They Had Names

African Americans in Early Records of Liberty County, Georgia

Bryan County Chattel Mortgage (Maxwell/Habersham)

Enslaved People Named: Peggy, Agrippa, Tirah, Ambrose, Rachel, Jane, Henry

On June 18, 1842, John J. Maxwell, Chatham County, added enslaved people as collateral to secure various promissory notes to Robert Habersham that he had endorsed: “Peggy aged about 52 years, Agrippa aged about thirty five years, Tirah aged about thirty one years, young Ambrose aged about twenty one years, Rachel aged about six years, Jane aged about four years and Henry aged about two years.”

He also used as collateral a 600-acre tract of land known as Belfast, bounded on the east by Alexander W. Stephen, north by that same land, west by Dr. Charles W. Rogers, and south by a branch of the Midway River. Also used was a neighboring 800-acre tract known as the Hume tract, bounded east and north by land of Alexander W. Stephen known as Wampee, south by the Belfast tract, west by the Tipperary tract of land owned by John Stephens Maxwell.

Recorded in Bryan County Superior Court on July 2, 1842.

Bryan County, Georgia, Deeds & Mortgages, v. E-G 1830-1853, Book F (1840-46), page 144-50; digitized microfilm accessed through catalog, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4K-VSLN-Z : 6 Sep 2024), image 324-7 of 682; microfilm #007899047, citing original records of Bryan County Superior Court.