"Friend of Friends" Friday: Hadden will, Jefferson Co., GA

"A friend of friends" was a password used on the Underground Railroad.  My "Friend of Friends" posts on slavery-related records were originally inspired by Sandra Taliaferro's essay here.  For more of my posts, click here or see others' posts at A Friend of Friends and on Fridays at Geneabloggers.

I recently came across some notes given to my family by my late cousin Zola Scott Hardy, who extracted info from the will of William Hadden, my 4th-great-grandfather, of Jefferson County, Georgia.  For today I'll transcribe the portion pertaining to those enslaved and will transcribe more later.  Click to enlarge the image; partial transcription is below, with my notes in brackets.

 

"... Item #4. [sic, should be #5?] my negro man Abram & negro woman Esther & whole of my stock of horses, cattle & hogs, together with my household & kitchen furniture & plantation tools shall be retained in the hands of my executors herein named for the use and support of the said family for five years from date hereof [late 1819? He died 22 Nov. 1819] & after the expiration of 5 yrs. to be divided as follows:
     Household & kitchen furn. equally divided bet.
     my wife Mary Hadden  [née GORDON, daughter of Samuel GORDON & Sarah (HOGG?)]
      "  child: Margaret Hadden [Margaret A., m. Beniah S. CARSWELL]
                    William Hadden
                    Gordon
                    Mary [m. David COTTER]
                [Note: Item #1 mentions daughter Sarah Hadden, who m. James CLEMENTS.]
      and the negros & stock share and share ..."

Feel free to contact me at hallroots **at** sbcglobal **dot** net if you are working this line; I don't have a lot of info but am happy to share what I have.

Copyright 2010 by Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.