Enslaved People

Coah – born ca. 1790 in West Africa. Enslaved by the Minor family in Mississippi but sent to work on Dinsmore's Bayou Black plantation in Louisiana. James purchased him in 1842 and brought him to Kentucky because his wife, Winny, was also making the trip. He joined the Middle Creek Baptist Church in 1842. He died in 1862 & was buried in a shroud in the graveyard next to Winny. Both Coah and Winny have flat rocks to mark their graves. James Dinsmore had written what he intended to engrave on their stones, but he never followed through. (Read His Full Biography)

Winny – technically not enslaved by Dinsmore but owned by his uncle, Silas Dinsmoor. Silas purchased her in Mississippi in 1810s but lost her to an auction for his debts in 1826 or so, which is when James Dinsmore bought her & hired her out in Mobile until he moved to Louisiana & sent her there.  It was in Louisiana that Winny married Coah.  She was brought up to Kentucky in about 1842, maybe earlier, & sent to live with and work for Silas and Mary Dinsmoor. She died October 1850 and is buried in the Dinsmore graveyard next to Coah.

Jim – born ca. 1801, unknown location. James Dinsmore bought 40-year-old “Jamison” in 1841 for $500 in New Orleans & may have brought him to Kentucky. “Jim” was last mentioned in 1850 & may have died.

Nancy Mcgruder – born ca. 1809 in Virginia. Enslaved by James Dinsmore in Mississippi in 1825. Jilson Hawkins (below) may be related to her as they were bought at the same time & their lives followed similar paths & she remained close to him & his wife after the Civil War. She was moved to Louisiana to work on the plantation & then was brought to Kentucky in 1842. She joined the Middle Creek Baptist Church. In Louisiana she was married to Vincent but he was not owned by Dinsmore & remained in the South. In Kentucky, Silas Dinsmoor mentioned that she was married to “Rice’s Noah” who later died. In September of 1865 she left the farm and went to Oxford, Ohio, and was considered a runaway. She was excluded from her church for leaving, even though the war was over. She visited Boone County occasionally in the 1870s & returned for good in 1879 and died there in 1906. She is buried in the graveyard. (Read Her Full Biography)

John Taylor – born ca. 1833. He is first mentioned by James Dinsmore in 1847, indicating he was young when the family was moved here in 1842. It is likely that he was the eldest of Sally Taylor's sons who were moved to Kentucky. When James Dinsmore purchased a farm in Saline County, Missouri, John was the first enslaved person he moved there. Towards the end of the war & after, there were four other Johns on the Kentucky farm – John Edwards, John Rogers, John Ebberson/Everson, and John Dumont. A Dinsmore nephew wrote that there was a free black preacher on the farm, but that was most likely John Rogers, who was listed by James Dinsmore in the early 1860s as a free black. John Taylor does not show up after the Civil War in Missouri, but his brothers, Adam and Daniel do. He may have returned to Kentucky and then moved to Indiana - this is still under investigation.

Sally Taylor – born ca. 1810, perhaps in Mississippi. She was on the plantation in Louisiana, associated with an enslaved man named Bob, & brought to Kentucky with all of her children except Adam and Henry, two of the oldest. In Louisiana, the name Sally showed up occasionally with a man named Bob, but he was not brought north with the Dinsmore family. The following may have been her children (the years are approximations): Adam (1830), Henry (1831), John (1833), Daniel (1834), Nannette (1835), David (1836), Judy (1838), Angeline? (1840). 

Daniel Taylor – born ca. 1834 in Louisiana, son of Sally Taylor; brought to Kentucky 1842; moved to the farm in Missouri in the 1850s – definitely there by 1858. Some of the enslaved people in Missouri were brought to Kentucky during the war, but Daniel, with his brother Adam remained in MO. They visited a Dinsmore cousin in Kansas City in the 1870s but he is not found in later census records. According to the cousin, Belle Raymond, Daniel (in 1871) was not doing so well financially, but was a church leader and was teaching a Sunday school class. Belle wrote that "he has a mighty sweet wife."

