They Had Names

African Americans in Early Records of Liberty County, Georgia

Bryan County Marriage Settlement (Penney)

Enslaved People Named: Catharine, Flora, Billy, Jencis, Eliza, Laura, Mary, July, Lempster [alt: Lemster], Jim, Nelly, Sylvan

On July 23, 1834, Beecroft Penney, planter of Bryan County, documented a change in a trust that had been created for his wife Jane, dated May 5, 1829. Part of the land in the trust — rice land on the Ogeechee River in Chatham County — had been sold for $2733, and Penney had agreed to take the money and in its place add to the trust “the following negro slaves, Catharine, Flora, Billy, Jencis, Eliza, Laura, Mary, July, Lempster [alt: Lemster], Jim, Nelly and Sylvan.” The trustees were identified as Alexander W. Stephen and Benjamin Stiles, both of Bryan County. Recorded in Bryan County Superior Court on December 11, 1834.

Bryan County, Georgia, Deeds & Mortgages, v. E-G 1830-1853, Book E (1830-40), page 151-2; digitized microfilm accessed through catalog, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4K-VSGG-X : 14 Jul 2024), image 84 of 682; microfilm #007899047, citing original records of Bryan County Superior Court.