Andrew Law, his six siblings, and his mother Sibby were held in slavery by my 4th great-grandfather, John Ashmore of Liberty County, Georgia. The research report below details what I have been able to discover of his life before and after Emancipation.

Andrew Law

Summary

Andrew Law was born in Liberty County around 1825 and held in slavery there by John Ashmore. He lived on Ashmore’s farm with Sibby, his mother, and his six siblings. At Ashmore’s death in 1849, Andrew Law was inherited by Ashmore’s daughter, Sarah Rebecca Ashmore, who married Benjamin Lane. They sold Andrew to Jacob Manses, a German-born grocer in Savannah, in January 1851, but Manses sued them later that year because Andrew had problems with his leg. Manses won his case and then appears to have sold Andrew to Zachariah Zipperer, a farmer in Effingham County. By the time the Civil War started, Andrew was hiring himself out in Savannah and remitting part of his earnings to Zipperer. He experienced the Civil War in Effingham County, where Sherman’s troops took his possessions while they were foraging for the Army. After Emancipation, Andrew Law lived in Savannah the rest of his life, working as a wood seller and raising his children with his wife Ann. He died, probably of complications of heart failure, in 1890.

Details

Civil War and After

In 1867, Andrew Law registered to vote in Chatham County, swearing that he had lived in the precinct, county and state for the previous 12 months (a requirement for voting)^[1].

In 1870, the census enumerator found Andrew Law and his family living in Savannah^[2]. He listed Andrew Law as a day laborer, age 34, with presumable wife Anne (29), presumable son Jim (11) and presumable daughter Clara (9)^[3]. As was the custom, Andrew, his wife, and children were listed in age order. Also in the household and apparently listed by family were Rose Armstrong (20) and James (2) and Adeline (5 months) Polite, Henrietta Armstrong (18) and Maggie Armstrong (1 month), and Henry Law (age 10 months). Although listed out of order, it appears likely that Henry Law was Andrew’s and Ann’s son. (Possibly the Armstrong women were related to Anne?)

Andrew Law filed a U.S. Southern Claims Commission petition in September 1872, in Savannah for property he said was taken from him by Sherman’s Army on December 10, 1864, while the Army was foraging for provisions outside of Savannah^[4]. Law said he intended to call three witnesses to testify both to his loyalty to the Union (a requirement for compensation) and the taking of his property: Wade Collins, Adam Bradwell, and Martin Wendelken.

Law’s testimony was given before Commissioner Virgil Hillyer on October 15, 1872. He testified: “My name is Andrew Law, I was born in Liberty County, a slave, & became free when Genl. Sherman’s Army came [word]. I am 44 years of age. I live in Savannah. I am a wood seller. I am the claimant in this case…from the 1st of Apr 1861 till the 1st of June 1865 I resided in Effingham County & Chatham County. I came to Chatham County in 1862. My business then was farming. I hired my time & worked for myself.” (U.S. SCC claimants were asked where they were for that specific time period, so his reply did not mean that he was not in those places prior to that.)

He said that he had become free when Sherman’s Army came, and that he was a slave before that. His enslaver, he said, was “Zachariah Zipra,” who was still living at that time. He testified that the following property was taken from him, and that he had earned the property by hiring out his time and saving what was left over after paying his master. He also said that he was married and his wife was there when the property was taken.

No. Of Item	Description	Amt Claimed	Amt Allowed	Amt Disallowed
1	200 bushels of corn	250	—	250
2	100 bushels of rice	125	—	125
3	One barrel of syrup	30	—	30
4	8 head fine cattle	160	—	160
5	10 head hogs	120	—	120
6	200 bushels potatoes	200		200
7	2 horses	300	—	300
8	2000 lbs fodder	100	—	100
9	1 new wagon	70	—	70
10	1 set new harness	25	—	25
11	50 head poultry	25	—	25
12	50 bushels of peas	50	—	50
Total		$1455		$1455

Wade Collins testified: “My name is Wade Collins. I was born in Barnwell District. I was a slave & became free after the Army came through. I am between 30 & 35 years of age. I live in the City of Savannah. I am a butcher. I know the claimant, Mr. Law. I first knew him about 1?5? [or 11] years ago. I knew him all through the war. He & I belonged to the same man. I talked with him while the war was going on. Of course the most of our talk was hoping we might be free men. I did not know anything else but to be a union man…every colored man was a union man or a very foolish man one or the other. I know Mr. Law used to act & conduct himself very much like a union man.” He said that at the time the property was taken, they were all about 12 miles from “here” (presumably where the testimony was taken in Savannah) on the Augusta Road at Law’s owner’s place.

