"Friend of Friends" Friday: Hadden will, Jefferson Co., GA

"A friend of friends" was a password used on the Underground Railroad.  My "Friend of Friends" posts on slavery-related records were originally inspired by Sandra Taliaferro's essay here.  For more of my posts, click here or see others' posts at A Friend of Friends and on Fridays at Geneabloggers.

I recently came across some notes given to my family by my late cousin Zola Scott Hardy, who extracted info from the will of William Hadden, my 4th-great-grandfather, of Jefferson County, Georgia.  For today I'll transcribe the portion pertaining to those enslaved and will transcribe more later.  Click to enlarge the image; partial transcription is below, with my notes in brackets.

 

"... Item #4. [sic, should be #5?] my negro man Abram & negro woman Esther & whole of my stock of horses, cattle & hogs, together with my household & kitchen furniture & plantation tools shall be retained in the hands of my executors herein named for the use and support of the said family for five years from date hereof [late 1819? He died 22 Nov. 1819] & after the expiration of 5 yrs. to be divided as follows:
     Household & kitchen furn. equally divided bet.
     my wife Mary Hadden  [née GORDON, daughter of Samuel GORDON & Sarah (HOGG?)]
      "  child: Margaret Hadden [Margaret A., m. Beniah S. CARSWELL]
                    William Hadden
                    Gordon
                    Mary [m. David COTTER]
                [Note: Item #1 mentions daughter Sarah Hadden, who m. James CLEMENTS.]
      and the negros & stock share and share ..."

Feel free to contact me at hallroots **at** sbcglobal **dot** net if you are working this line; I don't have a lot of info but am happy to share what I have.

Copyright 2010 by Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.

"Friend of Friends" Friday: LEGER and other "LE" surnames, SW La.

"A friend of friends" was a password used on the Underground Railroad.  My "Friend of Friends" series was inspired by the essay posted by Sandra Taliaferro here.  I am posting slavery-related records occasionally as I come across them, in the hope that it might help other researchers find their ancestors. For more in the series, click here.

Rev. Donald Hébert's Southwest Louisiana Records series compiles church (mostly, but not exclusively, Catholic) and court records for southwestern parishes of Louisiana. (For tips on using the series, read my previous posts here.)

Volume 33 of the series is a supplement containing records from 1756-1904 not included in previous volumes, corrections, and "records of blacks" [the volume's term, not mine] from 1765-1886.  Hébert says that some records are mixed into the other volumes; check the entire series if you are researching African-Americans (most churches kept separate registers for slaves, which is probably why the records are separated in this volume).  The "records of blacks" section has many records of slaves without surnames, which are alphabetized by first name only, followed by the slaveowner's name.  Entries with surnames may refer to free people of color, slaves, or post-slavery records, depending on the date and the person's status.

I copied a page including Legers from the volume; I don't think they're connected with my Legeres (whose spelling is standardized to "Leger" in these volumes), but maybe it will help someone.  These aren't technically records from slavery, but I include them as they are church records from 1865-1879 and may help those doing African-American research (spellings are as in the book):

from volume 33, p. 223:
LEGER, Alexis (Narcus & Genevieve VALERY) bt. 1866 (CP Ch.: v. 2, p. 43) [Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Church Point, La.]
LEGER, Elizabeth (Michel & Pelcile) bt. 1865 (CP Ch.: v.2, p. 36)
LEGER, Henry (Narcisse & Genevieve VALLERY) bt. 1868 (CP Ch.: v. 2, p. 49)
LEGER, Marie m. 14 April 1879 William NED (GC Ch.: v. 4, p. 313) [St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, Grand Coteau, La.]
LEGER, Narcise Michel m. 1866 Genevieve VALERY (CP Ch.: v. 2, p. 8)

Other surnames on the page include LEDE (Amelia through Valentin), LEDET (Jean only), LEDOUX (Louis Palemon only), LEIGH (Mrs., slaveowner on Bayou Boeuf), LEJEUNE (Louis only), and LEMELLE (partial, Alphred through Félicité), in records from 1801-1876.  I'm happy to do lookups; just drop me a line w/the given name/s or places for which you're looking at the address at the right side of my blog page under "about me."

p.s.  Some of my ancestors owned slaves, unfortunately.  Fortunately, I don't mind if you see a familiar surname in my blog and want to ask me about it.  I haven't researched all my ancestors' history with (or without) slavery, and I'm a bit new to that area of research, but ask me if you like, I'll look into it.  It's weird, it's awkward, but we can be weird and awkward together, and maybe help each other along the way. 

Copyright 2010 by Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.

"Friend of Friends": Fariss slave record, Catahoula Parish

"A friend of friends" was a password used on the Underground Railroad.  My "Friend of Friends" series was inspired by the essay posted by Sandra Taliaferro here.  I am posting slave records occasionally as I come across them, in the hope that it might help other researchers find their ancestors.  Wouldn't it be great if more people joined a "Friend of Friends" Friday (or any day) meme?

[UPDATE: Search Geneabloggers for more "Friend of Friends Friday" posts from other bloggers. And now Sandra of the essay linked above and Luckie Daniels of Our Georgia Roots and the first Carnival of African-American Genealogy (who previously issued an impassioned plea for sharing info about slaves in order to help African-Americans trace their ancestry) have created the website A Friend of Friends, a place to post slavery records publicly or anonymously and/or find ancestors.]

