This spreadsheet documents several kinds of post-Civil-War transactions (1865-1900) in Liberty County, Georgia. This research is intended to help descendants of Liberty County freedpeople document their ancestors’ lives, including land purchases.
- Mortgages: Farmers often needed to finance their annual crops. As collateral, they put up whatever they had, sometimes stock animals and sometimes land (if they had it). If they mortgaged land, they usually described the boundaries by naming their neighbors.
- Sheriff’s Sales: When mortgages went wrong, property was seized and sold at Sheriff’s sales.
- Leases: After the Civil War, some former planters/slaveowners ended up leasing their land out to others.
- Land Sales: A primary goal for many freedpeople was to own land. These sales were not always documented in the courts, but when they were, these records are hugely valuable to those seeking to document their ancestors’ land purchases.
- McIntosh County: The boundary between Liberty and McIntosh counties varied across time, and some transactions for McIntosh County were recorded in Liberty County courts.
- Lenders: A list of the people and companies who lent money to Liberty County farmers
- Postwar Plantation Sales: Many former Liberty County planters/slaveowners could not longer make a living from planting after Emancipation and sold off their land.
These records are abstracted from the original records held by the Liberty County Superior Court, based on digitizations on the FamilySearch.org website. The work involves going through the book page by page looking for relevant records. This is an ongoing project:
Deed Book P (1860-1870): 1865 and after completed and added to the spreadsheet
Deed Book Q (1870-1874): In Progress
Deed Book R (1874-1877): Still to be done
Deed Book S (1877-1882): Still to be done
Deed Book T (1882-1884): completed and added to the spreadsheet
Deed Book U (1884-1885): completed and added to the spreadsheet
Deed Book V (1885-1886): completed and added to the spreadsheet
How to use this page: Below is a Google spreadsheet that has been embedded into this page. As new records are added they will show up here. The record types described above are in tabs across the bottom; click on each tab to see those records. Use the scroll bars to the right and bottom of the spreadsheet to see more records. It can be searched just like a spreadsheet; click the search symbol to the left. (If you’re wondering about the name “Cassels Credit Lines,” this project started out as documentation of the loans made by Liberty County businessman Robert Q. Cassels.
Any trouble using this page? Contact me at jnscole@yahoo.com.