Adam L. Bradwell testified: My name is Adam L. Bradwell. I was born in Barnwell Dist. S.C. I was a slave & became free when the Union Army marched through. I am 26 years old. I live here in the city of Savannah Ga. I am a butcher. I knew the claimant Mr. Law. I have known him all my life. He knew me before I knew myself. I knew him intimately during the war. I lived next door neighbor to him. He & I talked together about the war. We were not allowed to talk out, all we said was pretty much between ourselves. When we heard the war had broken out we were much delighted because we heard it was for our freedom. Whenever we heard of a great slaughter of union solders we felt very sorrowfull. We were always praying for them and that they might come. The rebels used to tell us that the Yankees would cut the negros’ arms off & make them pull wagons like mules. And that we would be put in front of the union army to be shot down for a breast work. This did not frighten me. I did not believe it. I continued to be a Union man. Claimant & I used to talk these things over & we made our minds up that these things were not so & that we were told such things to dishearten us. Claimant did not get disheartened. He kept up his courage until the union army came. His chances of doing any-thing for the union soldiers were not much. I know of his having provided for a couple of union prisoners who escaped from the stockade. He fed them, gave them a bed to sleep on & when they left gave them directions which way to go to avoid the rebels & make their escape. If he had been found out, claimant would have been severely punished for it. I knew him to have been a good Union man all through the war.”

Martin Wendelken also testified. He was White, and was a naturalized U.S. citizen, having been born in Germany. At the time of the testimony, he was 45 years old, and a deputy jailor living in Savannah. He wasn’t there when Law’s property was taken, he said, but his home was on the way for the soldiers back to Savannah, and he saw them with Law’s wagon, his horses, and his property in the back. He added that Law had “begged me to speak to the soldiers that they would leave him some of his property or give him back some of it. I replied to them that it was no use the officers had told me they must have everything for the army & they were going to take all I had. They did take all of my property too. I was acquainted with claimant; I lived close by him & from what I knew of him he owned the property himself. I knew he owned it. He hired his own time & his master told me he paid his wages & he was allowed to work & own property for himself…I talked with him several times & he was always hoping the Unio Army would come through. He knew I was a union man myself & sympathised with the colored people & he felt free to speak with me on the subject.”

The Commissioners of Claims noticed that there was nothing specific in the testimonies to say exactly how Law had acquired the property, which was quite a bit of property for an enslaved man at that time and place. Many of the U.S. Southern Claims Commission petitions in coastal Georgia were filed by formerly enslaved people, particularly in Liberty County, and a number of those were approved, but those were normally for smaller amounts of property.

The Commissioners also pointed out that Law’s enslaver was alive, and added, “He should have been called as a witness or some white member of his family. The manner in detail by which the slave became possessed of the property must in all cases be stated when the claim is presented by a slave. We think the property belonged to Law’s former master. At all events we are not satisfied with proof of ownership & the claim is disallowed.”

At around this same time, in October 1872, Andrew Law was recorded in Freedman’s Bank records^[5]. He was residing in Savannah, he said, and was 44 years old, working for himself as a wood seller. He was born and brought up in Liberty County. He was married to Ann, and had two living children, James (14) and Cornelia (12). His children Betty, Sherman, Henry, and William were deceased. His father was Shadrach, listed as deceased, and Sibby Ashmore. His living brothers and sisters were Toby Ashmore, Tony West, Frank Williams, Litha Smith. He had two deceased sisters, Venus and Adaline, and his brother Clayton was listed as “sold away.”

Cornelia Law died of cerebral meningitis in Savannah in 1873^[6].

In the 1880 census, Andrew (45) and Ann (40) Law were living in Savannah’s 6^th G.M. District^[7]. Andrew was working as a laborer. His son James (20) was working as a streetcar driver and also in the household were Adaline (11), Florence (9), William (6) and Mary (1).

