Born a slave and servant of the Isbell family, he is buried in the Isbell plot at Oak Hill Cemetery with his former masters.
Birmingham Age-Herald, Nov. 6, 1898, section 2 page 14, says he was 101 years old, born in Wilkes County, North Carolina.
The 1870 census shows his birth as approximately 1810 in North Carolina.
The 1850 slave schedules show the two oldest male slaves of James Rowan Isbell (1806-1871) were aged 35 and 36.
The 1860 slave schedules show the two oldest male slaves of James Isbell were ages 44 and 45.
It is not known when Jerry moved to Alabama, and although he might have been with some of the other Isbell family in North Carolina or Tennessee, he should have been in Talladega by 1860 at the latest.
Jerry's original owner, John Isbell (1788-1826) was a member of the North Carolina Legislature (1820-21) and died unmarried. According to the newspaper article, Jerry was born in 1798 and sold at age 12 (1810) to John Isbell and afterward to his brother James Isbell.
John Isbell's will was signed 18 June 1826 in Monroe County, Tennessee, where he owned land, and where one page in the estate file states his death was 26 Dec. 1826, although his tombstone in Wilkes County, N.C. shows death as 27 Oct. 1826. The will was recorded both there (June 1827) and in Wilkes Co., N.C. (July 1827):
"4th, I do will give & bequeath to my beloved brothers Benjamin Isbell, Livingstone Isbell, Thomas Isbell & James Isbell my negroes Jerry, Isaac & his wife Dinah & her children Bill & Evelina & my negroe woman Nance & her youngest child Sal to be valued at their worth by disinterested men with their increase by their paying my beloved sisters Franky Fergason & Betsy Fergason of such calculation....
that my negroes remain in the possession and care of Benjamin Isbell until the death of my mother as above stated unless she and brother Thomas should move to this country (Tennessee) & in that case to remain as theirs and Benjamin's possession until the time aforesaid & further authorize my executors of my estate to purchase a tract of land for my mother and family to live all during her natural life free of rent if they should think proper and do further order and direct that my executors heretofore named do strictly attend to my (?) accts & the whole of my
business back in North Carolina and this State and further authorize and (?) them to sell any lands that I now own either their or in the State of Tennessee either at private or public sale & convey them accordingly...."
The home built by Maj. James Isbell for Jerry and Maria at Talladega was considered an exceptionally fine residence for slaves. It was photographed and recorded for the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1936 and stood toward the rear of the lot behind the pillared mansion.
Birmingham Age-Herald, Nov. 6, 1898, section 2 p.14:
"There are not many types left to the south of the negroes who flourished under the old regime, but those who are still living are picturesque and interesting figures.
Talladega claims one of the oldest living ex-slaves in the south in the person of Jerry Isbell, who was the first slave owned by Major James Isbell, the father of Mrs. Joseph Hardie, of Birmingham.
"The records of the Isbell family, which, like other families in the old south, recorded the ages of the slaves, John Isbell's will was signed 18 June 1826 in Monroe County, Tennessee, where estate papers indicate his death was 26 Dec. 1826, although his tombstone in Wilkes County, N.C. shows death as 27 Oct. 1826. The will was recorded both there (June 1827) and in Wilkes Co., N.C. (July 1827): show that "Daddy Jerry," as he familiarly known, is in his 101st year. He was born in Wilkes county, North Carolina, in 1798, and was sold at 12 years of age to Mr. John Isbell, and afterwards became the property of (his brother) Major James Isbell. Daddy Jerry was put at the blacksmith's trade in early youth, and is known now as the veteran striker at a blacksmith's shop in Talladega. According to the Talladega Mountain Home, he can still wield a fifteen-pound sledge hammer with the ease and vigor of a man fifty years his junior.
"He remembers two tribes of Indians. He mingled with the North Carolina Cherokee Indians as a lad, and was brought to Alabama--first to Lowndes county and thence to Talladega--before the Creeks or the Muscogees were removed to their reservation. He loves to talk of their ball games and green corn dances, and describes the Cherokees as smaller in stature than the Creeks, as humane and refined for the red race; the Creeks as larger, rougher and more warlike. This comports with history.
