Betsy was about 26 years old when she was listed with her daughter Caroline in the inventory of the estate of Wiley Turner. It was February 2, 1852. Betsy and Caroline were valued at $800.00. On the list below them were eight year old Phillis ($375) and three year old Peggy ($225). They seem to be a family group.
Further down the page Austin is listed. He was 16 years old and valued at $800.
Two pages from the 4 page list of the enslaved on the Wiley Turner plantation. Joe, age 15 was my 2X great grandfather.
On January 26 and 27 of 1859, Betsy was visited by Doctor Pritchett. The cost of the visits was $2.50. On February 6 and 7, Doctor Pritchett visited Austin.
On January 29, 1859 a coffin was purchased for Betsy. She was 29. On February 8, 1859 A coffin was purchased for Austin. He was 22. Each coffin cost $5. I do not know what they died of.
I found the two coffins listed in the estate file among a list of payments given out from the estate in early 1859. If I had not gone page by page through the file, I would have missed these, as I did when I looked through it last year and only looked for lists of the enslaved.
I found all of these documents in the Estate file of Wiley Turner, deceased, on Ancestry.com. My 2 X great grandfather, Joe Turner came off of this plantation. Click on the documents to enlarge.
For the past week I have been immersed in the Turners who came off of Wiley Turner’s plantation in Lowndes County Alabama. My 2X great grandfather, Joe Turner, came off of that plantation. Wiley Turner died in 1851 without a Will and so his estate was probated. The case dragged on for twenty years. There are multiple lists of the enslaved, the first in 1852. I wrote about the one from 1853 here. The others were from 1856, 1857 and 1865. There were also the 1850 and 1860 slave censuses, which give no names but age, sex and color (“mulatto” or “black”)
There are also records of doctors visits, some patients named and some not. There are records of how much and what was sold from the plantation during this time. There were several changes of administrators due to deaths and some disputes among members of the family about what was due them.
After the Civil War was over and Freedom came, there were new records for the formerly enslaved and now free, the 1866 census for the first time named the formerly unnamed heads of households. In the 1870 census, the whole household was named. In 1880, relationships to the head of the household were given. There were also marriage and land records.
By investigating the community and households, I want to see what happened to the people and families, both before and after slavery. Right now I am going through the material and figuring out how to present it. At first, when going through the probate record, I just looked for the names of the enslaved. Going over it again, I realized that I could not give a picture without knowing more about what was going on around them, what crops were grown, what was sold, what was bought and the rest of the turmoil swirling around them during that time period. Maybe I need to start by printing out the whole file.
I have never done a project like this outside of a time crushing challenge, so we shall see how it goes.
From top, clockwise: My grandmother Fannie in the 1950s. My grandmother Fannie was 4 holding her hat. Her mother Jennie holding Daisy. Her father, Howard Turner had been killed. 1894. My grandfather Mershell pointing at Fannie about 1917. My grandmother holding my mother Doris up, 1923. My grandmother in the back, her mother in the front holding baby Howard, on the left my mother Doris and on the right my aunt MV, 1930. My grandmother with her daughters MV and Doris, about 1934. My grandparents Mershell and Fannie (Turner) Graham, about 1945.
My maternal grandmother, Fannie Mae Turner Graham, was born 129 years ago on March 12, 1888, in Lowndes County, Alabama. She died on August 13, 1974 in Detroit, Michigan. You can read more about my grandmother in this post Fannie Mae Turner Part 1.
I was 12 and my grandmother was 70. 1958 in my grandmother’s backyard.
I am the same age as my grandmother was when we posed together on her back steps. Looking at the photograph below of me and my granddaughter made me think about the endless circle and the passage of time.
My granddaughter was 12 and I was a a few months shy of 70. 2016, we were at the beach in St. Petersburg, Florida and the water was freezing!
In 1892 my great grandfather Howard Turner was shot to death at a bar-b-que. This is a photograph of his wife and children in mourning. Twenty six year old Jennie Allen Turner holds two year old Daisy Pearl Turner while four year old Fannie Mae Turner stands beside her. Fannie was my maternal grandmother.Jennie and daughters in Montgomery, Alabama. Fannie, Jennie and Alice in the front. Daisy in the back. About 1916.Daisy Turner, Jennie Turner and Fannie Turner Graham standing outside of my grandparent’s fence for a photograph, probably on a Sunday after attending service at Plymouth Congregational Church.My grandmother, Fannie Turner Graham and my oldest daughter, Jilo. Detroit, 1972.