Andrew Law appears to have died on July 19, 1890, in Savannah after suffering a bout of dropsy earlier that month. He was buried in the African American section of Laurel Grove Cemetery. His birth year varied from record to record, but he was recorded as being 66 at his death, and this fits with the range of birth years found.

Florence Law may have married Allen J. Smith in Savannah in 1892 but was not found after that.^[8]

In 1910, Ann Law was found living with her daughter Mary M. Thompson and her husband Cornelius Thompson and their children Rosa (6), Cornelius (3) and Florence (2)^[9]. Cornelius Thompson died in 1918; Mary remarried to George Hampton and in 1920 they lived in Savannah with her three Thompson children, but Ann was not with them^[10]. By 1930, George and Mary Hampton had moved to Atlantic City, New Jersey, still with her Thompson children, and Ann was not with them there either^[11]. It appears possible Ann had died between 1910 and 1920 as other searches for her within Ancestry.com did not return results.

Slavery

The information found in the records between 1870-1890, when correlated with antebellum records, allows us to reconstruct some of Andrew’s life prior to Emancipation.

The Freedman’s Bank record was particularly valuable because it specified that Law was born in and grew up in Liberty County and gave his parents’ names. Sibby Ashmore was held in slavery by my 4^th great-grandfather, John Ashmore. His 1841 will^[12] named her and Andrew, as well as Toby, Toney, Frank, Elitha, and Clayton, all of whom were named as Andrew’s siblings in his Freedman’s Bank register. A Sandy was also named; Sandy Maybank listed these individuals, including Andrew, as his siblings in his own Freedman’s Bank record, but a different father, Balaam West, and called Sibby “Sibby West.”^[13] Sibby was evidently the mother of seven people in John Ashmore’s will.

The will specified that Abram, Andrew, Edwin (apparently unrelated to Sibby and her children), and Elitha were to be inherited by Ashmore’s daughter Sarah Rebecca Ashmore, who married Benjamin Lane, probably shortly after the time the will was written. (She was only referred to as “Sarah” in the will.)

John Ashmore died in 1849^[14]. No estate inventory has been found for him, though one should exist. Sarah Rebecca Ashmore Lane survived the Civil War, so there were no probate records for her that named Andrew. Her husband Benjamin Lane died in 1859. An 1859 estate settlement has been found in which Sarah and Benjamin’s children by a previous marriage came to an agreement on how to distribute his property^[15]. In that agreement, Abram, Frederick, Drusilla, and Jim were named as enslaved people to be her property during her lifetime. As part of this record, James Clark sold his share in Lane’s 353 acres of land known as the Wilson and Andrews land, as well as enslaved people Moses, Sam, Sary and Nancy, to Benjamin Lane’s children by his previous marriage. Sarah also executed a deed of trust to put Frederick, Drusilla and Jim in a trust for her daughter, Mary Esther Clark, wife of James Clark. No other enslaved people were listed in this set of documents, appearing to indicate that Andrew was not part of Lane’s estate.

Did Andrew in fact ever belong to the Lanes? A serendipitous discovery of a court record appears to reveal that he did. In 1851, Jacob Manses, a German-born grocer in Savannah, sued Benjamin Lane in Liberty County Superior Court for $1000^[16]. He alleged that on January 3, 1851, in Savannah, he had purchased from Lane for $600, which he called “a large price,” “a certain negro man Slave named Andrew about twenty years of age as and for a sound and healthful negro.” He claimed that Lane knew that Andrew was “unsound, diseased in his leg and otherwise diseased,” adding that Andrew “was of little or no use and value to your petitioner.” He requested damages in the amount of $1000.

Lane was summoned by the Court on November 5, 1851, to appear at the next Superior Court term. On November 29, 1851, both men appeared, and jury found Lane guilty and assessed him damages of $100 plus court costs.

What happened to Andrew as a result of this? Based on the verdict, it appears that he would have stayed with Manses and not been returned to Lane; however, since Manses apparently could not use him for the purpose for which he was purchased, it seems likely that he sold him.

