In 1878, Paul LeConte, a formerly enslaved man, submitted a Southern Claims Commission petition for $160.75 in compensation for rice, honey, hogs, corn, potatoes, fowl, and crockery that he claimed was stolen from his home on Halifax farm in Liberty County, Georgia, by U.S. troops in December 1864. The Commissioners of Claims allowed only $47 of the claim, complaining that the Special Commissioner, Henry Way, appointed to hear the testimony had taken the evidence very poorly. LeConte reported that John L. Harden was his slaveowner.
For the full transcript of this claim, see: https://theyhadnames.net/2020/05/20/paul-leconte-southern-claims-commision/.
LeConte testified that the troops, commanded by General Kilpatrick, were camped at Midway [Church], and that about 50 men on horseback came with two wagons to take his property. He said that an officer present assured him that he would get it all back. Witnesses Titus Alvin and Sharper Williams, also formerly enslaved, testified that they had known LeConte all their lives and that they witnessed the property’s confiscation. They also named Boston Polite, Edwin Williams, Toney Golding, Gus Law, Brister Fleming, Bill Tyson, and Peter Jenkins as people who could testify as to LeConte’s loyalty to the Union, which was a requirement for obtaining compensation from the Southern Claims Commission.
In cases where formerly enslaved people were claimants, the Claims Commission normally sought to take testimony from a white landowner who knew the claimant. In LeConte’s case it was Gideon B. Dean, who testified that he had known Paul LeConte all his life and lived about three miles from him. He said that while he was not there when the troops took LeConte’s property, he did know that he was allowed to own property.
What else can we know from online records about Paul LeConte?
For more about the life of people enslaved on the LeConte-Woodmanston Plantation, see this link. Descendants of people enslaved there still live in the same area, and hold reunions. A great deal has been documented about the LeConte-Woodmanston Plantation and the people enslaved there, and the descendants of the enslaved people, many of whom took the surname LeConte (variously spelled LaCounte, LeCounte, LeCount), are numerous in the local area, and of course know much more about their history than is presented here. This analysis is based only on online records.
According to census records, Paul LeConte was born sometime between 1835-1841 [1]. In his Southern Claims Commission petition, LeConte said that his slaveowner during the war was John L. Harden, whom he said was dead, and that he was on Halifax plantation when the U.S. troops came through.
John LeConte Harden was not dead when LeConte presented his SCC claim. He did not die until 1902 [2]. It also appears that Harden may only have technically been Paul LeConte’s slaveowner. Harden’s father, Dr. John McPherson Berrien Harden, died in 1848, leaving a young family for his wife, Jane LeConte Harden, daughter of prominent Liberty County landowner and slaveowner Louis LeConte, to raise [3]. Louis LeConte had owned Woodmanston Plantation, and the Hardens had built Halifax house in 1843 on the portion of the LeConte-Woodmanston Plantation Jane LeConte Harden inherited [4].
Normally an estate of Dr. Harden’s size would be inventoried and appraised shortly after the owner’s death, and then appraised again and divided every time an heir came of age, to allow that heir to take his or her portion, with the rest remaining in the estate.
It was no different with Harden’s estate. However, Paul was not listed in the original appraisal of Dr. John M.B. Harden’s estate after his death in 1848 [5]. In May 1848, Mrs. Harden, as the estate administrator, brought in appraisers to inventory the estate, which had a total value of $14,832.64, of which the enslaved people comprised $11,513. Paul was not listed. He should have been born by then, so it appears that he was not owned by Dr. Harden at the latter’s death.
However, he was part of the Harden estate by the final division in 1862, when Paul was in the lot that was drawn by Mrs. Jane LeConte Harden, not John LeConte Harden [6]. Jane Harden did not die until after the Civil War so it was not a case of John L. Harden’s having inherited him [7]. However, since women were unable to own property in their own name at the time, and Jane Harden was a widow, it is likely that her son John L. Harden was her trustee.
So where might Paul LeConte have come from? Given that he took the surname LeConte at Emancipation, it is likely that he had a connection to the LeConte-Woodmanston Plantation, as many of the enslaved families there took that surname after Emancipation. Jane LeConte’s father, Louis LeConte, died in 1838 when Mrs. Harden was already married. When Louis LeConte’s estate was divided in July 1838, Dr. John M.B. Harden received his wife’s portion, 41 enslaved people [8]. Although Paul is not listed among them, given the time frame, it is very possible that one of the women was pregnant with him, thus this document may be a clue to his parentage.
