Primus LeConte, a formerly enslaved 61-year-old man, testified in 1873 that U.S. soldiers took property from him when Sherman’s Army raided Liberty County, Georgia, in December 1864. His testimony was given to support his claim against the U.S. Government for $578.25 worth of property — a bay mare, a sorrel mare, 10 hogs, 15 fowls, 25 dozen eggs, 20 beehives, 10 bushels of rice, 9 head of ducks, and a buggy.
To view the full transcript, see: https://theyhadnames.net/2020/11/01/prime-leconte-southern-claims-commission/.
LeConte testified that he was born on Lewis LeConte’s plantation in Liberty County, and that he still lived on that plantation, which he said some called Sifax [alt: Syphax], where he was farming. He lived there all through the Civil War, he said, and after the war, began to rent land from his former owner, Joseph LeConte, initially paying him ⅓ of all he made, then $12 a year for all the land he could work.
LeConte told the Special Commissioner, that even though the U.S. Army took the property he had painstakingly accumulated through years of slavery, “I gave the soldiers Rice, Chickens, and many little things besides what I have charged in my account against the Government. I did not count them in my bill at all, we cooked for them, and did everything we could for them, we was so glad to see them come.” The soldiers had told him, he said, that he would get reimbursed for the things they took from him.
When asked whether he had sympathized with the Union cause at the beginning of the South’s rebellion, LeConte answered, “At the beginning of the rebellion or when I first heard of it and got to understand it I sympathized with the Union cause. When I heard of it I felt right good and was glad. I told my friend it would do good to the colored people, that was the way I felt and talked till they came and liberated us.”
When describing how he came to own property despite being enslaved, LeConte said that for 20 years he raised chickens, then got some pigs and raised hogs, sold those and set the money aside, then continued the process for 20 years until he was able to buy a female colt from which he raised another colt, and those were the two horses listed in his claim, which he said were the only two horses he had ever owned. He said he got the time to do this because he worked by taskwork; he added, “some times I could finish my task by 2 PM some times 3, 4 & 5 PM, some times I could not finish, then I would have to finish the next day some times I would have to take a thrashing.” His plan with the horses was to keep two, so that he could drive one to church, and use the other for what he called “little jobs.”
LeConte testified that Isaac Jenkins, Joshua LeCount, Cassius Le Count, “my wife who is dead” and he and his son were present when the soldiers took the property.
Isaac Jenkins, who was only 29 in 1873 when he testified on LeConte’s behalf, said that he also had been born at Sifax, which he called Joe LeConte’s plantation, and said that Joe LeConte had been his master. He now lived and worked on LeConte’s place, paying him $12 a year for all the land he could work, and $6 a year for all the land his wife could work. He said he was not related to Prime.
Joshua LeConte also testified, and said that he was about 50 years old (in 1873) and that he was Primus LeConte’s brother. His owner was Joseph LeConte, he said, and at the time of his testimony he lived on John LeConte’s place in Liberty County, where he was farming.
Amos Harris, 30 years old in 1873, testified that he had also been born into slavery in Liberty County, and was living on Dr. Joe LeConte’s plantation and saw the property taken.
The Southern Claims Commission denied Primus LeConte’s claim, despite the detailed testimony and corroboration by multiple witnesses. As usual, the Commission considered claims in which only formerly enslaved witnesses testified to be unreliable, stating in their conclusion, “The witnesses are all colored…If this claim had any merit, it could have been made to appear by better testimony than that produced. The claimant was living on his old master’s land, who if living, & if not living, then some of his family should have been called to testify.”
They also concluded, “We do not believe this slave had in his own right, by a title that was recognised by his master the amount of property claimed in his petition. If he had two horses & a buggy they were not property suitable for army use. Negro horses are rarely ever suitable for any kind of army use – and from the manner in which these were taken, it is not probable they were carried off for any legitimate use. The same is true of the buggy. Most all the other items are not army supplies and what were not took the place of slaves rations.”
Yet other claims for similar property were approved…if they had white witnesses.
LeConte’s name was given as both Primus and Prime in the Southern Claims Commission records. It should be noted that there was also a Prince LeConte living at the same time, who was listed in both the 1870 and 1880 U.S. federal censuses with his wife (Sukky) and family. The names Prince and Prime can be easily mistaken for each other in handwriting, and instances were found where the name Prime was mis-indexed as Prince in Ancestry.com indexes.
