BEFORE TILL: The Living Evidence Archive · Research brief
Hilliard Taliaferro / Tolliver
Case 001 · BT-PER-00001 · Life dates not established
- Researcher of record
- Amberly R. Carter-Mills, Founder, Creator & Descendant Archivist
- Publishing archive
- BEFORE TILL: The Living Evidence Archive
- Brief generated
- August 9, 2026
- Stable URL
- /case/hilliard-tolliver
Summary
Person shell created for research. Dates, places, and relationships are pending documentary research.
Documented findings
No claim in this case has reached documented status.
Preserved family accounts (not proof)
The eighty-acre place
“John and Laura acquired approximately eighty acres, with a house, barns, livestock, a blacksmith shop, wells, orchards, pastures, streams, gardens, trees, and poultry.”
Earliest known teller: Alma Smith Spearman · BT-TRD-00097
Laura attended "Vicksburg College"
“Laura Tolliver, while yet a student of Vicksburg College, was given in marriage to John Smith, a country farmer.”
Earliest known teller: Alma Smith Spearman · BT-TRD-00098
Bishop C. H. Mason in the Smith home
“Around 1897 John and Laura Smith welcomed Bishop C. H. Mason into their home, extended an ongoing invitation for him to stay when in the area, their son Joe cared for his horse and buggy, and their oldest grandson Mason Harrison Smith was named for him.”
Earliest known teller: Alma Smith Spearman · BT-TRD-00099
Unresolved and under investigation
Can the reported separation of Hilliard and Bettie after Hilliard was sold away be documented?
Family TraditionCan the reported separation of Hilliard and Bettie after Hilliard was sold away be documented?
Who were Hilliard's parents?
Under InvestigationWho were Hilliard's parents?
What could change these conclusions
Sources cited (1)
Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman
Alma Smith Spearman · Authored Narrative
Authored family history · Original image: Publication details pending · BT-SRC-00040
0 discrete observations were extracted from these sources for this case.