Slaves of John W Overton, Tennessee

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Davidson County, Tennessee, United States
Surnames/tags: slavery black_heritage

This page's purpose is to record the enslaved people owned by John W Overton (1766-1833), and attempt to connect them to their families. He had a plantation called Travellers Rest in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee in addition to other properties in other locations in Tennessee.

Will & Estate Inventory

John Overton's will left all of the people he enslaved to his wife Mary McConnell (White) Overton during her natural life or widowhood. After her death, everything and everyone John left her was to be divided equally between his three children John, Anne, and Elizabeth.^[1] In 1835, an estate inventory of everything John had left to his wife was filed which named the following slaves with approximate ages:^[2]

Men:

• Big Sam, 60
• Stephen, 60
• Robin, 70
• Harry, 60
• Big Lewis, 60
• Elbert, 45
• Austin, 38
• Abraham, 38
• Adam, 35
• Woods [or Woody?], 37
• Bob, 34
• Little Sam, 35
• Zack, 35
• Allen, 33
• Henry, 30
• Little Lewis, 33
• Eli, 24
• Lew[?], 30
• Arch, 20
• Tom, 20
• Washington, 17
• William, 15
• Franklin, 13
• Oliver, 10
• Martin, 8

Women: (note that at the end of this list, there appear to be family groups of an adult woman with one or more children listed together, although they are not specifically said to be families in the document)

• Brusilla, 60
• Philis, 60
• Joicy, 45
• Big Julia, 40
• Little Betsy, 40
• Old Polly, 50
• Cynthia, 18
• Matilda, 13
• Little Julia, 22
• Anthony, 11
• Matilda, 36
• Bill, 10
• Mary, 8
• Foster, 6
• Richard, 4
• Ned, 2
• Caroline, 2 months
• Eliza, 34
• Emily, 11
• Abraham, 9
• Conelia[?], 7
• Haywood, 5
• Maria, 9 months
• Mary, 33
• Sarah, 5
• Margaret, 3; possibly Margaret (Ewing) Thompson (abt.1825-aft.1870)
• Matthew, 2
• Hannah Grand daughter of Polly, 6

To do

• Travellers Rest Enslaved Persons Documentation Project has a number of documents related to people enslaved at John Overton's Travellers Rest plantation.
• There are several census records and other information related to slavery included in John's biography that need to be added to this page.

Sources

1. ↑ Tennessee, Davidson County, Will Records, volume 10, pages 149-152, John Overton will, signed 24 Mar 1833, codicil signed 31 Mar 1833, recorded 4 Jun 1833; image copy, FamilySearch, film #4769073, images 96-98 of 695 (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:2:77TV-133W?i=95 : accessed 30 Nov 2023).
2. ↑ Tennessee, Davidson County, Will Records, volume 10, pages 440-443, John Overton estate inventory, recorded 9 Apr 1835; image copy, FamilySearch, film #4769073, image 243 of 695 (https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/004769073?i=242 : accessed 30 Nov 2023).