LeConte is also seen spelled LeCount, LeCounte, LaCount, and LaCounte.
In 1867, there was a registration of “qualified voters,” which also showed their length of residence in Georgia, in the county, and in the precinct. Primus LaCounte was listed in precinct #1 of the 2d Election District of Liberty County, and “56” was listed for his length of residence in the state, county, and precinct. Interestingly, a Primus LeConte took the Oath of Reconstruction on July 30, 1867, in nearby Bryan County.
There was a consensus between the SCC claim, the 1870 census, and the 1880 census that Primus LeConte was born around 1812-1814. In the 1870 census, which did not list relationships, Prime LeConte was listed as being 59 years old, a farmer with $180 of personal property, and living with Diana LeConte, 62 and presumably his wife, and William LeConte, 18. They were living near Marlborough Jones, Minty Elliott, Cane James, Andrew LeConte, Henry LeConte, William LeConte, and Jupiter James.
Very oddly, in the Southern Claims Commission files, a William LeConte, who had said he thought he was about 25 or 30 in 1873, was called to testify for Prime LeConte. He claimed not to know Prime LeConte, and was dismissed.
In the 1880 census, which did list relationships, Prime LeConte was enumerated as a 66-year-old farmer married to Louisia, 46, with granddaughter Mariah Elliott, 16, in the household. He was living near Henry LeConte, John LeConte, Plenty James, Isaac LeConte, Billy LeConte, Joshua Stewart, and Sandy Austin.
Noting that Prime LeConte has a wife of a different name and age in the 1880 census, we are reminded that his 1873 Southern Claims Commission testimony referred to the fact that his “wife who is dead” was present in 1864 when his property was taken. Thus it appears likely that Diana was this wife, and that she passed away between 1870 and 1873. And in fact we do find a marriage record from January 8, 1874, in which the Ancestry.com indexers say that a Prince LeConte married a Louisa Maycask. When we look at the original handwritten record, we can see that this is actually Prime LeConte, who married Louisa Maybank.
In the 1870 federal agriculture census for Liberty County, Prime LeConte was listed with 19 acres of improved land. The name is difficult to read and could conceivably be read as “Prince” instead of “Prime” but he is listed next to Marlborough Jones and Minty Elliott, who were Prime LeConte’s neighbors in the 1870 population census.
In the 1880 federal agriculture census for Liberty County, the name is clearly Prime LeConte (not Prince). The 1880 agriculture census, unlike the 1870 one, showed whether the individual owned land or rented it; it showed Prime LeConte as renting 11 acres of land. He was listed near Plenty James, Henry LeConte, Joshua LeConte, and Sandy Austin.
In 1872, Prime LeConte entered a petition for exemption of personality (a tax term) as the head of a family, swearing that he owned one cream colored horse, valued at $60; 1300 pounds of short cotton valued at $5 per hundred; 11 head of cattle, marked with a spade handle in each ear and valued at $10 per head; 100 baskets of corn valued at $60; four head of hogs valued at $4 per head; household furniture and bedding valued at $10; two jersey wagons valued at $20; 100 bushels of rice valued at $100; poultry valued at $10, plus the corn, cotton and rice crop raised by him and “now on his possession on the Syphax Plantation of Joseph LeConte in said county.” The petition was presented by his attorney, a white former slaveowner named William B. Gaulden, and was approved on October 18, 1872. It can be seen from this record that in fact it was entirely plausible that such an industrious man would indeed have owned the property he testified had been taken from him by the U.S. soldiers in his Southern Claims Commission petition.
Prime LeConte was not found in the 1900 census. He would have been in his late 80s by then, so it is very likely he had passed away between the 1880 and 1900 censuses. (The 1890 census burned in a fire.) The handwritten indexes for Ancestry.com Liberty County probate records were checked, including the Widow’s Support records and nothing was found for either Prime or Louisa LeConte. This is not unusual for that time period, unfortunately.
The deed record indexes online for Liberty County at FamilySearch.org were searched for the names of Prime LeConte or his family, and no record was found that he owned land during his lifetime.
Slavery
Prime LeConte had testified in 1873 that he had been born into slavery in Liberty County and that his owner had been Lewis LeConte. He called Dr. Joseph LeConte his former owner, and said that he was renting land from him on Syphax Plantation.
