Georgia, Liberty County } To the Honorable the Ordinary of said County
The petition of Peter Smith a person of color of said State and County respectfully sheweth that your Petitioner is the head of a family, residing with him in said County and State: that he is desirous of securing the benefit of the provisions of the act of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, commonly known as the Homestead Act, passed in pursuance of the requirements of the first section of the seventh article of the constitution of Georgia now in force, and entitled an act to provide for setting apart a homestead of realty and personalty, and for the valuation of said property, and for the full and complete protection and security of the same, to the sole use and benefit of families etc. Your petitioner further showeth that as an applicant for the benefit of the exemptions provided for in said act, and the succeeding acts amendatory thereof, he has complied with all the requirements and conditions prescribed in the same, having made a full, complete and faithful schedule or inventory of all the personal property of which he is possessed at the time of this application which said schedule is herewith annexed and rendered in, as including all the personal property of which your petitioner is at this time possessed, and which he respectfully asks may be received, taken and considered, as representing and comprising the personal property claimed by him to be exempt, under the above recited section of the constitution of Georgia and the provisions of the Homestead Act hereinbefore referred to from levy and sale. Your petitioner further respectfully sheweth that he is the owner of no real estate in said County or State out of which to claim a Homestead, and therefore requiring no intervention of the County Surveyor under the order and appointment of the Honorable the Ordinary of said County to lay off, plat and value a Homestead of land, as would otherwise be necessary, and having herewith delivered in his schedule of personal property, which he claims to be exempt under the valuation thereto attached, your petitioner prays that his application for said exemption be received and that your Honor will proceed to act upon the same, by publishing the notice required by law, designating and appointing in said notice the earliest day allowed to pass upon said application.
And your petitioner will every pray etc.
H. M. Law atty for Peter
Schedule of Personal Property
The following comprises a full and complete Schedule of all the personal property owned by Peter Smith, a person of color, and of which he was possessed at the time of this present application for the benefit and protection of the Homestead law.
One grey horse $125.00
Two head hogs $8.00
Eight pigs $4.00
One hog in pen $5.00
Five head hogs in woods $20.00
Eight fowls $3.20
Three Hund. Weight fodder $2.80
Eight Bush. Corn $10.00
Three Hund. Sugar canes $3.00
One Bush. Seed potatoes $1.00
One very old cart harness & traces $5.00
One saddle & bridle $3.00
One cross cut saw $5.00
One foot adze $1.00
Two chopping axes $3.50
One plough $1.00
One hatchet $0.50
Five pots $5.00
Six plates $1.25
Six knives & forks $1.50
One frying pan $0.50
One bowl $0.25
Two beds $2.00
One bedstead $1.75
Three chairs & one bench $3.00
One table $1.00
One trunk $2.00
One ? Derk ? $3.00
One cupboard $3.00
One water basket $0.50
One wash tub $0.50
Two smoothing irons $1.00
Three pairs pants $7.00
Two coats $2.50
One vest $2.00
Two shirts $2.00
Three Hoes $2.00
Approved this 28th day of Feb’y 1870.
W.P. Girardeau O.L.C.
Recorded March 30th 1870.
Source: Liberty County, Georgia, Deeds & Mortgages, 1860-1870, Book P, page 614-5; digitized microfilm accessed through catalog, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-RSPB-H : accessed 16 Jan 2024), Family History Library microfilm 008564333, “Deeds & Mortgages, v. O-P 1854-1870,” image 684 of 699, item 2 of 2; citing original records of Liberty County Superior Court, Georgia.