Deed of Gift (Hardy/Hardy)

On June 10, 1792, Mary Hardy, widow of Liberty County, gifted to her son John Alexander Hardy, a minor, “the four following named Negro Slaves that is to say Porter, Polidore [alt: Polydore], Fanny and Flora. Trustees John Baker and Charles Irvine were to take possession of them “to the only and exclusive right title use and benefit of her the said Mary Hardy for and towards her maintancne and support and towards the support maintenance and education of her said son John Alexander Hardy until he shall or may if God so please attain his twenty first year of age.” She reserved for herself the absolute and exclusive right to choose and direct his upbringing and education and also the employment of “the said Negroe slaves with the appropriation of the net avails of their time and labor.” After her son became 21 and until she died, she stipulated that they would split the “net proceeds of the labour industry and employment of the aforementioned four Negro Slaves with any future issue and increase…” Witnessed by Ad. [Adam] Alexander. Recorded in Liberty County Superior Court on August 18, 1792.