Acklen Avenue in Nashville Tenessee, is named for Adelicia Hayes (Franklin) Acklen, slave owner, who was at one time the wealthiest woman in Tennessee.  Mrs. Acklen owned nearly 60,000 acres of land in 3 states and over 750 slaves after the death of her first husband, Isaac Franklin, including the Belmont Mansion. To retain control of her “property” when marrying Colonel Joseph Alexander Smith Acklen, she required him to sign a prenuptial agreement. It was one of the earliest prenuptial in Nashville's history. It stated that she would be sole owner and final authority over all the properties she brought into the marriage. 

    During the civil war, she took all means necessary to retain her property and fortune and booked her cotton on a blockade runner ship headed to England to be sold for a high profit.  The slaves she owned were freed at the end of the war but it is unknown what happened to most of them.  Mrs. Acklen had traveled to Europe to be paid for her cotton, was presented to Napoleon III, and visited Rome to buy statues for her Belmont plantation.

    William Acklen, owned by Mrs. Adelicia Acklen, was born into slavery between September 1847 and May 1849.  He is the son of Maria, who was given to Adelicia by her father O.B. Hayes in 1839.  He is listed in the May 1849 Joseph Acklen marriage contract as belonging to Adelicia.  In 1866, William, noted as a former slave of Adelicia's and a servant after the war, was called as a witness for damages that occurred at Belmont during the Civil War. 

     His legacy, bearing witness to the atrocities of war, as well as, the condition of slavery in which he was born and lived, should be remembered.  The Belmont Mansion and Belmont University are amazing places that should be conserved but let’s also remember who made them truly possible.