Although no record was found of the sale of Andrew by Lane to Manses, or by Manses to anyone else, it should be remembered that bills of sale were often not recorded unless there was a specific legal purpose.

This brings us to Andrew Law’s testimony to the U.S. Southern Claims Commission in 1872. We have established through comparison of other documents that this is the Andrew Law who was held in slavery by John Ashmore in Liberty County, inherited by Ashmore’s daughter Sarah Lane, and sold by Benjamin Lane to Jacob Manses in Savannah. Why did Andrew Law testify that he was owned by Zachariah Zipra?

And who was Zachariah Zipra? A few mentions of a Zachariah Zipro were found in Savannah court records, but otherwise there were no census or other records found for a man by that name in Chatham or Effingham Counties. However, a search for White men with the first name Zachariah in Effingham County records turned up the answer. His surname was Zipperer. It had obviously been written down as it was heard: Zipra.

Zipperer was a farmer in Effingham County. Zachariah Zipperer lived past the end of the Civil War, so there were no probate records that might have revealed his ownership of Andrew^[17]. His father Emanuel’s 1867 will left land to Zachariah, his brother Obadiah (with whom he was living when the census taker came around in 1880), and his adopted brother Jeremiah, but no mention was made of enslaved people^[18]. Their sister Jane Maria Zipperer had married a man named William Hester, according to the will. No records were found explicitly linking Zachariah Zipperer to Andrew except for the U.S. Southern Claims Commission petition.

However, despite the lack of other records, Andrew Law’s and Wade Collins’ testimony that they were held in slavery by Zachariah Zipra in Effingham County 12 miles from Savannah along the Savannah-Augusta Road leads to the conclusion that Andrew Law’s enslaver during the time period 1861-1865 was Zachariah Zipperer of Effingham County.

Law testified that he had moved to Chatham County in 1862 to hire himself out while paying his owner for his time, which was not uncommon, as it brought in income for the owner. This seems particularly likely to be true because Andrew Law was apparently partly disabled, according to the court case, and Zipperer was a farmer, so Law may not have been useful to him as a laborer.

Wade Collins testified in 1872 that he had first met Law 15 years previously. Adam Bradwell testified at the same time that he was 26 years old and had known Law all his life. Collins’ testimony would put his first acquaintance with Law at around 1853, which matches almost exactly when he was likely sold by Manses. Bradwell’s testimony, however, would put the year of first acquaintance at 1846, which does not match either Collins’ testimony or the evidence of Andrew Law’s ownership by Jacob Manses in 1851. The weight of the other evidence suggests that Bradwell was mistaken (or misquoted) about how long he had known Law (and perhaps about his own age^[19]).

Andrew Law’s Parents

In the 1872 Freedman’s Bank record, Andrew Law listed his parents as Shadrach (deceased) and Sibby Ashmore. Sibby Ashmore was almost certainly deceased at this point, as she had a child as early as 1810^[20]. Shadrach was probably listed as deceased to explain the lack of a surname, which suggested that he did not live past 1865.

Based on having given birth as early as 1810, Sibby Ashmore was likely born before 1795. John Ashmore, her enslaver, was born in 1767^[21]. It is possible based on the ages that he was her first enslaver. His father, Strong Ashmore, had come to Georgia from South Carolina (where John Ashmore was born) in the 1750s^[22]. Unfortunately, there are no records to show whether or not Strong Ashmore owned Sibby. He died in 1784, when John was 16, and his estate was listed as insolvent for tax purposes the next year^[23]. His executor was John Evans, who later married Strong’s widow, Rebecca, but both of them disappeared from the records after that, and no estate inventory has been found. Unless additional records surface, we may never know where Sibby came from before 1810 or whether John Ashmore was her original owner.

There is other evidence that people held in slavery by John Ashmore were known colloquially with the surname “Ashmore” during slavery^[24]. Since it seems unlikely that Sibby was alive at Emancipation (there are no records indicating that she was), the use of a surname for her in this record probably just shows how she was known during her lifetime. Interestingly, Sandy Maybank, who was apparently also Sibby’s son from another man, Balaam West, listed Sibby with the surname West in his own Freedman’s Bank record, lending credibility to the idea that she did not live long enough to legally adopt a surname herself.

