Gabriel Andrews, 34, registered to vote — his first time as a free man — in 1867 in Liberty County, Georgia. His story is an example of how one document that is available at FamilySearch.org but not indexed, so not findable by search, can make an enormous difference in finding an ancestor’s story.
The 1870 federal census for Liberty County listed Gabriel Andrews as a 35-year-old man living with Matilda, 25, presumably his wife, and children Jimmie, 3, and Lucy, 1. Listed next to him was Dick Grant, 70, and Rachel Grant 40. The race of all members of the Andrews family was listed as mulatto. Andrews was listed as a farmer who could read and write (but he had signed his name by mark when he registered to vote in 1867, usually indicating illiteracy); Matilda could neither read nor write.
In the 1880 census, Gabriel Andrews was living with his mother, Rachel Grant, now listed as 70 years old, who was said to be cultivating a truck patch. He was 40 years old, still listed as mulatto, and was said to be insane. Matilda Andrews was not found in the 1880 census.
What happened to Lizzie and the children? Why did Gabriel adopt the name Andrews at Emancipation?
An 1881 record in the Liberty County Superior Court proceedings books gives us the answer to the first question. At the time, divorces had to be conducted via two consecutive jury trials in the Superior Court, and records, of course, were kept. The proceedings books have been digitized and are available at FamilySearch.org, but they are not digitally indexed, so a search for the name does not yield a record. There is a handwritten index at the beginning of the digitized book for 1855-1885, however, and Gabriel Andrews’ divorce case is on page 565.
Matilda Andrews was not found in the 1880 census because she went by the name Lizzie Andrews. (It is not known whether Lizzie was a nickname or whether the census taker misrecorded her name as Matilda; however, a Matilda Andrews did pay property tax on 40 acres of land in Liberty County so the theory that Lizzie was a nickname seems most plausible.)
On May 16, 1881, Lizzie Andrews, “a person of color,” filed for divorce from Gabriel Andrews, stating that they had been married on March 9, 1866 in Liberty County. They had lived together “in peace and comfort” until October 1873, and had had five children during that time, three of whom survived: James (16), Lucy Ann (14), and William Henry (8). She alleged that Andrews had deserted her in October 1873, and that she had been obliged to work for a “scanty subsistence” for herself and the children. John L. Harden, a white former slaveholder who often acted as an attorney for local African Americans, was her attorney.
The divorce petition was accompanied by a schedule of the property owned by the parties at the time of separation. Lizzie was said to own ½ interest in a 20-acre lot of land where she was then living, worth $20, and a ½ interest in a 20-acre lot of land where she was also said to be living, worth $20, plus 2 cows and 2 calves, worth $24 in total.
The divorce was granted on November 21, 1882, after two consecutive jury trials had yielded a verdict in favor of Lizzie Andrews, who received custody of the minor children and all of the property listed in the schedule, including 47 acres of land where she was living, “as permanent alimony.” She was instructed, however, to pay $22 in costs for the case.
In the 1880 census, Lizzie Andrews was listed with sons James, 15, and William H. Andrews (4). Lizzie was listed as a washerwoman and was now able to read, but not write. Lucy (11) was living in the household of white man John Axtell as a domestic servant. They were living not far from Gabriel Andrews, who had obviously moved in with his aged mother.
And why did Gabriel take the surname Andrews? Gabriel and Lizzie Andrews’ land was next to John S. Andrews, a 70-year-old white man and former slaveholder. Because Andrews was still alive after the Civil War, there were no probate records that might have named Gabriel, if Andrews had been his slaveholder, but on February 1, 1844, John S. Andrews used Gabriel as collateral on a promissory note to merchant Robert Hutchison of Savannah, along with four other enslaved people: Rachael, Matilda, Gabriel, Hetty, Cora. The promissory note was paid, so these five enslaved people had remained with Andrews.
It is very likely that Rachael was Rachel Grant, Gabriel’s mother. Matilda could have been Lizzie, listed as Matilda in the 1870 census, but an interesting finding in the 1870 census may possibly indicate something else. Dick and Rachel Grant were listed next to Gabriel and Matilda Andrews AND next to Henry and Matilda Stevens, who had named their daughter Rachel. Could Matilda Stevens have been Rachel’s daughter? In this case, it is possible that Matilda, Gabriel, Hetty and Cora were all Rachael’s young children. If this is true, it is also interesting that listed nearby in the 1870 census were Bartholomew and Hetty Stevens. It appears that Rachel’s children continued to live nearby after Emancipation.
No record of Gabriel Andrews purchasing his land was found, but it is likely that he had purchased it from John S. Andrews, given that the census record listed them near each other.
