Wills and estate records contain some of the most useful material for researchers of enslaved people. Here, a running list of enslavers’ wills and estate records featured in Black Wide-Awake.
Wills
- Applewhite, Elisha (1835)
- Bailey, Jonathan (1851)
- Barden, William (1835)
- Bardin, John (1819)
- Barnes, Archelaus (1807)
- Barnes, Edith Joyner (1848)
- Barnes, Elias (und.)
- Barnes, James A. (1848)
- Batts, William (1849)
- Boykin, Sarah (1868)
- Bynum, Turner (1858)
- Daniel, Ephraim (1822)
- Deans, Bartley (1860)
- Dew, David (1862)
- Dew, David Sr. (1861)
- Dew, Larry (1861)
- Ellis, Coffield (1854)
- Ellison, Henry A. (1861)
- Evans, Isham (1815)
- Farmer, Moses Sr. (1844)
- Farmer, Samuel Sr. (1814)
- Forbes, Hiram (1861)
- Grice, Theophilus (1823)
- Harrison, Jethro (1811)
- Hinnant, Martha (1858)
- Hinnant, Mary (1855)
- Hocutt, Richard (1853)
- Horn, Hardy (1830)
- Newsom, Joel Jr. (1837)
- Newsom, Joel Sr. (1818)
- Peelle, Catherine Tartt (1812)
- Rountree, Cader (1860)
- Rountree, Lewis (1849)
- Ruffin, Lemon (1862)
- Scarborough, James (1835)
- Sharp, Benjamin W. (1860)
- Simms, Robert Sr. (1789)
- Skinner, William H. (1860)
- Tartt, Elnathan (1795)
- Tartt, Jonathan (1789)
- Taylor, Jacob (1860)
- Watson, Ephraim (1815)
- Webb, John (1845)
- Williamson, Thomas (1852)
- Woodard, James B. (1863)
- Woodard, John (1765)
Detail from 1860 federal slave schedule of Wilson County, North Carolina.
Estate records
- Amason, Barnes (1844)
- Amason, Benjamin Jr. (1823)
- Amason, Isaac (1828)
- Amason, Roderick (1845)
- Applewhite, Council (1864)
- Applewhite, Henry (1850)
- Armstrong, William J. (1856)
- Aycock, Jesse (1823)
- Aycock, Patience (1827)
- Barden, Phebe (1844)
- Barden, William (1837)
- Bardin, Arthur (1844)
- Bardin, Mary Howell
- Barnes, Edith Joyner (1849)
- Barnes, Elias (1856)
- Barnes, Jesse S. (1863)
- Boykin, Stephen (1864)
- Bullock, Bennett (1836 and 1855)
- Daniel, Ephraim (1822)
- Daniel, Isaac (1815)
- Daniel, Zilpha Fort (1824)
- Dew, David (1862)
- Dickinson, Shadrach (1818)
- Eatmon, Joel (1851)
- Ellis, Elizabeth Ward (1858)
- Ellis, Hickman Sr. (1861)
- Ellis, Jonathan (1857)
- Ellis, William (1812)
- Farmer, John (1852)
- Farmer, William L. (1856)
- Flowers, Henry (1845)
- Flowers, John (1806)
- Horn, Henry (1838)
- Jordan, David (1856)
- Scarborough, James (1835)
- Shallington, Rhoda (1864)
- Shallington, W.E.J. (1860)
- Simms, Patrick H. (1864)
- Simms, Theophilus T. (1854)
- Simpson, Amanda (1857)
- Simpson, Jesse (1857)
- Stanton, Lemon P. (1848)
- Vick, Josiah (1846)
- Williamson, Hardy H. (1858)
- Woodard, Elisha Jr. (1835)
- Woodard, William (1815)
The mighty revelations of written records!!! ….the accounts do not read like “earning wealth through pulling up my own bootstraps {rather…“Land patents were granted by the Governor and Council under the authority of the British Crown from the opening of the land office in 1735 until its closure in 1775 “}
EVIDENCE: Accounts of Privilege, Power, and Free Labor.