People of Color South
In Old
Tennessee
Abstracts from the Slave Record Book
of Robertson County, Tennessee Planter,
Josiah W. Fort
By Sandra G.
Craighead
© 1999
Reprinted with permission
When researching our family's genealogy, each of us at some time has come across a gem of a record or document which did not relate to our own family, but was such a gold mine of information we simply could not pass it up, hoping that at a later date someone, somewhere, through a query or other vehicle would seek this very information. So we copy it and then file it away under "miscellaneous." Such was the case when I happened upon the Josiah W. Fort Slave Records in Robertson County, Tennessee Deed Books (pps. 4649), about 5 years ago. Because I am no longer content to indefinitely wait for a research distress call from an ancestor searchin' Fort family descendant, I decided to present the information in this forum and hope that it will fall into rightful hands.
The following are abstracts from the account book containing slave birth and death dates, slave purchase and sale information including names of buyers and sellers and purchase prices made by Josiah W. Fort and attested to at the end of the record by the slaves' last owner, his son, Joel B. Fort, "Written by My father Josiah W. Fort, before the Civil War." Please note that in some cases both names of the parents of the slave children were given and some of the birth dates are post Civil War. Further, an analysis of the names and ages (and dates supplied) indicate that three generations of Fort family members, from Old Rachael's oldest child, George, born in 1808 to her grandchild, Harriet Charity, born in 1880, lived on the same plantation for approximately 75 years.
I was so intrigued by the specificity of information noted that I began an investigation of other Tennessee records to determine the post Civil War status of these former Fort slaves. By comparing the names, sex and ages given in the Account Book to the 1870 U. S. Federal Census for Robertson County, I found many of these same African-American Forts still residing in the county in the same vicinity with their families. For example, Old Rachael's children, George and Melinda, were found, respectively, on pages 106 and 211. Several of Old Rachael's adult grandchildren and their families were enumerated practically "door-to-door" to each other: Nelson on page 211, his sister Melissa and her husband, Mack, who, according to the Account Book was bought in 1853 at age 22, lived next door. Cora is listed on page 212, along with Richard and Frank, Henry (a/k/a Clay) and a younger George, on page 90.
There are several other examples in the 1870 census of former Fort family slaves still living in Robertson County, but the most challenging to research, in this writers's opinion, would be Allen Fort age 81, found on page 212. It is my guess that he possibly could be the patriarch of Old Rachael's children, but further research would be required to substantiate such a theory. For an African-American Fort family descendant, it would be well worth the effort to research other records, such as Robertson County wills and deeds and the various collections of genealogical materials of the Robertson County Genealogical Society and the main Robertson County Public Library to illuminate the personal history of not only Allen Fort; but the entire Fort clan of Robertson County, Tennessee.
