The 1814 territorial tax list for Cape Girardeau County shows James L. Fortenberry in German Township, taxed $2.00 on five enslaved people with no land listed. The index also names Henry Fortenberry and the Ables' neighbors in other townships.
On 29 August 1825 Jacob Fortenberry (Fortenbery) of Lawrence County, Arkansas Territory, bound himself to James L. Fortenberry for $1,000. The bond was void only if Jacob carried out “the last will and request” of James L.: that Jack and his wife Jenny, enslaved by James L., be given their freedom at the deaths of James L. and his wife Peggy, with Jacob standing as their security and never holding them in bondage. Henry Wayland and Samuel Crow witnessed. Wayland proved the bond in Lawrence County on 30 August 1837, and Circuit Clerk James S. Brown certified its recording (Book C [?], pages 18–19) on 29 March 1838. Although the family has long called it James Leath's will, the surviving document is this bond; no will has been found. This post combines the original post with the full transcription of the bond, the witness's proof, the clerk's certificate and the docket.