While looking for a death record on Ancestry for Elizabeth Turner, daughter of Joseph and Luella Turner, instead I found the Will of her father, my 2X great grandfather, Joseph Turner of Lowndes County, Alabama. I had looked for his Will before without finding it. Below are the Will and a transcription.
The Will of Joseph Turner appears in Will Book D,page 248, Lowndes County, Alabama.
Will of Joseph Turner
State of Alabama County of Lowndes
Know all men by these presents that, I, Joseph Turner, of said county of Lowndes, being in good health, and of sound mind, realizing the uncertainty of life, and wishing to provide for my younger children during their minority, do make this my last will and testament, hereby revoking all former wills by me at any time made.
First
I will that all my just debts be paid by my executrix here – in after named, as soon after my death as she can conveniently pay.
Second
I give, devise and bequeath to my beloved wife Luella Turner all of my estate, both real, personal and mixed in Trust for the use and benefit of herself and my minor children, during their minority, equally, until my youngest child then living shall have reached the age of twenty-one years.
Third
After my youngest child then living, shall have arrived at the age of twenty one years, my will is, that all of my estate of every description be divided equally, share and share alike, between my said wife, Luella Turner and all my children, and in the event any of my said children die, before such division takes place, leaving a child or children, him or her surviving, then such share as my said child should have received if living, shall go to his or her children.
Fourth
I do nominate and appoint my said wife, Luella Turner to be the executrix of this my last will and testament without bond. Expressly exempting her from all liability to any person or court for any misuse of any personal property belonging to my estate, and for any and all rents which may accrue during the said minority of my youngest then living child. Except, my said wife again marry, in that event, and from the date of such marrying again by my said wife Luella, she shall be held strictly accountable for the proper use and distribution of my estate as herein before set out.
In testimony whereof I set my hand and seal, this 11 day of December 1909.
Joseph (his mark X) Turner (Seal)
Signed, sealed and published as his last will and testament by the said Joseph turner in our presence, and we in his presence, and in the presence of each other have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses, at his request, on this the 11 day of December 1909.
Jos. R. Bell
S.M. Salley
Filed for Probate in office this the March 10, 1919
W.H. Lee,
Judge of Probate Court
Testimony of Joseph R Bell.
The State of Alabama, Lowndes County } Probate Court
In the matter of the Probate of the Last Will and Testament of Joseph Turner Deceased.
Before me, W.H. Lee, Judge of Probate Court in and for the County and State aforesaid, personally appeared in open Court Jos. R. Bell, who having been by me first duly sworn and examined, did and doest depose and say that he and S.M. Salley subscribing witnesses to the forgoing instrument of writing now shown to the said affiant and which purports to be the last Will and Testament of Joseph Turner, deceased, lat an inhabitant of this count; that the said Joseph Turner since deceased signed and executed said instrument on the day the same bears date, and declared the same to be his last will and testament, and that affiant set his signature thereto, on the day the same bears date, as a subscribing witness to the same, in the presence of said testator and at his request, and in the presence of each other, and that said testator was of sound mind and disposing memory and understanding, and, in the opinion of affiant, fully capable of making his said will at the time the same was so made as aforesaid. And deposent further states that said testator was, on the day of the date of said will, of the full age of twenty-one years and upward and a resident of this county.
Jos. R. Bell
Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 28 day of April W. D. 1919.
W.H. Lee
Judge Probate Court, Lowndes County
Filed in office April 28 – 1919: The State of Alabama, W.H. Lee Judge of Probate
Lowndes County, I, W.H. Lee, Judge of the Probate Court in and for the county and State aforesaid, do hereby certify that the within instrument of writing has this day in said court and before me as the Judge thereof been duly proven by the testamony of Jas. R. Bell subscribing witness, to be the genuine last will and testament of Joseph Turner, deceased and that said will, together with the proof thereof, has been recorded in my office in Book No D of Wills at page 248.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of said Probate Court on this the 28th Day of April A.D. One thousand nine hundred and nineteen.
