History
New settlers brought African-Americans with them and by 1790, when the first census was taken, there were 3,417 slaves in the Tennessee Territory. Six years later, when Tennessee became a State, there were 10,613 African- Americans in a population of 77,282. As a result of the invention of the cotton gin and the rapid growth of the cotton industry, slavery was widely expanded between 1790 and 1835. By 1840 Tennessee had 183,057 slaves whose per capita value was about $550 as compared to less than $100 in 1790. At this point in history, slaves were considered property and not citizens, as confirmed by the United States Supreme Court decision in 1857 in the Dred Scott Case.
Cotton culture moved rapidly from the tidewater states through much of the lower south to the Mississippi River and eventually on to Texas. Sugar growing also expanded and extended slavery. The rich, hot lands of southeastern Louisiana had proved ideal for growing profitable sugar-cane crops. By 1830, the state was supplying the nation with about half its sugar supply. Finally, tobacco growing moved westward, taking slavery with it.
Civil Districts of the State of Tennessee in the 1800s
The map below shows the civil districts of Giles County as defined by the State of Tennessee at the time of Jane Gardner’s birth. When you look at a Census record, it is the district number listed below within the county that lets you know exactly where in Giles County your ancestor lived.
Ma Jane Gardner
Ma Jane Gardner was born into slavery around 1820 in Alabama to unreported and thus unknown parents. The 1880 Census shows Jane at the age of 60 residing in Elkton, Tennessee in the 9th Civil District of the State of Tennessee. The Census does not indicate the resident State of Jane’s parents. Jane lived in a period where black people were considered property rather than citizens. The United States of America was still in its infancy being only 44 years “free” itself.
Most slave-owners encouraged their slaves to marry. It was believed that married men were less likely to be rebellious or to run away. Some masters favored marriage for religious reasons and it was in the interests of plantation owners for women to have children. Child-bearing started around the age of thirteen, and by twenty the women slaves would be expected to have four or five children. To encourage childbearing some plantation owners promised women slaves their freedom after they had produced fifteen children. Several slaves recorded in their autobiographies that they were reluctant to marry women from the same plantation. However, official records only show that Jane had two daughters.
Ellen Gardner
Ellen Gardner was the first daughter born to Jane Gardner. Ellen was born in 1834 and Census records indicate that Ellen had 9 children. By this time, Ellen had married Charles Gardner, who was also born about 1834. The 1870 Census shows that Ellen and Charles and their family lived in Civil District No. 1, which is Ardmore, Tennessee. Ellen’s children were Calvin, Alice, Millie, Louticia, William, Charles, Emma, Mary, and Henry.
Charles Gardner
Records show that Ellen’s husband, Charles Gardner, disappeared at some time after the Civil War and was feared to have been killed by slave hunters or met some other untimely death. Everyone knew Charles to be a devoted family man who would not willingly desert his family leaving them to be cared for by Ma Jane. As a result, Ma Jane had the enormous task of caring for several of the kids who now had lost both their mother and father.
Patience Gardner
Jane had a second daughter, Patience Gardner, who was born in 1846. She later married Spencer Sloss, who was born in 1848. The 1870 Census shows that Spencer and Patience and their family also resided in Civil District No. 1, which is Ardmore, Tennessee. Patience’s children were Lou, Malissa, Ella, Mittie, Jane, Fed, and Anderson.
Spencer Sloss
A young teenager, Spencer Sloss, served three years in the 111th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry, a unit of African-Americans serving on a voluntary basis for the Union army. The unit was organized June 25, 1864, from the 3rd Alabama Colored Infantry. It was attached to garrison at Pulaski, Tenn., District of North Alabama, Dept. of the Cumberland, to February, 1865. The unit served in defenses of Nashville & Northwestern Railroad, Department of the Cumberland, to March, 1865, the 3rd Sub-District, District of Middle Tennessee, to July, 1865. Department of Tennessee to April, 1866. Spencer Sloss was a member of Company B, and the man who later married Patience Gardner.
Family Tree
The challenge for any family member is to track your particular family line to one of the tree branches or children of Ellen Gardner and Patience (Gardner) Sloss. The tree is based mainly on records obtained from “ancestry.com”. One must allow for misspelled names and omissions caused by those tabulating Census records. Records of African-Americans were often lacking when compared to the rest of society. If you are fortunate enough to have elderly family members still living, ask them to take you through a trip back to your earliest known ancestors. Find your branch on the tree!