Why did Andrew Law choose to legally use the surname Law after Emancipation? In fact, only one of Sibby’s known children who lived to Emancipation legally adopted the name Ashmore. That was Toby, who is shown through DNA evidence to have been biologically related to the White Ashmores. Sibby’s son Sandy Maybank listed his siblings in his own 1871 Freedman’s Bank account with the surname Ashmore (Toby Ashmore, Toney Ashmore, Frank Ashmore, Lizia Ashmore) but they were listed with other surnames in Andrew Law’s 1872 bank record and appear to have used those other surnames legally. Sandy Maybank listed Andrew with the surname of Law, however.

The reason for use of the Law surname may involve Shadrach, listed by Andrew Law as his father in the Freedman’s Bank record. Shadrach was not a common name for enslaved people in Liberty County^[25], so it is noteworthy that slaveowner Nathaniel Law’s 1836 estate inventory listed a Shadrach^[26]. In the estate’s division the following year^[27], Shadrach was in the lot that was inherited by Miss Ann P. Law, Nathaniel’s daughter, who that same year married John B. Barnard^[28]. Ann Pray Law Barnard survived the Civil War, so there were no probate records for her listing Shadrach^[29]. John B. Barnard died in 1861^[30]. At the time, he owned the North Hampton Plantation, but in his 1862 estate inventory, no Shadrach was listed^[31]. If Shadrach was in fact inherited by Ann Pray Law, it is possible that he was not part of Barnard’s estate because he was in fact owned by her. It is also possible that he had died prior to 1862, or that he had been sold or gifted some time previously.

How would Shadrach and Sibby have met? The Law and Ashmore families were friends and neighbors. In fact, a Law descendant was my father’s good friend growing up, was his best man at his wedding to my mother and conducted his funeral when he died. The two families have known each other for well over 250 years.

1. “Georgia, Returns of Qualified Voters and Reconstruction Oath Books, 1867-1869,” City of Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia, entry for Andrew Law, voter #953, page 24 (handwritten); database images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1857/images/32305_1220705227_0258-00049 : accessed 28 Apr 2024), image 140 of 363. ↑

2. 1870 U.S. Census, Chatham County, Georgia, population schedule, City of Savannah, p. 78 (handwritten), dwelling #485, family #495, enumerated on June 18, 1870, family of Andrew Law; digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7163/images/4263397_00082 : accessed 28 Apr 2024).  ↑

3. Appears to be a nickname or misrepresentation of the name Cornelia. ↑

4. “U.S. Southern Claims Commission, Disallowed and Barred Claims, 1871-1880,” Chatham County, Georgia, case file of Andrew Law, case #16520; indexed database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1218/images/rhusa1871_102785__0009-00381 : accessed 28 Apr 2024), images 2630-2666 of 9657; citing National Archives Microfilm Publication M1407, 4829 fiche, Barred and Disallowed Case Files of the Southern Claims Commission, 1871-1880; citing Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, Record Group 233; National Archives, Washington, D.C. ↑

5.  Registers of Signatures of Depositors in Branches of the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company, 1865-1874, for Georgia, Chatham County, Microfilm Series: M816, the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Record for Andrew Law; digital database, Ancestry.com ((https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/62309/images/004139868_00250 : accessed 28 Apr 2024), “U.S., Freedman’s Bank Records, 1865-1874” -> “Registers of Signatures of Depositors, 1865-1874,” -> “Roll 09: Savannah, Georgia; Dec 17-1870-Oct 22, 1872), image 671 of 686. ↑

6. : City of Savannah, Georgia Records – Health Department, Vital Statistics Registers, Savannah, Georgia; digital database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2209/images/32850_B013309-00162 : accessed 28 Apr 2024), “Savannah, Georgia Vital Records, 1803-1966” -> “Death” -> “1873”, image 28 of 44. ↑

7. 1880 U.S. Census, Chatham County, Georgia, population schedule,  6^th G.M. District, enumeration district 33, page 22 (handwritten), dwelling 303, family 327, entry for Andrew Law household; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6742/images/4240131-00084 : accessed 28 Apr 2024). ↑

