TRADING IN HUMAN LIVES
Bill of Sale for Peter, 10 years old
Courtesy of Giles County Archives
“Know all men by these presents that I Rebecca Crenshaw for and in consideration of the sum of three hundred and seventy five dollars to me in hand paid by Tillman R Daniel the receipt whereof is hereby confessed have bargained sold and delivered unto the said Tillman R. Daniel one negro boy named Peter about ten years of age To have and to hold the same slave unto the said Tillman R. Daniel his heirs & forever, and I the said Rebecca Crenshaw do forever warranted and defend the title of the aforesaid slave to the said Tillman R. Daniel his heirs. As Witness my hand and seal this 22nd November 1834.
Rebecca Crenshaw
Witness
Hugh Terrence
William T. Moran
State of Tennessee Giles County”
Trading in Human Lives
Bills of sale like this for enslaved people were common in Giles County deed books prior to the end of slavery in the 1860s.
Tillman R. Daniel (featured in the above Bill of Sale) lived near present-day Wolf Gap and purchased five people, including 10-year-old Peter, between 1827 and 1836. No record exists of him selling any of the enslaved people within the county, but Daniel could have easily done so in another state or part of Tennessee.
There are county records for about fifteen enslaved people that lived on this land before Union occupation in 1861. Below we feature the records of two more individuals, Nelly & Sarah. However, census records show a much larger enslaved population in this neighborhood - with one landowner, Coalston Abernathy, enslaving over 30 people on his property.
Slaveholders often purchased enslaved people from other states and brought them to an environment where they knew no one, making it more difficult for them to build the local relationships and knowledge of the land needed to escape.
In the years immediately before the Civil War, Giles County became a prominent slave trading destination, with local firms like Jackson & Gordon turning slavery into a modern business.
In 1860, enslaved people made up about 42 percent of the population of Giles County. Statewide, almost one out of every four Tennesseans was enslaved. Many of their descendants were driven out by white supremacist violence and the inequality of the Jim Crow system that developed after Reconstruction.
Giles County in particular experienced a dramatic loss of its African-American population over the period after the end of the Civil War, with 39 percent of the county identifying as Black in 1870, compared to 9.8 percent in 2020.
Bill of Sale for Nelly, 14 or 15 years old
“…in consideration of the sum of four hundred and twenty five dollars to me in hand paid by Tilman R. Daniel of Giles County Tennessee - I Lewis H Brown of said county and state have this day granted bargained sold and delivered unto the said Tilman R. Daniel a negro Girl slave named Nelly about 14 or 15 years of age and I the said Lewis H Brown do hereby warrant and defend the title of the said slave to said the Tilman R. & his heirs and assigns forever free from the claim of myself & all and every person or persons whatsoever & that the said slave Nelly is sound & healthy and a slave for life. In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand and seal this 20th day of December 1825.
Lewis H Brown
Testor
Patrick McCutchen”
Courtesy of Giles County Archives
Bill of Sale for Sarah, about 8 years old
Courtesy of Giles County Archives