The Plantation and Richard C. Gardner
Many foreign immigrants sold their services to the Captain of the Ship "The Rollo" for passage to America. These indentured servants, mostly white, often worked side by side with black slaves on small farms and plantations. When these families arrived in New York, the captain sold their labor to Colonel Richard
C. Gardner, a prominent citizen of Giles County, Tennessee. Gardner would then send these families to Elkmont, Alabama by train. At Elkmont they went by wagon to Elkton. These families worked for Gardner for one year to pay for their passage and another year as a shareholder. Once white indentured servants had served their time, they were free, unlike the slaves who worked on the farms generally over their lifetime. Part of the Gardner farm included a two family log house that was located on Ridge Road between Elkton and Ardmore. It was here and along Huntsville Road that the Gardner Plantation stood. Due to the lack of official records documenting slaves, related generations before Ma Jane are unknown at this point.
The “Gardner” Surname
“Gardner” ancestry can be tracked to several lines which were not related by blood, but carried the same surname “Gardner” because of their common plight of being slaves on the Richard C. Gardner Plantation located at Elkton, Tennessee. Slaves were usually known by their first names, especially on small farms with few slaves. Plantation owners rarely recorded their slaves with surnames unless they had several individuals with the same first names. For that reason the use of surnames by slaves was far more common on large plantations where more people were likely to have the same given names. The Ma Jane Gardner line and the “Matt Gardner” line are two such lines which shared the common circumstance of being slaves on the Richard C. Gardner Plantation. There is no evidence that these two lines were actually related by blood to one another during the time of slavery. However, because these lines did reside in the same geographic areas, it is quite possible that members of some lines did intermarry.
May 7, 1862
Jane Gardner was about 42 years old at the time Richard W. Vasser sold the family to the Gardner plantation. Ellen was 28 years old. Patience was 16 years old. Jane Gardner, her family, and 74 other slaves of Richard Whitehead Vasser, a merchant of Limestone County, Alabama, are sold to Richard C. Gardner, a merchant of Nashville and a plantation owner in Elkton, Tennessee. The reported text of the bill of sale is as follows:
“Richard C. Gardner of the County of Giles in pursuance of a contract made by him on the 7th day of May, 1862, in the County of Limestone and the State of Alabama witnesseth that the said Richard W. Vasser has bargained and sold and by these presents doth bargain end sell, transfer and convey to the said Richard C. Gardner for the consideration of Sixty Thousand Dollars, for which the notes of said Gardner have been executed as follows to wit:
Four Thousand Dollars payable on the 1st of January, 1863, Four Thousand Dollars payable on the 1st day of Jan, 1864, Four Thousand Dollars payable on the 1st day of January, 1865, Four Thousand Dollars payable on the 1st day of January, 1866, Four Thousand Dollars payable on the 1st day of January, 1867, and Forty Thousand Dollars payable on the 1st day of January, 1869, the following tracts or parcels of land lying and being in the County of Giles and State of Tennessee in Civil District No 1 , on the waters of Elk River, one tract containing 698 acres, and 90 poles being the same purchased by me from Aaron C. White, Eliza R. White, Susan Thompson and George S. Fain, the boundaries of which are described in a Deed made to me on the 1st day of July, 1850, one tract containing 176 1/4 acres and bounded as follows:
Beginning at a stake in the North Boundary Line of a tract in my name and the South East corner of a tract formerly belonging to the heirs of Reuben Freeman, (deceased), running thence North with the said Freeman's line 1401/2 poles to a stake Richard L. Holloway's Southwest corner, then with his line South 88 degrees; East 1371/2 poles to a beech; thence with the same 38 3/4 poles to a stake with pointers, with Honnecutt's corner, thence last with his line 53 poles to a stake with pointers, thence South with the same 174;, poles to a stake in a line and road thence with the line of the tract in my name, West 191 poles to the beginning being the same purchased by me under a decree of the County Court of Giles County in the cause of James F. Henderson and others against Robert L. Davis and others One other tract containing 433 acres and 60 poles and being the same purchased by me under a decree of the chancery Court at Pulaski, Tennessee in the cause of Judith C. Freeman and others against Louisa M. Freeman and others the specified boundaries of which are contained in the papers and records on file in said cause, and one other tract containing 117 acres and 118 poles formerly belonging to Joel Freeman and purchased by me under a decree of the chancery Court at Pulaski, bounded as follows, to wit:
