Progress on Projects
I’m still chipping away at detangling the many Simon Frasers of the early 19th century in Liberty County. Using the bedrock genealogy principle of “reasonably exhaustive research” set me to reading each of the Liberty County Superior Court deed records in the Fraser part of the index. Doing that in the Fraser part of the Court of Ordinary loose papers led me to the document I mentioned last time in which a Simon Fraser applied for U.S. citizenship in Liberty County in 1835.
This time I found something completely unexpected that might explain my mystery Simon Fraser. In 1838, Inverness, Scotland, William Martin Fraser gave his brother, Simon Alexander Fraser, a power of attorney to travel to Liberty County to administer their deceased brother Donald Fraser’s estate and “negroes.” This Scottish document was recorded in Liberty County Superior Court so that Simon Fraser could sign the necessary documents there.
This probably explains why there is a Simon Fraser in the 1840 Liberty County census who does not fit the age range for the known Liberty County Simon Frasers. It also reveals that some of the deed records from this time were signed by this Simon Fraser, not by the three known Liberty County Simon Frasers.
Again, why is this important for slavery research? After all, I’m not trying to tell the story of the Simon Frasers. Who the slaveowner was — which Simon Fraser he was — matters. The people that planter was holding in slavery came from somewhere. If not purchased from an outside source, they were inherited, gifted, or foreclosed on when used as collateral on a defaulted-on promissory note. We need to know his wife, his parents, his grandparents, and his siblings.
With only first names available to researchers for tracing enslaved people’s lives, knowing the slaveowner thoroughly is critical to trying to trace an enslaved person’s life further back into history.
Research Snippets
While researching the Frasers, I did a search in Savannah newspapers, as Liberty County did not have its own newspaper at that time in the early 1800s. Among other things, I found an ad in the Savannah Daily Republican from 1822:
“On the first Tuesday in November next, will be sold at the Court House in Riceborough Liberty County within the usual hours of sale the following property viz: 3 Negroes, Inverness, Jim and Sue, levied on as the property of Andrew F. Fraser, to satisfy an execution in favour of his Taxes due the State and County for the years 1820 and 1821…Also a tract of land containing 400 acres more or less lying on the waters of Taylors Creek, bounded by John Smylie and others, levied on as the property of Simon A. Fraser to satisfy an execution in favor of his Taxes due the State and County for the years 1820 and 1821.”
Imagine being sold because someone didn’t pay his taxes? There were many such ads in the newspaper.
What I’ve Been Reading
Instead of talking about a book this week, I’d like to call out an absolutely outstanding presentation by Sharon Batiste Gillins about the U.S. Southern Claims Commission: “Loyalists, Freedmen and Frauds in the Southern Claims Commission.” It is only available on Legacy Family Tree Webinars, which is a paid service, but the webinars are free at the time they’re given and for the following week, and today is the last day to watch it for free. This is in the service’s African Diaspora series. The service costs $49 a year, but is often on sale for about $24 during holidays. The access to thousands of genealogy webinars taught by the foremost genealogy speakers makes this worth it for genealogists of all levels.