Among the “assets” included in Daniel Dill’s estate were three enslaved persons: Nancy, Sam and John. The administrator, E.B Gould, had to manage them along with Daniel’s other personal property, real estate, and cash. It’s an eye-opening look at one small aspect of  slavery in the South.

Within two weeks of Daniel Dill’s death, his friends back in Mobile had organized to take the reins of his estate and begin the probate process. A relative of Daniel’s, Bolin Smith, was apparently the consensus choice to be the administrator.

You can find many references in online family trees to Daniel Dill’s supposed death in 1843. I don’t know where that date came from, because it’s wrong. Daniel Dill died on May 29, 1855.

Last time we were introduced to Daniel Dill’s household, his occupation and his property. In this installment, we are introduced to his friends and neighbors. Daniel needed friends during the last years of his life. Beginning sometime in the 1840’s, Daniel began suffering from the increasingly painful effects of either gout or rheumatism. By 1850 […]

Daniel Dill’s probate file and the State and Federal census records can be combined to paint a vivid picture of Daniel Dill’s life in Mobile, Alabama. A candy store, a fancy house and more…