Enslaved families were severed by inheritance bequests, not only by sales
Evidence
I knew from my mother’s oral history that he and his mother, Tena, had been separated from their family and “sold south.” Chris provided me with the probate wills, which helped me understand that they were not sold but given to Benjamin Franklin Taylor’s daughter Annie at the time of his death. As item 9 in the probate will states: “To my daughter Annie W. Mazyck, I give and bequeath the following slaves and their increase: Marian, Tena, Betsy and Nora.” — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 397
Categorization
Category: Factual Claims
- SHARE: For someone interested in probate law or slavery historiography, this detail about slavery being dispersed through inheritance bequests (itemized in wills) overturns the default ‘sold south’ narrative.
Related
- Probate wills prove ancestors were bequeathed as property, not merely sold (similarity 0.91)
- Slaveholdings recorded in probate deeds explain descendants’ unexpected birthplaces (similarity 0.81)
- Official probate records index enslaved families as grouped property units (similarity 0.80)
- The 1834 Taylor probate enumeration named the enslaved ancestors including Papa Renty. (similarity 0.79)
- Slavery broke up families causing genealogical loss that echoes across generations (similarity 0.79)
- Slaveholder children carried enslaved people across state lines, dispersing Black families. (similarity 0.78)
- A probate bequest of Tena to Charleston explains Renty Thompson’s recorded birthplace. (similarity 0.78)