Beginning at an Elm on the bank of SI-y branch(?) near its mouth, on Elk River, thence down the South bank of said River South 48 degrees; West
72 poles to a stake in the Huntsville Road; thence South along said Road 39 poles to a stake then East on old marked line 209 poles to a stake with Dogwood pointers; thence North, 82 poles to a stake in the Branch; thence West 14 poles to a stake, thence North 64 degrees, West 24 poles to a stake with beech pointers; thence North 41 degrees, West 38 poles to a stake with beech pointers; thence North 5 poles to a Maple, thence South 69 degrees, West 95 poles to the beginning, also, the following slaves, -to wit:
Milton, Isaac, Daniel, Tom, Ben, Martin, Newton, Little Daniel, Howel, Wyatt, Charles, Big Jim, George, Rueben, Dennis, John, Solomon, Bill, Alexander, Little Jim, William, Joshua, Jane, Louisa, Caly, Polly, Becky, Long Jane, Sarah Ann. Jane Skinner, Rachel, Gracy, Long-Nancy, Bunch-Nancy, Judy, Nelly, Charlotte, Margaret, Tilen, Dicy, Angeline, Ella, Ann, Kinney. Patience, Lucy, Sally, Frances, Mary, Jim, Coleman, Edith, Susan, Eliza, Washington, Tishey, Milly, Ida, Matt, Martha, Steven, Bob, Amy, Joseph, Harry, Rose, George, Anthone, Marshall, Nelly, Julia, Amy, Malvina-Mourning, Dora, Milton, Edmund, Ruben, Emily, Patrick, Moriah, Calvin, Lucinda, Alice, Lindsly, Amanda, Willis, Frazeline, and Julia,
to have and to hold to him, the said Richard C. Gardner, forever all the aboved described land and slaves, and covenant to and with the said Gardner that I am lawfully seized of said tracts or parcels of land have good right to convey the same and that I will forever warrant and defend the right and lawful claim and title to the above described land to the said Richard C. Gardner and his heirs against the lawful claims of all persons whatever, and that I will also warrant and defend the title to all the slaves above mentioned to the said Gardner and his heirs against the lawful claim of all persons whatsoever.
The consideration before mentioned also embraces the consideration for all the stock, corn, fodder, farming utensils together with all and every kind of property on or belong to the land before mentioned and which is sold to the said Gardner on the 7th day of May, 1862.
Signed November 1, 1862
S) Richard W. Vasser
S) R. C. Gardner
This Indenture made and entered into this 4th day of November 1862, by and between Richard W. Vasser of the County of Limestone and State of Alabama and Richard C. Gardner of the County of Giles and State of Tennessee.”
Events Surrounding the Sale
On the 8th of May, 1862, Richard C. Gardner took possession of the property, and a few weeks thereafter removed his family to the farm, and resided there until the autumn of 1863. About the 1st of September, 1862, the Confederate forces again occupied both Limestone County, Alabama, and Giles County, Tennessee, while Davidson County (where Gardner’s merchant business was located) remained permanently in the hands of the Federals.
On the 3rd day of November, 1862, Vasser and Gardner met in Pulaski, in Giles County, and executed the deeds provided for in the contract of Brown v. Gardner.
Whether the notes were then executed and delivered on May 7, 1862, or whether this had been done some weeks previously in Athens, Alabama, is somewhat doubtful, but not very material. In the deed of trust, Gardner recites that he is a resident of Giles County.
After the battle at Murfreesboro, in January, 1863, Gardner made an effort to remove the slaves further south to a place of greater safety. This effort failed through the interference of Vasser, who claimed that, having a trust deed of the slaves to secure the purchase money due him, Gardner had no right, while such purchase money remained unpaid, to remove them beyond the jurisdiction of Tennessee. The slaves remained upon the place until Giles County was again occupied by the Federal forces, and were freed by the events of the war. Richard W. Vasser died in Athens Georgia where the family had gone for refuge from the Federals during the occupation of Athens, Alabama during the Civil War. Richard W. (Whitehead) Vasser died on June 30, 1864 before all payments of the contract were executed.