Slaves in
Kentucky were set free either by petition to the county court or by the last
will and testament of the slave owner. The following slave emancipation can be found in Caldwell County, Kentucky Court Order Book
J, page 207. Note the date of the document: 26 April 1861, just 14 days after
the first shot of the Civil War was fired at Fort Sumpter. Was Nancy fulfilling a promise of emancipation to Shadrack/Shadrick or did she have a hunch of what the future would hold?
Nancy Early
had married Winfrey Bond the 13th of February 1810 in Caldwell
County. Giving permission for the marriage was Nancy Early’s mother, Sarah
Nichols. [1]
When Winfrey Bond wrote his will, he left several slaves, including Shadrack [sic]
to his wife. [2] At
some point, the slave Shadrick/Shadrack must have gone to Texas. Nancy Early
Bond appears on the 1860 Caldwell County census and is listed as “Governess of
Family.” She was age 65.[3] Nancy died between 2 May 1860, when her will
was written, and 19 May 1862, when it was recorded.[4] Shadrick's whereabouts after Nancy's will was written have not been located.
"Friday April 26th 1861
At a county court, begun and held at the Court house in the Town of Princeton in the County of Caldwell and State of Kentucky on Friday the 26th day of April 1861. Present J.N. Turner Judge
This day Mrs. Nancy Bond, who is now the owner of a certain Negro man a slave by the name of Shadrick, now of the State of Texas, and who desires to emancipate said Slave, came into open Court, and executed bond payable to the commonwealth of Kentucky with F W Urey her Security, covenanting that said Slave Shadrick (who is about Sixty Six years of age of rather light dark complexion weighs about 160 pounds, and is about five feet 8 inches high) shall within ninety days, from this time be beyond the limits of this state, and that he shall then forever [illegible] and in his residence in, and will, within the time named remove from this State, and now the said Shadrick is hereby declared to be free and emancipated from Slavery by said Nancy Bond, and the clerk of this Court is hereby directed to issue to him a copy of this order, under the seal of said Court, to be properly certified &c.
Ordered that Court now adjourn J.N. Turner, P J"
"Friday April 26th 1861
At a county court, begun and held at the Court house in the Town of Princeton in the County of Caldwell and State of Kentucky on Friday the 26th day of April 1861. Present J.N. Turner Judge
This day Mrs. Nancy Bond, who is now the owner of a certain Negro man a slave by the name of Shadrick, now of the State of Texas, and who desires to emancipate said Slave, came into open Court, and executed bond payable to the commonwealth of Kentucky with F W Urey her Security, covenanting that said Slave Shadrick (who is about Sixty Six years of age of rather light dark complexion weighs about 160 pounds, and is about five feet 8 inches high) shall within ninety days, from this time be beyond the limits of this state, and that he shall then forever [illegible] and in his residence in, and will, within the time named remove from this State, and now the said Shadrick is hereby declared to be free and emancipated from Slavery by said Nancy Bond, and the clerk of this Court is hereby directed to issue to him a copy of this order, under the seal of said Court, to be properly certified &c.
Ordered that Court now adjourn J.N. Turner, P J"
[1]
Brenda Joyce Jerome. Caldwell County, Kentucky Marriages 1809-1832 (Evansville,
IN: Evansville Bindery, 1996), 4.
[2]
Caldwell County, Kentucky Will Book B, p. 40, Last Will and Testament of Winfrey Bond, recorded 21
March 1842.
[3]
1860 Caldwell County, Kentucky census, Long Pond, p. 2. Born North Carolina. If she was age 65 in 1860 and married in 1810, she must have been born about 1795 and was age 15 when she married.
[4] Caldwell County, Kentucky Will Book B, p. 211, Last Will and Testament of Nancy Bond, recorded 19 May 1862.
Published 7 May 2020, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/
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