The Research Ledger

Read Lucretia Alexander's narrative in Yetman, Voices From Slavery, and entered it as descendant testimony.

Result: Entered the published narrative as a source, recorded seven observations from it, created Agnes Tolliver and “Qualls Tolliver” as research subjects, recorded the Washington–Agnes and Agnes–Lucretia links as descendant testimony, opened two identity questions at possible level, promoted the Washington question and opened two further questions. No existing conclusion was changed and no claim status was raised.

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

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

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

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

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.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

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

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

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

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

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.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

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

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

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

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

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

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Opened a high-priority Arkansas research path following Susan Ann Chapman Taliaferro Read into Chicot County record systems.

Result: Record targets identified; no original record reviewed yet.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Entered a secondary web compilation describing a Taliaferro Plantation in Copiah County as a research lead.

Result: Logged as a lead. Property identity, ownership dates and Hilliard's presence remain undocumented.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Received a secondary account reporting a Thomas Taliaferro who named his father as Hilliard Taliaferro.

Result: Logged as an unverified lead. No relationship created.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Opened collateral research into the enslaved community named in Taliaferro estate and related records.

Result: Community list assembled from existing estate records and secondary compilations.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Opened Branch Project 001, the George Smith Branch: every generation between John and Laura Smith and Emmett Louis Till entered as its own claim with its own status.

Result: Four generation links published with current conclusions; seven research questions opened.

Reviewed a user-contributed online cemetery index for a George Smith and recorded it as a derivative research lead rather than as evidence of birth, death or parentage.

Result: Lead recorded; original death certificate and cemetery register requested.

Laura Tolliver and John Smith were husband and wife.

Relationship integrity audit performed. John Smith was no longer resolving as Laura Tolliver Smith's spouse.

Result: No duplicate person records were found: Laura (BT-PER-00003) and John (BT-PER-00004) are canonical and the spouse record between them was intact. The relationship was unsupported in the data (family tradition, unresolved, no claim attached) and the profile view did not name the other spouse. The relationship has been raised to corroborated with evidence attached, a marriage claim published, and the marriage date held separately as unresolved.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Hilliard was enslaved in the William Q. Taliaferro estate by 1840.

Opened Case 002 on Hilliard Taliaferro / Tolliver and entered the person record with recorded name variants.

Result: Person record published with approximate dates only; no exact dates or parents inferred.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Hilliard was enslaved in the William Q. Taliaferro estate by 1840.

Reviewed the 14 December 1840 William Q. Taliaferro estate inventory.

Result: Three discrete observations extracted: named entry, classification as property, valuation of $800.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Hilliard was enslaved in the William Q. Taliaferro estate by 1840.

Reviewed the 1840 U.S. Census entry for the William Q. Taliaferro household.

Result: Held as context only: the enslaved male in the relevant age range is unnamed.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Hilliard remained in Taliaferro estate proceedings through 1855.

Reviewed the March 1855 estate petition and the 23 March 1855 appraisal as separate documents.

Result: Named entry and a $1,000 appraisal recorded separately rather than merged.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Hilliard was transferred through the William Q. Taliaferro estate division to Susan and George Read in 1855.

Located the 18 October 1855 estate division of enslaved people.

Result: Hilliard allotted in Share 2 to Susan and George Read; legal allotment recorded separately from any physical movement.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Hilliard was sold in 1856 for $1,200.

Located the final administrator's settlement of 15 February 1860 recording the 1856 sale.

Result: Sale of $1,200 documented. Buyer not named in the record.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Was H. G. D. Brown the buyer of Hilliard in the 1856 sale?

Opened the buyer question rather than assigning the 1856 sale to H. G. D. Brown.

Result: Held under investigation pending a bill of sale or equivalent.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Hilliard was formerly enslaved by H. G. D. Brown.

Matched Hilliard in the 1865 Freedmen's Bureau register of former slaves.

