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The Will of John Meaux 1828

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Location: Mercer, Kentucky, United Statesmap
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John Meaux 1723 - 1828

John Meaux (1733-1828)

This page contains a transcript of the will of John Meaux, a wealthy landowner who in his will freed 61 enslaved people and provided them with land, tools and other supplies. [1] [2]

It also contains a list of the freed slaves, and a recent survey of a map of the property division.

Frances B. Keightley Moseley of the Harrodburg Historical Societt typed a listing of slaves, their approximate ages & birth year, stated relationship, and allotment. this is available for research in the Harrodsburg Historical Society, Mercer County Historian Frances B. Keightley Moseley

John Meaux's Will

John Meaux's 1826 will emancipated his 61 slaves. The transcript was sourced on the Kindred Genealogical Research website. [3] The original digital images of the will should be available on Family Search here: Mercer County, Kentucky will books 1 to 3, (1784 to 1808) [4]

Will of John Meaux

Will Book 1, Pages 272-274, Mercer County, Kentucky

I John Meaux of Mercer County, Kentucky, do hereby make this my last will and testament, revoking all former wills by me made. First, I will and direct that all the slaves of which I am possessed as the owner be and they are hereby forever emancipated and set free, being sixty one in number and now in my possession, and the increase of the females also hereafter to be born. I wish the young Negroes to be bonded out to trades, at the direction of my Executors.

I give unto my two grandsons, John W. Meaux and Richard Meaux, each two cows and two ewes, the whole of stock except what is otherwise devised; and all my crop and plantation tools and utensils I direct to be divided among my Negroes hereby emancipated in such way and proportions as my Executors shall think right. I direct the land I purchased of Edwards and which I have not conveyed away to be sold, as soon as the title is settled, and also all my household and kitchen furniture to be sold and the proceeds to be applied by my Executors to the use of my slaves hereby emancipated in such way and portions as my Executors shall think proper.

I give unto my son, Nathaniel B. Meaux, the tract of land in Mercer and Franklin, near Lillards, on which I settled him and also all the stock and Negroes which I have put into his possession, being Miller, Pompey, Charlotte, Armistead, four of Charlotte’s children now with her, Nelly and her five children, Washington, and two ewes. If I should leave any money on hand I direct it shall be laid out at the discretion of my Executors for the benefit of my Negroes. I direct that my Executors, out of the personal estate proceeds of the land which is to be sold and money in hand, if any, and all of which is herein division, for the benefit of my Negroes, in the first instance paying all the expenses of having the slaves emancipated and a fair compensation to themselves for all their expense and trouble in attending to the due execution of my will I hereby nominate and appoint my sons John G. Meaux and Nathaniel B. Meaux, also my friend John B. Thompson, Executors of this my last will and empower them or either of them to do all things herein directed to be done. Witness my hand and seal this 23rd day of October 1826.

John Meaux

Test – Lanty Holman, Richard Holman

In addition to the foregoing will I now put into the hand of my Executor John B. Thompson five hundred and twenty-nine dollars 50 cents to be used by him in defraying all expenses and charges necessary to the freedom of my Negroes and authorize him to lay out all money deposited with him after paying the expenses and charges and also the money arising from the sale of my estate before directed in this will, in lands in Indiana, Ohio or some other free state for the use and benefit of my slaves in such proportions to each family as in his discretion he may deem right and proper, witness my hand and seal this 9th June 1828.

John Meaux

Eleven pieces of gold in the foregoing money supposed to be $70.00.

Test. – Lanty Holman, Vance Wilson

State of Kentucky Court of Appeals January 7, 1830

The foregoing last will and testament of John Meaux, deceased, and the codicil attached thereto were produced in this court and fully proved by the subscribing witnesses thereto and admitted to record in the office of said County and ordered to be certified to the Mercer County Court for record also. Test. J. Swigert, Clerk

Mercer County February County Court 1830.

The foregoing last will and testament of John Meaux, deceased, was this day produced into Court which together with the certificates of the Clerk of the court of Appeals I have made of record.

Attest. Thomas Allin, County Clerk

List of the Slaves of John Meaux

Kandie Atikson wrote in the The John Meaux Property Division: "John Meaux was a wealthy plantation owner who moved from Virginia to northern Mercer County circa 1784 and in 1825, freed his slaves, about 60." [5]

In the estate inventory of April 1930, the property and slaves are listed.[6]

Frances B. Keightley Moseley of the Harrodburg Historical Society, Mercer County, transcribed the estate inventory listing of slaves, their approximate ages & birth year, stated relationship, and allotment granted. [7] She stated in her introductory paragraph,
“The estate was reportedly litigated for decades, and the Mercer County Court records likely hold numerous accounts of the African-American Meaux families waiting to be researched.”

