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Case · BT-PER-00244 · A living evidence case study

Richard Henry Taliaferro

Named in secondary compilations among the free people associated with Taliaferro holdings in Copiah County, Mississippi. No original record has yet been reviewed in BEFORE TILL connecting him directly to Hilliard.

Claims examined
1
Reached documented
0
Sources cited
7
Observations extracted
1
Family accounts preserved
6

Case at a glance

Richard Henry Taliaferro

Documented in this archive

  • No claim in this case has yet reached documented status.

Research & interpretation

Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Founder, Creator & Descendant Archivist

01

What the family remembers

Accounts held and repeated in the family. They are preserved as accounts — they are not treated as proof.

  • The eighty-acre place

    Family Tradition
    “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 · First written down in: Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman

    BT-TRD-00097

  • Laura attended "Vicksburg College"

    Family Tradition
    “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 · First written down in: Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman

    BT-TRD-00098

  • Bishop C. H. Mason in the Smith home

    Family Tradition
    “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 · First written down in: Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman

    BT-TRD-00099

  • The five-year separation

    Family Tradition
    “Hilliard was sold to another enslaver in Arkansas and separated from Bettie. Bettie's grief was so constant that her enslavers purchased Hilliard back, ending a separation the family remembers as lasting about five years.”

    Earliest known teller: Alma Smith Spearman · First written down in: Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman

    BT-TRD-00195

  • Choctaw ancestry in Bettie's line

    Family Tradition
    “Family memory identifies Choctaw ancestry in the ancestry of Bettie Alexander Taliaferro, born about 1837.”

    Earliest known teller: Not recorded

    BT-TRD-00604

  • Shawnee ancestry in Hilliard's line

    Family Tradition
    “Family memory identifies Shawnee ancestry in the ancestry of Hilliard Taliaferro, born about 1823 in Virginia.”

    Earliest known teller: Not recorded

    BT-TRD-00605

02

What the records actually say

Every observation extracted from a source, grouped by the record it came from. Verbatim wording is shown where the record supplies it.

Orange County estate sale, 1825 — Taliaferros as purchasers

BT-SRC-00563

Virginia. County Court (Orange County) · Virginia. County Court (Orange County) · Digital Image

Evidentiary weight 3 of 4. Digital image of original recordOriginal image: Citation entered — image review pendingA photographic image of a contemporary record held by the repository named below.

  • Richard H. Taliaferro buys a spinning wheel, a butter pot and a cricket, and broad hoes; Peachy R. Taliaferro buys a set of bags, a horse at $56 and two axes. Other purchasers include Ambrose Madison, Reynolds Chapman and Zachariah A. Taliaferro. The value here is placement, not kinship.

    BT-EVD-00577 · Pages 324-325

03

Where they conflict

Conflicts are preserved, not resolved by preference. Supporting, complicating and contextual readings are shown side by side.

A Hillyard and an Agnes in the same Virginia estate, 1831

Under Investigation

What supports the claim

Observations that carry the claim forward.

  • Entry 16 reads Hillyard, a boy, valued between $125 and $200. The figure and the line number differ between readings of the hand. No age, parent or birthplace is given, and no identification with Hilliard Taliaferro / Tolliver is established.

    Hillyard, a boy

    Partially Supports · Weak weight

    Appraisement of the enslaved people in the estate of Richard H. Taliaferro

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  • Two, possibly three, entries read Aggy or Agnes; one woman appears in the later part of the list valued at about $275. No kinship to any other person in the list is recorded.

    Aggy

    Partially Supports · Weak weight

    Appraisement of the enslaved people in the estate of Richard H. Taliaferro

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

What complicates or contradicts it

Kept in view rather than discarded.

  • Nothing in this column for this claim.

What only provides context

Consistent, but not identifying or probative on its own.

  • Richard H. Taliaferro names his friend William Quarles and his son George as executors, serving without surety.

    Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    Will of Richard H. Taliaferro, Orange County, Virginia

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  • The will directs that the rest of the estate be kept together for four years, its profits applied to the support and education of his children; any child marrying or coming of age in that time takes a sixth part in value of the personal estate.

    Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    Will of Richard H. Taliaferro, Orange County, Virginia

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  • To his son Zachary or Jacky H., land on the south side of the run purchased partly of Thomas B. Adams, and two people named in the will as Jane and Hannah. This is a best reading; the clerk's hand is difficult here.

    Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    Will of Richard H. Taliaferro, Orange County, Virginia

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  • Witnessed by Reynolds Chapman and Hugh Darby; proved on their oaths at the quarterly court, 22 November 1830. Executorship granted to George G. Taliaferro on 27 December 1830 under a bond of thirty thousand dollars.

    Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    Will of Richard H. Taliaferro, Orange County, Virginia

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  • The land called Elmwood, bought of the executors of Doctor Charles Taylor, is directed to be sold and the proceeds divided between William D. and the four daughters.

    Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    Will of Richard H. Taliaferro, Orange County, Virginia

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  • The appraisement is a numbered list of more than fifty men, women and children held by the estate, each with a cash valuation. The page begins mid-list at number 9 and runs to number 52 or 53; the total carried for the enslaved people is $11,200.00.

    Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    Appraisement of the enslaved people in the estate of Richard H. Taliaferro

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  • The list also names John, Armstead, Oscar, Randolph, James, Jefferson, Joseph, Frank, Redding or Fielding, Madison, Peter, La Fayette, Sucky, Patty, Nancy, Charlotte, Lucy, Maria, Amy, Caroline, Ellen, Milly, Malinda, Patsy, Sarah, Mary Ann, Eliza, Andrew, Paul, Jerry, Thornton, Ellis, Robert, George, Ben and Edward. Several women are recorded only as a woman "& child" — the appraisement records no relationships at all.

    Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    Appraisement of the enslaved people in the estate of Richard H. Taliaferro

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  • The household and farm inventory totals $3,215.25: four good feather beds, forty-one yards of carpeting, silver, looms, six spinning wheels, a set of blacksmith's tools, livestock, five thousand pounds of pork, corn, fodder and whiskey — the working plantation the people in the appraisement were forced to run.

    Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    Appraisement of the personal estate of Richard H. Taliaferro

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  • Estate totals: enslaved people $11,200.00; personal estate not including them $3,215.25; real estate directed to be sold $3,557.25; total $17,972.50. Nearly two thirds of this estate's appraised value was the value placed on human beings.

    Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    Aggregate appraisement and return to court, estate of Richard H. Taliaferro

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  • Elmwood, surveyed by Reuben Lindsay on 28 March 1823 at 395 and one quarter acres, valued at nine dollars per acre. Appraisers William C. Willis, Robert Taylor Jr and Thomas Scott, sworn before the justice Ambrose Madison; certified by George G. Taliaferro, executor, and ordered recorded at the quarterly court.

    Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    Aggregate appraisement and return to court, estate of Richard H. Taliaferro

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  • Richard H. Taliaferro buys a spinning wheel, a butter pot and a cricket, and broad hoes; Peachy R. Taliaferro buys a set of bags, a horse at $56 and two axes. Other purchasers include Ambrose Madison, Reynolds Chapman and Zachariah A. Taliaferro. The value here is placement, not kinship.

    Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    Orange County estate sale, 1825 — Taliaferros as purchasers

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  • John Taliaferro leaves his estate to his wife Mildred M. Taliaferro for life, then to be sold and divided between Ann Elizabeth Watters, Lucy H. Taliaferro, Martha M. Taliaferro, James C. Taliaferro and Mary L. Taliaferro. Recorded on the same pages as the appraisement of George Newman's estate, which values four elderly enslaved people at nothing at all. No link to Richard H. Taliaferro is asserted.

    Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    Will of John Taliaferro of Orange County, Virginia

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

What this evidence supports

Research hypothesis — high priority. Hilliard is reported born about 1823 in Virginia; a boy of that birth year would be about seven or eight in 1830, consistent with the low valuation on the Hillyard entry. The archive's standing hypothesis that Agnes may have been Hilliard's mother would place both in one Virginia household before either appears in Mississippi. This is not proof: neither name is uncommon, neither entry gives an age, parent or birthplace, the appraisement records no kinship at all, the line numbers and valuations differ between readings of the clerk's hand, and no document yet connects this Virginia Hillyard to the Hilliard of the William Q. Taliaferro estate in Mississippi.

What it does not prove

  • The underlying question remains open on the present record.
  • Still unanswered: Can the people in Richard H. Taliaferro's 1831 estate be traced through the estate division into the households of his heirs, and from there into the William Q. Taliaferro estate?

04

Amberly's current conclusion

Conclusions are versioned. Nothing is overwritten — a new reading supersedes the last and the earlier version stays on the record.