8. Chatham County, Georgia, Marriages, Book 1, 1891-1892, entry for Allen J. Smith “colored” to Florence Law “colored”, May 18, 1892, marriage performed on May 19, 1892, Chatham County, Georgia; database images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/4766/images/40951_294653-00238 : accessed 28 Apr 2024), image 239 of 340. ↑

9. 1910 U.S. Census, Chatham County, Georgia, population schedule, Savannah City, enumeration district 46, Ward 1, marked “supplement,” page 226 (stamped), line numbers 34-39, house 1005 36^th Street, for household of Ann Law;  digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7884/images/31111_4327476-01067 : accessed 28 Apr 2024).  ↑

10. 1910 U.S. Census, Chatham County, Georgia, population schedule, Savannah City, enumeration district 58, sheet 38B, line numbers 88-92, house 724 Cemetery Avenue, in household of George and Henrietta Brown;  digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6061/images/4295808-01145 : accessed 28 Apr 2024).  ↑

11. 1930 U.S. Census, Atlantic County, New Jersey, population schedule, 4^th ward, enumeration district 1-25, sheet 22A (252 stamped), line numbers 29-31, 2019 Caspian Ave, household of George and Mary Hampton; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6224/images/4660845_01055 : accessed 28 Apr 2024).  ↑

12. Liberty County Court of Ordinary, Wills & Appraisements Book B, 1824-1850, Georgia, page 479, Will of John Ashmore and codicil;  digitized microfilm accessed through manual search, Ancestry (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-893L-GH8M?i=679 : accessed 28 Apr 2024), “Georgia Probate Records, 1743-1990” > Liberty County > “Will, appraisements and bonds 1790-1850 vol B,” image 680 of 689, item 2 of 2. For a transcription of this record, see https://theyhadnames.net/2018/06/08/liberty-county-will-john-ashmore/. ↑

13. Registers of Signatures of Depositors in Branches of the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company, 1865-1874, for Georgia, Chatham County, Microfilm Series: M816, the National Archives in Washington, D.C. record for Sandy Maybank; digital database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/8755/images/GAM816_9-0100 : accessed 28 Apr 2024), “U.S., Freedman’s Bank Records, 1865-1874” -> “Registers of Signatures of Depositors, 1865-1874,” -> “Roll 09: Savannah, Georgia; Dec 17-1870-Oct 22, 1872), image 100 of 686. ↑

14. His death on December 16, 1849, was found documented in “1815-1835 Church Register, Pleasant Grove Methodist Church, Fleming, Liberty Co, Ga,” provided to the Georgia Department of Archives and History by Marie Cofer of the Mt. Olivet Methodist Church, the successor church to Pleasant Grove. Records transcribed based on microfilm copy at: https://theyhadnames.net/pleasant-grove-church-records/.  ↑

15. Liberty County (Georgia) Superior Court, “Deeds and mortgages, 1777-1920; general index to deeds and mortgages, 1777-1958,” Film: Deeds & Mortgages, v. O-P 1854-1870,” Record Book O, p 446-7; digital images, FamilySearch.org (accessed at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-RSP3-V?i=270&cat=292358 : 24 Apr 2024), image 271. Includes estate settlement, bill of sale, and deed of trust. Find an abstracted version at: https://theyhadnames.net/2019/06/01/estate-settlement-benjamin-lane/. ↑

16. Superior Court proceedings, Vol. 5, 1842-1855, Liberty County, Georgia, page 492-494; database with images, “Liberty County Superior Court Proceedings, Vol 5 1842-1855,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3H3-QRDJ : accessed 9 Feb 2023), Family History Library Film 008628085, item 2 of 2, image 621-622 of 658. ↑

17. 1880 U.S. Census, Effingham County, Georgia, population schedule,  46^th District, enumeration district 46, page 16, dwelling 122, family 127, entry for Zachariah Zipperer; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6742/images/4240138-00110 : accessed 24 Apr 2024). ↑

18. Effingham County (Georgia), Will Book 3, 1829-1859, page 25, will of Emmanual Zipperer;  digitized microfilm accessed through manual search, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/8635/images/005759631_00152 : accessed 28 Apr 2024), “Georgia Probate Records, 1743-1990” > Effingham County > “Wills, 1829-1950” image 152 of 633. ↑