Slaves emancipated in the will, and their approximate ages, included:

  1. Tom (about 65) &
  2. Tom's wife Tempy Black;
  3. Lewis (about 75), who was directed to live with his son,
    1. Lewis's son Sawney; Squire (about 50);
  4. Sam (about 45) & his wife,
  5. Sam's wife Temply (age about 50) and their children,
    1. Julius (age 17),
    2. Clarissa (age 14),
    3. Drucilla (age 8), and
    4. Bartlett (age 5);
  6. Margaret, (about 80) to live with Sam;
  7. Joe (about 42) & his wife,
  8. Joe's wife Winney (about 40), and their children:
    1. Sis (about 9),
    2. Melissa (about 8),
    3. Wyatt (about 6),
    4. Augusta (about 5),
    5. Jordan (about 4),
    6. Spy (about 2 1/2), and
    7. Charlotte (about 9 months).
    8. Aggy (about 75) to live with Joe;
  9. John White (about 45) & his wife
  10. John White's wife (Anny) and their child,
    1. Amanda (about 4);
  11. Reuben (about 36) & his wife,
  12. Reuben's wife Fanny, and their children:
    1. Betsy (about 6) &
    2. Isaac (about 3 or 4);
  13. Patrick (about 30) & his wife,
  14. Patricks wife Delila, and their children:
    1. Fanny (about 10),
    2. Jonas/James? (about 8),
    3. Calisto (about 6),
    4. Nancy (about 3),
    5. Eliza (about 18 months), and
    6. a child four days old;
  15. John Black (about 31) & his wife, John Black Meaux (abt.1797-)
  16. John Black's wife Lucinda (about 21) SEE NOTES and their children:
    1. Harvey (“near 5”),
    2. George (age 2), and
    3. Eliza Jane (about two months);
  17. Sawney (about 35) & his wife,
  18. Sawney's wife Aggy (about 20), and their children:
    1. Jesse (about 4) and
    2. William (about 2);
  19. Humphrey Lewis (about 21) & his wife
  20. Humphrey's wife Maria (about 20) and their children
    1. Jeremiah (about 6 months old) and
    2. Martha (about 2 years old);
  21. Gideon (about 50);
  22. Robin (about 40);
  23. Tom (about 23);
  24. Anthony (about 23);
  25. Philip (about 29);
  26. Humphrey Black (to receive nothing but thread for clothing);
  27. Frank (about 28) was allotted yarn for clothing;
  28. David (about 45);
  29. Cato (about 30) was allotted 50 pounds of bacon;
  30. Alfred (about 18) was allotted cotton & yarn thread for clothing;
  31. Jacob (about 18) was allotted cotton & yarn thread
  32. Kitty (about 26) & her children, were allotted a cow, little wheel, hoe, 200 pounds of bacon and four barrels of corn.
    1. Evelina (about 6),
    2. Gabriel (about 4), and
    3. Jeremiah (about 2)
  33. Silvey (about 26) & her children,
    1. Cornelius (about 6) and
    2. Isaac (about 2).

Property Division and allotment to the freed slaves

Recently the Kentucky Historical Society commissioned a survey of the property division and the allotments to the freed slaves of John Meaux. Meaux Exhibit

Notes

Anne Baker offers: "Lucinda wife of John Black Meaux - was stated by grandson Richard "Dick" Meaux to be HIS SISTER. He called her "a great lady." Therefore she was the daughter of Richard Meaux."

Read through the will and create slave owner profiles for his sons, along with the named slaves they inherited. John Meaux's 1826 will emanciapted his 61 slaves.The Will of John Meaux 1828[8]


Possible links to the descendants and or freed slaves

Kentucky Free Man of Color by Tim Talbot, March 2010[9]

About half way through the roll I found what I had only hoped to find; a Kentucky African American perspective on John Brown.
This letter was was written on January 12, 1860; a time when things in Kentucky were fever-hot over Brown's raid. Brown had been hanged on December 2, 1859, and John Fee and his Berea missionaries had been exiled from the state later in the month. Cassius Clay had addressed a crowd from the Kentucky state capitol steps on January 10, in which he condemned Brown's actions, but supported the right to speak freely in opposition to slavery. The letter was written from Lebanon, Kentucky in Marion County.
The author, Abraham Meaux, was a free man of colour (as he spelled it), and was a barber. He had been given his freedom at the death of his master. Since his emancipation he said that, "I have lived ever since from the Sweat of my own brow." He stated that "My forefathers was emegrated from Africa to America against their will," and he obviously thought that he too would be moved against his will, as he explained, "its hard that I will have to be driven from home to some place I know not where." Meaux was referring to the tighter controls that were being put on free blacks in Kentucky in the aftermath of John Brown's raid.
Unknown - remarks on February 21, 2022 at 2:27 PM
I also wondered about Maya Rudolph. My great grandfather was Tyler Meaux and his father was Abraham Meaux. So I wondered about the the family connection. I was fascinated to read this article.
Bonnie December 6, 2023 at 11:32 AM I'm also a descent of Abraham Meaux and Mary Early Meaux

An article on the KY Historical Society, mentions possible sources for the freed slaves: Tax Lists (1792-1840): An Overlooked Resource For Kentucky History and Land Titles, By Kandie Adkinson, Administrative Specialist, Land Office Division, Office of the Secretary of State, 2009. [10][11]

Free blacks were included on Kentucky tax lists decades before the Civil War. The 1825 Mercer County tax list reports “Mima, a woman of colour” paying taxes on a town lot in Harrodsburg valued at $150. In the early nineteenth century John Meaux was a wealthy plantation owner in northern Mercer County. According to Mercer County court records, Meaux freed many of his slaves in the 1830s. In 1835, John W. Meaux paid taxes on 650 acres of second-rate land on Salt River in Mercer County; the land had been “Entered, Surveyed, and Patented” by McCoun and was taxed at $10 per acre. Names of sixteen blacks over the age of sixteen immediately follow John Meaux; those who owned horses were required to pay taxes. Court records may confirm if the names listed on the tax report were emancipated by Meaux. .