David Taylor – born ca. 1836 in Louisiana, son of Sally Taylor; brought to Kentucky in 1842. He was drafted in the controversial Sept. 1864 draft but Dinsmore paid into the $200 bounty & he was let go. He did later serve in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War. David shows up back on the farm from late 1865 through 1866. There was a David Taylor who married Laura Ann Terrill in 1868; this could be him. In the 1874 Julia Dinsmore helps Sally to get bounty money due David for having served during the war, indicating that David was no longer living.

Nannette Taylor – born ca. 1835 in Louisiana, daughter to Sally Taylor; brought to Kentucky in 1842. Mentioned by Dinsmore in 1859 & 1863 but nothing more after that. According to a journal entry by Julia Dinsmore, Nannette married Jim Graham/Graves, who had been owned by a neighbor named Myrick/Merrick. They must have married in the around 1860 because their eldest, William, was born in 1861. They had at least seven children, six daughters and one son--William, Jenny, Maggie, Jane, Judy, Julia, and Lizzie. Nannette apparently died in 1869 or 1870 and Jim married Ellen Simpson (see below). Ellen became step-mother to Nannie's children. Two of the children died within days of each other in 1878 and Jim Graves died in 1883. He was buried with a military headstone, since he had served in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War. Jane Graham married Richard Garnett, whom Julia Dinsmore referred to as Dick Utz, and Maggie Graham married Abe Marshall. These are the two descendants that Julia Dinsmore stayed in contact with. Nancy Mcgruder left most of her belongings to Jane Garnett, who died in 1919 (Harry Roseberry attended her funeral in Rising Sun).

Judy Taylor – born ca. 1839 in Louisiana, daughter to Sally Taylor; brought to Kentucky in 1842. Left the farm several years after the war & was in Rising Sun in 1870 census, married to Milton Jones with one child, William, who was born around 1860. Milton had served in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War. Two Taylors were living with her – Jane (28) and Sally (16). Jane, I think, may be her sister and Sally might be a niece. Judy later moved to Grenat, Ohio and joined a Quaker parish. There were two more children born to the couple, James and a daughter who died young. At some point, Judy changed her name to Julia (or maybe it was always Julia and the Dinsmores called her Judy).

Angeline – born ca. 1840, Angeline's origins are unknown. First mentioned by James in 1858, she may have been a daughter to Sally Taylor or related in some way. She married Lewis Beatty (from Bourbon County) and moved to Rising Sun after the war. Angeline worked on & off for Julia in the 1870s & 1880s. She had a daughter, Annie, & two sons, John and Sam, and two children who died young. There is a drawing of her on the dining room wall at Dinsmore. Lewis died March 12, 1888 & Angeline died December 28, 1889. A letter from John to Patty Selmes survives in the Dinsmore papers, but he is not found in census records. Sam moved to Indianapolis where he started his own successful dental practice. Annie/Annis married Luis Smith in Rising Sun, Indiana.

Jane Taylor – born ca. 1842 in LA/KY, daughter to Sally Taylor (?). James never mentions her but she shows up in Rising Sun in 1870 living with Judy Taylor Jones.

Isaac Sanders/Saunders – born ca. 1835, in Louisiana and was brought to Kentucky in 1842. He appears to have been a son of Sally Taylor but chose a different last name. In 1852, James Dinsmore paid Marcellus McNeely $68 for the return of Isaac, indicating that Isaac made a run for freedom but was caught in or near Petersburg. In the 1860 census, there was a 25-year-old light-skinned male slave, which would be Isaac. He was on the farm during the war, left to serve in the Union Army (117th USCT) & then moved to Rising Sun where in 1880 he shows up married to Amanda Crisler. Amanda appears to have been related somehow to Milton Jones, the husband of Isaac's sister, Judy. Isaac & Amanda had two children who lived: Isaac (1876) and Nellie (1879). At least four of their children died young according to the Ohio County (IN) death records, two in April 1872, one in 1874, and one in 1881. The elder Isaac died September 18, 1889. Isaac Sanders, Jr. came to work on the farm in the 1890s, saying he was kicked out of the house in Rising Sun. He was described as lame and Patty Selmes bought him a brace. He married and moved to Delhi in Cincinnati but continued to visit. Dinsmore descendants kept in touch with Isaac Jr. until he died.