It appears that Paul LeConte had a wife and at least one child by the end of the Civil War. In the 1870 census, he is listed with wife Matilda, and their children Louisa/Lucy (7), Alfred (4) and Belfast (2), living near the McIntosh Post Office. The 1900 census, which normally lists the date of marriage, said they were married in 1865, but this is likely just the date their union was formalized. Paul and Matilda remained married, with their children living nearby, until death parted them in the 1920’s. Three more children were born: Francis (about 1873), Eva (about 1874), and Catharine (about 1880). Lucy married Alfred Stewart, and her death certificate in 1935 stated that her mother’s maiden name was Matilda Brock [9].
Paul LeConte is first recorded as purchasing land in July 1901, when he paid $50 for land bounded on the north by Sandy Run road, where the censuses recorded him as living until his death [10]. He bought the land from the Darien and Western Railroad of McIntosh County. It was located in Liberty County’s 15th District: a 100-acre tract bounded on the south by Captain N.T. Hewitt, east by “lands of Harden” and west again by N.T. Hewitt, and was said to be land that J.L. Harden [presumably John LeConte Harden] had originally sold to the Darien and Western Railroad.
It does appear, however, that he owned land prior to this, as in October 1899, Paul LeConte and his sons Alfred and Belfast sold timber rights to the Hilton and Dodge Lumber Company for $50 to a 140-acre tract of land bounded north by the Joseph Bacon estate, east by Col. E.P. [Edward Payson] Miller, south by “Harden” and west by Col. E.P. Miller, land that was said to have been purchased from James Winslow about 27 years previously [11]. This was a 10-year contract, leaving LeConte only the right to use rail timber for farm purposes on the land itself (implying that he was farming there as well), and LeConte certified that he had clear title to the land.
In June 1909, this contract was renewed, but this time Paul, Alfred, and Belfast LeConte received $475 from the Hilton and Dodge Lumber Company for the timber rights. The land was described as bounded north by E.P. Miller and “estate of Bacon”, east by E.P. Miller and Titus Alvin, south by lands of Hilton & Dodge Co, and west by lands of E.P. Miller. They again certified that they had clear title to the land [12].
In March 1880, LeConte signed over a lien on his rice crop to R. Jordan & Co. of Liberty County for seemingly harsh terms. In exchange for $30, LeConte had to turn over the entire rice crop, along with all other saleable crops he had that year, to R. Jordan & Co, which would in turn sell the crops, deduct the lien out of the “net proceeds” (presumably deducting “expenses” as well), and then return the balance to LeConte. [13]
On September 12, 1925, Paul’s son Alfred LeCounte was appointed as administrator on Paul’s estate, Paul having died without a will. [14]
Citations:
[1] Federal censuses naming Paul LeConte: 1870 U.S. Census, Liberty County, Georgia, population schedule, Subdivision 180, p. 36, dwelling #336, family #336, enumerated on November 25, 1870, by Robert Q. Baker, Paul LeConte, digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 5/20/2020); 1880 U.S. Census, Liberty County, Georgia, population schedule, Dictrict 15, enumeration district 67, p. 49, dwelling #534, family #535, Paul LeConte; digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 5/20/2020); 1900 U.S. Census, Liberty County, Georgia, population schedule, Militia District 15, enumeration district 81, sheet #13, line number 55-57, digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 5/20/2020); 1910 U.S. Census, Liberty County, Georgia, population schedule, Militia District 15, enumeration district 114, p. 14B, line number 64-66, house #351, dwelling #352, digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 5/20/2020); 1920 U.S. Census, Liberty County, Georgia, population schedule, Militia District 15, enumeration district 124, p. 8B, house #180, dwelling #197, digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 5/20/2020).
[2] Find A Grave Index, Memorial ID 43647103, John LeConte Harden, birth 2 Jul 1839, death 20 Jan 1901, Walthourville Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Walthourville, Liberty County, Georgia; digital image:https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/43647103, includes photo of tombstone.
[3] Stephens, Lester D., “Of Mercury, Moses, and Medicine: Views of Dr. John M.B. Harden.” The Georgia Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 59, Issue 4 (Winter, 1975), pp 402-415. Accessed online at https://www.jstor.org/stable/40580216, 5/18/2020.
[4] “LeConte Women,” LeConte-Woodmanston Plantation and Botanical Garden National Historic Site website. Accessed online at http://leconte-woodmanston.org/history-lecontewomen.html, 5/20/2020.