Turner Plantation house – Picking cotton – Slave dwelling – Lowndes County Courthouse, Hayneville AL
There are four lists from different dates for doctors visits to the enslaved on the Turner plantation. Sometimes those treated are named and sometimes they are just referred to as “negroe”. I have added the ages of those who are named based on other lists from the estate files.
Dr. C.B. Lampley was the doctor listed for this time period. Lampley was born in 1830 in Richmond County, NC. His family relocated to Alabama by 1850. He married Thurza Rudolph of Lowndes County. They had two children. In the 1860 census he enslaved four people, a 35 year old mulatto woman, a 30 year old black man, a fifteen year old mulatto girl and a 14 year old black male. They lived in two dwellings. He joined the Confederate Army where he became a surgeon. He was lamed and later resigned due to diabetes and general debility. During 1854 and 1855 he visited the Turner plantation to treat the enslaved – pulling teeth, lancing abscesses, bleeding and dosing with medication.
The rebuilt plantation house of Wiley Turner. You can see more photos and information here. No photos of the slave quarters survive. In 1860 there were 15 slave dwellings for 75 enslaved people. Five members of the Wiley Turner family lived in the big house.
Recently I decided to find the plantation where my 2X great grandparents, Joe and Emma Turner were enslaved. I started by looking at white Turners in Hayneville, Lowndes County, Alabama where my family lived in 1870. I found Wiley Turner and his brother Thomas Turner. Both died in 1851. Wiley’s estate file contained several lists of those enslaved on his plantation. I found a Joe. I believe this is my Joe because there was only one Joe Turner in the area, because he is the right age and because he was described as “white”, and my great great grandfather Joe Turner was very light skinned.
Of the four lists, this first one is the most complete in that it includes names, ages and monetary worth. I will be writing more about the Turner plantation and those who were once enslaved on it, as I continue to try and piece together the lives of Joe and Emma Turner and others in their community.
Inventory; and Appraisement of the Est. of Wiley Turner, Deceased. February 1852. Those in maroon were set aside for his widow, Francis Turner. They do not appear in future inventories.
Click to enlarge.
Sex Name Aged Worth
1. Boy Andrew 20 $850.00
2. Girl Fanny 20 750.00
3. Boy Lewis (Tyus) 24 750.00
4. Girl Amy 29 550.00
5. Boy Mordicai 20 875.00
6. Girl Leah 20 650.00
7. Boy Billy (Tyus) 22 850.00
8. Girl Martha 20 700.00
9. Boy Toney 25 600.00
10. Woman Ellen & child 40 400.00
11. Girl Abby 14 550.00
12. Girl Little Margaret 13 500.00
13. Boy Alfred 22 700.00
14. Woman Maria & child Ranson 30 500.00
15. Girl Little Jane 9 250.00
16. Girl Louisa 4 250.00
17. Girl Adella 2 175.00
18. Man Doctor 55 240.00
19. Woman Mary 50 175.00
20. Girl Eliza 14 600.00
21. Girl Minerva 12 450.00
22. Girl Amanda 10 350.00
23. Man Lewis 18 750.00
24. Woman Lucy 30 400.00
25. Man Adam 22 500.00
26. Girl Mary Ellen & boy Edward 18 800.00
27. Man Jack 30 350.00
28. Woman Big Margaret 25 650.00
29. Boy Jesse (Tyus) 20 900.00
30. Woman Elizabeth 23 650.00
31. Man William 50 400.00
32. Woman Rachell 50 200.00
33. Boy Little Charle 8 450.00
Click to enlarge
34. Girl Susan 18 700.00
35. Girl Eliza 34 400.00
36. Girl Harriett 5 225.00
37. Man Sam 35 400.00
38. Woman Lyddy 30 400.00
39. Boy Henry (May) 19 900.00
40. Woman Ellen Brown 25 500.00
41. Man Robbin 25 800.00
42. Woman Cherry & child Louisa 36 400.00
43. Boy Prince 5 350.00
44. Woman Rachell (Patten) 28 700.00
45. Boy Robert 11 500.00
46. Boy Frank 6 300.00
47. Woman Maria Ann 16 700.00
48. Man Charles (Rugely) 23 850.00
49. Woman Rose & child Gabril 28 650.00
50. Boy Washington 14 700.00
51. Man John 24 800.00
52. Woman Nelly 49 200.00
53. Boy Abram 16 900.00
54. Man Big Jesse 26 450.00
55. Girl Jane 18 700.00
56. Girl Hager 23 500.00
57. Girl Abegail & child Ema 23 400.00
58. Woman Old Rachell 60 100.00
59. Man Frederick 23 850.00
60. Woman Clara & child Alford 35 500.00
61. Girl Sylvia 12 500.00
62. Girl Lucy 12 450.00
63. Girl Alice 8 350.00
64. Boy Freeman 6 350.00
65. Boy Harrison 6 350.00
66. Girl Julia Ann 3 200.00
67. Boy Henry (Turner) 18 875.00
Click to enlarge.
