Deena L. Hill Will and Probate Page
Deena L. Hill
My name is Deena Porcaro Hill, I have been doing family research for over 55 years now and have a great love for my ancestors that have gone before me. If it were not for them and what they endured in their life time, I would not be who I am or where I am in my life.I have been reading the Land and Property Deeds of Cumberland County (now Harnett County) North Carolina for years as I have researched my family tree, the thought entered my mind one day that I should be recording the enslaved people mentioned on these land deeds. Well years later here I am finally recording the names and in some cases, the ages of the enslaved people of Harnett County. My hope is that this data base will be of help to someone looking for their long lost forgotten family members. I have been fortunate enough to find my family members listed among those recorded as enslaved. I feel fortunate that I have found their name on an actual document and now they will never be forgotten. It is very rare to find an enslaved family members name on a written document before 1870 unless they are listed on a Will or a Land and Property Deed or an Inventory. Throughout my research I have always been shocked and saddened by the fact that one person on this earth felt they had the right to own another person. I am in a unique position because I have family members that enslaved people and I also have family members that were enslaved. I am very passionate about keeping the history of slavery alive so that we may NEVER forget about it and NEVER repeat it.I have spent hundreds of hours reading through the thousands of pages of the Land and Property Deeds of Cumberland County (now Harnett County) North Carolina and I have now extracted the names found there. I have left the spelling of the names as I have found them. I apologize for any mistakes as I went along, some of the writing is hard to read and on some of the deeds the name was in the fold of the book and not legible. I hope the extraction of the names of the enslaved people in Cumberland County (now Harnett County) will be helpful to you as you continue on your journey to find your family members.These records were found on the website FAMILY SEARCH.com (this is a free site, but requires an account created). Search the CATALOG; type in United States, North Carolina, Cumberland County,Click on LAND AND PROPERTYDeeds 1754-1947 Author NC County Court of Pleas Quarter SessionsLook for the DEEDS and the VOLUME (Book) number and the YEAR and the FILM NUMBER and the PAGE NUMBER to see a picture of the original document. Happy Researching!!! Deena Porcaro Hill