I’m still reading through post Civil War deed records to find the ones involving African Americans. I keep running across interesting records and taking detours to research them so it’s taking longer than it should.
Today’s interesting record: In 1871, Eugene Bacon, a never-married former slaveowner, made over a plot of land to Binah McCollough, who had probably been held in slavery by Bacon, in return for her services as a domestic for the rest of his life.
At first, this sounded as though she had essentially sold herself back into slavery, but in fact Bacon was in his mid-70s at the time and he died less than a year later.
Did Binah McCollough get the land she was promised? Bacon had left himself an “out.” If she did not complete her service, she got nothing. However, the bargain appears to have been honored. A little less than a month before Bacon died, Binah sold her right to the land to Washington Stevens, also of Liberty County, for $5 in cash. At that time, the land was described as being 7 acres. In the original deed record, it was described as being 13 acres.
On the day that Bacon died, February 12, 1872, family members witnessed (and later recorded) his oral (noncupative) will leaving all his property to Julia B. Bacon. However, she was one of the people who witnessed the bill of sale by Binah McCollough to Washington Stevens, so it doesn’t appear that the family opposed the bargain.
Eugene Bacon never married and lived with his mother, Martha Wheeler Bacon, for decades. When she died in 1852, she left her estate to him for his lifetime only, and afterward to other relatives, so he may have had some disability.
Was Binah in fact held in slavery by Eugene Bacon? Probably. In 1838, he used a woman named Binah and her three children Georgia, Jenny and Phebe as collateral on a promissory note, along with other enslaved people and his 150-acre plantation known as the Zahara plantation. Binah McCollough would have been about 17 at this time.
In 1854, William Henry Bacon sold his part of Martha Bacon’s estate to a Chatham County man, noting that it could only be collected after Eugene Bacon’s death. Binah, Georgia and Jenny were named as included in the people who were to be sold. Since Eugene Bacon did not die until after Emancipation that part of the sale never happened. Martha Bacon’s estate was inventoried several times between 1853 and 1863, and Binah and Jenny were listed. Georgia was listed in the others but not in the 1863 inventory. Although it might seem odd that Eugene Bacon was using people he did not technically own as collateral prior to his mother’s death, they did other joint promissory notes using enslaved people as collateral.
Why would Eugene Bacon have felt the need to make a formal record deeding Binah McCollough land instead of paying her, say, $5 for her services? This part is puzzling. I wonder if perhaps this was actually arranged by his family to ensure that he had care, given a possible disability, if his death did not appear imminent at the time. It’s very interesting that they were willing to have it be put in writing. Maybe Binah insisted on it?
What happened to Binah McCollough? In 1870, she was living with July McCollough (68), William Bacon (9) and Binah Pray (6), in their own household near Eugene Bacon. She was listed as being 49 years old. Although relationships were not enumerated in the 1870 census, it seems more likely that July McCollough was her father than her husband, given the age difference. In addition, July McCollough married a Lavina Carter in 1872. Either relationship, however, would explain her surname. Given the unsettled social climate after Emancipation, William Bacon and Binah Pray could have been her children, her grandchildren, some other relations, or no relation.
No records were found for Binah McCollough after 1872. All the records mentioned in this post can be found on the They Had Names website except for Eugene Bacon’s noncupative will, which can be found at Family Search, “Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990” -> “Liberty” -> “Estates 1775-1892 McCall, Stephen, Mell Elizabeth” (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99QM-V3W3).