John Bardin likely lived in a section of northeast Wayne County, North Carolina, that is now the Black Creek area of southeast Wilson County. (He was a member of Lower Black Creek Primitive Baptist Church.) His will, drafted in September 1819, entered probate in 1823 and included these provisions:

• to wife Nancy Bardin, a life interest in “three Negroes Abram Philis Levi“
• to daughter Eliza Barnes, a girl named Sarah
• to daughter Nancy Amason, a girl named Penny
• to daughter Seania Bardin, a woman named Ann
• to son John Bardin after Nancy Bardin’s death or remarriage, Abram
• to son Sherrard Bardin, a man named Loften
• to son David Bardin after Nancy Bardin’s death of remarriage, Levi
• “I leave Old Philis to the Pleasure & Discretion of my wife when she has done with her”
• “I wish my Blind Negro Toney to live with some of the Family”
• “I Desire that my Negro Man Carolina be sold after my Death” (and the proceeds used to pay Bardin’s debts)

John Bardin Will, North Carolina, U.S. Wills and Probate Records 1665-1998, http://www.ancestry.com.