Where was your ancestor in 1885?
I’ve picked up a new project lately. In the mid-1880s, Liberty County farmers, almost all of them Black, often made their annual purchases from Robert Q. Cassels store at McIntosh Station in the spring by mortgaging most everything they owned. The loans, all carrying 8 per cent annual interest, were to be paid off in the fall after the crop of rice, cotton and corn were harvested. Cassels filed these liens in court and those records still exist.
For genealogy research, these records tell us:
- That the individual was still alive in the mid-1880s. Since the 1890 census no longer exists, finding records that prove where your ancestor was and what (mostly) he owned from 1880-1900 is very valuable.
- What the individual owned. The liens included all major property that was not mortgaged to anyone else and described the property in detail.
- Who lived near whom. Even if your ancestor did not take out one of these loans, the properties other people mortgaged were normally described by listing neighbors. Is your ancestor among them?
For historical research, these records could be analyzed for many purposes.
I’m creating a spreadsheet of all the records found, including the liens filed by other merchants, such as J.C. Thompson and Flannery & Sons of Savannah, which were mostly made to White farmers.
Among the people named and the property they mortgaged:
Sampson Bacon: “my tract of land containing thirty acres land it being the home upon which I live said property being in my own name…”
Edward Miller: “my tract of 60 acres of land at & around Midway Church in Liberty Co. Ga., also my mule said property being in my own name and unencumbered…”
Scipio Mallard: “my tract of land (fifty acres) situated on the Midway & Riceboro Road being a part of the Sumner Winn plantation. Also three head cattle marks crop & split in one ear & a crop & split in the other, said property being in my own name and unencumbered…”
John Lambert: “25 acres land upon which I live bounded on the north by Ben Lambert East by lands of Est. James Anderson, South [by] August Jones West by Est[ate] Mingo Baker & also a lien on my crop said property being in my own name and unencumbered…”
Henry Anderson: “Forty acres of Land situated in the 1359th G.M. of Liberty County Georgia, bounded on the North by Land of William Shea, on the South by land of July Anderson on the East by land of Booby Houston, on the West by Land of Pompey Houston & also one bay stallion, about 7 years old, known as Jim…”
Doddy Brown: “thirty-five acres of Land situated in the 15th G.M. Liberty County, Georgia, bounded on the North by Land of E. A. Prince Wilson, on the South by land of Malbro [alt: Marlboro] Graham, on the East by land of Jim Stewart, on the West by land of Prime Wilson, one rone [SIC, roan] mare about 2 years old, known as Margret…”
Windsor Stevens: “Forty acres of land situated [in] the 1359 G.M. District of Liberty County Georgia bounded on the north by land of Jim Butler, on the South by land of Jone Roe, on the East Jone Roe, on the West by Philip Campbell, one bay mare about 3 years old, known as Nellie.”
So far I’ve abstracted 130 liens from Deed Book T. Once I’ve finished that deed book, I’ll put the spreadsheet online and start work on another deed book.
Held in Slavery by a Minister: James Shannon and the people he carried from Liberty County
While working on my Liberty County enslavers list, I found one James Shannon in the 1830 census, listed as owning 15 people. He was not resident in Liberty County then; only the people he owned were. He was not in the 1820 census, nor in any census records after 1830 in Liberty County.
Via our good friend Google, I found that he was actually a significant person in American history. He was an Irish educator and clergyman who was recruited to come from Ireland to teach at the Sunbury Academy in 1820 by Rev. Dr. William McWhir, about whom I’ve written previously. Like McWhir, who was also a native of Ireland, he married a local Liberty County woman, Evalina Dunham, who then inherited enslaved people from her aunt Martha Carter, who had inherited them from her husband James Carter in 1804.
Shannon became a fervent pro-slavery advocate during an illustrious career as an educator that included being President of the University of Missouri shortly before his death in 1859. He lived in Augusta and Athens, Georgia; Louisiana; Kentucky and Missouri along the way. With the zeal of the convert, he thrust himself into the fierce battles between pro- and anti-slavery forces in the U.S. border states that preceded the Civil War.
What happened to the enslaved people he and his wife took with them from Liberty County? That’s what I’m putting together. I’ve been ordering helpful documents, and the best came this week: a copy of the Shannon family bible listing the birth dates of Chloe, Isaac, Luke, Sary, Sampson, Jack, Toney, Bob, William, Hannah, Edy, and Hagar, all from Liberty County! Chloe was born in 1777. Toney or his son Anthony (whose birth was announced in a letter from Mrs. Shannon) became the bell-ringer at the University of Missouri in the 1850s.
I’m also interested in how Shannon’s experiences in Liberty County caused an Irishman to become one of the most vocal proponents of slavery in the United States. He justified his views through his reading of the Bible as saying that slavery was divinely inspired. Dr. J.E. Choate, a retired professor of religion and philosophy, wrote about him in 1999: “This writer is both attracted to and repelled by the life and influence of Shannon. My personal problem is that I cannot conceive of a brilliant educator who entertained such views on the institution of slavery over a lifetime.” Shannon’s repugnant views were clearly formed during and informed by his experience in Liberty County. What does that tell us about Liberty County?
More to come…