Adelicia Acklen

Adelicia Hayes Franklin Acklen Cheatham
Born	Template:Birth date Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Died	May 4, 1887(1887-05-04) (aged 70) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Plantation owner, slave trader
Known for	Richest woman in Tennessee; owner of plantations later part of Louisiana State Penitentiary; commissioning Belmont Mansion

Adelicia Hayes Franklin Acklen Cheatham (March 15, 1817 – May 4, 1887) was an American plantation owner and slave trader who emerged as the richest woman in Tennessee following the death of her first husband, Isaac Franklin, in 1846. Franklin had amassed considerable wealth as a prominent slave trader, channeling his fortune into plantations, landholdings, and enslaved laborers throughout Tennessee and Louisiana.

In 1880, Acklen consolidated and sold four adjoining plantations in Louisiana as a single estate; these properties later became the location of the Louisiana State Penitentiary ("Angola") in 1901.

During her marriage to her second husband, Joseph Alexander Smith Acklen, she commissioned the construction of the Belmont Mansion in Nashville, Tennessee. After being sold in 1887, the mansion was transformed into a girls' school and subsequently served as a junior college campus. Today, it functions as a museum central to Belmont University.

Early life

Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Adelicia Hayes was the daughter of Oliver Bliss Hayes, a lawyer who later became a Presbyterian minister originally from South Hadley, Massachusetts. He was also related to President Rutherford B. Hayes. Her mother was Sarah Clements (Hightower) Hayes. Their family home, Rokeby, has lent its name to a neighborhood in Nashville.

Adult life

At age 22 in 1839, Adelicia married Isaac Franklin, a prosperous 50-year-old slave trader and planter. By 1841, she had taken an active role managing his plantations, primarily located in Louisiana. The couple had four children; unfortunately, none survived infancy.

Upon Franklin’s death in 1846, Adelicia inherited the Fairvue Plantation near Gallatin, Tennessee, along with four cotton plantations in Louisiana, extensive undeveloped land holdings in Texas totaling over , various stocks and bonds, and ownership of approximately 750 enslaved African Americans—assets that established her as Tennessee’s wealthiest woman.

In 1849, she wed Joseph Alexander Smith Acklen (1816–1863). Together they erected the Belmont Mansion near Nashville to serve as a summer retreat featuring elaborate gardens and a private zoo. They had six children; four survived into adulthood including Joseph H. Acklen (1850–1938), who later served as a U.S. Representative from Louisiana; William Hayes Ackland (1855–1940), known as an attorney and art collector; Claude M. Acklen (1857–1920); and Pauline (1859–1931).

Following Joseph Acklen’s passing in 1863, Adelicia married Dr. William Archer Cheatham (1820–1900), superintendent of the Tennessee State Insane Asylum and son of former U.S. Representative Richard Cheatham. Unhappy in this marriage, she eventually relocated to Washington, D.C., where she lived at 1776 Massachusetts Avenue.

In 1887, she sold the Belmont Mansion, which was subsequently repurposed as a girls’ academy before becoming part of Ward–Belmont College and ultimately evolving into Belmont University.

By 1880, Acklen had leased and then divested her Louisiana plantations. In 1901, the state acquired four of these plantations including Angola; these grounds were developed into the site of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, where inmates cultivated both commercial and subsistence crops.

Death

Acklen passed away on May 4, 1887, at age seventy while on a shopping excursion in New York City. She was interred at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee.