I have found some will abstracts in Mecklenburg County,
North Carolina and Caldwell County, Kentucky for some of my Freeman family who
owned slaves. The Freeman’s are from my
Dad’s side of the family through his father’s mother. I will be writing about them and stating
their relationships to me from the oldest will to the newest will. Just a brief little history about my Freeman family
follows. My oldest known Freeman
ancestor was James Freeman who was born about 1710 and died sometime before
1767 possibly in Bertie County, North Carolina.
James was my 7th great-grandfather and I have yet to find his
wife’s name. I believe he was the father
of the following five sons: John Freeman, 1734, Aaron Freeman, 1736, Michael
Freeman, 1738, Allen Freeman, 1740, and David Freeman, 1742. The years listed for these five boys are
approximations of their possible birth years.
John was married to an Ann Freeman who was probably a cousin; Allen was
married to a Tabitha and then a Barbara; I don’t have any wives names for Aaron
or Michael, and David was my 6th great-grandfather.
The Freeman’s in Mecklenburg County were all members of the
Steele Creek Presbyterian Church just like the Bigham’s I wrote about last time,
and quite a few of them are buried there at the adjoining cemetery as well. I have often wondered if they like the
Bigham’s might have come as a group with some Scotch-Irish Presbyterians from
Ireland and help to start up this church.
This church is still in existence today and the
following little history I found on their website located at: http://www.steelecreekpres.org/
“Steele Creek Presbyterian Church was organized in 1760 and celebrated its
250th anniversary in 2010. The first
Sanctuary was a small log cabin located in what is the present-day
cemetery. It is the second oldest church
in Mecklenburg County and was the largest rural Presbyterian Church in the
country during the mid-twentieth century.
Five houses of worship have served the congregation, and the present
Sanctuary was dedicated on April 17, 1889.
It is built of bricks handmade from materials in the surrounding
area. Both the Sanctuary and Cemetery
are recognized as Historical Landmarks.
There are over 3,000 members, friends, and family resting in the
Cemetery. Included are a signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence,
four Generals, numerous Revolutionary and Civil War patriots, more than
twenty-five ministers, and the parents of Rev. Billy Graham.” The following is a picture of the church and
cemetery, taken from their website.
The following pictures were at www.findagrave.com and you can see how old
some of the tombstones are. There are
70 Freeman burials listed in the Steele Creek Cemetery on FindaGrave.
**********
Allen
Freeman, 1740-1807
Now on with the wills starting with, Allen Freeman, born
about 1740 in Bertie County, North Carolina and died before April 1807 in
Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He
was my 6th great-granduncle and was the probable son of James
Freeman. I know Allen Freeman was
married at least twice, first to Tabitha and then to Barbara, but I still don’t
know what their maiden names were or their marriage dates yet. I will just need to keep digging. He had at least seven children with Tabitha
and four children with Barbara. The
records on www.findagrave.com say he is
buried at Steele Creek Cemetery, but apparently in an unmarked grave.
Allen Freeman wrote his will on January 24, 1807 and it was
brought to probate in the Court Term of April 1807. That
means he would have died sometime between January 24th and April of
1807. He mentions his wife Barbara
Freeman, his sons: Gideon Freeman, William Freeman, Allen Freeman and Charles
Freeman and his daughters: Nancy Wagstaff, Sarah Freeman and Susannah Garmon
who are the children of his first wife. He
states that the children of my present wife are daughters: Jemima Freeman and
Peggy Freeman and son: Isham Freeman.
Witnesses were: Charles T. Alexander and Jeremiah Cloutz.
From the inventory and guardianship records in
Mecklenburg County, there is one other child that is not listed in the following
abstract, who was named John Freeman. He
needed a guardian so that means he would have been under 14 years of age
normally. The will abstract also says
“the residue is to be divided among my 12 legatees”, but only 11 were listed. I need to try and find the original will so I
can read it myself and see if all of the children are listed and maybe John was
just left off for some reason.
The following people received slaves in Allen Freeman’s will,
his wife, Barbara Freeman was to receive the negro named Grace; son,
Charles Freeman to receive the negro named Wood; daughter, Jemima Freeman to
receive the negro
girl named Matty; son, Isham Freeman the negro named Joe; and
daughter, Peggy Freeman the negro named Charlotte. What other slaves if any he may have had,
must have already been given to his other children or sold, before he wrote his
will. I did however, find Allen
Freeman’s estate inventory and there are other slaves listed and they were: negro Emanuel,
negro Betty
and negro
Jenny. Emanuel was worth
$468 so he must have been a field slave, Betty was worth $181 and Jenny was
worth $172, but it looks like they were being sold and not gifted to any of his
children.
