Documents and the Enslaved
Near the beginning of the Civil War, there were close to four million enslaved individuals in America. Tennessee had roughly 275,000 slaves and about 12,000 slaves were in Williamson County. Slaves were people forced to work and live with no freedoms solely because of their race. These men, women, and children had no control over where they lived or who owned them. They were often sold away from their families with little warning. Many of these sales happened in Franklin.
Bill of Sale for Ann
Description by Joanna Stephens, BOFT's curator
A lot of us today don’t use the term “bill of sale,” but in many ways a bill of sale is like a receipt. I think we can all visualize the long, curled paper printing off our grocery store receipts. These receipts tell us what we bought, where we bought it, how much it cost, and how we paid for it. This document from 1847 contains all of that information. The difference is that this bill of sale is for a 15 year old girl named Ann. Ann was sold from one man to another for $560. This sale took place in Williamson County, (where Franklin is located), and was recorded in the book at the county courthouse which stood in the center of the square in 1847.
Questions:
Often historic documents are hard to read. Transcribing is the process of deciphering the writing on old papers. You do not have to transcribe the entire document, but can you pick out some of the important information?
If you read the document closely, it says Ann "is about fifteen years of age." Why do you think it says "about fifteen" and not just fifteen?
This bill of sale was written in 1847. How many years was this before the Civil War?
If Ann was about 15 in 1847, how old was she when slavery was made illegal in the United States?
Bills of sale for enslaved people were kept in the records of the county courthouse. Why would they be kept there?
We continue to search for more information on Ann. Sadly, no other facts have yet been found. What other information would you want to know?
Answers:
Some of the important information on this document is Ann's name, her age being about 15 years old, Ann being sold for $560, the sale taking place in Williamson County, Tennessee, and the date being 1847.
Ann's owner, Richard Hay, may not have known Ann's exact age. In fact, Ann may not have known her exact age or birthday. Some owner's did record the birthdays of their enslaved people and some slaves did know when they were born, but not all. Often information we take for granted knowing today (such as birth dates, who our parents are, and where we were born), are things enslaved people did not know.
It took place 14 years before the Civil War started. The Civil War began with the attack on Ft. Sumter in April of 1861.
Ann would have been about 33 years old when slavery was made illegal in the United States. The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which banned "slavery or involuntary servitude," was ratified on December 6, 1865.
Bills of sale were kept by the county court for multiple reasons. One reason was to have records of a sale in case anybody would question who was the owner of an enslaved individual.
If I was finding out more information on Ann, I would want to know what she did with her life after the Civil War - when she was freed.