In the 1840 census, Thomas Isbell owned four slaves, but one family history indicated that his slaves were not skilled at carpentry, so slaves belonging to neighbors were used.īy the 1850 census, John was listed as a “distiller of spirits” and the value of his property was $5,000 (quite an appreciation!). Upon this land the Isbells built a distillery and grist mill (Jolly Mill), perhaps with slave labor, according to local lore. On September 4, 1848, a forty-acre tract of land in Newton County, Missouri was sold by Frederick Hisaw to John and Thomas D.