"Daddy Jerry has seen every generation of Talladegians troop by from those early days of the town to the present, and is known to most of the farmers of Talladega county and to many in the counties adjoining."
A daughter of Jerry Isbell was probably Priscilla (Cecily) Isbell (born 1835) who married at Talladega in 1865 Jerry Warwick, also a blacksmith.
Cecily is described as having "green eyes and flaming red hair." Descendants report that she was said in the family to have inherited her looks from an ancestor who was a white lady with "green eyes and flaming red hair."
Notable Southern Families (1918), vol. 1, p. 109: "Discretion Howard (Isbell) is said to have been beautiful with magnificent red hair."
James Isbell's wife Rutelia Houston may have been auburn haired; her cousin Sam Houston was a redhead as were many of the Houstons. Her son Capt. Robert Houston Isbell was red haired like his sister Alice who married a cousin, William Park Armstrong, also red-haired.
Birmingham Age-Herald, Nov. 6, 1898, section 2 page 14, says he was 101 years old, born in Wilkes County, North Carolina.
The 1870 census shows his birth as approximately 1810 in North Carolina.
The 1850 slave schedules show the two oldest male slaves of James Rowan Isbell (1806-1871) were aged 35 and 36.
The 1860 slave schedules show the two oldest male slaves of James Isbell were ages 44 and 45.
It is not known when Jerry moved to Alabama, and although he might have been with some of the other Isbell family in North Carolina or Tennessee, he should have been in Talladega by 1860 at the latest.
Jerry's original owner, John Isbell (1788-1826) was a member of the North Carolina Legislature (1820-21) and died unmarried. According to the newspaper article, Jerry was born in 1798 and sold at age 12 (1810) to John Isbell and afterward to his brother James Isbell.
John Isbell's will was signed 18 June 1826 in Monroe County, Tennessee, where he owned land, and where one page in the estate file states his death was 26 Dec. 1826, although his tombstone in Wilkes County, N.C. shows death as 27 Oct. 1826. The will was recorded both there (June 1827) and in Wilkes Co., N.C. (July 1827):
"4th, I do will give & bequeath to my beloved brothers Benjamin Isbell, Livingstone Isbell, Thomas Isbell & James Isbell my negroes Jerry, Isaac & his wife Dinah & her children Bill & Evelina & my negroe woman Nance & her youngest child Sal to be valued at their worth by disinterested men with their increase by their paying my beloved sisters Franky Fergason & Betsy Fergason of such calculation....
that my negroes remain in the possession and care of Benjamin Isbell until the death of my mother as above stated unless she and brother Thomas should move to this country (Tennessee) & in that case to remain as theirs and Benjamin's possession until the time aforesaid & further authorize my executors of my estate to purchase a tract of land for my mother and family to live all during her natural life free of rent if they should think proper and do further order and direct that my executors heretofore named do strictly attend to my (?) accts & the whole of my
business back in North Carolina and this State and further authorize and (?) them to sell any lands that I now own either their or in the State of Tennessee either at private or public sale & convey them accordingly...."
The home built by Maj. James Isbell for Jerry and Maria at Talladega was considered an exceptionally fine residence for slaves. It was photographed and recorded for the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1936 and stood toward the rear of the lot behind the pillared mansion.
Birmingham Age-Herald, Nov. 6, 1898, section 2 p.14:
"There are not many types left to the south of the negroes who flourished under the old regime, but those who are still living are picturesque and interesting figures.
Talladega claims one of the oldest living ex-slaves in the south in the person of Jerry Isbell, who was the first slave owned by Major James Isbell, the father of Mrs. Joseph Hardie, of Birmingham.
