The Names in the Record

Recorded by three court-appointed appraisers following the death of James A. Bryan, March 22, 1847. Filed with the Court of Ordinary, Perry, Georgia. Names appear exactly as written; where the document's reading is uncertain, alternate readings are shown in parentheses.

† Group value — these individuals were appraised together in the original document; the dollar figure is the combined total, not an individual valuation. The document records no surnames.

Appraised fourteen years after James A. Bryan's death, when his widow Catharine H. Bryan died in May 1861 before receiving her one-sixth share. Commissioners Thomas Gilbert, John Bryan, and A.M. Crowder conducted the appraisement. The widow's lot was determined by a hat drawing; those nine persons are noted separately below.

The widow's lot was determined by a hat drawing conducted by Administrator Robert C. Bryan. Slips with lot numbers went into one hat; five blanks and Catharine H. Bryan's name into another. The lot drawn with her name carried these nine persons. The estate paid $25 to bring her share to exactly one-sixth. Names below $200 in the document are excluded here; that threshold aligns with livestock appraisal values of the period. The document records no surnames.

Labor contract entered into January 15, 1867, between Abner C. Bryan and James S. Bryan and nine freedpeople and one minor for the year 1867. The first formal labor agreement on record between members of the Bryan family and those who had worked this land. Every freedperson signs with a mark. Names are recorded here in full as written in the contract.

All freedpeople sign with their mark — a cross (+) beside their name, witnessed. Abner C. Bryan and James S. Bryan sign their names. The Boston family — five members across three generations — is the largest family group in this contract.

Labor contract entered into January 14, 1867 — one day before Abner and James S. sign theirs — between Robert C. Bryan and eleven freedpeople for his own separate plantation operation. Robert had administered the estate of James A. Bryan from 1847 to 1866; this contract is made on his own account. Witnessed by J.T. Hendrick. Names are recorded here in full as written in the contract.

All freedpeople sign with their mark. Robert C. Bryan signs his name. The Lawson family — five members, four different wage rates — is the largest family group in this contract. The Boston and Jones families appear across both this contract and the Abner & James S. contract of the following day.

The annual estate returns record transactions, payments, and accounts — not a census. Enslaved people appear by name only when a specific entry names them: hired out, purchased, performing a task. These are the names the returns record across the years 1847 to 1865.

Names appear exactly as written in the returns. The ledger does not record surnames. Where the same name appears across multiple returns, it may indicate the same person — those threads are noted in the connections section below.

The same name appearing across more than one document may indicate the same person. These threads are noted here as possibilities — the records do not confirm them. No surname was recorded in the inventories or returns; certainty is not possible.

These connections are observational, not genealogical conclusions. The absence of surnames across the inventories and returns makes certainty impossible. Where a connection seems probable — same name, close dates, consistent detail — it is noted. Where it is merely possible, it is noted as such.