19. In the 1870 census, a man named Wade Collins, a Savannah butcher born in South Carolina (which matches his SCC testimony), was listed as being 37 years old, for a birth year of 1833. The 1880 census record for the same man lists 1835, and his probable burial record lists a birth year of 1836. ↑

20. 1870 U.S. census, Liberty County, Georgia, population schedule, Subdivision 181, page 4, dwelling 378, family 378, enumerated on November 22, 1870, by W.S. Norman, entry for Toby Ashmore household; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7163/images/4263491_00475 : accessed 24 Apr 2024), image 40 of 56. ↑

21. His birth on November 6, 1767, was found documented in “1815-1835 Church Register, Pleasant Grove Methodist Church, Fleming, Liberty Co, Ga,” provided to the Georgia Department of Archives and History by Marie Cofer of the Mt. Olivet Methodist Church, the successor church to Pleasant Grove. Records transcribed based on microfilm copy at: https://theyhadnames.net/pleasant-grove-church-records/.  ↑

22. Strong Ashmore petitioned for 150 acres in Newport adjoining land of Richard Baker, saying that he was married and had been in the Province for five years. Petition granted. Source: The Colonial Records of Georgia, vol. 8. ↑

23. Probate and Guardian Records 1784-1912″ under Liberty County in “Georgia, Wills and Probate Records, 1742-1992″. Died in 1784, estate valued at 125 pounds; Ashmore, Strong, decd, John Evans, qualified admr, dismd 3/20/1785, Liberty, Ests” from Georgia Intestate Records, Jeanette Holland Austin, originally from “Liberty, Docket of Estates (1783-1793). ↑

24. Sandy Maybank (who used that name legally after Emancipation) was referred to as “Sandy Ashmore” in 1848 by Roswell King, Jr, owner of South Hampton plantation and a neighbor of the Ashmore family. Sullivan, Buddy, “All Under Bank: Roswell King, Jr. and Plantation Management in Tidewater Georgia,” page 61. ↑

25. Based on documentation of over 37,000 references to enslaved and free African Americans in antebellum Liberty County, Georgia, records at TheyHadNames.net. ↑

26. “Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990,” images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-893L-GHR8?cc=1999178&wc=9SYT-PT5%3A267679901%2C268032901 : 20 May 2014), Liberty > Wills, appraisements and bonds 1790-1850 vol B > image 534 of 689; county probate courthouses, Georgia. (Find an abstracted version at: https://theyhadnames.net/2018/08/22/liberty-county-estate-inventory-nathaniel-law/.) ↑

27. Family Search.org. Liberty County Superior Court “Deeds and mortgages, 1777-1920; general index to deeds and mortgages, 1777-1958,” Film: Deeds & Mortgages, v. K-L 1831-1842,” Record Book K, p. 380-2. Image #243-4 (Link: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-T922-W?cat=292358). (Find an abstracted version at: https://theyhadnames.net/2020/03/14/liberty-county-estate-inventory-division-nathaniel-law/.) ↑

28. Chatham County, Georgia, Marriages Book, 1837-1842, entry for John B. Barnard of Chatham County and Ann P. Law, spinster, of Liberty County, 22 July 1837;  database images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/4766/images/40951_294216-00308 : accessed 24 Apr 2024), “Georgia, Marriage Records From Select Counties, 1828-1978” > Chatham -> “Marriages, 1837-1842” image 8 of 252. ↑

29. 1880 U.S. Census, Liberty County, Georgia, population schedule,  District 15, enumeration district 67, page 71, dwelling 766, family 771, entry for Ann Barnard as a boarder in the household of Charlotte Morrall; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6742/images/4240148-00471 : accessed 24 Apr 2024). ↑

30. Savannah, Georgia, U.S., Cemetery and Burial Records, 1852-1939 -> Laurel Grove Cemetery Interments -> 1861 Apr-1869 Dec, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2770/images/40153_B013354-00007 : accessed 24 Apr 2024), image 4 of 542. ↑

31. “Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L93T-XYPH?cc=1999178&wc=9SB7-6T5%3A267679901%2C268014801 : 20 May 2014), Liberty > Miscellaneous probate records 1850-1863 vol C and L > image 283 of 703. ↑