Even when they owned property, most African-Americans in Wilson County in the 19th and early 20th centuries, even the wealthiest and most prominent, did not execute wills, and their estates passed informally to their descendants as “heir property.” (A major contributor to loss of land and wealth among African-American families.) Some bucked the trend, however, and this post comprises a running list of such wills and estates featured in Black Wide-Awake.
Men and women born enslaved are marked with an asterisk. Free people of color are indicated with a circumflex (^).
Last will and testament of Ella Clark Gaston Hinton, executed 15 August 1946.
Wills
- James Artis (1930)
- Margaret Barnes Artis (1909)
- George A. Barnes (1907)
- Nathan Blackwell^(1845)
- Jennie Farmer Braswell (1907)
- Millie Bryant (1936)
- Calvin Blount* (1909)
- Henry Cotton* (1895)
- Temperance Moore Cotton* (1924)
- Arch Daniel* (1875)
- Hilliard Ellis* (1893)
- Carter W. Foster (1955)
- Walter M. Foster (1922)
- Clinton F. Goffney (1922)
- Courtney Goffney (1914)
- Herman W. Grissom (1921)
- Annie Barnes Bynum Gunn (1916)
- Bettie Bynum Taylor Hall (1939)
- Nathan Hines (1925)
- Ella Clark Gaston Hinton (1946)
- James H. Holden (1918)
- Ira Howard^(1906)
- Zealous Howard Sr.^(1905)
- Rosa Hussey (1947)
- Zebulon M. Johnson (1932)
- Henry Jones, alias Henry Barnes (1900)
- Milly Jones* (1877)
- Ned Kent*(1940)
- Hardy Lassiter^ (1851)
- Asa Locus^ (1939)
- Luther Locus (1944)
- John Lucas (1926)
- Clarence McCullers (1945)
- Esther McGowan* (1895)
- Eva Mitchell (1923)
- Sallie Ann Mitchell (1926)
- Josephine J. Murphy (1946)
- Washington Pitts (1916)
- Dollison Powell (1916)
- Isaac Rich* (1911)
- Fannie Rountree (1924)
- Henry C. Rountree (1916)
- Samuel Smith (1882)
- Lula Speight (1943)
- Emma Lewis Tarboro (1950)
- Jordan Thomas^ (1899)
- George W. Thompson* (1885)
- Jacob Tucker* (1942)
- Nellie Bullock Whitehead (1949)
- Ishmael Wilder* (1913)
- Aggie Mercer Williams* (1914)
- Patrick Williamson (1896)
- Trial Williamson* (1878)
- Lucy Simms Woodard* (1921)
- Simeon Wooten (1948)
Estates
- Albert Adams* (1878)
- William Ayers^ (1883)
- Henderson Bagley* (1906)
- Nathan Blackwell^ (1846)
- Alex Crockett (1920)
- Prince Daniel* (1889)
- Moses Hagans^ (1873)
- Bethana Jones^ (1852)
- Milly Jones* (1877)
- Hardy Lassiter^(1853), here, here, here, here, here
- George W. Thompson* (1890)
- Wiley Williams (1919)
- Daniel Williamson* (1867)
- Patrick Williamson (1896)
- Rose Williamson* (1891)
- Trial Williamson* (1878)