-----These manumission papers are extremely interested. I for one would enjoy knowing a little more re the master and his possible motivation and its source. Where in Claiborne county did he live? Pror to the 1820 Missouri compromise there was a lot of this going on but of course in 1850 again with attacks on slavery the process declined again. Do you know what happened to the ex slaves? Thanks for sharing this.

I don't know that much about any of these people. Silas seems to have moved around a lot. I think that at this time (and when he died), he was living along the Powell River in the southwest part of the county, that later became part of Union County. The Weavers show up in the Union County censuses for many decades in that same area along the river. I don't know what happened to them in the long run. From some of the items that were sold in Silas's estate sale after his death (around 1851), such as a loom, sheep, sheepshears, a pair of stylards (= steelyards, a metal device that worked as a large scale; my father remembers using them to weigh bales of cotton), a quantity of flax, and a hackle (a device used for shredding flax stems), plus the fact that he asked that the slaves take the surname of Weaver, I think we can guess what Silas did for a living! The process of turning flax plants into linen cloth is extremely labor-intensive, so that is almost certainly what the slaves did. But it was also a skill they had that would have given them a way to earn a living after his death. Silas was an old man when he died. By freeing them while he was still alive, since they could support themselves, he could ensure that they stayed together as a family, which he probably could not have done if they were sold after his death. But as far as any other motivations he may have had, I don't know. I think you probably would have had to have asked him that in person. > -----These manumission papers are extremely interested. I for one would enjoy > knowing a little more re the master and his possible motivation and its > source. Where in Claiborne county did he live? Pror to the 1820 Missouri > compromise there was a lot of this going on but of course in 1850 again with > attacks on slavery the process declined again. Do you know what happened to > the ex slaves? Thanks for sharing this. > > > ==== TNCLAIBO Mailing List ==== > VIRUS WARNINGS, CHAIN LETTERS, SOLICITING, JOKES, MISSING CHILDREN NOTICES, > POLITICAL MESSAGES, FLAMES, PRAYERS, etc., are grounds for your immediate > removal from this list. > --- Steve Gillispie <[email protected]>