TEACHER'S GUIDE TO
History and Folklife of the Kentucky Frontier
Lesson 8: Robert Strother's will
| The following lesson deals with slavery and the legal status of women. Because legally a slave was considered property, wills bequeathed human beings as well as household goods and farm animals. The 1801 will of Robert Strother also shows how black families were continually separated. Women gave up their legal rights upon marriage. A married women could not legally own property. |
from Warren County Will Book A, March 1801.
Robert Strother's Will
In the name of God Amen. I Robert Strother of the State of Kentucky and County of Warren Being in a low State of Health but in my perfect mind and memory do leave this as my last will and Testament. I first resign my Soul to God who Gave it My Body I commit unto the Dust and my worldly goo, I do bequeath in the following manner. First to my son John Dabney Strother a negro Boy by the name of Gabriel, and to my Daughter Nelly a negro Girl named Della, and to my Son Benjamin a negro Boy named Phil, and to my Daughter Nancy a negro Girl named Sally and to my Son Thornton a Negro Boy named Jarrett, and if either of the last three mentioned negroes Die before the Heir comes of age they shall receive at the Last Division of my estate Sixty Pounds and my Son Benjamin at the age of twenty years to receive a Suit of Clothes, Horse, Bridle, and Saddle worth thirty and my Son Thornton at the age of twenty to receive a Bed & furniture for the Same, and to each if my Daughters at their Marriage to receive a Bed & furniture for the Same, and for the use of my beloved Wife one hundred acres of land be purchased by me Executors for Raising my three Youngest Children and at her Death the Same to be for the use of my Youngest Son and also to my beloved Wife do leave the following negroes: and other Goods and Chattels during her Widowhood: George, Tom, Daphney, Sealah, Peter & Lucy with my Stock of every kind. And if my Wife Shall after my Decease be married to any Other my Estate then to be Sold at Public Sale and Equally Divided amongst each and every one of my Children. Only there shall nothing be reducted out for Schooling or Raising of the three Youngest. And for carrying on --[?]-- against John Buck of Jefferson County of this State there Shall Out of my estate be put in their hands what Will defray all necessary expenses and this to Stand as my last Will, Disannulling all former Wills and Legacies. Witness my hand and Seal this fourteenth day of October One thousand Eight hundred.Witnesses Trotter Walker Robert Strother seal John Dabney Walker her Nelly X Strother mark
After reading Strother's will
1. After devoting time to learning about slavery, you may want to try a discrimination simulation experiment. Have each student discuss how the experiment made them feel.2. Pretend that you are one of Strother's slaves given to an heir living away from Warren County. Write a short story or a one-act play about the trauma of family separation and fear of the unknown.3. Why did Strother specify that the possessions left to his wife should be sold if she remarried? What do you think about the Kentucky laws regarding women during the early 19th century?
This lesson has been adapted by Jennifer Small from A Teacher's Guide to Pioneer Life in
South Central Kentucky, by Nancy Disher Baird and Carol Crowe-Carraco.