People named: Benjamin McDonald, Charles Way, Scipio Lambert, Jack Anderson, Cesar [alt: Caesar, Caesar] Anderson, Natt Jones, Frank Williams, Sam Law, Primus Jones, Jim Law, Nancy Williams, Troop Way
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Copy
Labor Contract
1867
Benj. (Benjamin) McDonald Employer
A.M. McIver
Agt B R F & AL
State of Georgia, Liberty County } This indenture made between Benj. McDonald of the State and County aforesaid of the first part and the undersigned Freedmen of the same place of the Second part witnesseth that the said McDonald hath & doth agree that the said undersigned Freedmen may plant a crop of corn, cotton rice peas potatoes & other things on the Retreat Plantation belonging to Dr. R. [Raymond] Harris controlled the present year by the said Benj. McDonald. And the said undersigned Freedmen of the second part do agree to plant one & a half acres of land to each full hand and in like proportion to three quarters half or quarter hands to be by the said undersigned Freedmen cultivated and properly tended once every fourteen days and harvested for the exclusive use and benefit of the said McDonald, the land to be planted in such crop as suits the said McDonald and that the advice & directions relative to the cultivation & harvesting of such crop as may be grown on such land shall be respected and obeyed. The said McDonald of the first part agrees to furnish the horses, ploughs, and one fifth the hoes to plough & tend his share of the land that the said undersigned Freedmen are to cultivate for him. The undersigned Freedmen do agree to construct buildings if required by any of them on said plantation and to repair those at present occupied if necessary, and the fencing & buildings to be kept in good order by those in whose occupancy the enclosures and buildings may be and must be returned in perfect order at the end of the year eighteen hundred & sixty seven. It is further agreed by each of the undersigned Freedmen that if through neglect and idleness, or the conviction of crime the separate crop of the said McDonald should come to [word] for the want of attention and work, that then the said McDonald has the right to seize the growing crop of such delinquent and appropriate to his own use & benefit. It is further agreed that if either of the parties violate the intention and meaning of this contract he she or they shall forfeit their rights and interest in the same. Whereunto we have affixed our hands & seals this 16th day of February 1867.
Benj. McDonald
Charles Way & wife [signed by mark]
Scipio Lambert & daughter [signed by mark]
Jack Anderson & wife ¾ hand [signed by mark]
And Cesar Anderson & sister ¾ hand
Natt Jones & wife ½ hand [signed by mark]
Frank Williams & wife [signed by mark]
Sam Law [signed by mark]
Primus Jones for Jim Law
And Nancy Williams Jim Law’s wife both half hands [signed by mark]
Troop Way ¾ hand [signed by mark]
Riceboro February 16th 1867
Examined & approved
A.M. McIver
Agt B R F & A L
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Records of the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen & Abandoned Lands, Field Office Records for Georgia, Liberty County, Labor Contract between Benjamin McDonald & freedmen and women; digital database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/62309/images/004139868_00352, U.S., Freedmen’s Bureau Records, 1865-1878 -> Records of the Field Offices -> M1903 > 83, image 223; citing National Archives Microfilm Publication M1903, Roll 83.