"The records of the Isbell family, which, like other families in the old south, recorded the ages of the slaves, John Isbell's will was signed 18 June 1826 in Monroe County, Tennessee, where estate papers indicate his death was 26 Dec. 1826, although his tombstone in Wilkes County, N.C. shows death as 27 Oct. 1826. The will was recorded both there (June 1827) and in Wilkes Co., N.C. (July 1827): show that "Daddy Jerry," as he familiarly known, is in his 101st year. He was born in Wilkes county, North Carolina, in 1798, and was sold at 12 years of age to Mr. John Isbell, and afterwards became the property of (his brother) Major James Isbell. Daddy Jerry was put at the blacksmith's trade in early youth, and is known now as the veteran striker at a blacksmith's shop in Talladega. According to the Talladega Mountain Home, he can still wield a fifteen-pound sledge hammer with the ease and vigor of a man fifty years his junior.
"He remembers two tribes of Indians. He mingled with the North Carolina Cherokee Indians as a lad, and was brought to Alabama--first to Lowndes county and thence to Talladega--before the Creeks or the Muscogees were removed to their reservation. He loves to talk of their ball games and green corn dances, and describes the Cherokees as smaller in stature than the Creeks, as humane and refined for the red race; the Creeks as larger, rougher and more warlike. This comports with history.
"Daddy Jerry has seen every generation of Talladegians troop by from those early days of the town to the present, and is known to most of the farmers of Talladega county and to many in the counties adjoining."
A daughter of Jerry Isbell was probably Priscilla (Cecily) Isbell (born 1835) who married at Talladega in 1865 Jerry Warwick, also a blacksmith.
Cecily is described as having "green eyes and flaming red hair." Descendants report that she was said in the family to have inherited her looks from an ancestor who was a white lady with "green eyes and flaming red hair."
Notable Southern Families (1918), vol. 1, p. 109: "Discretion Howard (Isbell) is said to have been beautiful with magnificent red hair."
James Isbell's wife Rutelia Houston may have been auburn haired; her cousin Sam Houston was a redhead as were many of the Houstons. Her son Capt. Robert Houston Isbell was red haired like his sister Alice who married a cousin, William Park Armstrong, also red-haired.
Born a slave and servant of the Isbell family, he is buried in the Isbell plot at Oak Hill Cemetery with his former masters.
Birmingham Age-Herald, Nov. 6, 1898, section 2 page 14, says he was 101 years old, born in Wilkes County, North Carolina.
The 1870 census shows his birth as approximately 1810 in North Carolina.
The 1850 slave schedules show the two oldest male slaves of James Rowan Isbell (1806-1871) were aged 35 and 36.
The 1860 slave schedules show the two oldest male slaves of James Isbell were ages 44 and 45.
It is not known when Jerry moved to Alabama, and although he might have been with some of the other Isbell family in North Carolina or Tennessee, he should have been in Talladega by 1860 at the latest.
Jerry's original owner, John Isbell (1788-1826) was a member of the North Carolina Legislature (1820-21) and died unmarried. According to the newspaper article, Jerry was born in 1798 and sold at age 12 (1810) to John Isbell and afterward to his brother James Isbell.
John Isbell's will was signed 18 June 1826 in Monroe County, Tennessee, where he owned land, and where one page in the estate file states his death was 26 Dec. 1826, although his tombstone in Wilkes County, N.C. shows death as 27 Oct. 1826. The will was recorded both there (June 1827) and in Wilkes Co., N.C. (July 1827):
"4th, I do will give & bequeath to my beloved brothers Benjamin Isbell, Livingstone Isbell, Thomas Isbell & James Isbell my negroes Jerry, Isaac & his wife Dinah & her children Bill & Evelina & my negroe woman Nance & her youngest child Sal to be valued at their worth by disinterested men with their increase by their paying my beloved sisters Franky Fergason & Betsy Fergason of such calculation....
that my negroes remain in the possession and care of Benjamin Isbell until the death of my mother as above stated unless she and brother Thomas should move to this country (Tennessee) & in that case to remain as theirs and Benjamin's possession until the time aforesaid & further authorize my executors of my estate to purchase a tract of land for my mother and family to live all during her natural life free of rent if they should think proper and do further order and direct that my executors heretofore named do strictly attend to my (?) accts & the whole of my
business back in North Carolina and this State and further authorize and (?) them to sell any lands that I now own either their or in the State of Tennessee either at private or public sale & convey them accordingly...."
