Nicka,

Any extra set of eyes helps!

Ancestry and Familysearch.org do not have the death cert (unfortunately I don't have ancestry.com right now). But I have sent for a copy Tennessee state, I'm hoping they'll give me a copy of the original this time around.

Visiting the court house I believe would be the best option, some day I will go but no plans right now.

All scenarios you mentioned regarding Sallie's father are possible and need to be looked in to, and also I'm not sure where Alcie was born. Alcie's death certificate says Henderson which likely means Henderson County, south of Carroll County. Alcie's mother Sally Hillsman did have a lot of children, and for most of the death certificates for those children that I have found Sally Hillsman's birth place is listed as Carroll County. Sally Hillsman is listed in Carroll County in the 1870 census.

The 1870 mortality schedule did not give me any clues, but I'll doublecheck when I register for ancestry.com again. I don't think any labor contracts have survived, at our local NARA I did look through the Freedmen's bureau records available for Carroll County but did not find any labor contracts.

For the deeds, I have found one bill of sale in Carroll County that I believe is the Alcie I'm looking for. As usual I can't say for sure, have to review further:
James M Johnson for Riley Taylor to Gabriel V Enocks, girl named Ailcey aged about five years. $300, effective 12/28/1852 but recorded August 1860 (why?). Since Ailcey is not that common of a name, and the age fits pretty good with Alcies age throughout the censuses, I believe it can be the right Alcie. Riley and Gabriel were both in the Southern part of Carroll County, so it's not impossible that Alcie after all was born in Henderson and by 1852 was in Southern Carroll County. Almost all records of Henderson County were lost in a fire in 1893.

I should mention that Alcie was probably a Hillsman after the Civil War up until she married William Jones in 1876, she is listed with her son George in 1880 as Jones (George was born before this marriage). But in 1893 she married Tom Adkisson and by then her last name was Taylor. I can not find such a Taylor marriage between 1880 and 1893 so it is possible she just changed her last name to Taylor between 1880 and 1893 but why?

I believe (but can't back it up) that Sallie Otterbridge and her brother George Taylor did have the same father, and since they were born on different sides of 1870 I suspect that the father is out there in 1870. There are inconsistencies that give me a headache: George's social sec application says mother maiden name Elsie Hillsman, Sallie's transcribed death cert says mother maiden name Elsie Taylor.

The name Adkisson also pops up before Alcie's marriage to Tom Adkisson in 1893: There is an Alex Adkisson living in the same household as Alcie in 1880, and the bondsman for Sallie Taylor/Otterbridge's first marriage in 1886 was a Jim Atkisson. I believe that Jim has no connection to the groom of this marriage, the groom was from a couple of counties away.

I am not at all stuck in researching this mystery, With this post I just wanted to know how to evaluate that Tom Adkisson does state being the father of Sallie. As you can see there are plenty of clues to research here but it will take time since I don't live in the area.

Enough rambling, Thank you very much for your time!

Thanks,
Johan