No conclusion has been published in this case yet.

05

What could change this

The records not yet located, and the questions still open. If you hold one of them, the archive wants to hear from you.

  • A Hillyard and an Agnes in the same Virginia estate, 1831

    Can the people in Richard H. Taliaferro's 1831 estate be traced through the estate division into the households of his heirs, and from there into the William Q. Taliaferro estate?

Do you hold a record, a photograph, or a family account bearing on this question? Submit it for review. A submission becomes a research lead; it does not change a published conclusion on its own.

Attach files (optional)

Scans, photographs, or a recorded account. Up to 5 files, 25.0 MB each — images, PDF, or audio. Attachments are stored privately and are never published without review.

Please do not send Social Security numbers, account or policy numbers, unredacted identification for living people, financial information, private medical records, or records about a living person who has not agreed to it. Everything you send is stored privately and reviewed before anything is published — nothing you submit appears on the site automatically. See the records and documents policy.

06

Evidence trails

Follow any claim from the claim itself, through each observation and its source, to the conclusion it produced.

Step 1 · Claim

A Hillyard and an Agnes in the same Virginia estate, 1831

Under Investigation· 14 sources

BT-CLM-00557

The 1831 appraisement of Richard H. Taliaferro's estate in Orange County, Virginia lists a boy recorded as Hillyard and a woman recorded as Agnes or Aggy. Whether either is the Hilliard or the Agnes of the later Mississippi records is unproven.

Step 2 · Evidence & Source

  1. Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    Richard H. Taliaferro names his friend William Quarles and his son George as executors, serving without surety.

    Will of Richard H. Taliaferro, Orange County, Virginia · Virginia. County Court (Orange County) · Image 149 · Digital Image

    BT-EVD-00565 ← BT-SRC-00559

    Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  2. Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    The will directs that the rest of the estate be kept together for four years, its profits applied to the support and education of his children; any child marrying or coming of age in that time takes a sixth part in value of the personal estate.

    Will of Richard H. Taliaferro, Orange County, Virginia · Virginia. County Court (Orange County) · Image 149 · Digital Image

    BT-EVD-00566 ← BT-SRC-00559

    Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  3. Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    To his son Zachary or Jacky H., land on the south side of the run purchased partly of Thomas B. Adams, and two people named in the will as Jane and Hannah. This is a best reading; the clerk's hand is difficult here.

    Will of Richard H. Taliaferro, Orange County, Virginia · Virginia. County Court (Orange County) · Image 149 · Digital Image

    BT-EVD-00567 ← BT-SRC-00559

    Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  4. Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    Witnessed by Reynolds Chapman and Hugh Darby; proved on their oaths at the quarterly court, 22 November 1830. Executorship granted to George G. Taliaferro on 27 December 1830 under a bond of thirty thousand dollars.

    Will of Richard H. Taliaferro, Orange County, Virginia · Virginia. County Court (Orange County) · Image 150 · Digital Image

    BT-EVD-00568 ← BT-SRC-00559

    Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  5. Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    The land called Elmwood, bought of the executors of Doctor Charles Taylor, is directed to be sold and the proceeds divided between William D. and the four daughters.

    Will of Richard H. Taliaferro, Orange County, Virginia · Virginia. County Court (Orange County) · Image 149 · Digital Image

    BT-EVD-00569 ← BT-SRC-00559

    Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  6. Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    The appraisement is a numbered list of more than fifty men, women and children held by the estate, each with a cash valuation. The page begins mid-list at number 9 and runs to number 52 or 53; the total carried for the enslaved people is $11,200.00.

    Appraisement of the enslaved people in the estate of Richard H. Taliaferro · Virginia. County Court (Orange County) · Pages 430-431 · Digital Image

    BT-EVD-00570 ← BT-SRC-00560

    Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  7. Partially Supports · Weak weight

    Entry 16 reads Hillyard, a boy, valued between $125 and $200. The figure and the line number differ between readings of the hand. No age, parent or birthplace is given, and no identification with Hilliard Taliaferro / Tolliver is established.

    “Hillyard, a boy”

    Appraisement of the enslaved people in the estate of Richard H. Taliaferro · Virginia. County Court (Orange County) · Page 430, entry 16 · Digital Image

    BT-EVD-00571 ← BT-SRC-00560

    Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  8. Partially Supports · Weak weight

    Two, possibly three, entries read Aggy or Agnes; one woman appears in the later part of the list valued at about $275. No kinship to any other person in the list is recorded.

