They Had Names

African Americans in Early Records of Liberty County, Georgia

Marriage Contract (Osgood/Sullivan)

Enslaved People Named: Dafney

On May 27, 1807, Esther Osgood, spinster of Liberty County, entered into a marriage contract with Daniel Sullivan, same place, naming as her trustees John Osgood, Benjamin Mell, and Thomas Baker Senior, also of the same place. Esther Osgood had some personal estate and also a share of her deceased father, John Osgood Senior’s estate. The contract put into trust for her “one Negro Slave named Dafney [alt: Daphne]” bequeathed to her by her father, as well as “every such Slave and Slaves” she might become entitled to through division of her father’s estate. Witnessed by Cyrus Guildersleeve, William N. Way.  Recorded in Liberty County Superior Court on June 12, 1807. 

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. E-G 1801-1816,” Record Book F (1804-1809), p. 170-171. Image #251 (Link: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QL-J9ZB-T?i=250)