In 1873, Frances Brown, a formerly enslaved woman, successfully sued the U.S. government under the U.S. Southern Claims Commission for restitution for poultry, hogs, rice, corn, and clothing/quilts taken from her by Sherman’s Army when they came foraging in Liberty County, Georgia, in December 1864. She was allowed $77 of her $145 claim, roughly about $2000 in today’s dollars.[1]
For a full transcription of this claim, see https://theyhadnames.net/2025/11/11/frances-brown-southern-claims-commission/.
These claims present a gold mine of genealogical evidence but first, let’s consider what it took for Frances Brown to present this claim. To win her claim, Brown had to testify before SCC Special Commissioner for Georgia Virgil Hillyer and present witnesses to prove she owned the property and that the soldiers took it for army use (not for their own use). In 1873, according to her own testimony, she was about 30 years old. Virgil Hillyer was a white northerner who came south after the war, and he brought with him to these interviews Ellen E. Adlington, a white teacher from the northeast. They were relatively sympathetic people to testify before, but Frances Brown had no reason to trust them. The testimony process could not have been easy for her.
The Southern Claims Commissioners themselves, based in Washington, struggled to understand the system of slavery in Liberty County, in which enslaved people worked by the task and when they had finished their days, had time and some space to raise crops and livestock for themselves or for sale. This meant they had property to be taken by the soldiers, which seemed odd to the Commissioners.
However, they approved Frances Brown’s claim after reading the testimony by her and her witnesses. She testified that she was born into slavery in Liberty County and as of 1873 was farming on Oakland Plantation there. She lived on Oakland, she said, all throughout the Civil War. Interestingly, she did not say she was born there, but Caesar Jones, who testified for her, said he had known her as long as he had known anyone and he was born on Oakland.
Frances Brown told Hillyer that she and the other enslaved people “rejoiced” about the war and were hoping the Yankees would win, though she never had a chance to do anything for them. She said her master, William G. Martin, used to threaten the slaves with a whipping if they were seen to have anything to do with “anyone who was in favor of the Yankees,” she said, but he “never carried his threats into execution.”
Frances testified that she had raised corn and rice herself since she was a girl, and that “the lady I was named after” had gifted her a piglet. She raised and sold poultry and was able to buy a sow pig, and raised other pigs from those.
She was on Oakland Plantation in December 1864 when General Kilpatrick’s Army came to Liberty County. They spent the better part of two days taking property from the Plantation to their camp at the nearby Midway Church, killing her livestock and carrying the rice and corn away in a wagon. They didn’t have enough sacks for the rice and corn, so they took her bed quilts and dresses to use as makeshift sacks.
She was asked if there had been any nearby battles or skirmishes and said there had not been, as there was no one to fight because “the rebels had skeddadled.”
Caesar Jones, Joseph James, Brutus Reese, and Linda Jones were other formerly enslaved people who were there at the time. Caesar Jones testified for her, saying he was 22 years old (in 1873) and was born into slavery on Oakland Plantation. He now lived, however, on the Jones plantation. He testified that she was a “good union woman” all during the war, adding, “Oh yes Sir she was a union.”
Joseph James also testified. He said he was 47 years old, born into slavery in Liberty County and owned then by Col. Joseph Quarterman. He said he was living now on Arcadia Plantation and had known Frances Brown 9 or 10 years. He described her as a hard-working, industrious woman, and William G. Martin as a “pretty fair master.”
Both men testified that they were not related to her.
The Commissioners found Frances Brown and her witnesses to be credible but, as usual, they reduced the value of her property in making the award. They generally relied on the testimony of white planters in Liberty County as to the value of property owned by formerly enslaved people.
Who was Frances Brown? In the 1870 census, she was living near Saul and Linda Jones, an elderly couple with Caesar Jones in their household[2]. Frances had in her household Sumner Brown, 8 years old, and Saul Ashmore, 7 months old, both born in Georgia. The 1870 census did not specify the relationships of people in a household to each other so it is not possible to know if they were her children or if, like so many at that time, she was sheltering children whose parents were missing. There is almost certainly a connection between Saul Jones and the young Saul Ashmore, however, as Saul Jones was held in slavery by the Ashmore family and was known informally during that time as Saul Ashmore. He used the surname Jones formally after Emancipation. He was 75 in 1870, so Saul Ashmore could possibly have been his grandchild or great-grandchild. Joseph Ashmore, a white man whose grandfather had owned Saul, was a witness for Frances Brown’s SCC petition, in his capacity as a justice of the peace.
Frances Brown was awarded her $77 in 1877 but it is not known whether she received it, as no records for her, Sumner or Saul were found after the 1870 census.
William G. Martin died in 1861 and the estate inventories performed after his death provide some insight into Frances Brown’s life before Emancipation. In the 1861 estate inventory, Frances was listed in this order[3]:
|
Name |
Value |
|---|---|
|
Frances |
$600 |
|
Caesar |
$550 |
|
Saul |
$500 |
|
Adam |
$250 |
|
Sumner |
$200 |
In the 1863 estate inventory and division, the listing was as follows[4]:
|
Name |
Age |
Value |
Inherited by |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Francis |
20 |
$800 |
Charles J. Martin (a minor |
|
Little Caesar |
14 |
$700 |
Joseph B. Martin |
|
Lampres |
12 |
$650 |
William J. Martin |
|
Adam |
5 |
$300 |
Joseph B. Martin |
|
Tamar |
8 months |
$100 |
Joseph B. Martin |
|
Sumner |
3 |
$225 |
Charles J. Martin |
Enslaved families were sometimes listed in estate inventories in family order, and it appeared as if this might have been the case here given the similarity between the two listings two years apart. The two inventories did not have the same overall order, nor were all the names spelled alike, so it was not simply a case of having a list that was being copied. However, the relationship among these people is unclear, because if the ages were correct, Frances was not old enough to be little Caesar’s mother, and the Saul listed in 1861 could not have been the Saul Ashmore listed at 8 months old in the 1870 census. Caesar Jones also testified that he was not related to her. However, it does appear that there must be a connection among these people, family or otherwise.
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“U.S. Southern Claims Commission, Allowed Claims, 1871-1880,” Liberty County, Georgia, case file of Frances Brown, claim #20638; indexed database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 Nov 2025), image 308 of 367; citing Southern Claims Commission Approved Claims, 1871-1880: Georgia. Microfilm Publication M1658, 761 fiche; NAID: 566157. Records of the Accounting Officers of the Department of the Treasury, Record Group 217. National Archives at Washington, D.C. ↑
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1870 U.S. census, Liberty County, Georgia, population schedule, Subdivision 180, page 12, dwelling 110, family 110, enumerated on November 16, 1870, by Robert Q. Baker, entry for Frances Brown household; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7163/images/4263491_00392 : accessed 11 Nov 2025) ↑
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“Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L93T-XYRP : 20 May 2014), Liberty > Miscellaneous probate records 1850-1863 vol C and L > image 275 of 703. ↑
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“Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-993T-XTCT : 20 May 2014), Liberty > Miscellaneous probate records 1850-1863 vol C and L > image 296 of 703. ↑