Enslaved People Named: Toney, Peggy, Tom, Hercules
Location: Bryan County, Georgia
On January 3, 1803, Harriet Stephens, “spinster” of Bryan County, entered into a marriage settlement with Hugh Ross, merchant of Savannah, with William Page of Bryan County as her trustee. They set up a trust, and into they put “several negro slaves” who belonged to her: “the negro fellow Toney, his wife Peggy, their two children Tom and Hercules.” They were to be held for her separate use and benefit during her natural life and not to be subject to the debts of her intended husband. She was to be able to dispose of them “as though she were a femme sole.” After her death, they were to pass in trust to her husband, but if she survived him to remain with her. Witnessed by Thomas Beggs, Thomas P. Toomer, who probated the signatures in Glynn County before Justice of the Peace John Couper on June 14, 1803. Recorded in Bryan County Superior Court on August 25, 1803.
Bryan County, Georgia, Deeds & Mortgages, v. A-D 1796-1829, Book B (1799-1807), page 36-38; digitized microfilm accessed through catalog, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4K-KSBK : 23 May 2024), image 155-6 of 600; microfilm #007899046, citing original records of Bryan County Superior Court.