Freedmen-Employer Tax Digest Lists, 1867-1869

Below is a transcription of part of the Liberty County, Georgia, tax digests for 1867-1869. This section lists freedmen grouped by their white employers (or by “self” if self-employed), along with taxable real estate or personal property they owned, if any. The table is sortable by any of the columns (click on the little arrows in the column titles). Some names are duplicated, either because there was more than one freedman with that name or because the same person had more than one employer. Each line has a link to the original record on FamilySearch.org (a free website – just create an account, if needed, to access the record). 

After the Civil War, freedmen were “encouraged” to sign employment contracts with their former slaveowners. In many cases in Liberty County, these slaveowners had fled the area or gone bankrupt, so “employer” in these lists does not necessarily equate to the former enslaver. Careful research has to be done and assumptions avoided.

Other resources for this research:

Citations for this information: 

1869: “Georgia, Tax Digests, 1787-1900,” List of Freedmen and Employers for all districts appended at end of 1869 Liberty County Tax Digest; database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSLZ-XS4T-P : 28 January 2026), > images 398-406 of 410.