The Will & Inventory

So lets jump right in.

First a little background. Abraham C. Gaines (1805-1857) and two other business partners purchased a large tract of property in Port Royal from George B. Hopson in 1839. This included the Town of Port Royal, certainly a speculative endeavor. Gaines quickly grew his fortune by selling and renting lots and houses in Port Royal and also by farming. In 1848 he married Lucy Louisa Norfleet, thereby marrying into one of the wealthiest families in northern Middle Tennessee. He and his wife had one son, William Bailey Norfleet Gaines, in 1849. Unfortunately, Lucy died in 1850 when William was still an infant.

House built by A.C. Gaines ca.1840. Yeah, I know, its rough.

Sometime between likely between 1839 and 1845 (though some evidence suggests earlier and by somebody else, but that's for another post), Abraham built a house that still stands today. The house became the center of his principal farm in Port Royal. Today, the house is all that remains of the multiple buildings that made up the farm in the mid 19th century.

Throughout the 1840s and 1850s, Abraham continued to grow his estate, especially by the acquisition of African American slaves.This was especially true after 1853. However, this came to a halt in April 1857 when Abraham died. Prior to his death, Abraham left a will which stated that he wished for his executor/ guardian to his son to

"...keep my slaves and property together and work them on the farm as in my lifetime. Should the hands increase so they cannot be worked profitably on the farm, then the guardian may hire out such of the hands as he thinks best. Should any of my negroes become ungovernable, or otherwise unprofitable, or should slave property become unsafe from Abolitionism, then he shall with the advice of my trustees, sell my slaves and invest the money as they think best."  1


Abraham's younger brother, James, was appointed executor of the estate and guardian to Abraham's son, William. After Abraham's death, James filed an inventory of Abraham's estate for the courts. This is where I got the first glimpse of the names of the enslaved people here at this farm:


 Name                             Age

Henry                               55
Phillip                              35
Willie                               33
Dennis                             33
Henry                              32
John                                 24
Dick                                 23
Wallace                     No age given
George                      No age given
Joseph                             19
Harris                              17
Smith                               16
Jacob                               12
Malica                              32
Martilla                            65
Hatta                                60
Clarisa & 2 children        31

• Maria                     3
• Sam                       5

Martha & 5 children       30
       All between 6 months and 11 years

• Lylie
• Wanica
• Frank
• Ned
• Meris
• Able

Eliza                                30
      All between 7 and 10 years

• Jennie
• Annie
• Edmond
• Lou
• Thom
• Richard

Betsey                              20

• Louis                    6 months
• Ella                       2

That's 36 men, women, and children enslaved at the Gaines farm in 1857.2 Now I've got names. The goal from this point is to figure out where these people came from and where they went after emancipation. Ideally, after I present more of the background history and documents, I'll post about one former slave at a time and give as much detail as possible on that one person.




1 Montgomery County, Tennessee, Will Book O, pg. 366. Montgomery County Archives, Clarksville, TN.
 
2  Montgomery County, Tennessee, Will Book O, pgs. 432-433, 438. Montgomery County Archives, Clarksville, TN.