My 4th Great-Grandfather Terrell M. Fielder owned slaves and mentioned them in a letter written by his son, Dr. Marshall Lucius Fielder dated May 15, 1865. The letter was addressed to one of Terrell’s daughters, Sarah Fielder Thornton who lived in Texas. Terrell was sixty-eight years old at the time and was in the process of dividing his estate among his seven children. Below is the excerpt that mentions the slaves:
“Sister, Pa has just left here he told me to tell you all about the division of his property. In the first place he got three disinterested men to appraise his Negroes which are as follows: Dennis at $2000, Amandy at $1800, Fanny at $2500, Clary at $2500, Lizzy at $1700.”
“Marion got Lizzy. Pink (my 3great grandfather) got Dennis. Caroline got Fanny. George got Amandy. Martha got Clary. So you can see there were two Shares to be paid in money and I agreed to take money and as the Negro could not be sent to Texas they give you the other share of money. We got Confederate money and Pa told me to say to you that if the money was killed and the negroes kept good that he would make (word blurred) you up with the rest of Negroes but if the Negroes were freeded (sic) that we would all be in the same footing.”
At the time of this letter in 1865, Terrell & Marshall Fielder lived in Notasulga, Alabama. From what I understand, there are still African-Americans with the last name of Fielder living in Notasulga and they are descendants of these slaves.