68. Man Old Jim 45 400.00
69. Woman Menty 45 300.00
70. Boy Daniel 3 200.00
71. Man Ben 33 800.00
72. Woman Mary McQuee 28 500.00
73. Boy Harry 12 550.00
74. Woman Hannah 55 200.00
75. Boy George 13 600.00
76. Woman Betsey & child Caroline 23 800.00
77. Girl Phillis 8 375.00
78. Girl Peggy 3 225.00
79. Man Achilles 43 650.00
80. Woman Mariah Mosely 35 450.00
81. Girl Elvira 14 650.00
82. Boy Jim Swagert 18 800.00
83. Man Wilson 28 850.00
84. Woman Yellow Jinny 45 400.00
85. Man Martin 26 1,100.00
86. Woman Letty 21 300.00
87. Man Hardy 56 250.00
88. Boy Nelson 15 750.00
89. Boy Lloyd 17 700.00
91. Boy Austin 16 800.00
92. Boy Long George 19 350.00
93. Boy Isaac 10 350.00
94. Boy Joe (white) 15 650.00
95. Boy Jim Patton 14 700.00
96. Woman Milly 55 150.00
97. Man Edmond 38 600.00
98. Man Tom 40 600.00
99. Boy Ned 11 475.00
100. Girl Emeline 9 350.00
101. Man Yellow John 24 875.00
Click to enlarge
102. Woman Yellow Milly 30 800.00
103. Boy Anthony infant(included with Milly)
104. Boy Little William 10 450.00
105. Boy Carter 6 350.00
106. Boy Braxton 4 250.00
107. Woman Alcey 40 200.00
108. Old Man Turner 65 1.00
109. Boy Frank (blind) 18 1.00
Joe and Emma Turner were the parents of Howard Turner who was my grandmother Fannie Mae Turner Graham’s father. You can see other posts about my Turner’s below.
“Aug 16, 1868 I have the honor to state that I have just assumed charge of the Bureau at this point and find that the spirit of abuse and austersism is uncontrollable. There were at one time 4 flourishing schools for the freed people in this county but the teachers were so much abused and threatened that they were compelled to close. Union men are openly assailed in the streets and there is no protection for person or property…”
“… (ex)cept by shooting some of them (do)wn. A squad of them usually (are) together and if one is hurt (the) balance interferes in his behalf. I have the honor to ask that (a) squad of U.S. troop be (se)nt here. Their presence is one (tha)t is necessary to keep these (mi)sserable out-laws down. I think it is a duty this (gov(ernment owes her ex soldiers to (pr)otect them. waiting a favorable answer. (I) am ______ very truly your ob(edien)t Servant, W.H.Hunter A.S.A.C. fr(om Lowndes Co Ala
My 2X great grandfather, Joe Turner was enumerated in the 1866 Alabama State census with his family of five living in Lowndes County, Alabama. In the 1870 census they were enumerated In Hayneville, Lowndes County. Joe was a farmer with $300 worth of personal goods. Neither he nor his wife Emma could read or write. The children were Lydia 8, Howard 7 (my great grandfather), Fannie 6, Joe 3 and Annie born in August of that year.
Another photograph that I am seeing for the first time, of my maternal grandmother Fannie Mae Turner soon to be Graham. Written on the back of the postcard type photograph, it says “Fannie M. Turner before marriage”
