These “research snippets” are correlations found while documenting references to named African Americans in Liberty County, Georgia, probate, court, and church records. This is analysis and not confirmed. Please refer to the original documents referenced below to compare these speculations with your own research.
Enslaved African Americans in Liberty County, Georgia, are frequently listed in family groups of mother and children in antebellum wills, estate inventories and other documents, but it’s unusual to find both father and mother listed. In 1843, Joseph E. Maxwell used “the following family of negro slaves” as collateral on a promissory note to George W. Anderson & Brother of Savannah, Chatham County. He listed the family as:
Sancho, about 30
Patty, about 27
Flora, about 15
Ben, about 9
Peter, about 7
Joe, about 5
Floyd, about 3
In 1841, the same names were listed in order, though without specifying the family relationship, in Audley Maxwell’s estate inventory. They were listed with values beside their name:
Sancho, $600
Patty, $500
Flora, $300
Ben, $200
Peter, $150
Joe, $50
Floyd was not listed, probably because he was not yet born.
In his will, Audley Maxwell left 1/4 of his estate to his son Joseph Edward Maxwell, so this is presumably how Joseph E. Maxwell came to be in a position to use them as collateral.