Adelicia Acklen was the widow of a plantation

Plantation

A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...

 owner from Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 and then an owner in her own right.

Biography

Adelicia Hayes Franklin Acklen Cheatham was born on March 15, 1817, in Nashville, Tennessee.

In 1839, at age 22, she married Isaac Franklin

Isaac Franklin

Isaac Franklin was an American slave trader and planter. He was born on May 26, 1789 at "Pilot Knob" Plantation on Station Camp Creek in Sumner County, Tennessee....

, a slave trader and plantation owner. In 1846, after his death, she inherited the Fairvue Plantation

Isaac Franklin Plantation

Isaac Franklin Plantation, also known as Fairvue, is an antebellum plantation house in Gallatin, Tennessee.Fairvue Plantation was built in 1832 by Isaac Franklin . Franklin retired to be a planter after a successful career as a partner in the largest slave-trading firm in the South prior to the...

 in Gallatin, Tennessee

Gallatin, Tennessee

Gallatin is a city in and the county seat of Sumner County, Tennessee, United States, along a navigable tributary of the Cumberland River. The population was 23,230 at the 2000 census. Named for U.S...

, 8700 acres (35.2 km²) of cotton plantations in Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

, more than 50000 acres (202.3 km²) of undeveloped land in Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, stocks and bonds, and 750 slaves.

In 1849, she remarried to Joseph Alexander Smith Acklen. Together, they built the Belmont Mansion

Belmont Mansion (Tennessee)

Belmont Mansion, also known as Acklen Hall, and originally known as Belle Monte, Belle Mont or Belmont, is a historic mansion located in Nashville, Tennessee on the campus of Belmont University that today functions as a museum....

 in Nashville. In 1887, before she died, she sold the house, which was later used for Ward–Belmont College, followed by Belmont University

Belmont University

Belmont University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It is the largest Christian university in Tennessee and the second largest private university in the state, behind nearby Vanderbilt University.-Belmont Mansion:Belmont Mansion...

.

Her son, Joseph H. Acklen

Joseph H. Acklen

Joseph Hayes Acklen was a U.S. Representative from Louisiana.-Biography:Joseph Hayes Acklen was born in Nashville, Tennessee, to Adelicia and Joseph Alexander Smith Acklen, a wealthy couple whose summer home was located in Nashville, while he also grew up on plantations in Louisiana...

, was a U.S. Representative

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

from Louisiana.