Prime Hargrave, a 75-year-old formerly enslaved man who said he had lived in Liberty County, Georgia all his life, testified to the Southern Claims Commission in 1877 that he was present when U.S. soldiers from Sherman’s Army were foraging in Liberty County in December 1864. They took from him six cows, two bacon hogs, 20 stock hogs, 50 chickens, plus corn, potatoes, bedding, and clothing, he said, and took them to their camp at the Midway Church. Hargrave said he was enslaved on Charlton Hines’ plantation at the time, and that he was still living and farming there. Hargrave said he had obtained the property through his own hard labor, and had started by buying stock from Norman Way.
See the full transcript of this claim at: https://theyhadnames.net/2020/10/26/prime-hargraves-southern-claims-commission/.
Thomas Wilder, a 40-year-old man who said he had known Hargraves since he was a boy and had been enslaved during the war on the same plantation, testified on Hargraves’ behalf. He said that everyone knew Hargraves was in favor of the Union side, and that he had taken the U.S. soldiers into his home and gave them something to eat. He added that Prime McIver, Richard Barnard, and Moses Wood could testify as to Hargraves’ loyalty to the Union. He corroborated Hargraves’ testimony about both owning the property and how it was taken.
Jackson Williams, a 37-year-old formerly enslaved man who said he had known Hargraves for about 20 years and lived on the same plantation during the war, also testified for Hargraves. He said they did not talk much about the war, but that everyone knew Hargraves was for the Union side, and that Will Way and Moses Wood could so testify.
Mrs. Sarah J. Hines, who the Commission identified as the wife of Hargraves’ former owner, also testified for Hargraves. She said that she had known him all her life and that during the war “he was on my place as he belonged to me.” She added that she was not present when the property was taken, but that she knew he was allowed to own property and did do so.
Robert Q. Cassels, a white man who owned a grocery store near a railroad stop in Liberty County, was present on October 25, 1877, to act as Hargraves’ counsel when the testimony was taken, as he did for a number of the formerly enslaved claimants from Liberty County. The Commission had come to be doubtful of the claims Cassels participated in, and when they denied Hargraves’ claim, they commented, “This is one of the Cassell claims…” They noted the lack of detail in the testimony, and ruled, “Such testimony is too vague & unreliable.”
The research into Prime Hargraves’ life hinged on one essential question. Was his first name Prime…or Prince? Or were there two men, one named Prime and the other Prince? Prime and Prince are virtually indistinguishable when written by hand, and it took a great deal of research to come to the conclusion that there was one man and that his name was most likely Prime, although records were found that looked clearly one way or clearly the other way, or not clear at all. The records were variously indexed in Ancestry.com as Prime or Prince…and sometimes the same record would be indexed both ways.
Although the name was clearly written as Prince in one probate record, I believe the true name was Prime. When he testified for Jackson Williams’ Southern Claims Commission petition, his name was clearly listed in two places as Primus (and in others as Prime). I also believe that there was only one man, because no records were found with both names at the same time. However, it has to be left as a possibility that his name could actually have been Prince, or that there were two men.
The surname Hargraves is also variously spelled Hargrave, Hargrove, Hargroves, or Hargreaves.
The 1870 census showed him as head of a household that included Patience (48 years old) and Moses Hargraves (8 years old). The 1870 census did not list relationships, but the 1880 census said that Patience, now listed as 53 years old, was his wife. In 1880, Moses was no longer in the household, but daughter Mary Hargraves (30) and grandchildren Patience Hargraves (8) and Prime Jones (7) were listed. (NOTE: The names of both the elder Prime Hargraves, and his grandson Prime were clearly written as Prime in this census, but both were indexed as “Prince.”)
Prime Hargrave died in December 1883 without a will, according to a probate record that named William Way as the administrator of his estate and his only two next of kin as his daughters, Mary Hargraves and Willowby Jackson. One of the daughters was characterized as being “not entirely of sound mind,” but it was not stated which one that was. In the 1880 census, Willowby (spelled Wilbey) was listed as living next to Prime and Patience Hargraves, with her daughter Bella (4) and sons Andrew (3) and Bob (4 months). Moses Stewart (18) was also in her household and was said to be her nephew; he is probably the Moses who was living with Prime and Patience Hargraves in 1870.
It will be remembered that Jackson Williams had said in his Southern Claims Commission testimony that one Will Way could testify as to Hargraves’ loyalty to the Union, so presumably William Way had lived on the same plantation.
