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Research object · BT-CLM-00164

Was Hilliard moved to Chicot County, Arkansas after the 1855 estate division?

Under Investigation· 1 sourceLast reviewed August 9, 2026
Research & Interpretation byAmberly R. Carter-Mills— Founder, Creator & Descendant Archivist

The Claim

Family research associates enslaved people from the 1855 Taliaferro estate division with Chicot County, Arkansas. No entered record places Hilliard in Arkansas.

Public Summary

Legal allotment is documented. Physical relocation to Arkansas is not.

Evidence Reviewed

  • ContextualizesContext Only

    Share 2 was allotted to Susan and George Read. The document records a legal allotment; it does not state when or whether the people in that share were physically moved.

    Source: William Q. Taliaferro Estate Division of Enslaved People · FamilySearch (digital images of county court records)

    The allotment is the starting point of the Arkansas question, not an answer to it.

The Evidence Trail

Step 1 · Claim

Was Hilliard moved to Chicot County, Arkansas after the 1855 estate division?

Under Investigation· 1 source

BT-CLM-00164

Family research associates enslaved people from the 1855 Taliaferro estate division with Chicot County, Arkansas. No entered record places Hilliard in Arkansas.

Step 2 · Evidence & Source

  1. Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    Share 2 was allotted to Susan and George Read. The document records a legal allotment; it does not state when or whether the people in that share were physically moved.

    William Q. Taliaferro Estate Division of Enslaved People · FamilySearch (digital images of county court records) · Digital Image

    BT-EVD-00131 ← BT-SRC-00117

    Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

    The allotment is the starting point of the Arkansas question, not an answer to it.

Step 3 · Conclusion

No conclusion has been published. This remains an open research question. What record directly establishes Hilliard's presence in Arkansas? Candidate sources: Arkansas county deeds, probate, tax lists, slave records, Read family records, correspondence, and bills of sale.

How the Evidence Sits Together

What supports the claim

Observations that carry the claim forward.

  • Nothing in this column for this claim.

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.

  • Share 2 was allotted to Susan and George Read. The document records a legal allotment; it does not state when or whether the people in that share were physically moved.

    Contextualizes · Context Only weight

    William Q. Taliaferro Estate Division of Enslaved People

    The allotment is the starting point of the Arkansas question, not an answer to it.

Research Conclusion

No conclusion has been published for this claim. It remains an open research question.

Amberly's Research Notes

No research note has been published for this claim yet.

From the research notebook ofAmberly R. Carter-Mills— Founder, Creator & Descendant Archivist

What We Still Need to Find

What record directly establishes Hilliard's presence in Arkansas? Candidate sources: Arkansas county deeds, probate, tax lists, slave records, Read family records, correspondence, and bills of sale.

Provenance, Access and Use

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.

William Q. Taliaferro Estate Division of Enslaved People

BT-SRC-00117
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
Not recorded
Date created
Not recorded
Repository
FamilySearch (digital images of county court records)
Collection
Copiah County, Mississippi, County Court probate records
Record form
Digital Image
Source type
Probate
Accessed
Not recorded

Access and use

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