Wiley Turner died in 1851 in Lowndes County Alabama. The first inventory of his personal property, including those enslaved on his plantation, took place in 1852. You can see a list of names, ages and “value” in this post – Joe Turner in the 1852 Estate File of Wiley Turner.

The second inventory was taken in 1856 when Wiley Turner’s oldest daughter Mary J Hunter had reached the age of 21.  She picked lot #6, which is highlighted in red below.  Click the images of the inventory on the right to enlarge for reading.

Lowndes County

To the Hone. E.H. Cook Judge of Probate for said County.

“The undersigned commissioners appointed by your honor to divide the real and personal Estate of the late Wiley Turner deceased under an order of the 20 January 1856 so that Mary J. a daughter and heir at law of said deceased now the wife of Clinton Hunter could get her part set off to her under said order. Beg leave to report that they met at the plantation  of said deceased. and after first being duly sworn accepted to said ? and valued said slaves separately and then placed them with same other property in six lots of as nearly equal value as possible as follows,”

Lot #1

1. Austin – a man
2. Bill Tyus – a man
3. Henry Turner – a man
4. Ben a man
5. Adam – a man
6. Henry – a man
7. Martha – a woman
8. Mary – a woman
9. Peter – a child
10. Mary Ellen – a woman
11. Edmond – a boy
12. Washington – a child
13. Betsy woman – a woman
14. Peggy – a girl
15. Caroline – a girl
16. Adaline – a child
17. Phillis – a woman

Lot #2

1. Henry May – a man
2. Jim Swipes – a man
3. Robin – a man
4. Joe – a man
5. Big Jess – a man
6. Robin – a man
7. Rachel Clary – a woman
8. Cherry – a woman
9. Prince – a boy
10. Louisa – a girl
11. Eliza – a girl
12. Minerva – a woman
13. Emeline – a woman
14. Ellen Bullock – a woman
15. Jack – a man
16. Old Rachel – a woman

Lot #3

1. Jess – a man
2. Wilson – a man
3. Washington – a man
4. Cary – a man
5. Fed – a man
6. Carter – a boy
7. Clary – a girl
8. Freeman – a boy
9. Harrison – a boy
10. Julia – a girl
11. Albert – a boy
12. Fanny – a girl
13. Lucy – a woman
14. George – a boy
15. Alice – a girl

Lot #4

1. Mat – a man
2. John – a man
3. Tony – a man
4. George Mims – a man
5. Sam – a man
6. Isaac – a man
7. Mariah – a woman
8. Ellen – a woman
9. Mose – a boy
10. Siller – a girl
11. Old Hannah – a woman
12. Eliza – a girl
13. Abigail – a girl
14. Emma – a girl
15. Hagar – a girl
16. Frank – a boy

Lot #5

1. Andrew – a man
2. Nelson – a man
3. Lloyd – a man
4. Lewis – a man
5. Bill Camel – man
6. Charles – a boy
7. Fanny – a woman
8. Thomas – a child
9. Margaret – a woman
10. Amy – a woman
11. Rachel – a woman
12. Sylvia – a woman
13. Milly – a girl
14. Hardy – an old man
15. A B Turner

Lot #6

1. Abram – a man
2. Lewis Tyus – a man
3. Charles – a man
4. Jim Pot – a man
5. Alfred – a man
6. William – a boy
7. Mariah Hopkins – a woman
8. Louisa – a girl
9. Deller – a girl
10. Ransome – a boy
11. Henrietta – a child
12. Lucy Patten – a woman
13. Liddy – old woman
14. Leah – a woman
15. Sarah Ann – a child
16. Nelly – a woman
17. Jane – a girl

_________________________

The pages from Wiley Turner’s file included here came from Ancestry.com.

Daniel Freeman, the father of Joseph Turner’s second wife, Luella Freeman, was a man of mystery.  I can find him in only one census, luckily he appears in other records.  I found myself disappearing down his family lines (which are not even my blood lines)  as I tried to get a feel for his life.

According to his death record, Daniel Freeman was born to Ella Freeman in Florida in 1861. I do not have the death certificate. He first appears in 1880 in Mildred Brewer Russell’s book Lowndes Court House, a nostalgic look back at Hayneville from it’s founding in 1820 to 1900. “On the corner of this block, Tuskeena and Washington streets, was the new store of Dan Freeman, colored.” He is mentioned as one of the two Negro merchants in Hayneville during those days.

