On April 13, 1867, William B. Gaulden used as collateral on unpaid promissory notes to Abraham Hargraves, Coffee County; John A. Mattox of Tattnall County; Rev. C.S. Gaulden, Brooks County; Luck Jones, David Anderson and Diana Gaulden, of probably Liberty County* “three tracts of land lying and being in Liberty County, to wit the plantation on which I [W.B. Gaulden] reside called Millhaven containing 2845 acres…that tract of land called Ricehope situate in the Desert containing” 2450 acres “also all that tract of land containing 500 acres, more or less, originally granted to Murdock Murphy.” Smart Jones, David Anderson and Diana Gaulden were identified in the deed record as “colored.”
William B. Gaulden had defaulted on promissory notes to the above individuals, not paying any of the principal or interest, as follows:
-Abraham Hargraves, $771.38, dated and due September 18, 1860
-C.S. Gaulden, $776, dated January 16, 1866 and due one day later.
-John A. Mattox, $125, dated and due in the fall of 1862
-“one contract in writing” in which Gaulden had promised to pay Luck Jones and David Anderson $120 each by January 1 of the following year for services to be rendered on the Millhaven Plantation, dated January 1867
-“one contract in writing” in which Gaulden promised to pay Dianna Gaulden $100 for services to be rendered as laborer on the same plantation by herself and her minor son Byron by January 1 of the following year.
Witnessed by John E. Zoucks.
Appended was a statement by William B. Gaulden stating that the parties above should be aware that he had also mortgaged the same property to J.L. Shaw, executor; M. Johns, administrator, and William Harrison, the Justices of the Inferior Court for said County, also to Wm. S. Norman to secure other notes, and it is intended that the above mortgage shall be of equal dignity wiht this and the liens shall take equally alike.”
Recorded in Liberty County Superior Court on July 9, 1867.
Written on the deed was “Satisfied in full by order of the mortgages this 20th Nov 1871. [signed] S.A. Calder Clerk” [Liberty County Superior Court Clerk]
[NOTE: Other deeds involving Gaulden were on following pages through page 421. J.L. Shaw was identified in one of those deeds as Jeremiah D. Shaw, executor of the estate of John Shaw. M. Johns was identified as ?Malekiah? Johns, administrator of the estate of John Johns. ]
*Jones, Anderson and Gaulden were identified as living in the “aforesaid county,” which was almost certainly Liberty County, although other counties were named for the other creditors. They were working on Gaulden’s Millhaven Plantation, which was located in Liberty County, according to the deed. In the 1870 census, Luck Jones was a 26-year-old Black miller living in subdivision 177 relatively near William B. Gaulden.
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.415 (image #583-5). (Link: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-RSTM-8?i=582&cat=2923580)