Mariah

Name

Mariah

Alternate Names

Maria

Sex

Female

Record(s) Seen In

Inventory, Appraisements, and Sales Book 5

Will Book 1-1: 1839-1885

Inventory, Appraisements, and Sales Book 1

Page and Line Number

IAS 5: PP. 2
IAS 1: PP. 466

Date(s) Seen in Records

IAS 5: March 28, 1865
IAS 1: December 9, 1848
Will Book 1: April 1849

Name of Enslaver

Frances A. Deatin

Bequeathed to

John Deaton

Appraised Alongside

Mariah was willed and appraised alongside the following individuals.

Patience

James

Peggy

Harriett

Priscilla

Blanch

Mary

William

Henry

Amelia

Paul

Ellen

Ned

John

Matt

Additional Information

A value of $0.00 was placed on Mariah (in Confederate States dollars). This valuation likely means Mariah was ill, disabled, or otherwise infirm.

In the sale bill dated December 9, 1848 it was said that Mariah should remain "in possession" of Frances Deatin's husband John. Mariah and the other enslaved people valued alongside her were "to be hired out for a term of years until their hire shall pay of debt due to the estate of John Foster decd. amounting to five hundred dollars more or less."

Other enslaved people listed alongside Mariah in the December 9 sale bill are Patience, Amelia, William, Henry, Blanch, Priscilla, Harriet, Peggy, James, Mary, and "their future increases," which is to say their future children and their children's children.

Bequeathed to Frances Deaton's husband in April of 1849. They were "to be hired out to others to pay off the Deaton family's debt of $650.00, the enslaved individuals are to be freed after" the debt was paid. Once freed they were to be set up with jobs locally and able to keep their earnings, living on the family land until they had enough funds to relocate to a free state. They had the option to decline this offer and pick another "master" or "mistress." Though the wording may have seemed simple, the process for the manumission of enslaved individuals was a more complicated process.