These are transcriptions from the probate records of David Fariss (Farris, Faress, etc.) of Catahoula Parish, Louisiana (my great-great-great-grandfather).  I have some notes and transcriptions from files given to my mom and I by a genealogist cousin, Zola Scott Hardy, before her death. These records from the Fariss probate concern the 1841 sale of a slave named Alexander, a.k.a. "Elick" (Alec) described as a "negro boy" of "dark complexion."  His age is apparently on one document (see the third image below) but Zola could not read it.

Note: In Louisiana, the term "succession" is used for probate or estate records.  A "conveyance" is a deed.  The first two pages concern an August 1841 family meeting to discuss selling property, including Alexander.    (Click to enlarge each image below.)

 

My first thought is that if Alexander is a "boy," where is his mother?  Was he sold away from her, or is he being sold away from her? Is he the only slave of David and Lucy (Davis) Farris?  Inventory notes refer to two tracts of land and "negroes" [plural], but I see no other mention of slaves in the notes and transcriptions I have.  Anyone researching the Farris slave(s) should check for microfilm, if any, of the original records.

My second thought is that the document explains the reasons for the sale of Alexander and other "property."  Is this usual?  Can other researchers out there tell me? 

(The names cut off at the bottom of p. 2 are the same ones mentioned in p. 1.  My scanner is being cantankerous.)

Edom L. Fariss (he may be E.E. or Elem Earle Fariss in some records), David's son and administrator of the estate, bought Alexander at auction for $456 (his value was appraised at $400) in September 1841 (below).  The probate file is still open in 1847 when a new administrator is sought after Edom's death.  Alex's fate may be found in Edom's probate file, dated 31 Dec. 1844 (probably in Catahoula Parish).  Edom married Nancy Nettles.  After Edom's death, she married James P. Bambrick.

This is one complicated probate packet.  It spans at least seven years.  David Fariss or Farris was married first to Elizabeth Love and then to Lucy Davis.  Elizabeth's children, or their "tutors" (legal representatives for minors), seem to be disputing things with Lucy and her child (my great-great-grandmother).  Throw in land which is not selling, an administrator who dies, children who die, minors who become adults, a child or two who married their "tutor," and it gets rather convoluted.  If I can understand it all better, perhaps I'll post the rest of the probate packet in a series of posts.

For more research: The Family History Library catalog includes successions (probate records) of Catahoula Parish from 1846-1890 on microfilm.  The David Fariss packet is dated 7 Apr. 1841; I don't know if the later proceedings are included on that microfilm.  Conveyance (deed) records are available from 1807-1887.

"Friend of Friends" Friday: Slave records

Note: My "Friend of Friends Friday" theme was inspired by the essay posted by Sandra Taliaferro here.

My U.S. roots are mostly Southern.  And some of my ancestors were slave owners.  It's not a pretty fact, but it's true. While I can't change history, I can help descendants of slaves find their roots by posting the information I have. 

Thanks to recent blog posts by Sandra of "I Never Knew My Father" and Luckie at "Our Georgia Roots", I feel I should go ahead and post whatever small amounts of info I might find--whether beautifully researched and explained or not--especially info from primary sources.  I hope this might someday reunite a seeking descendant with their ancestor(s).

So, here's what I have so far:

DAVIS in Louisiana:
The probate record of Mary Ratcliff (Ratliff) Davis, wife of John Davis (my 4th-great grandparents), dated 19 Oct. 1836 in Catahoula Parish, La., lists the following slaves:

"1 negro man--Jack, one woman--Hannah, children Marie, Walker, Betsy"

These notes come via my mom and don't include the whole probate file, so I don't know at this point what happened to Jack, Hannah, and the children, but I may have more notes in files inherited from a cousin.  I have not really worked the Davis family yet.  (I'm still working on organizing some files I have and will post if I come across more info.)

 

Excerpt of photocopied estate inventory listing slaves owned by Paul Légère, Sept. 1822, Opelousas District, St. Landry Parish, La.  Photocopy owned by Liz Hall Morgan.

LEGERE in Louisiana:
Paul Légère (Legere, Leger) (my great-great-great grandfather), had no slaves in the 1796 census for Opelousas District in Louisiana (according to the Acadian Memorial and Acadians in Gray web sites), but his estate inventory of Sept. 1822 in St. Landry Parish, La., lists the following slaves:

"a negro man named Sam aged about twenty two years"
"a mulato [sic] woman named Mary aged about twenty one years with her child a girl named Susanne about eighteen months old"

Paul's widow, Marie Constance Potier (Potie) Légère, bought the slaves from her husband's estate.  She died in Jan. 1844 in the same parish.  I don't have her estate record, so I don't [yet] know what happened to Sam, Mary and Susanne.  Southwest Louisiana Records by Rev. Donald Hebert could also have records of them in a volume (vol. 33) partially devoted to Catholic church records for slaves.

CARRIERE, LANGLOIS in New Orleans, LA and Mobile, AL:
I also have assorted notes on the Carrière (Carriere, Carrier--Joseph and daughter Françoise) and Langlois (Augustin and son Antoine, who married Françoise Carrière) families of colonial Mobile and New Orleans (early 1700s), but I am trying to organize that info, and will post it in a coherent form in the future. Most of it is from secondary sources, with some estate info that was posted on a now-defunct web site.

Meanwhile, I hope these tidbits will be of help to someone.