    “Aggy”

    Appraisement of the enslaved people in the estate of Richard H. Taliaferro · Virginia. County Court (Orange County) · Pages 430-431 · Digital Image

    BT-EVD-00572 ← BT-SRC-00560

    Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  9. Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    The list also names John, Armstead, Oscar, Randolph, James, Jefferson, Joseph, Frank, Redding or Fielding, Madison, Peter, La Fayette, Sucky, Patty, Nancy, Charlotte, Lucy, Maria, Amy, Caroline, Ellen, Milly, Malinda, Patsy, Sarah, Mary Ann, Eliza, Andrew, Paul, Jerry, Thornton, Ellis, Robert, George, Ben and Edward. Several women are recorded only as a woman "& child" — the appraisement records no relationships at all.

    Appraisement of the enslaved people in the estate of Richard H. Taliaferro · Virginia. County Court (Orange County) · Pages 430-431 · Digital Image

    BT-EVD-00573 ← BT-SRC-00560

    Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  10. Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    The household and farm inventory totals $3,215.25: four good feather beds, forty-one yards of carpeting, silver, looms, six spinning wheels, a set of blacksmith's tools, livestock, five thousand pounds of pork, corn, fodder and whiskey — the working plantation the people in the appraisement were forced to run.

    Appraisement of the personal estate of Richard H. Taliaferro · Virginia. County Court (Orange County) · Pages 432-433 · Digital Image

    BT-EVD-00574 ← BT-SRC-00561

    Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  11. Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    Estate totals: enslaved people $11,200.00; personal estate not including them $3,215.25; real estate directed to be sold $3,557.25; total $17,972.50. Nearly two thirds of this estate's appraised value was the value placed on human beings.

    Aggregate appraisement and return to court, estate of Richard H. Taliaferro · Virginia. County Court (Orange County) · Page 434 · Digital Image

    BT-EVD-00575 ← BT-SRC-00562

    Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  12. Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    Elmwood, surveyed by Reuben Lindsay on 28 March 1823 at 395 and one quarter acres, valued at nine dollars per acre. Appraisers William C. Willis, Robert Taylor Jr and Thomas Scott, sworn before the justice Ambrose Madison; certified by George G. Taliaferro, executor, and ordered recorded at the quarterly court.

    Aggregate appraisement and return to court, estate of Richard H. Taliaferro · Virginia. County Court (Orange County) · Page 434 · Digital Image

    BT-EVD-00576 ← BT-SRC-00562

    Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  13. Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    Richard H. Taliaferro buys a spinning wheel, a butter pot and a cricket, and broad hoes; Peachy R. Taliaferro buys a set of bags, a horse at $56 and two axes. Other purchasers include Ambrose Madison, Reynolds Chapman and Zachariah A. Taliaferro. The value here is placement, not kinship.

    Orange County estate sale, 1825 — Taliaferros as purchasers · Virginia. County Court (Orange County) · Pages 324-325 · Digital Image

    BT-EVD-00577 ← BT-SRC-00563

    Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

  14. Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    John Taliaferro leaves his estate to his wife Mildred M. Taliaferro for life, then to be sold and divided between Ann Elizabeth Watters, Lucy H. Taliaferro, Martha M. Taliaferro, James C. Taliaferro and Mary L. Taliaferro. Recorded on the same pages as the appraisement of George Newman's estate, which values four elderly enslaved people at nothing at all. No link to Richard H. Taliaferro is asserted.

    Will of John Taliaferro of Orange County, Virginia · Virginia. County Court (Orange County) · Page 308 · Digital Image

    BT-EVD-00578 ← BT-SRC-00564

    Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

    Entered from the Orange County, Virginia film, Image Group Number 007645708. The record is documented; the identification with Hilliard or with Agnes of the 1855 dispute is not.

Step 3 · Conclusion

No conclusion has been published. This remains an open research question. Can the people in Richard H. Taliaferro's 1831 estate be traced through the estate division into the households of his heirs, and from there into the William Q. Taliaferro estate?

07

Historical context and how researchers read it

The world these records were made in, and the reasoning used to interpret them. Kept apart from the evidence on purpose: nothing in this section proves anything about this family, and nothing here can change the status of a claim.

09

Provenance, access and use

Every source this case rests on, with its provenance metadata and reuse terms. Compiled web pages, derivative transcriptions, oral histories and original records are labelled separately and never flattened together.

