They Had Names

African Americans in Early Records of Liberty County, Georgia

Bryan County Bill of Sale (Clay/Clay)

Enslaved People Named: Fanny, Venus, Jenny, Hector, Abram, Lucy, Binah, Clarinda, Polly, Bella, Boston, Davy, Tom, Tyra [alt: Tira], Butcher, Primus, Ceasar, Ben, Wiltshire, Jacob, Delia, Hope, Sillah, Frederic, Hope, George, Delia

On April 26, 1837, Eliza C. Clay, Bryan County, sold to Thomas S. Clay for $2000 “the following property one undivided third of the following negro slaves Fanny, Venus, Jenny, Hector, Abram, Lucy, Binah, Clarinda, Polly, Bella, Boston, Davy, Tom, Tyra [alt: Tira], Butcher, Primus.”

On the same day, Anne Clay sold her undivided third of the same people to Thomas S. Clay for $2000.

On that day, Thomas S. Clay, Bryan County, sold to Ann Clay, of the same place, for $2000 “the following property, the negro slaves Ceasar, Ben, Wiltshire, Jacob, Delia.”

He then sold to Eliza C. Clay for $2000 “the following property, the negro slaves, Hope, Sillah, Frederic, Hope, George, Delia.”

All four deed records were witnessed by John Dunwoody, Frederic Gray. Recorded in Bryan County Superior Court on May 2, 1837.

Bryan County, Georgia, Deeds & Mortgages, v. E-G 1830-1853, Book E (1830-40), page 243-4; digitized microfilm accessed through catalog, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4K-VSGD-8 : 22 Jul 2024), image 141-2 of 682; microfilm #007899047, citing original records of Bryan County Superior Court.