Susan Payne – Julia wrote about "Aunt Susan" & Susan Payne appears to be the best option. She worked for Julia Dinsmore in the 1890s, when she was living in Kyle, Indiana (Dearborn County) with her daughter, Agnes Baker. It is possible this Susan is not related to anyone else who lived on the farm.

Jilson Hawkins – born ca. 1811 in Va; maybe Nancy Mcgruder’s brother. Purchased by James in Mississippi in 1825. Taken to Louisiana in 1829 & left there when the Dinsmore family moved to Kentucky. In about 1857 he was moved with others to the farm in Saline County, Missouri & in 1863 he was in Kentucky with his wife, Eliza, and his children & grandchildren. In 1874 he took wages James had paid him to buy a house in Rising Sun & lived there until he died in 1879. He is buried in the family graveyard. (Read His Full Biography)

Eliza Hawkins – purchased by Dinsmore in 1831 for $375 – she was 12 years old, so she was born in Virginia, ca. 1819. Eliza was married to Jilson in Louisiana & stayed there until they were moved to the Missouri farm by 1857. She came with Jilson and their daughters, Ellen, Mandy, and maybe Eliza, and granddaughter, Phoebe, to Kentucky in 1862-3.  See below for Ellen and Phoebe. Mandy worked a few years for Julia Dinsmore and then moved to Rising Sun with her husband, Morris North. They had at least one son, William (1879-1907), who died in Covington. Mandy died in 1889, the same year that Eliza and Ellen went to visit her in Dayton. A young Eliza was in the Hawkins household in the 1870 census and was listed as 15 years old. She may have been Eliza & Jilson's daughter, or Ellen & Peter's daughter. She died in 1872 and was buried in the Dinsmore graveyard. Another young girl in the Hawkins household was Mary. She was listed as four years old in the 1870 census, so perhaps she was Phoebe's daughter. Julia Dinsmore wrote that she walked Mary to school and paid her school fees. Mary died in 1873 and was buried in the Dinsmore graveyard. The older Eliza died in Rising Sun in 1903 & is buried in a cemetery there. (Read Her Full Biography)

Ellen Hawkins Simpson Graves– born ca. 1840 in Louisiana. She was married to Peter Simpson there & had Phoebe. In the 1850s, Ellen and Phoebe accompanied Jilson & Eliza Hawkins to the Dinsmore farm in Saline County, Missouri. By 1863 they were all in Boone County. In 1870 Ellen married Jim Graves and took over the raising of Jim & Nannie's seven children. They had one child of their own, Annie. This Annie married John Marshall in Indiana in 1890. She shows up in Julia Dinsmore's journal when their first-born died the following year. The Eliza who died in the 1860s was either her sister or her daughter. A child, Mary, died on the Dinsmore farm in 1873 or 1874 & she may have been Ellen’s daughter or granddaughter.

Phoebe Simpson Everson– born ca. 1855 in Louisiana to Peter & Ellen Simpson. Phoebe was taken to Missouri with Ellen & then to Kentucky in the 1860s. In 1880, she was in Rising Sun, married to John Dumont/Ebberson/Everson and had five children: America, (1870-1880), Dave (?-1891), Luis (1873?-1916), Ellen (1879?-1902), and another child in 1884 who may have been named America. Phoebe died August 30, 1887.

Mary & Eliza – These two young girls lived in the Hawkins household, arriving in Kentucky in 1863. Eliza died in the late 1860s and is buried in the family graveyard. In the early years of her journal, Julia Dinsmore wrote about sending Mary to school & paying for it. Mary died in 1873 & is also buried in the family graveyard. Jilson Hawkins was buried next to them when he died.