These quick attempts at research on particular African Americans from Liberty County, Georgia, are put together when there seems to be enough evidence to build a story that may be useful to descendants. If this is your ancestor, please check the sources for more information and compare this against your own information to determine accuracy.
What do we know about Edmund Bacon, probably born around 1819, from the available documents? Can we link Bacon — a freed slave from Liberty County, Georgia — with his pre-Emancipation life?
In 1874, Edmund Bacon filed a Southern Claims Commission petition for property he claimed was stolen from him in December 1864 by Kilpatrick’s men from Sherman’s Army and taken to Midway Church, where the army was encamped. The claim was presented to Congress in December 1874. He was allowed $194.00 of his $487.00 claim. He was given money for his bay horse, 30 bushels of corn, 50 bushels of rice, and 5 hogs, though for lesser amounts than he had claimed. He also claimed for a buggy & harness, 30 fowls, and 20 beehives, which were not reimbursed.
The claim’s remarks section said, “The claimant was a slave till the close of the war. He was driver on the plantation, and was the only slave that owned a horse. His loyalty is established by the evidence.”
In 1874, when he made the claim, he was residing in Riceboro, Liberty County. His witnesses, also African American, were Joseph Bacon, John Lambert, Scipio King, and also James Stacy. Raymond Cay [a white man] was his attorney. His testimony was given in August 1874.
During the testimony, Bacon stated that he was born a slave on [Edward] Lawrence Winn’s plantation near Midway, and was about 55 years old at the time of the testimony. He said he became free when the [Union] Army came, and that he had gone with them until they went to Thomasville, at which time he went to Savannah and stayed there that year, then returned to the Winn plantation, where he had been ever since.
He also testified that he had been a field hand, then “my master took me for his driver.” [NOTE: Driver was a supervisory position on a plantation.] He was the driver for about 13 years, and was in that position when the Army came.
He stated that when the Yankee soldiers came, he went into their camps and washed for them for pay, $15 a month. He stayed with them 9 weeks. When they came to take his property, he said, they said, “Well, Sam, where’s the rebels?”
He said that John Lambert, Richard Harden, Joe Bacon and Scipio King were present when the property was taken.
He obtained the items he made the claim for by raising them, and had started when he was a boy. His father was a cooper and had taught him the trade, so he used to work at it at nights after he had finished his daily tasks. He initially bought a mare, then sold it for the horse. He first bought a “Jersey wagon” with his mare, then sold it and bought the buggy, which he had had built “at the shop.”
His former owner, [Edward] Lawrence Winn, was dead. Bacon now lived on land that used to belong to him, and he rented land from Winn’s sister and paid her $15 for all the land he plants in a year.
Source: U.S., Southern Claims Commission Allowed Claims, 1871-1880. [Accessed online 5/4/2019: https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/1217/RHUSA1871A_118421__0019-00744]
E. Lawrence Winn‘s estate was appraised in January 1864 by Abial Winn, W.W. Winn, E.J. Delegal, and Valentine Grest. The estate administrator was Charles S. McKinne. The fact that there was an administrator, not an executor, indicates that Winn did not have a will. The total value of the property appraised, which did not include land, was $65,655, and of that amount the total value of the enslaved persons was $57,450, or 87%.
Edmund was appraised at $3000, one of 29 enslaved people appraised.
Source: “Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L93L-RJD2?cc=1999178&wc=9SYY-ZNP%3A267679901%2C268025701 : 20 May 2014), Liberty > Wills 1863-1942 vol C-D > image 20 of 430
Lawrence Winn served in the 5th Co. Cavalry, C.S.A., according to his headstone at Midway Cemetery. His father was Washington Winn, and his mother Julia Wilson, according to Ancestry.com.
Edward Lawrence Winn used Edmund and others of his enslaved people as collateral on a loan from Ann Eliza Winn and Julia Virginia Winn in March 1860. The debt was to have been repaid starting in 11 years. Winn died, of course, before the debt was repaid. Ann and Julia were his sisters, and he was their guardian, thus apparently was borrowing against their part of the estate.
Source: Family Search.org. Liberty County Superior Court “Deeds and mortgages, 1777-1920; general index to deeds and mortgages, 1777-1958,” Film: Deeds & Mortgages, v. O-P 1854-1870,” Record Book P, p. 54-6 (image #399 and #400). (Link: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-RS5D-N?i=398&cat=292358)
Washington Winn, Lawrence’s father, died in 1856, but his estate was not divided until January 1864, the same month that Lawrence Winn’s estate was divided. Edmund was listed as appraised at $3000 in both inventories. It appears that Edmund probably belonged to Washington, but that Washington’s estate was not divided at the time of his death due to their being minor heirs; it was likely reappraised in 1864 due to Lawrence’s death.
Source: “Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990,” images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-893L-RJJS?cc=1999178&wc=9SYY-ZNP%3A267679901%2C268025701 : 20 May 2014), Liberty > Wills 1863-1942 vol C-D > image 21 of 430; county probate courthouses, Georgia.
Why did Edmund take the last name Bacon when he appears to have been owned by the Winn family his entire life? In April 1859, Mary Bacon wrote her will, giving a portion to her brother John Winn‘s children, one of whom was Washington Winn, Lawrence Winn’s father. [NOTE: There is speculation from scholars that in Liberty County, freed slaves often took the surname of the family’s first enslaver, so these family connections can explain choice of surname. There can, of course, be many other explanations.]
Source: “Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990,” images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G93T-XBSG?cc=1999178&wc=9SB7-6T5%3A267679901%2C268014801 : 20 May 2014), Liberty > Miscellaneous probate records 1850-1863 vol C and L > image 230 of 703; county probate courthouses, Georgia.
Edmund [spelled Edmond] Bacon, likely the same person based on race and age, was a farmer in Liberty County’s 15th District in 1870, with presumed children Nanny Bacon (28), Brister Bacon (16), Margaret Bacon (12), Georgia Bacon (4), and Edmund Bacon (3/12). He lived near Joe Bacon, Scipio King, James Stacy — all witnesses to Edmund’s Southern Claims Commission petition.
Source: U.S. Federal Census for 1870, Georgia, Liberty County, Subdivision 181, pg. 47, enumerated on 24 November 1870. [Accessed online 5/4/2019 at
https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/7163/4263491_00482]
Avenues for further research: Since Edmund was born around 1819 on the Winn plantation, and Washington Winn, Edward Lawrence Winn’s father, did not marry until 1828, it would seem possible that Edmund was owned at the time of his birth by Washington’s father Peter John Winn, who died in 1824. However, he is not named in either Peter Winn’s 1824 will (see below) or Peter Winn’s estate inventory (see below). Assuming that Edmund knew where he was born, it would be worth checking on the chain of ownership of the plantation owned by Edward Lawrence Winn.
http://genealogytrails.com/geo/liberty/will-book-b-index.html#Peter_Winn ) ,
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-893L-P87?i=443&wc=9SYT-PT5%3A267679901%2C268032901&cc=1999178
Research done by Stacy Ashmore Cole, 4 May 2019