Two-page last will and testament written by Sarah Forrest of Bourbon County, Kentucky in 1842. We have not previously handled a document regarding slavery in which the sole owner is a woman, making this an exceedingly uncommon document. It is likely Forrest received the property and enslaved people detailed in this document by virtue of dower's rights.

In her will, along with various other provisions, Forrest stipulates that upon her death, her "negro woman Mary" is to be freed. Further, Forrest leaves Mary a cow and her bureau, the latter being a surprisingly intimate bequest.

The document is signed by Forrest with an X, "her mark," indicating she was either illiterate or too weak to hold a pen.

[Emancipation, 13th Amendment, Thirteenth Amendment, Slave, Slavery, Civil War, Union, Confederate, Paper Ephemera, Abraham Lincoln, Abolition, Abolitionist]