The home built by Maj. James Isbell for Jerry and Maria at Talladega was considered an exceptionally fine residence for slaves. It was photographed and recorded for the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1936 and stood toward the rear of the lot behind the pillared mansion.
Birmingham Age-Herald, Nov. 6, 1898, section 2 p.14:
"There are not many types left to the south of the negroes who flourished under the old regime, but those who are still living are picturesque and interesting figures.
Talladega claims one of the oldest living ex-slaves in the south in the person of Jerry Isbell, who was the first slave owned by Major James Isbell, the father of Mrs. Joseph Hardie, of Birmingham.
"The records of the Isbell family, which, like other families in the old south, recorded the ages of the slaves, John Isbell's will was signed 18 June 1826 in Monroe County, Tennessee, where estate papers indicate his death was 26 Dec. 1826, although his tombstone in Wilkes County, N.C. shows death as 27 Oct. 1826. The will was recorded both there (June 1827) and in Wilkes Co., N.C. (July 1827): show that "Daddy Jerry," as he familiarly known, is in his 101st year. He was born in Wilkes county, North Carolina, in 1798, and was sold at 12 years of age to Mr. John Isbell, and afterwards became the property of (his brother) Major James Isbell. Daddy Jerry was put at the blacksmith's trade in early youth, and is known now as the veteran striker at a blacksmith's shop in Talladega. According to the Talladega Mountain Home, he can still wield a fifteen-pound sledge hammer with the ease and vigor of a man fifty years his junior.
"He remembers two tribes of Indians. He mingled with the North Carolina Cherokee Indians as a lad, and was brought to Alabama--first to Lowndes county and thence to Talladega--before the Creeks or the Muscogees were removed to their reservation. He loves to talk of their ball games and green corn dances, and describes the Cherokees as smaller in stature than the Creeks, as humane and refined for the red race; the Creeks as larger, rougher and more warlike. This comports with history.
"Daddy Jerry has seen every generation of Talladegians troop by from those early days of the town to the present, and is known to most of the farmers of Talladega county and to many in the counties adjoining."
A daughter of Jerry Isbell was probably Priscilla (Cecily) Isbell (born 1835) who married at Talladega in 1865 Jerry Warwick, also a blacksmith.
Cecily is described as having "green eyes and flaming red hair." Descendants report that she was said in the family to have inherited her looks from an ancestor who was a white lady with "green eyes and flaming red hair."
Notable Southern Families (1918), vol. 1, p. 109: "Discretion Howard (Isbell) is said to have been beautiful with magnificent red hair."
James Isbell's wife Rutelia Houston may have been auburn haired; her cousin Sam Houston was a redhead as were many of the Houstons. Her son Capt. Robert Houston Isbell was red haired like his sister Alice who married a cousin, William Park Armstrong, also red-haired.
Birmingham Age-Herald, Nov. 6, 1898, section 2 page 14, says he was 101 years old, born in Wilkes County, North Carolina.
The 1870 census shows his birth as approximately 1810 in North Carolina.
The 1850 slave schedules show the two oldest male slaves of James Rowan Isbell (1806-1871) were aged 35 and 36.
The 1860 slave schedules show the two oldest male slaves of James Isbell were ages 44 and 45.
It is not known when Jerry moved to Alabama, and although he might have been with some of the other Isbell family in North Carolina or Tennessee, he should have been in Talladega by 1860 at the latest.
Jerry's original owner, John Isbell (1788-1826) was a member of the North Carolina Legislature (1820-21) and died unmarried. According to the newspaper article, Jerry was born in 1798 and sold at age 12 (1810) to John Isbell and afterward to his brother James Isbell.
