Have you ever wondered how formerly enslaved people could afford to buy land not very long after Emancipation? A contract in Liberty County, Georgia, shows one option. In 1870, ten freedmen — Stephen Stewart, Pulaski Baker, Thomas Bacon, Plenty Alexander, Mingo Norman, Robert Graham, William Wilson, Henry Baker, Shedrick Bacon, and Stephen Daniels — contracted with Theodore N. Winn to buy his 300-acre Laurel Hill plantation for $1500 worth of labor.
The contract stipulated that they would make installment payments of $500 per year but that the installments would be paid via labor, not money, unless they opted otherwise. During the months of October-January, they had to work for Winn for 15 days; during February-May, six days; and in June-September, 10 days. The labor consisted of cutting pine staves, rails, cords of pine, lightwood or oak, and hoop poles and they were paid by the unit. Work on Winn’s farm was valued at 75 cents per day.
If any of the men were not able to work for any reason, they could provide a substitute, as long as he was an able-bodied man between 18 and 45. At the end of the term period, Winn was to hire a surveyor who would lay out the 30-acre lots for each man, and Winn would make over the titles.
But did Laurel Hill get sold to the freedmen in the end? Well, I haven’t been able to determine that. I found no deed records to show that Winn had made over titles, but possibly they might not have been recorded. It seems unlikely, though, since the contract was recorded.
The contract was dated on September 29, 1870. Two weeks prior to that, Winn had mortgaged Laurel Hill and other property (the “Jack Baker” tract, “Forest Home” place, and the “Polly [or Dolly] Norman tract”) to Mrs. J.C. Tilton of Chatham County for repayment of an unspecified debt. Further research might show if he defaulted; normally in cases of default, the land would be sold at auction. In 1872, Winn did sell the “Jack Baker” tract and another Liberty County property to Nathaniel O. Tilton. No mention was made of Laurel Hill.
Who were the freedmen named in the contract? Had they previously been held in slavery by Theo. N. Winn’s father, James Wilson Winn, who died in 1854? According to U.S. Southern Claims Commission files, Pulaski Baker and Stephen Daniels were, and possibly Mingo Norman. However, William Wilson was enslaved by Edward Andrews, and the answer is not yet known for the others. It appears that these men were likely linked to one another through intricate ties of blood and marriage, and also met Winn’s criteria (between 18-45 and able-bodied), which might have pulled in some unrelated people.
One thing worth noting for your genealogy research is the variety of surnames. If these people were held in slavery by the Winns, they did not use their surname upon Emancipation. My research has shown it was rare for freed people to use the name of their last enslaver in Liberty County’s 15th District. (I’ve made a video about this: “Where Did That Surname Come From?“)
Follow-up to Charles R. Holcombe’s story
After writing about Charles R. Holcombe, the former 4th United States Colored Infantry white officer who falsified the 1870 federal census in Liberty County, I found a book about the 4th USCI. “A Regiment of Slaves: The 4th United States Colored Infantry, 1863-1866” by Edward Longacre is a deeply researched and sympathetic look at the fascinating story of this Civil War unit. It only had a few items about Holcombe but they confirmed the account in my blog post. It did also confirm that J. Murray Hoag, the Freedmen’s Bureau agent in Savannah, had had a stellar record during the War — a sharp contrast to Holcombe.
The book is called “A Regiment of Slaves” because the unit was formed in Maryland of liberated enslaved men, as well as freedmen. Maryland, of course, was a slaveowning state at the time, and the recruiters traveled to plantations and forcibly “liberated” African American men to serve in the unit, so many of the soldiers had gone directly from slavery to fighting for their country and their freedom. Longacre, author of many books on the Civil War and the honorary president of the U.S. Cavalry Association, had the background to read past the biased accounts of the time and conclude that, despite meeting with prejudice on all sides (including lower pay than white soldiers), the unit had “a combat record of which any infantry regiment, black or white, would have been proud.” Throughout the book, he cites the extensive correspondence of Christian Fleetwood, a free Black man serving in the unit, which provides a look at not only what the unit did during the War but what he and others thought about what was happening. A really interesting book and highly recommended.