[5] Liberty County Court of Ordinary, Wills, appraisements and bonds 1790-1850 vol. B 1823-1850, p. 447-450, Estate Appraisement of Dr. J.M.B. Harden; digital image, FamilySearch.org, “Georgia Probate Records, 1743-1990,” Liberty County, within “Wills, appraisements and bonds 1790-1850 vol. B” image #664-5. Record summarized and put online at TheyHadNames.net (https://theyhadnames.net/2018/09/24/liberty-county-estate-inventory-dr-john-m-b-harden/)
[6] Liberty County Superior Court, Deeds and Mortgages Records Book P, p. 207-210, Estate Appraisement and division of Dr. John M.B. Harden; digital image, FamilySearch.org, “Deeds and mortgages, 1777-1920; general index to deeds and mortgages, 1777-1958; Deeds & Mortgages, v. O-P 1854-1870; Record Book P, p. 207-210, image #475-7. Record summarized and put online at TheyHadNames.net (https://theyhadnames.net/2019/02/21/liberty-county-estate-inventory-division-j-m-b-harden/)
[7] “LeConte Women,” LeConte-Woodmanston Plantation and Botanical Garden National Historic Site website. Accessed online at http://leconte-woodmanston.org/history-lecontewomen.html, 5/20/2020.
[8] Liberty County Superior Court, Deeds and Mortgages Records Book L, p. 19-21, Estate Appraisement and division of Louis LeConte; digital image, FamilySearch.org, “Deeds and mortgages, 1777-1920; general index to deeds and mortgages, 1777-1958; Deeds & Mortgages, v. K-L 1831-1842; Record Book L, p. 19-21, image #336-7. Record summarized and put online at TheyHadNames.net (https://theyhadnames.net/2019/12/18/liberty-county-estate-inventory-lewis-leconte-2/)
[9] “Georgia, Death Index, 1914-1940,” film #004568964, digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 5/20/2020); Lucy Stewart, Riceboro, Liberty County, Georgia, certificate #31859, 16 Nov 1935, buried Cross Road cemetery, occupation midwife, father Paul LeConte, mother Matilda Brock.
[10] Liberty County Superior Court, “Deeds & Mortgages v. AJ 1908-1910,” p. 193, William Clifton, Attorney at Law of McIntosh County for F.M. McFarland Esq, President of the Darien and Western Railroad of McIntosh County, to Paul LeCounte; digital image, FamilySearch.org, “Deeds & Mortgages, v. AJ 1908-1910” within “Deeds and mortgages, 1777-1920; general index to deeds and mortgages, 1777-1958; Deeds, v. AI-AJ 1907-1910,” image #192, (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-5QF8?i=444&cat=292358, accessed 5/20/2020)
[11] Liberty County Superior Court, “Deeds & Mortgages v. AD 1901,” p. 250, Paul LeConte, Alfred LeConte, Belfast LeConte to Hilton & Dodge Lumber Company; digital image, FamilySearch.org, “Deeds & Mortgages, v. AD 1901” within “Deeds and mortgages, 1777-1920; general index to deeds and mortgages, 1777-1958; Deeds, v. AC-AD 1896-1901,” image #476, (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-591Y-8?cat=292358, accessed 5/20/2020)
[12] Liberty County Superior Court, “Deeds & Mortgages v. AJ 1908-1910,” p. 349-50, Paul LeConte, A.B. LeConte, Belfast LeConte to Hilton & Dodge Lumber Company; digital image, FamilySearch.org, “Deeds & Mortgages, v. AJ 1908-1910” within “Deeds and mortgages, 1777-1920; general index to deeds and mortgages, 1777-1958; Deeds, v. AI-AJ 1907-1910,” image #523, (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-542K?i=522&cat=292358, accessed 5/20/2020)
[13] Liberty County Superior Court, “Deeds & Mortgages v. S 1877-1882,” p. 563, Paul LeConte to R. Jordan & Co, Liberty County; digital image, FamilySearch.org, “Deeds & Mortgages, v. S 1877-1882” within “Deeds and mortgages, 1777-1920; general index to deeds and mortgages, 1777-1958,” image #325, (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-RSLD-C?cat=292358, accessed 5/20/2020)
[14] Liberty County Court of Ordinary, Letters of Administration, 1801-1955, p. 124, Letters of Administration, Alfred LeCounte for estate of Paul LeCounte; digital image, Ancestry.com, “Georgia Probate Records, 1743-1990,” Liberty County, within “Letters of Administration, 1801-1955,” image #433. Accessed online, 5/20/2020.