They Had Names

African Americans in Early Records of Liberty County, Georgia

Bryan County Marriage Settlement (Maxwell)

Enslaved People Named: Billy, Judy, Sibby, Juba, Mary

On February 8, 1837, John Pray Maxwell turned over to his wife’s trustees, John J. Maxwell and Edward J. Harden, Chatham County, “all the negro property which she the said Eliza [Mary Maxwell], would have held in her own right, as a distributee of the Estate of Thomas H. Harden of Bryan County, deceased, had she remained sole and unmarried…the following negro slaves to wit, Billy, Judy, Sibby, Juba and Mary.” The trust was to be for her separate use during her lifetime, and then to any of her children by John Pray Maxwell as tenants in common, not joint tenants. Witnessed by Jno. [John] S. Law, Jno. M. B. Harden, W.M. Maxwell. Recorded in Bryan County Superior Court on July 25, 1837.

Bryan County, Georgia, Deeds & Mortgages, v. E-G 1830-1853, Book E (1830-40), page 255-6; digitized microfilm accessed through catalog, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4K-VSG2-9 : 25 Jul 2024), image 146-7 of 682; microfilm #007899047, citing original records of Bryan County Superior Court.