Pulaski Carter

According to the records found for Pulaski Carter, his birth year was between 1810 and 1816. He himself gave the 1810 year during his testimony. A record was found of his taking the Reconstruction Oath in Chatham County on June 29, 1867, and in the 1870 U.S. federal census, he, wife Phebe, and children Isaac (22), Lydia (11), and Jack (7) were with them. [NOTE: Ancestry.com had misindexed his 1870 census record, but the correct record was found in FamilySearch.org.] He was living near Mary Morrison, with her husband Samuel and her 60-year-old mother-in-law Phebe Morrison.

In the 1880 U.S. federal census, Pulaski and Phebe Carter were back in Liberty County’s 15th District. Son Jack was with them, and also Isaac Lumpkin, listed as their grandson. A Henry and Margaret Lumkin were living near Pulaski and Phebe in Savannah in the 1870 census. Possibly Margaret was Pulaski’s and Phebe’s daughter?

No record was found of Pulaski Carter purchasing land in Liberty County. In the 1870 U.S. agricultural census, he was listed as working 20 acres in Savannah, and in the 1880 U.S. agricultural census, he was listed as renting 15 acres in Liberty County. Between 1878 and 1885, he paid property tax on personal property in Liberty County, but not on land.

No record of Carter’s death was found, but no record of him was found in the 1900 census, and he would have been in his late 80s by then. His son Jack Carter died at about 75 years old on September 1, 1928, in Screven, Georgia (presumably the Screven in Wayne County), and is buried in what was listed on his death certificate as the “Screven Colored Cemetery.” George Carter, his son, listed Jack Carter’s parents as “Plasky and Febia” Carter.

Slavery

Pulaski Carter said that his slaveowner at the time of the Civil War was Alex Quarterman. Alexander S. Quarterman’s father, Thomas Quarterman, had died in 1857. Thomas Quarterman’s 1857 estate inventory listed a Pulaski, valued at $1000. In 1858, Thomas Quarterman’s estate was divided, and Pulaski, valued at $1000, was put in lot #3, which was drawn by Alexander S. Quarterman. In that estate division, Pulaski was listed first, where the driver (foreman) was usually listed, and it appears to be in family order, because after Pulaski was listed Phiboe ($700), Isaac ($300), Peggy ($225), Nelly ($150), and little Pulaski ($100). [NOTE: The values are shown because the descending order supports the conclusion that this was a family with parents listed first and children in descending order by age. Also, Peggy is a nickname for Margaret; above it was speculated that Margaret Lumpkin, living near Pulaski and Phoebe in the census record, was their daughter.] All six of them were in lot #3, and went to Alexander S. Quarterman.

In the 1860 slaveowners census, Alexander S. Quarterman was listed as owning four enslaved men between the ages of 36 and 40, three women between the ages of 30 and 36, five children under the age of 10, and one 50-year-old woman. As for where Pulaski and Phoebe might have been during the Civil War, in Thomas Quarterman’s 1857 will he gave his sons Alexander and I.K.A. Quarterman “his Newport plantation lying on and west of the Barrington road plus his old Pleasant Valley plantation – to be appraised and drawn by them.” Alexander Quarterman’s 1907 obituary also said that his old family home was in Walthourville.

Why did Pulaski choose the surname Carter after Emancipation? A possible explanation was discovered.

In May 1840, Sarah Amanda Mara sold to Thomas William Quarterman for $2500 “the following five Negroes (to wit) Nancy aged fifty years, and her son Edward, also Titus, Pulaski and Stephen…” Ann Earle, Sarah’s mother, attested that Sarah had reached the age of 21 and was thus “legally competent for the transaction of any business; to buy or sell, and convey at her own discretion.” Thomas W. Quarterman then transferred his title to them to Thomas Quarterman on December 14, 1840.

However, on January 10, 1839, T.W. Quarterman, Liberty County, had used as collateral on a promissory note to Thos. [Thomas] Quarterman, also of Liberty County, “the following eight Negroes to wit, Jacky, Nancy, Edwin, Titus, Barrack, Cate, Pulaski & Steven…” Pulaski was not a common name in Liberty County, so it is hard to explain how this could have happened the year before Sarah Mara sold Pulaski to Quarterman, if in fact that Pulaski was Pulaski Carter. One possible explanation is that Sarah had actually sold Pulaski to Quarterman previously, and that the sale was just finalized in 1840 because she had turned 21 and was thus of legal age to do so.

But still, why the surname Carter? In 1819, Lewis McTair, a tailor of Liberty County, left in his will three enslaved people to his friend, Morgan Mara, Sarah Amanda Mara’s father: Lily, Daphne and Pulaski. Lewis McTair also left $400 to John Carter, “the son of my friend Hepworth Carter.” Pulaski, Daphne and Lily were all named in Morgan Mara’s 1833 estate inventory, and it appears they went to his daughter Sarah Amanda Mara, who later sold Pulaski to Quarterman.

On March 29, 1806, Lewis McTair had used as collateral to Morgan Mara “a certain negro woman Slave named and called Lilly” for $305, to be paid at a later date, indicating that Lily was certainly alive in 1806. Since McTair left Lilly to Mara with Pulaski and Daphne, it appears likely Lilly was Pulaski’s mother. Where did McTair get Lily or possibly her parent that might have been associated with a Carter?

In 1791, a white planter/slaveowner named Hepworth Carter had gotten into financial difficulties, and court records show that the Liberty County sheriff, Lachlan McIntosh, was ordered to seize and auction off Carter’s property to pay a debt. At the time, John Baker of the company Baker and Troup asserted that he had a claim to five named enslaved people (Fanny, Tenor or Tenah, Nestor, Chloe, and Guy) so they could not be sold, which indicates that other enslaved people belong to Carter were possibly sold at that time. In addition, Hepworth Carter’s 1812 will directed that, except for certain named people, “it is my will and desire that all my slaves not herein named or bequeathed shall be sold to the best advantages,” and the proceeds divided among his surviving children.

It is noteworthy that McTair described Hepworth Carter in his will as his friend, indicating that there was a connection. So although we do not have the bill of sale, it is certainly very possible that McTair bought Lilly from Carter.

So it is possible that Pulaski’s mother, and possibly Pulaski himself, had belonged to Hepworth Carter, and were sold to Lewis McTair either when Carter died or when he got into financial trouble, and then they were left to Morgan Mara, who left them to his daughter Sarah Amanda, who sold Pulaski to the Quartermans. (Sarah Amanda Mara married Elijah Chapman in 1842, and they moved to Massachusetts between 1850 and 1853.)

Pulaski’s given name probably came from Count Casimir Pulaski, a Polish nobleman and soldier who fought on America’s side in the American Revolution and died at the Battle of Savannah in 1779.