The probate record said that Prime Hargraves left an estate valued at around $250 and that the estate was solvent and the daughters were in agreement about it. The probate petition was witnessed by Robert Jackson, possibly Willowby’s husband, on May 31, 1884. Because the petition said that Hargraves had only two next of kin and named them as his daughters, it would appear that Patience had died. However, a record was found that a Patience Hargraves had married a Levi Tolar on January 30, 1890, in Liberty County, and that a Patience Tolar had married A.W. Oliver in Liberty County on June 11, 1893.
Slavery
Prime Hargraves had testified to the Southern Claims Commission that Charlton Hines, deceased, was his owner, and Mrs. Sarah J. Hines had testified that she was his owner. Sarah Jane Hines (nee Way) was in fact Charlton Hines’ wife. Charlton Hines was a wealthy politician and land- and slaveowner in Liberty County, for whom its capital Hinesville was named. He died in 1864. His estate inventory did not list an enslaved man named Prime, but his 1861 will gave to his “beloved wife Sarah Jane Hines, to her and her heirs absolutely forever, free from all condition or conditions the following negro Slaves brought to me upon my intermarriage with her to wit: Prime, Abner, Dan, Henry, Isaiah, Dinah, Mary, Tenah, Becca, Hannah, Charlotte, Sarah and Cyrus.”
Sarah Jane Hines was born Sarah Jane Way, and had previously married her cousin, Nathaniel J. Way, and Nathaniel Way’s 1852 estate inventory listed an enslaved man named Prime. Although Prime was a common name among the enslaved people of Liberty County, it appears likely that this was him and that Sarah had inherited him upon Nathaniel’s death.
It is likely that Prime Hargraves belonged to the Midway Church before Emancipation, and was a prominent African American member. Midway Church records from 1863 identified an enslaved man named Prime, belonging to Charlton Hines, as one of the people authorized by the Church to perform marriages among the enslaved.
Why would Prime take the surname Hargraves upon Emancipation? There were only six other men in their 40s to 60s who did so in Liberty County. In Liberty County, formerly enslaved people often took a surname relating to an early enslaver of themselves or their parents or grandparents. It appears this may be the case here. Joseph Hargreaves, a English merchant from Liverpool living in Charleston, married the wealthy widow of Liberty County land- and slave-owner James Cantey in the early 1800s. She died, leaving Hargreaves her plantation and enslaved people. At his death in 1828, his estate inventory listed 125 enslaved people. Although no one named Prime was listed in that inventory, four of the other formerly enslaved people who took the name Hargraves at Emancipation were listed (Samuel, March, Abner, and Trone).
Hargreaves’ only heir was his nephew, who lived in Liverpool and who sold all the enslaved people to Robert Hutchison, a wealthy merchant from Savannah. By 1835, Hutchison had sold about half of them, and appeared to be planning to sell the other half.
It is very likely that Prime (and probably the other two, Simon and Cupid) had some sort of family connection to the Hargreaves enslaved people and that all these men (and likely some women) took the Hargreaves surname as a connection to other family members who were caught up in this terrible disruption of their community.
Citations
Federal Census Records
1870 U.S. Census, Liberty County, Georgia, population schedule, Subdivision 176, p. 21, dwelling #172, family #171, enumerated on November 194, 1870, by John E. Martin, Prime Hargraves household, digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 10/26/2020).
1880 U.S. Census, Liberty County, Georgia, population schedule, District 15, enumeration district 67, p. 65, dwelling #703, family #707, Prime Hargraves household, digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 10/26/2020).
Probate Records
Prime Hargraves 1884 Probate
Ancestry.com, digital images in “Administrations Hack, Ethel – Howard, J. W. 1880-1941,” images 63-69, dated May 1884, contained in the record set “Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990” under “Liberty County.” Digitized from Liberty County Court of Ordinary probate folders. (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89QW-M88B?i=62&wc=9SBJ-6TP%3A267679901%2C267766701&cc=1999178, accessed 10/26/2020)
Charlton Hines 1861 Will
“Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-893L-RJFM?cc=1999178&wc=9SYY-ZNP%3A267679901%2C268025701 : 20 May 2014), Liberty > Wills 1863-1942 vol C-D > image 27-32 of 430.
Nathaniel J. Way 1852 estate inventory
”Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G93T-XB5G?cc=1999178&wc=9SB7-6T5%3A267679901%2C268014801 : 20 May 2014), Liberty > Miscellaneous probate records 1850-1863 vol C and L > image 54 of 703.
Midway Church Records
Midway Congregational Church Records, digital images, FamilySearch.org (accessed 5/14/2020); Prime, belonging to Charlton Hines, in the quarterly session records. Records abstracted at https://theyhadnames.net/midway-church-records/.