Two possible descendants commented on the KY Historical Society Article:[12]

  • Shawn Meaux - "I am from Mercer County believe I am a decedent of the slaves who were granted land by John Meaux. How can this be verified?"
  • Alicia - "Hello Ms. Adkinson. Your research has brought further clarification regarding the Meaux family. My grandfather, Lewis Washington was the grandson of Mary Meaux, who was the daughter of Vance Meaux, who was the son of Kitty Meaux. I believe that when Mary Meaux was of age, she and her sister, Amanda Meaux, relocated to Lawrenceburg where t hey married and raised their families.
    My question regarding the Meaux family name is the following: Do you think that it is more likely that the reason why these black families had the name Meaux was that they were given the name of the person who ‘owned’ them rather than they came from the Caribbean with the name Meaux? Also, do you have any records indicating that Kitty Meaux could have possibly been the daughter of John Meaux? This could explain why he was very ‘generous’ to her in his will.
    Thank you and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
    Alicia"
  • James Thompson - Hi, I am interested to know more about the descendants of some of the African or Caribbean slaves as my mother’s maiden name was Meaux and is from Harrodsburg Ky"

Two living descendants of the slaves are mentioned in an online article [13]

So, just how did Anderson County become part of the saga? While the terms of Meaux’s will left the beneficiaries in a precarious position – free people in a state that still recognized them as enslaved – most chose to remain in Mercer County. Two intrepid sisters, however, made their way to Anderson County.

Mary Meaux McColley and Amanda Meaux Utterback arrived here with their husbands. The sisters were daughters of an enslaved man, known only as Vance, who was one of those listed in John Meaux’s will.

Thus, they became matriarchs of the Anderson County branch of this remarkable group of people who had achieved their freedom in a state that was anything but free.

Little is known of the lives of the siblings, but there is a tangible reminder of their time here. Both women were buried at the Woodlawn Hills African American Cemetery, and visitors can visit their graves.

“These were real people, and this is tangible evidence of their existence,” says Robbie Morgan, tourism director of the Lawrenceburg/ Anderson County Joint Tourism Commission.

Two Lawrenceburg women have more than tangible evidence – they have blood ties to the Meaux family. Geneva Howard and her daughter Alicia Howard are daughter and granddaughter of Lewis Washington, who himself was the grandson of Mary Meaux McColley.

Both women recall Lewis’s tales of his family and their incredible story, thus inspiring Alicia, a noted psychotherapist, to dig deeper into the genealogy of the family.

“My research shows me a lineage of remarkable men and women from Kentucky,” she says. “People I never met, but always admired through stories and photographs.

Sources

  1. Kindred Genealogy Blog Post: 1826 Will of John Meaux and Emancipation of his slaves
  2. Kentucky Historical Society KHS John Meaux Property Division
  3. 1826 Will of John Meaux: BY KENTUCKY KINDRED GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH , 1826 Will of John Meaux and Emancipation of His Slaves
    Published on the blog of the Kentucky Kindred Genealogy
    1826 Will of John Meaux (accessed 7 January 2024)
    John Meaux's 1826 will emancipated his 61 slaves.
  4. Mercer County, Kentucky will books 1 to 3, (1784 to 1808)
  5. Meaux Property Division: By Kandie Adkinson, Administrative Specialist, Land Office Division, Office of the Secretary of State; As Researched by The Harrodsburg-Mercer County Oral History Committee, The John Meaux Property Division
    Published by the Kentucky Historical Society
    John Meaux Property Division (accessed 7 January 2024)
  6. “An Inventory of the Negroes emancipated by the will of John Meaux, deceased, by families together with an Inventory of property distributed to them by the Executors,” recorded with the court on April, 1830, begins on page 305 of Mercer County Will Book 9.
  7. Harrodsburg Historical Society, Mercer County Historian Frances B. Keightley Moseley
  8. 1826 Will of John Meaux: BY KENTUCKY KINDRED GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH , 1826 Will of John Meaux and Emancipation of His Slaves
    Published on the blog of the Kentucky Kindred Genealogy
    1826 Will of John Meaux (accessed 7 January 2024)
    John Meaux's 1826 will emancipated his 61 slaves.
  9. Kentucky Free Man of Color by Tim Talbot, March 2010
  10. Tax Lists 1792-1840, and overlooked resource for Kentucky History and Land Titles
  11. https://kentuckyancestors.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Adkinson_doc_Cc.jpg
  12. https://kentuckyancestors.org/the-john-meaux-property-division/?replytocom=1415#respond
  13. on the Visit Lawrenceburg Ky website




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