The following is the will abstract I found at the Family
History Library in Salt Lake City: Mecklenburg County, North Carolina Will
Abstracts and then just the one page from the inventory that mentions the three
slaves who were not given to any of his children.
**********
David Freeman, 1742-1808
David Freeman, was born in 1742 and died April
27, 1808 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.
He was my 6th great-grandfather and was the probable son of James
Freeman. He is buried at the Steele Creek Presbyterian
Church Cemetery, just like his older brother Allen Freeman, but fortunately for
me David has a tombstone, which picture I found at www.findagrave.com. Also David’s wife my 6th
great-grandmother, Mary Frizzell Freeman, 1743-1779, also has a tombstone at
Steele Creek.
David Freeman was married twice, first to Mary Frizzell, and
second to Jane Barnett, 1745-1809, who was the widow of David Hayes, when she
married David Freeman. David and Mary
had at least nine known children and I don’t believe David and Jane had any
children together or if they did, they did not live very long. The nine children of David and Mary were the
following: James Freeman, ca. 1764-after July 1808; Sarah Margaret Freeman,
1766-1836, married James B. Bigham III (my 5th great-grandparents);
Anne Jane Freeman, ca. 1768-after 1860, married William Berryhill; Reuben
Freeman, ca. 1770-1846, married Nancy (maiden name unknown); Jemima Freeman,
ca. 1772-after July 1808, married David Stephenson who sometimes went by the
surname of Stinson as well; Michael Freeman, ca, 1774-after July 1808; John B.
Freeman, ca. 1776-before June 1806, married Amelia (maiden name unknown); David
Freeman, Jr., 1778-1802, married Jane Hayes; and Hugh Freeman, ca. 1779-after 1820,
married Lucy Murray.
The following is the will abstract I found at
the Family History Library in Salt Lake City: Mecklenburg County, North
Carolina Will Abstracts for David Freeman, he is giving a lot of land away, but
no mention of any slaves. I just wanted
to show people that not everyone with property in the south had slaves.
**********
Michael
Freeman, 1764-1842
Michael Freeman, was born March 22, 1764 in Bertie County,
North Carolina and died February 9, 1842 in Caldwell County, Kentucky. He was the son of John Freeman and his wife
Ann Freeman and the grandson of James Freeman.
Michael was my first cousin seven generations removed from our common
ancestor who was James Freeman.
I have yet to find Michael’s wife’s name, but he had at
least seven known children, namely: Polly Freeman, ca. 1785-before December 1840,
married Peter Fite; Jannett B. Freeman, ca. 1787-before December 1840, married
a Mr. Wood; Peninah Freeman, 1789-1835, married Andrew Dunn; Matilda Freeman,
ca. 1791-after 1840, married John Mercer; Eliza B. Freeman, ca. 1795-1862/1863,
married a cousin, John Madison Bigham; David Bennett Freeman, ca. 1797-before
1840, married Pelina Kuykendall; and Michael Washington Freeman, 1801-1864,
married Tabitha Cash.
Michael's, will was written December 3, 1840 and was
recorded March 21, 1842, in Caldwell County, Kentucky. He mentions the following family members, but
does not mention a wife so whoever she was, she had died before he wrote his
will. His daughter, Polly Fite, deceased,
left land in Carroll County, Mississippi of 163 acres on Hayses Creek; daughter,
Jannett B. Wood was left the following slaves: Sylas and Charlotte and land on Eddy
Creek; daughter, Penninah Dunn, deceased, heirs (her youngest child is Ararat);
daughter, Matilda Mercer to receive slaves: Jenny and her children, also Martha Ann and Mary;
daughter, Eliza B. Bigham to receive slaves: Friday and Luisa; son, Michael
Washington Freeman land on Eddy Creek and slaves: Jackson and Hellen and all mills, because he paid a debt to the estate
of Andrew Dunn, deceased; grandson, Michael Freeman Wood; grandson, John
Freeman Fite; Grandson, William Freeman and Grandson, James Freeman; executors:
son, M. W. Freeman and John Mercer
The following is the will abstract I found at the Family
History Library in Salt Lake City:
Caldwell County, Kentucky Will Abstracts.
The following is a picture of Michael’s tombstone located at
the Hopewell Cemetery in Lyon County, Kentucky which is an adjoining county to
Caldwell County on the southwest side.
