Manumission (Hetty)

On April 30, 1810, James Smith purchased the freedom of Hetty, a 22-year-old “mulatto” enslaved girl who Smith had gifted to his sister in 1794 on the condition that she should be returned to him at his sister’s death, and then freed upon his death. James Smith, a planter of Liberty County, had gifted Hetty to his sister Eliza M.A. Smith on September 3, 1794, with that condition, said to be recorded in Liberty County Clerk’s Office Book D, pgs 20-21. In the meantime, Elizabeth M.A. Smith married Thomas Mcall, and the “lifetime estate, or property in, and to, the said Mulatto Slave Hetty” became the property of her husband. James Smith, therefore, paid Thomas McCall $400 to relinquish his right of property to Hetty, and they both freed Hetty, now about 22. McCall and Smith appointed as her temporary guardians Capt. Hugh McCall of the City of Savannah, and Virgil H. Vivion of Darien for the purpose of representing her legally regarding the manumission. Witnessed by George Street, W.H. Dunham, J.I.C.M.C. [Judge, Inferior Court, McIntosh County]. Vivion and Hugh McCall signed as accepting the guardianship. Recorded in Liberty County Superior Court on June 15, 1810.