Asa Thomson was a very wealthy man when he died early in 1842 in Fayette County, Kentucky. He ordered that his personal and real estate be sold, aside from bequests made in his will, which was recorded in March 1842.

An inventory of his estate sale, coupled with bequests, but not including the sale of his land, produced a total value of over $30,000, the equivalent today of almost $900,000.

The sale of his property is recorded in Fayette County, Kentucky in Book P:291-297, which has been digitized and is available on FamilySearch.

The sale items are too numerous for me to transcribe all – and way too hard on the eyes – but I will clip the two sections of court records naming his slaves to either be given to family members or sold after the images of the full sale inventory.

Page 291

Pages 292-293

Pages 294-295

Page 296

Page 297

Asa’s will, which I transcribed and posted two days ago, stated:
Item I give to my daughter Nancy Garth a negro man named Alexander & a negro woman named Rachael together with her future increase

Although Asa had many children, only Nancy received slaves.

To his wife:
Item I lend unto my beloved wife Dianna Thomson during her natural life three choice slaves, but they were not named.

Asa’s estate inventory, images above, had only one section where his slaves were named and sold:

Sale Inventory

The first name is the buyer, the second the slave and the dollar price last.

Drummond, Hunt?, Negro man Tim, $123
H.T. Duncan, woman Rose, $56
Jas. Martin, Do. Nancy, $25.50
Roger Thomson, Girls Martha & Mary, $615
P. Downing, ” Amanda, $210
Wm. Garth, ” Maria & Julia, $366
J.P. Estill, Melissa & her child George, $437
M.A. Prewett, Girl Esther, $245
Wm. Garth, Walker? & Seylla (Celia?), $305
Robt. Y. Thomson, Big Ben, $520

It would be 23 long years before the end of the Civil War and freedom, but perhaps someone with Fayette County roots will recognize some of these names and be able to add a new generation to his or her family tree.