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Research object · BT-CLM-00177

Was Hilliard taken to Arkansas during the separation?

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

  • 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 Evidence Trail

Step 1 · Claim

Was Hilliard taken to Arkansas during the separation?

Under Investigation· 1 source

BT-CLM-00177

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

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

Step 3 · Conclusion

No conclusion has been published. This remains an open research question. What Arkansas record would place Hilliard in the state during this period?

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

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 Arkansas record would place Hilliard in the state during this period?

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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