John Isbell's will was signed 18 June 1826 in Monroe County, Tennessee, where he owned land, and where one page in the estate file states his death was 26 Dec. 1826, although his tombstone in Wilkes County, N.C. shows death as 27 Oct. 1826. The will was recorded both there (June 1827) and in Wilkes Co., N.C. (July 1827):
"4th, I do will give & bequeath to my beloved brothers Benjamin Isbell, Livingstone Isbell, Thomas Isbell & James Isbell my negroes Jerry, Isaac & his wife Dinah & her children Bill & Evelina & my negroe woman Nance & her youngest child Sal to be valued at their worth by disinterested men with their increase by their paying my beloved sisters Franky Fergason & Betsy Fergason of such calculation....
that my negroes remain in the possession and care of Benjamin Isbell until the death of my mother as above stated unless she and brother Thomas should move to this country (Tennessee) & in that case to remain as theirs and Benjamin's possession until the time aforesaid & further authorize my executors of my estate to purchase a tract of land for my mother and family to live all during her natural life free of rent if they should think proper and do further order and direct that my executors heretofore named do strictly attend to my (?) accts & the whole of my
business back in North Carolina and this State and further authorize and (?) them to sell any lands that I now own either their or in the State of Tennessee either at private or public sale & convey them accordingly...."
The home built by Maj. James Isbell for Jerry and Maria at Talladega was considered an exceptionally fine residence for slaves. It was photographed and recorded for the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1936 and stood toward the rear of the lot behind the pillared mansion.
Birmingham Age-Herald, Nov. 6, 1898, section 2 p.14:
"There are not many types left to the south of the negroes who flourished under the old regime, but those who are still living are picturesque and interesting figures.
Talladega claims one of the oldest living ex-slaves in the south in the person of Jerry Isbell, who was the first slave owned by Major James Isbell, the father of Mrs. Joseph Hardie, of Birmingham.
"The records of the Isbell family, which, like other families in the old south, recorded the ages of the slaves, John Isbell's will was signed 18 June 1826 in Monroe County, Tennessee, where estate papers indicate his death was 26 Dec. 1826, although his tombstone in Wilkes County, N.C. shows death as 27 Oct. 1826. The will was recorded both there (June 1827) and in Wilkes Co., N.C. (July 1827): show that "Daddy Jerry," as he familiarly known, is in his 101st year. He was born in Wilkes county, North Carolina, in 1798, and was sold at 12 years of age to Mr. John Isbell, and afterwards became the property of (his brother) Major James Isbell. Daddy Jerry was put at the blacksmith's trade in early youth, and is known now as the veteran striker at a blacksmith's shop in Talladega. According to the Talladega Mountain Home, he can still wield a fifteen-pound sledge hammer with the ease and vigor of a man fifty years his junior.
"He remembers two tribes of Indians. He mingled with the North Carolina Cherokee Indians as a lad, and was brought to Alabama--first to Lowndes county and thence to Talladega--before the Creeks or the Muscogees were removed to their reservation. He loves to talk of their ball games and green corn dances, and describes the Cherokees as smaller in stature than the Creeks, as humane and refined for the red race; the Creeks as larger, rougher and more warlike. This comports with history.
"Daddy Jerry has seen every generation of Talladegians troop by from those early days of the town to the present, and is known to most of the farmers of Talladega county and to many in the counties adjoining."
A daughter of Jerry Isbell was probably Priscilla (Cecily) Isbell (born 1835) who married at Talladega in 1865 Jerry Warwick, also a blacksmith.
Cecily is described as having "green eyes and flaming red hair." Descendants report that she was said in the family to have inherited her looks from an ancestor who was a white lady with "green eyes and flaming red hair."
Notable Southern Families (1918), vol. 1, p. 109: "Discretion Howard (Isbell) is said to have been beautiful with magnificent red hair."
James Isbell's wife Rutelia Houston may have been auburn haired; her cousin Sam Houston was a redhead as were many of the Houstons. Her son Capt. Robert Houston Isbell was red haired like his sister Alice who married a cousin, William Park Armstrong, also red-haired.
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