William Law’s 1877 Southern Claims Commission petition was denied for insufficient proof, which the Commission judged to be the fault of Special Commissioner Henry Way, a prominent Liberty County judge and a former slaveowner. The Commission commented, “This is another of the stereotyped cases, in which Henry Way took the testimony. The only witnesses are the clmt & one Jos. McDaniel a fellow slave. The only proof of how he came to own the property is the usual phrase “I worked for it.” That & nothing more. Such proof of ownership by a clmt who was a slave when the property was taken & could not legally own property, & as to whom there is no proof that he was allowed to own any property or that he was industrious & did own propy, or as to how he acquired it, is insufficient. Claim rejected.”
See the full transcript of this claim at: https://theyhadnames.net/2020/12/29/william-law-southern-claims-commission/
William Law testified in 1877 that he was 62 years old and had lived in Liberty County all his life. He said that R.Q. Baker had been his owner and that he was not testifying for him because he was dead. He claimed to have owned a gray mare, a set of new harness, 4 meat hogs, 15 stock hogs, 12 chickens, plus clothing, bed clothing, lard, pots, and hats, all of which he said were taken by Sherman’s Army while they were foraging in Liberty County in December 1864. His initial 1872 application had said that he would call Caesar Mallard and John Wilson as witnesses, but in 1877 when it came time to testify, he only brought Joseph McDaniel, who testified that he was 41 years old and had also lived in Liberty County all his life. He said he had known William Law from boyhood and that they lived on the same place.
As the Commission noted, all the testimony was suspiciously terse and similar to all the other testimonies Henry Way gathered from claimants and witnesses. To be honest, there is no way of knowing for sure that this claim was not fabricated by Way, as both Law and McDaniels were not literate so had to sign by mark. Robert Q. Cassels, a local merchant, was present when the testimony was taken — and when most testimony was taken by Way — and the Commission indicated in other claims that it also had some suspicions about his role.
All we can say for certain about this claim is that William Law did exist.
William Law registered to vote in Liberty County in 1867, and the register indicated that he had lived in the precinct for 48 years. In the 1870 U.S. census for Liberty County, he was listed as living in subdivision 181 and as being a 54-year-old farmer, in household with Mary (48), Louisa (15), and Ned (2). In 1877, he had allegedly testified to Henry Law that he was 62, and in the 1880 U.S. census for Liberty County, he was listed as 65, in household with his wife Mary (54), and a granddaughter-in-law, Sarah J. Keller (2).
This variation in age among the records was not unusual; it is very possible that William Law did not know exactly what year he was born in.
Sad to say, the only other record found for William Law’s life was in an 1880 agricultural census, which recorded that he was renting 8 acres of land. A search of the deed records showed no evidence that he ever purchased land, which would make sense given his age at Emancipation. The 1880 census recorded that he was suffering from a rupture, otherwise known as a hernia. His wife Mary was suffering from erysipelas, a skin infection.
It is likely that both William and Mary had passed away before the 1900 census but no records of this were found. The 1870 census did not list relationships but one would normally assume that Louisa (15) and Ned (2) were William and Mary’s children. However, neither Louisa nor Ned were found after the 1870 census. Louisa had presumably married by the time of the 1880 census and would have had a different surname, but no record of her marriage was found. The fact that William and Mary had a Sarah J. Keller listed as their granddaughter-in-law in the 1880 census may hold a clue as to Louisa’s married name, but the “in-law” part of that is odd. Ned Law (who could possibly have been Edward Law) was also not found in the 1880 census. It is possible that he was actually Louisa’s child, and that he was living with her under a different surname in the 1880 census.
Slavery
William Law had testified that R.Q. Baker was his slaveowner and that he was not testifying because he was dead. There was a Robert Quarterman Baker in Liberty County, but he was very clearly not dead in 1877 and was still living in Liberty County at that time. If he was the right R.Q. Baker (and no other was found), unfortunately, both he and his father, William Quarterman Baker, lived past the end of the Civil War, so there would be no probate records that might name William. Baker’s wife, Ann Eliza Delegal, also lived past the end of the Civil War, as did her father, Edward J. Delegal, so no useful probate records there either.
However, William Law’s testimony only referred to R.Q. Baker once; in the rest of his testimony, and in Joseph McDaniel’s testimony, he was referred to as Mr. Baker, so it is possible that it was a different Baker and that the single reference to R.Q. Baker was a mistake. Unfortunately, Baker is a common Liberty County name.
Citations
1870 U.S. Census, Liberty County, Georgia, population schedule, Subdivision 181, p. 13, dwelling #122, family #123, enumerated on November 14, 1870, by W.S. Norman, William and Mary Law household, digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 12/29/2020).
1880 U.S. Census, Liberty County, Georgia, population schedule, District 15, p. 22, dwelling #217, family #219 enumerated on June 12, 1880, by Walter O. Cassels, William and Mary Law household, digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 12/29/2020).
“Georgia, Returns of Qualified Voters and Reconstruction Oath Books, 1867-1869,” registered in Precinct no. 1 (Riceboro), Liberty County, for the 2d Election District. Digital Image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 12/29/2020).