Source creator
Varies by record — see each source
Who made the original record.
Researcher of record
Amberly R. Carter-Mills — Founder, Creator & Descendant Archivist
Located, transcribed, weighed and interpreted the evidence.
Publishing archive
BEFORE TILL: The Living Evidence Archive
Holds the object, its identifiers and its revision history.

Orange County estate sale, 1825 — Taliaferros as purchasers

BT-SRC-00563
Evidentiary weight 3 of 4. Digital image of original recordOriginal image: Citation entered — image review pendingA photographic image of a contemporary record held by the repository named below.
Creator
Virginia. County Court (Orange County)
Date created
25 September and 25 October 1825
Repository
Virginia. County Court (Orange County)
Collection
"Orange, Virginia, United States records," images, FamilySearch
Record form
Digital Image
Source type
Court Record
Accessed
2026-08-26

Access and use

An unrelated estate; entered for placement of Richard H. and Peachy R. Taliaferro in the county, not for kinship.

BEFORE TILL publishes description, transcription and analysis. Reuse of the underlying record is governed by the holding repository. Cite this archive by its persistent identifier when quoting our reading of the record.

View the record at the repository

Will of Richard H. Taliaferro, Orange County, Virginia

BT-SRC-00559
Evidentiary weight 3 of 4. Digital image of original recordOriginal image: Citation entered — image review pendingA photographic image of a contemporary record held by the repository named below.
Creator
Virginia. County Court (Orange County)
Date created
Written 12 August 1829; proved 22 November 1830
Repository
Virginia. County Court (Orange County)
Collection
"Orange, Virginia, United States records," images, FamilySearch
Record form
Digital Image
Source type
Probate
Accessed
2026-08-26

Access and use

Page images supplied by the Founder & Descendant Archivist. Word-level readings from nineteenth-century clerical hands are best readings, not certainties.

BEFORE TILL publishes description, transcription and analysis. Reuse of the underlying record is governed by the holding repository. Cite this archive by its persistent identifier when quoting our reading of the record.

View the record at the repository

Appraisement of the enslaved people in the estate of Richard H. Taliaferro

BT-SRC-00560
Evidentiary weight 3 of 4. Digital image of original recordOriginal image: Citation entered — image review pendingA photographic image of a contemporary record held by the repository named below.
Creator
Virginia. County Court (Orange County)
Date created
Appraised 28 March 1831
Repository
Virginia. County Court (Orange County)
Collection
"Orange, Virginia, United States records," images, FamilySearch
Record form
Digital Image
Source type
Probate
Accessed
2026-08-26

Access and use

Line numbers and valuations differ between readings of the clerk's hand; a second reading against the original film is required.

BEFORE TILL publishes description, transcription and analysis. Reuse of the underlying record is governed by the holding repository. Cite this archive by its persistent identifier when quoting our reading of the record.

View the record at the repository

Appraisement of the personal estate of Richard H. Taliaferro

BT-SRC-00561
Evidentiary weight 3 of 4. Digital image of original recordOriginal image: Citation entered — image review pendingA photographic image of a contemporary record held by the repository named below.
Creator
Virginia. County Court (Orange County)
Date created
1831
Repository
Virginia. County Court (Orange County)
Collection
"Orange, Virginia, United States records," images, FamilySearch
Record form
Digital Image
Source type
Probate
Accessed
2026-08-26

Access and use

Recorded on the same pages as the list of enslaved people, in the same hand.

BEFORE TILL publishes description, transcription and analysis. Reuse of the underlying record is governed by the holding repository. Cite this archive by its persistent identifier when quoting our reading of the record.

View the record at the repository

Aggregate appraisement and return to court, estate of Richard H. Taliaferro

BT-SRC-00562
Evidentiary weight 3 of 4. Digital image of original recordOriginal image: Citation entered — image review pendingA photographic image of a contemporary record held by the repository named below.
Creator
Virginia. County Court (Orange County)
Date created
Sworn 28 March 1831
Repository
Virginia. County Court (Orange County)
Collection
"Orange, Virginia, United States records," images, FamilySearch
Record form
Digital Image
Source type
Probate
Accessed
2026-08-26

Access and use

Transcribed from the supplied page image.

BEFORE TILL publishes description, transcription and analysis. Reuse of the underlying record is governed by the holding repository. Cite this archive by its persistent identifier when quoting our reading of the record.