Lewis LeConte (1782-1838) was Joseph LeConte’s father. Prime was listed as an enslaved man in Lewis LeConte’s 1838 estate inventory. These inventories of enslaved people were often done in family order, and Diana, presumably the Diana who was with Prime in the 1870 census, was listed immediately after Prime. It seems very likely that this is her. Joshua, who testified that he was Prime’s brother, is in this inventory as well.
Lewis LeConte’s estate took a long time to be settled, and was reinventoried and appraised periodically as heirs came of age. In the 1844 estate inventory, Prime and Diana were still listed in the estate. They were in Lot #1, which remained in the estate.
Joseph LeConte was only 15 in 1838 when Lewis died. He went away to college, and received his medical degree in 1845 in New York. He lived most of his life away from Liberty County, and at the time of Prime LeConte’s 1873 Southern Claims Commission testimony, he was serving as a professor at the University of California, presumably one of the reasons why he did not testify for Prime. His brother John LeConte was president of the University of California, so also was not available to testify. Because Joseph was still alive at the end of the Civil War, there were no probate records involving him that would have named Prime.
Citations
1870 U.S. Census, Liberty County, Georgia, population schedule, Subdivision 180, p. 46, dwelling #444, family #444, enumerated on November 14, 1870, by Robert Q. Baker, Prime and Diana LeConte household, digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 11/1/2020).
1880 U.S. Census, Liberty County, Georgia, population schedule, District 15, enumeration district 67, p. 44, dwelling #474, family #475, Prime and Louisia LeConte household, digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 11/1/2020).
Prime LeConte’s marriage to Louisa Maybank
Liberty County, Georgia, Court of Ordinary Pamphlet Book C, Record of Marriages of Colored Persons, 1867-1872, Index for “L”, Prime LeConte to Louisa Maybank, January 8, 1874, Liberty County, Georgia; Digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 11/1/2020): “Georgia, Marriage Records From Select Counties, 1828-1978,” “Marriages (Colored), 1867-1872” (mis-indexed by Ancestry as Prince LeConte to Louisa Maycask)
1870 Agricultural Census
U.S. Selected Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850-1880, 1870, Liberty County, Georgia, Subdivision 180, Prime LeConte; digital image, Ancestry.com, “U.S., Selected Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850-1880,” Georgia, Liberty County, Subdivision 18, image #8, (www.ancestry.com: accessed 11/1/2020)
Voter Registration:
“Georgia, Returns of Qualified Voters and Reconstruction Oath Books, 1867-1869,” registered in Precinct no. 1, Liberty County, for the 2d Election District. Digital Image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 11/1/2020).
Oath of Reconstruction:
“Georgia, Returns of Qualified Voters and Reconstruction Oath Books, 1867-1869” -> Oath Book -> Bryan County, in the Register of the 1st Registration District for Bryan County. Digital Image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 11/1/2020)
Exemption of Personality Record
Liberty County Superior Court, “Deeds & Mortgages v.Q 1870-1874,” p. 183-4, Prime LeConte petition for exemption of personality; digital image, FamilySearch.org, “Deeds & Mortgages, v. Q-R 1870-1877” within “Deeds and mortgages, 1777-1920; general index to deeds and mortgages, 1777-1958,” image #121 (mis-indexed by Ancestry as Prince LeConte) (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-5935-R?i=120&cat=292358
, accessed 11/1/2020)
Lewis LeConte probate records
1838 Louis LeConte estate inventory: Family Search.org. Liberty County Superior Court “Deeds and mortgages, 1777-1920; general index to deeds and mortgages, 1777-1958,” Film: Deeds & Mortgages, v. K-L 1831-1842,” Record Book L, 1838-1842, pp. 19-21. Image #336-7 (Link: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-T9K2-G?i=332&cat=292358)
(https://theyhadnames.net/2019/12/18/liberty-county-estate-inventory-lewis-leconte-2/)
1844 Louis LeConte estate inventory & division: “Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-893L-GHJC?cc=1999178&wc=9SYT-PT5%3A267679901%2C268032901 : 20 May 2014), Liberty > Wills, appraisements and bonds 1790-1850 vol B > image 620 of 689
(https://theyhadnames.net/2019/08/30/liberty-county-estate-inventory-division-louis-leconte/)