I found him in the 1910 Census where he was listed as 65 years old, owned his own house and was a painter. Throughout the years a Daniel Freeman appears in the Montgomery City Directory as a laborer and drayman in the early years and then a painter and a carpenter. At the same time he was buying property.  I had the feeling that he was always taking care of business.

In his Will, written in 1922, Daniel Freeman left property to several of Luella’s young children, his grandchildren. Their father Joe Turner had died and Luella and her family had left the farm in Lowndes County and moved to Montgomery.

Below is a copy of the will. Click on it to enlarge for ease in reading.

The information concerning the Turner’s is in part four:  “To Mary Jones I give the house and lot known as No. 230 Sutter Street in the City of Montgomery;  to Annie Freeman McQueen I give the house and lot known as No. 165-B Day Street, To Salena Turner I give the house and lot No. 165 Day Street and to Annie May Turner house and lot No. 228 Sutter Street.“

Geneva Freeman and Annie Freeman McQueen were Luella Freeman Turner’s sisters. Ella McGhee was the daughter of Geneva Freeman. Salena (Selena) and Annie May Turner were Luella’s daughters.

According to Kyle Chapman, a descendant of Geneva Freeman and Ella McGhee, most of the land was eventually taken by the the state for a highway and the rest was sold or donated to a nearby church.  Also a thank you to him for sharing the photo of Daniel Freeman with me.

Recently I went to the nearby Family Search Center to look at some Lowndes County Alabama property records from the 1870s on microfilm. I hoped to find more details about  Joe and Emma Turner, my 2X great grandparents. I also planned to look at records for other formerly enslaved Turners mentioned in Wiley Turner’s probate record.

There were five rolls of microfilm waiting for me. It was by no means a large research center.  It is actually a few rooms in the educational part of the Church of Latter Day Saints. In a small room there were three computers. Next to it was another small room with a microfilm machine. A local Family Search volunteer opened the building for me and got me started. She loaded the roll into the reader, showed me how it worked and advised me to put a phone book under a piece of paper if the document was hard to read. Then she went to the next room to work on her family history.

After scrolling through to page 238, which I thought was the page I was looking for in Book H, I discovered that there was nothing about the Turners on that page, nor on the pages before or after. I scrolled back to the index. At this point the scrolling was making me feel slightly motion sick but I chewed some gum and kept going. Looking at the index, I found the Turners listed with the “Ts” under a letter “O” on page 97. Very confusing. However, that was actually the page I was looking for and it was full of information about the land deal. There was even a drawing of the property that changed hands. I took photos of the various pages, not very good ones it turned out.

As the next roll of film was being loaded, a thin belt separated from wherever it was supposed to be.  The microfilm machine was broken. It was the only machine there and it was ancient. The volunteer said she will try to get it repaired and call me when it is. She also said I can keep the rolls of film there as long as I need them. That is only good if I have a machine to view it through.

Family Search plans to digitize all of their records during the next two years.  They also plan to discontinue sharing microfilm in August of this year. I do not hold out much hope for the repair of the machine, unless a local volunteer can do it.   Below is what I found.

Know all men by these presents that we, Joe Turner and Emma Turner his wife of said state and county for and in consideration fo the sum of one hundred dolars to us paid this day by Edward H. Herbert and Louisa Herbert his wife do hereby bargain, sell and convey to the said Herbert and his wife Louisa the following described lots or parcels of land lying and being within corporate limits of the town of Hayneville in said county to wit a lot of about one acre lying west and broadside of the lot now owned and occupied by the said Herbert extending west to a street running north and south by the residence of John P Streety, a lot a strip of land about twenty yards wide south of the above described lot and the said lot owned and occupied by the said Herbert containing one half acre more or less; also a lot known as the Stewart lot commencing at the south west corner of the lot on which H a Rinadi’s house stands, running east thirty five yards, thence south to a street running east and west from the residence of John P Streety by the County jail and up by the Methodist Church, thence west thirty five yards thence north to the beginning containing one acre more or less, also a lot of three fourths of an acre mor or less bounded east by the said Stewart lot south of the street running east and west from the residence of John P Streety up by the jail and Methodist Church, west by a vacant lot owned by the said Streety and north of the east half of the strip of land above described; all of said lots containing three and a half acres more or less to have and to hold to them and their heirs and assigns forever.

Witness our hands and seals this 9th day of January AD 1872.

Signed and delineated in presence of W.H. Taigler  R.McQueen

Joe X (his mark) Turner. Emma Turner