Archive
The Estate of James A. Bryan
1847 – 1867
Twenty years of records from the Houston County Court of Ordinary
James A. Bryan died March 22, 1847. For the next twenty years his estate remained open, generating annual returns, inventories, and ledgers that together document a mid-Georgia cotton plantation from its peak through the Civil War and into Reconstruction. Each entry below links to the full record for that year.
After appraising said Estate we find the amount to be twenty three thousand eight hundred and forty dollars and thirty cents — distributed equally among the five distributees.
— Final Distribution of the Estate of James A. Bryan, April 10, 1866The Early Returns 1847 – 1852
1847
–1850
–1850
Growth & Peak 1853 – 1860
On the Eve of War 1861
The War Years 1861 – 1865
Emancipation & Reconstruction 1866 – 1867
1866
Freedmen's Record
Labor contracts with freedpeople · Houston County
1866
The estate record closes.