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Research object · BT-CLM-00175

Was Hilliard separated from Bettie after a sale?

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

The Claim

Component of the family account of the five-year separation.

Public Summary

A component of the family account, examined separately from the others.

Evidence Reviewed

  • Partially SupportsModerate

    Hilliard was sold in 1856. The settlement does not name the buyer.

    Source: William Q. Taliaferro Estate Final Administrator's Settlement (records the 1856 sale of Hilliard) · FamilySearch (digital images of county court records)

    A documented sale falls in the period preserved in family memory. It does not itself document a separation from Bettie.

The Evidence Trail

Step 1 · Claim

Was Hilliard separated from Bettie after a sale?

Under Investigation· 1 source

BT-CLM-00175

Component of the family account of the five-year separation.

Step 2 · Evidence & Source

  1. Partially Supports · Moderate weight

    Hilliard was sold in 1856. The settlement does not name the buyer.

    William Q. Taliaferro Estate Final Administrator's Settlement (records the 1856 sale of Hilliard) · FamilySearch (digital images of county court records) · Digital Image

    BT-EVD-00138 ← BT-SRC-00118

    Researcher interpretation · Amberly R. Carter-Mills

    A documented sale falls in the period preserved in family memory. It does not itself document a separation from Bettie.

Step 3 · Conclusion

No conclusion has been published. This remains an open research question. What record documents a separation of Hilliard from Bettie following a sale?

How the Evidence Sits Together

What supports the claim

Observations that carry the claim forward.

  • Hilliard was sold in 1856. The settlement does not name the buyer.

    Partially Supports · Moderate weight

    William Q. Taliaferro Estate Final Administrator's Settlement (records the 1856 sale of Hilliard)

    A documented sale falls in the period preserved in family memory. It does not itself document a separation from Bettie.

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.

  • Nothing in this column for this claim.

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 documents a separation of Hilliard from Bettie following a 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 Final Administrator's Settlement (records the 1856 sale of Hilliard)

BT-SRC-00118
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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