View the record at the repository

Will of John Taliaferro of Orange County, Virginia

BT-SRC-00564
Evidentiary weight 3 of 4. Digital image of original recordOriginal image: Citation entered — image review pendingA photographic image of a contemporary record held by the repository named below.
Creator
Virginia. County Court (Orange County)
Date created
Written 1 July 1834; proved May-June 1837
Repository
Virginia. County Court (Orange County)
Collection
"Orange, Virginia, United States records," images, FamilySearch
Record form
Digital Image
Source type
Probate
Accessed
2026-08-28

Access and use

Entered to keep the county's Taliaferro households distinct from one another. No link to Richard H. Taliaferro is asserted.

BEFORE TILL publishes description, transcription and analysis. Reuse of the underlying record is governed by the holding repository. Cite this archive by its persistent identifier when quoting our reading of the record.

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Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman

BT-SRC-00040
Evidentiary weight 2 of 4. Authored family historyOriginal image: Publication details pendingA descendant-authored account. Evidence that the account exists; not automatically contemporary proof of the events it describes.
Creator
Alma Smith Spearman
Date created
Not recorded
Repository
Not recorded
Collection
Not recorded
Record form
Authored Narrative
Source type
Book
Accessed
Not recorded

Access and use

COMPLETE BIBLIOGRAPHIC CITATION NEEDED. Published family history / descendant-authored narrative. Title, publisher, and publication date have not yet been supplied. A valuable family source; it is not automatically contemporary documentary proof for events predating the author's lifetime.

BEFORE TILL publishes description, transcription and analysis. Reuse of the underlying record is governed by the holding repository. Cite this archive by its persistent identifier when quoting our reading of the record.

11

Research history of this case

Every logged research action against this case, in the order it happened. Conclusions supersede; they are never quietly overwritten.

  1. September 8, 2026 · Other

    Check the Orange County records against Washington County, Virginia, where the Agnes of the Lucretia Alexander account is reported to have been born.

  2. September 8, 2026 · Other

    Search Orange County deeds, chancery and tax records for later transfers of anyone named in the appraisement.

  3. September 8, 2026 · Other

    Establish whether the William Quarles named as executor in the 1829 will is the William Quarles Taliaferro of the later Mississippi estate, or a different man.

  4. September 8, 2026 · Other

    Trace George G. Taliaferro, William D. Taliaferro, Zachary or Jacky H. Taliaferro and the four daughters, and the households they carried people into.

  5. September 8, 2026 · Other

    Find the division of Richard H. Taliaferro's estate at the end of the four-year term set by the will, which should name who received each person.

  6. September 8, 2026 · Other

    Read the full 1831 appraisement from the original film, both pages, and settle the line numbers, valuations and name readings.

The archive-wide audit trail, including corrections, is in the research ledger.

For press, researchers & institutions

How to cite and verify Case

Subject
Richard Henry Taliaferro
Persistent identifier
BT-PER-00244
Researcher of record
Amberly R. Carter-Mills, Founder, Creator & Descendant Archivist
Publishing archive
BEFORE TILL: The Living Evidence Archive
Sources underpinning the case
7
Discrete evidence observations
1
Stable URL
/case/richard-henry-taliaferro

Safe to report as documented

  • Nothing in this case has reached documented status.

Must be attributed as unresolved

  • · A Hillyard and an Agnes in the same Virginia estate, 1831

BEFORE TILL does not describe any finding as “proven” or as “fact.” Statuses are Documented, Corroborated, Family Tradition, Under Investigation and Corrected, and each is defined on the methodology page. Please carry the status with the finding.

Research brief (printable)Evidence standardRequest verification or interview

Why this case matters

One life, reconstructed to a standard

For most people enslaved in the United States, the surviving record is a line in someone else’s ledger: an age, a sex, no name. Richard Henry Taliaferro’s case shows that a life can still be reconstructed from those fragments without inventing a single detail — and that the gaps, the conflicts and the family memory can be carried forward honestly alongside what the records prove.

This is slow work. Every observation on this page was located, transcribed, weighed and attributed by hand. Support pays for archive access, image orders, repository travel and the research hours that turn a name into a documented life.

What further support unlocks next

  • Can the people in Richard H. Taliaferro's 1831 estate be traced through the estate division into the households of his heirs, and from there into the William Q. Taliaferro estate?
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