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Numbers Tell The Story Information gathered by Linda Worthy shows how, as time passed, more and more Whites owned slaves. She studied tax records in Elbert County, which includes the southern part of the study area in Georgia, and found that in 1809 slightly more than half of the landowners had slaves. By 1851, nearly 80 percent did. The hierarchical nature of Southern White society in 1851 is illustrated by other figures from part of the same country. The lowest rung of White society belonged to those who owned no land, and their number was indeterminate because they didn't appear in tax records. Nonetheless, they probably comprised an insignificant portion of the population. Of those who did own land, 23 percent didn't have slaves, and 24 percent owned fewer than five. The middle class, fairly well-to-do farmers not wealthy enough to be considered planters, was the fastest growing group among Whites, and before the Civil War comprised 35 percent of landowners. A middleclass farmer had between six to 19 slaves. Experts generally classify those with more than 20 slaves as plantation owners or planters, and almost 19 percent of the landowners fit this category. Of these planters, only three owned more than 100 slaves apiece. Put another way, these three planters owned 26 percent of all the slaves in this part of Elbert County. Slavery assumed more importance in the reservoir area than in some other parts of the South. Some experts, for example, estimate that three-fifths of all Georgians owned no slaves.
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