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I've extensively revised this article in the last few days, but a couple of reference librarians at different libraries cannot locate Knight's unpublished 2015 PhD thesis at Washington and Lee University which preceded his encyclopediavirginia and American Genealogist articles on which I relied. Knight's genealogy work seems excellent, but the later work barely mentions Jenings's slaveholdings. I recently listened to a 2013 Virginia Pilot newspaper article which interviewed National Park Service and William and Mary scholars concerning the slave trade's development at Yorktown. I suspect that Jenings was a key figure because of his high political and legislative offices, as well as being a planter near Yorktown. British buyers considered sweet tobacco grown on the south bank of the York River the best of the best. In the decades surrounding 1700, large-scale planters such as those on the Governor's Council grew it more and more by using enslaved labor rather than indentured servants. Though slaves cost twice as much, they could be worked longer, and on Sundays. I haven't been to Yorktown or Williamsburg with my current dog, so may be able to drive down one of these days. Meanwhile, I noticed that no wikipedia article has been written about one of the key named figures in that trade, Thomas Nelson Sr., and the article which prompted my search, concerning another acting governor, Edward Diggs, has issues similar to this one....Jweaver28 (talk) 21:07, 20 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]
