Farmer and sawmill owner John Hearn died in late 1861. Per the 1860 slave schedule of Wilson, Wilson County, he owned eight enslaved people — a 38 year-old man and boys aged 12 and 13; a 38 year-old woman; a 28 year-old woman; and girls aged 15, 8, and 2. His will did not name any, but his estate file makes reference to only three enslaved people — Wright, Rachael, and Harriet — who were leased out at nominal rates immediately after his death. I have not been able to trace any of them forward.

[Sidenote: Margaret A. Hearne, the teacher for whom an elementary school in Wilson was named, was John Hearne’s daughter.]