Working my way back through Dickinsons, I came to Daniel Dickinson, my 6th great-grandfather, who died about 1779 in Wayne County. Like his son, David, he seems to have died unexpectedly without leaving a will. His estate file contains a letter, however, naming his heirs.
As most of Daniel’s wealth was held in the form of human capital, his heirs formally agreed to “arbitration and umpirage” in order to divide it up. John Barefoot and Stephen Cobb “having heard, considered and understood the Griefs, Alligations of all Parties” assigned values to all the enslaved people and distributed them among the heirs.
Here is the list of “negroes” which was unfortunately torn off at one side.
Joel Dickinson. to have the negroes Esther, Cara & ____.
John Dickinson. four negroes Louder, Luke, S____ , Jenny for the land sold to David.
Shadrach Dickinson. four negroes Judah & her (Children) and Warren.
Daniel Dickinson. Three Negroes Elijah, Nathan, ____.
Matthew Turner. Jacob, Pen & Doll.
William Dickinson. Mourning, Andrew & Jim.
Isaac Dickinson. Jenny, Dick, Bob, Abram, and Suck (Sukey).
David Dickinson. Archer, Moses, Hary & Ned.
Zilph, Dinah, and Dick to be sold at Public Sale for _ and the money arising from the sale and the money from the Estate for Hoggs sold by Isaac Dickinson be applied to the debts of the decade and the residue to be Equally divided among the children now living.
The Matthew Turner listed was the husband of Patience Dickinson. He, and Joel, Shadrack, William and Isaac all died in Wayne County. I will post slavery documents from their estate files over the next few days.
In these days of taxpayer-funded fake history, I am more motivated than ever to give primary documentation of our slaveholding past a good airing.
A Long Way to Tennessee 