a very handsome estate in 1840.