Result: Named record documenting prior enslavement by H. G. D. Brown at Lucky Hit plantation.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Hilliard accumulated taxable personal property after emancipation.

Entered 1870 and 1880 census households and 1874, 1883 and 1884 tax entries.

Result: Post-emancipation records entered; tax entries marked as awaiting original review, with no landownership inferred.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Can the reported separation of Hilliard and Bettie after Hilliard was sold away be documented?

Published version 1 conclusions on the 1840 inventory, the 1855 division, the 1856 sale, the 1865 register, and the family account of the separation.

Result: Family account preserved as under investigation with its five components held apart.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Did Laura Tolliver attend "Vicksburg College"?

Opened the first structured claim in the BEFORE TILL evidence architecture: Laura Tolliver and the institution remembered as "Vicksburg College."

Result: Claim recorded as Under Investigation. No evidence entered yet.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Compiled eight sources for Laura Tolliver Smith: the 1860 slave schedule, the 1865 Freedmen's Bureau register, four federal censuses, a published family history, and a Find a Grave memorial.

Result: Citations recorded. Original images still require independent review inside BEFORE TILL.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Laura Tolliver was formerly enslaved by H. G. D. Brown.

Identified Laura by name in an 1865-era Freedmen's Bureau register of former slaves.

Result: Named evidence of enslavement by H. G. D. Brown of Lucky Hit plantation.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Opened seven claims for Case 001, separating enslavement, plantation association, literacy, education, family size, the Bishop Mason account, and the farm.

Result: Each claim carries its own evidence and its own status.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Published version 1 conclusions for six claims.

Result: One claim reaches Documented. The remainder stay Under Investigation.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Did Laura Tolliver attend "Vicksburg College"?

Set the Vicksburg College claim to Under Investigation with unresolved confidence.

Result: The family account is documented; the attendance is not.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

Recorded a Find a Grave memorial for George Smith as a research lead naming Laura Taliaferro as his mother and Hazlehurst as her birthplace.

Result: Held as a derivative lead, not as proof of parentage or birthplace.

Recorded by Amberly R. Carter-Mills

BT-PER-00245 (R. H. Taliaferro) consolidated into BT-PER-00244 (Richard Henry Taliaferro) as a correlated identity.

Reason: A differently recorded name form was being carried as a separate person. Time, place, family, estate, associates, role and chronology all correlate, and no competing individual of that name has been found.

Status raised from family tradition to documented.

Reason: George Smith's 1936 Illinois death record names his father as John Smith and his mother as Laura Tatlefero. Until this record was entered, the link rested on family knowledge alone.

The literacy observation was rewritten from a compiled-research report to a reading of the original page.

Reason: The original census image is now held in the archive, so the observation no longer rests on a secondary compilation.

The marriage date moved from under investigation to documented: June 1870.

Reason: The page of the 1870 census carrying the household was deposited in the archive and read. Both Laura's and John's lines are marked married within the year, June.

Monroe Smith was created as a person from his line in the 1870 census.

Reason: An infant named Monroe is enumerated beneath John and Laura in dwelling 786, marked born within the year.

Status raised from documented to corroborated.

Reason: The two page images of the 1865 Freedmen's Bureau register of former slaves were deposited in the archive and read line by line. Hilliard, Bettie and Laura are each named in the H. G. D. Brown group at Lucky Hit, which corroborates the age-consistent lines in the 1860 slave schedule.

Status raised from documented to corroborated.

Reason: The two page images of the 1865 Freedmen's Bureau register of former slaves were deposited in the archive and read line by line. Hilliard, Bettie and Laura are each named in the H. G. D. Brown group at Lucky Hit, which corroborates the age-consistent lines in the 1860 slave schedule.

Status raised from documented to corroborated.

Reason: The two page images of the 1865 Freedmen's Bureau register of former slaves were deposited in the archive and read line by line. Hilliard, Bettie and Laura are each named in the H. G. D. Brown group at Lucky Hit, which corroborates the age-consistent lines in the 1860 slave schedule.