I have earlier posted about some information I received from a distant cousin that suggests that our ancestor, Silas Kilpatrick was owned by the white Kilpatrick family in that county. She mentioned to me that she had found a document where a slave named Silas was mentioned in the will of Warre Kilpatrick (d. 1821). Today, I received more information that is helping to support this and I am getting so terribly excited at the thought that I may actually get real evidence of one of my family slaveowners!
Here is my list of evidence thus far:
- Thru census records, I guestimate that my ancestor, Silas Kilpatrick lived from approx. 1930 to sometime between 1880-1900. His wife, Mimi, was widowed by 1900.
- A family member told me that members of our family resemble the white Kilpatricks in that area
- My great-grandmother’s brother, informed me that the family knew they belonged to the white Kilpatrick’s and a Kilpatrick who’s first name began with a “Z” had papers showing that Silas was their slave. My grand-uncle could not remember the name other than it began with a Z.
- In the 1880 census, I find a Zeph Kilpatrick who was the son of John Kiklpatrick. From looking at several online gedcoms and websites, it seems to be the case that Zeph is a great-grandson of Warre Kilpatrick
- A distant cousin informed me that she had located a will record for Warre Kilpatrick (d. 1821) and in it, he will a boy slave named Silas to his son Wiley.
- A response from the New Bern-Craven County Public Library informed me that papers for Willie Kilpatrick’s estate in 1838 show a slave named Silas (along with some other slave names that are mentioned in Warre’s will).
I am still trying to clearly define and verify for myself the white Kilpatrick lineage, but all of these factors above lead me to believe that they are the probable slaveowners of my Silas. I am now going to pursue the microfilm records of the estate files. I am going to go to my local LDS center on Saturday to try and order them.