Oliver, emancipated

 

FamilySearch. Spencer County, KY. 1 Jan 1855.

Yesterday evening's post was supposed to be for this morning, but after finding this record, I pushed out the other one and saved this for today, Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the US. This record is from the 1 January 1855 term of the Spencer County, Kentucky Court. The page shows that Oliver, slave of Michael McKinley, later conveyed to his daughter Mary, was emancipated in her will (still not yet located on FamilySearch). The administrators of her estate, her niece Elizabeth McKinley and husband Franklin Jones, supported Oliver in his emancipation. Previously seen in the records as an eight year old boy conveyed from Michael to Mary, Oliver was 21 by 1855, and granted his freedom. Kentucky was a slave state in 1855. The document above describes him in detail, as nearly five foot nine, with a small scar on his left cheek.

The second page of the record indicates Elizabeth and Franklin communicated to the court that they would support his transport out of Kentucky by March 1855.

FamilySearch. Spencer County, KY.

Oliver, his brother Frederick, and presumably their mother Matilda appear on the 1850 US Slave Schedules, with Mary McKinley listed as the slave owner.

US Federal Slave Schedule, 1850. Spencer County, Kentucky.

On 2 April 1855, Elizabeth and Franklin Jones returned to the court to present an administrator's settlement of the estate of Mary McKinley. The settlement shows they paid $100 for the hire of Oliver in 1854, and $16.50 for the first three months of 1855. They also paid $45 for the hire of Frederick in 1854. Additional lines below show these amounts covered food, clothing and boarding, along with payments to Oliver for money earned. 

FamilySearch. Spencer County, KY. 1855.

The entry from March 1851 shows items sold from the estate of Mary McKinley, including "1 old black woman" for $10.00.

It is not clear what happened to Matilda or Frederick after the records above. It still seemed timely to share these mentions today. These were people held as slaves. While Oliver was given his freedom, the records do not show where they went, and how they fared after 1855.