By 1880, Gabriel Andrews was divorced, living with his aged mother, and evidently suffering from a serious mental health issue, but in the time right after the Civil War, he spoke up for his community. On November 28, 1865, Liberty County freedmen Gabriel Andrews, Toney Axon, and Toney Golden wrote a heartrending letter to the Freedmen’s Bureau Subassistant Commissioner in Savannah, Georgia, which has been transcribed and put online by the University of Maryland History Department’s Freedmen and Southern Society Project due to its historical interest. The notes accompanying the letter said the letter and the accompanying signatures had all been written in the same hand, and it was written at Midway Church. The Midway Congregational Church was founded in the 1750s and had had both white and black members from its earliest days. In 1865 it was still in the hands of the white Board of Selectmen, but in 1867, Toney Golden would be one of the Black members who successfully petitioned to separate from the church, rent the church building, and form their own church. (Find a transcript of the 1865-1867 Midway Church session records here.)
Medway church Liberty county [Ga.] Nov 28th 1865
Dear Sir We the People of Liberty county & State of georgia Set Free from the oppression of Slavery, Desire through our Delegates, Messrs. Toney. Golden; Gabriel. Andrews; & Toney Axon; To appeal to you asking aid and counsel in this our Distressed condition; We Learned, from the Address of general Howard that we were to Return to the Plantation and work for our Former owners at a Reasonable contract as Freemen; and find. a Home and Labour, Provided we can agree1 But these owners of Plantation out here Says they only will Hire or Take the Prime Hands and our old and Infirm Mothers, and Farthers and our children will not Be Provided for; and this you will See Sir Put us in confusion; yet there are some that have Become free are opn Plantations, that Do not know of their Freedom and we Dare not Mention that they are free: We cannot Labour for the Land owners and know that our Infirm and children are Not Provided for; and not Allowed to educate or Learn More than they were permitted in Slavery; our School that was established in the county are Broken up, and we are Destitute of Religous Worship, having No Home or Place to Live when we Leave the Plantations Returned to our Former owners; We are A Working class of People and We are Willing and are Desirous to worke for A Fair compensation; But to return to work opon the Terms, that are at Present offered to us, Would Be we Think going Backe into the State of Slavery that we have Just to some extent Been Delivered from:
We Appeal to you Sir and through you to the Rulers of the country in our Distressed state, and Declare that we feel, unsettled as Sheep Without A Shepard, and Beg you Advice and Assistance, and Believe Sir that this is an Earnest Appeal from A Poor But Loyal Earnest People
Most Respectfully Submitted for your consideration–In Behalf of the People of Liberty county By
William, Toney Golden
Gabriel Andrews
Toney Axon
Source: William, Toney Golden et al. to Col. H. F. Sickles, 28 Nov. 1865, Unregistered Letters Received, series 1013, Savannah GA Subassistant Commissioner, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, & Abandoned Lands, Record Group 105, National Archives. The petition and all three signatures are in the same handwriting. (Accessed online at http://www.freedmen.umd.edu/Golden.htm, 1/21/2021).
Citations:
1870 U.S. Census, Liberty County, Georgia, population schedule, Subdivision 181, p. 34, dwelling #340, family #340, enumerated on November 21, 1870, by W.S. Norman, Gabriel & Matilda Andrews, digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 1/21/2021).
1880 U.S. Census, Liberty County, Georgia, population schedule, District 15, enumeration district 66, p. 18, dwelling #180, family #182, Lizzie Andrews household; digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 1/21/2021).
1880 U.S. Census, Liberty County, Georgia, population schedule, District 15, enumeration district 66, p. 18, dwelling #173, family #174, Ratchel Grant and Gabriel Andrews household; digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 1/21/2021).
Liberty County Superior Court Proceedings, Vols 6-7 1855-1885, pp. 565-6 & 619, Lizzie Andrews vs. Gabriel Andrews for divorce. (Digital images accessed at: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3H3-7Q7G?i=586&cat=293357, images #587-588; https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3H3-738K?i=614&cat=293357, images #615)
“Georgia, Returns of Qualified Voters and Reconstruction Oath Books, 1867-1869,” registered in Precinct no. 1, Liberty County, for the 2d Election District. Digital Image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 1/21/2021).
Family Search.org. Liberty County Superior Court “Deeds and mortgages, 1777-1920; general index to deeds and mortgages, 1777-1958,” Film: Deeds & Mortgages, v. M-N 1842-1854,” Record Book M, pp. 201-3. Image #131-2 (Link: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-5352?i=130) (Abstract at: https://theyhadnames.net/2019/10/11/bill-of-sale-hutchison-andrews/)