An 1853 TN Supreme Court Case: Determining Origins

Going backwards in records to find information on enslaved people can be a real challenge. A lot of times, your only hope is finding Deeds or other court records that specifically mention the transfer of a slave. If you're lucky, it gives an age and sex. When going back, this sometimes yields success, but more often you're left with a dead end. That's why its important to search more than just Deed records! There can be a trove of info in less searched record groups. In my case, that's the Tennessee Supreme Court cases at the Tennessee State Library and Archives. Special thanks to Ralph Sowell for turning me on to this!

I was able to find the following case, "Hutchison v Norfleet & Draughan" (MT 248). In this case, Abraham Gaines's brother-in-law Willie L. Norfleet was being sued by multiple people to recover debt. There's a lot more to the case (such as Abraham being implicated in fraudulent dealings...), but for our purposes we're going to look at the sale of Norfleet's estate to satisfy his debts.

This sale included his slaves! Names and ages included. This is important as Gaines purchased many of the slave that were sold. But, this is where things kind of took an interesting turn for me. While this ledger of slave sales is great for the information purposes, I found myself staring at a list of names with prices attached to them. Prices attached to people. And not just adults, but children too. Little children. I was staring at a document that showed peoples children being taken from them.

Portion of Willie L. Norfleet estate sale. Tennessee State Library and Archives

As a historian in the south, I often hear apologist arguments making claims of "that was life" or "they knew to expect being separated" as if to say because it was a norm, these people didn't feel any pain. I have two girls, 6 and 8 years old. The thought of them being taken from me with no recourse whatsoever is heartbreaking! That a white slaveholder can pay $804 for a little girl or $622 for a little boy and take them from their parents seems to speak a great deal of how white slaveholders understood slaves to be. As property and property only.

Anyway, the record is very important to giving these people more origin, even if its only a few years.

Here's what the list recorded:

Name                       Age                            Purchase Price                      Purchaser

Robin                          50                                   $315                                A.C. Gains
Charles                      42                                    $584                                R.D. Carr
Nelson                       35                                    $855                                D.B. Baird
Willie                         38
John                          20                                     $1089                              A.C. Gains
Wallis                        17
George                      15
Martilla                      65                                    $0.10                               A.C. Gains
Hetty                         50                                     $62                                  A.C. Gains
Clarissa & child        35                                     $403                                A.C. Gains
Maria                         1                                      $306                                W.S. Baldry
Emily                        32                                     $725
Mary                         15
Fanny                       13                                      $800                                Samuel Dunn
Judy                          9                                       $489                                A.K. Smith
Myra                         4
Charles                      7                                      $652.50                           Geo. Whitehead  
Ann                           6                                       $400                                 J.B. Williams
Mary                         4                                       $804                                 A.K. Smith
Washington               2               (Clarissa's child - purchased with her)
Lewis                        5
Saul                         75

So, a few things that pop out:

- This is where Abraham acquired John, Martilla, Hetty, and Clarissa and her kid(s). They are all  shown on the 1857 inventory.

- Wallis(sic) and George are both shown here with no purchaser but there is a Wallace and George on the inventory record as well. Same guys? Yes. Turns outs this court case originated in a Robertson County, TN Chancery Court case in which Abraham Gaines purchased a life interest in Wallace, George, and America. However, America is not shown on the 1857 inventory. Did she die or was she sold? Lewis, who I think is the Lewis (5) on this list above, was purchased by P.F. Norfleet at the same time Gaines purchased Wallace, George, and America.

- This shows Abraham purchasing Robin. He's not present in 1857 so he had either died or had been sold. If he was sold, I may be able to find a record of this.

- Martilla was purchased for $0.10 - a very sharp contrast to $1089 spent on John. Granted, there is a significant age difference, but why was she purchased? Was this to keep family members together?

-Discrepancy in ages. Other documents will attest to the fact that many folks simply did not know exactly when they were born, especially slaves. Some of these people on this list can be found in records much later, but an appropriate age change is not indicated.

Lots of good information and lots of new questions! If you have any comments or questions, let me know!