Finding the Garrard slaveowner for my great-grandmother Mary Garrett is a fascinating case for study. She married John Wesley Holt and they settled in Hardin County, TN and raised a large family. Mary was from neighboring Decatur County. Her mother’s death certificate (also named Mary) identified her parents as Mason and Rachel Garrett. The 1870/1880 […]
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Tag: land records
John W. Holt’s Will
I recently transcribed my gggrandfather John W. Holt’s will. He lived in Hardin County, Tennessee. He spent his childhood enslaved by Giles Holt, along with his mother Malinda and other family. By the early 20th century, John W. Holt was one of the wealthiest black man in the county. He owned hundreds of acres of land. […]
Black Farmers
I was at the Reginald Lewis Museum in Baltimore recently, presenting my first lecture on using land records effectively. The Lewis museum is dedicated to Maryland’s African-American history. So, I wanted to focus not just on genealogical research, but also the unique history between land and African-Americans. That history starts with the failure of Reconstruction to […]