Biographical Info
Billy Bird first appears in the historical record in the 1832 will of Zachariah Lamar. He and his wife Grace were the parents of Lucy, Caty, Anonette, John, and Billy Bird, Jr. It appears that he picked cotton at the Swift Creek plantation.
Sketch written by Wilson Chen, Nathan Dong, Andrew Lin, Anand Nagpurkar
Biographical Info
Francis first appears in the historical record in the 1832 will of Zacahariah Lamar, when she and her husband George were bequeathed to John B. Francis and George labored in the fields at Swift Creek plantation, alongside their children.. In October 1839, the Swift Creek overseer noted she “has taken sick a gain.” In July 1840, he asked John B. to “Ples [sic] to send me som [sic] medicen [sic] For Francis[.] She has got the pirk. She will have to quit work on the account of it[.]” When a “bowel complainte” and fever swept through Swift Creek that October, Francis and George’s baby was one of several who succumbed to the disease. Francis, George, and their son Stephen were hired out in 1841, but records indicate they were still at Swift Creek and surrounded by an expanding family during the Civil War.
Sketch written by Christine Enwemadu, Emma Li, Sofia Zambrano Molina, Miya Zhu
- Daughter: Rachel Lamar Cole
Biographical Info
Born in Africa around 1779, Jenny Lamar survived both kidnapping and the Middle Passage during her early life. Of necessity, she learned English. She also became literate, though how or when she acquired these skills is not known. Purchased by Zachariah Lamar, she became a nursemaid to his children, John Basil, Mary Ann, and Andrew Jackson. Following the death of Zachariah’s wife Mary Ann Robinson Lamar in 1823, Jenny essentially became the governess for all three Lamar children. Her own children worked within the various family households or on the Cobb-Lamar family plantations. When. Zachariah died in 1834 he stipulated that the family should require no further work from Jenny. Instead, he directed that Mary Ann should provide her with a house in Milledgeville and support for the balance of her life. In 1854, she requested that her granddaughter be sent from the plantation to live with her in Milledgeville. Mary Ann granted the request and routinely ignored protests from the local government that it was illegal for enslaved people to live away from their enslaver’s home. Jenny Lamar died in 1869.
Biographical Info
When asked for personal information for the 1870 U.S. Census, Levin reported that he had been born in Maryland in 1785. He first appears in historical record, however, in Zachariah’s 1832 will, when he, his wife Nancy, and their children were bequeathed to Mary Ann. Levin and Nancy, along with their children Nelly, Elizabeth, Delia, and Sam, labored at the Hurricane plantation. When General Sherman’s army threatened arrival in Milledgeville, the Cobb-Lamars arranged to relocate the Hurricane’s enslaved labor force to Sumter County. After dispatching the bulk of the enslaved workforce to Sumter as planned, the overseer delayed in sending off Levin and several of the other older people. Sherman’s forces arrived before he could complete the evacuation. Levin and the others who were left behind witnessed the burning of the plantation house and barns. The Union forces spared the houses of the enslaved and Levin continued to live at the Hurricane through at least 1865. By 1870, Levin had taken the last name Cobb and was still living in Baldwin County beside others with whom he was enslaved at the Hurricane.
Sketch written by Carlo Fernandez, Antonio Gomez Jr., Jack Hamm, Steven Jones Jr.
Biographical Info
Luan and her husband Joe were enslaved by Zachariah Lamar before 1832. When Zachariah died, his will bequeathed Luan and her husband to John B. She lived and worked at the Swift Creek plantation. In October, 1840, disease swept through the plantation and Luan and Joe’s newborn baby died, according to the overseer, of “the bowel complainte.” Luan had only a short time to grieve, as by early the next year she had been hired out and separated from her husband.
Sketch written by Araia Burgest, Mackenzie Hulsey, Mariana Rios, and Allana Strong
Biographical Info
Born about 1826 to Phil and Phoeba, Lucinda first appears in the historical record in Zachariah Lamar’s 1832 will, when her ownership was transferred to John B. Although records show that she was hired out in 1841, she likely spent the majority of her short life with her family on the Swift Creek plantation. Sadly, John B. noted in a letter on April 22, 1846, that Lucinda was “riding [a mule] from the field, to the house with the other plough hands, and had the traces wound up to form a sort of stirrup. The mule shied out of the road & threw her, & her feet hitching in the traces, she was dragged to death.” She was only 20 years old.
Sketch written by Maxim Bannikov, Vania Dominick, Thomas Nilsen, Ritvik Shah
Biographical Info
Born in the mid-1820s, Aggy Carter began working as an enslaved nursemaid to the children of Howell and Mary Ann Cobb as a young girl. She cultivated a reputation for reliability and trustworthiness with all members of the Cobb-Lamar family and was taught to read and write by Howell’s younger sister Matty. This connection to the Cobb-Lamar family proved its value when Howell went bankrupt following the Panic of 1837. Along with her parents and siblings, she underwent the horrors of a public auction. Her mother and two sisters were sold and disappeared from her life. Mary Ann’s brother John B. Lamar purchased Aggy, her father George, and her brothers Nelson and Robert. George, Nelson, and Aggy remained within Howell and Mary Ann’s household. Lamar took Robert to Macon to be trained as a wheelwright. For the balance of her life in slavery, Aggy worked assiduously to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to maintain her value to Mary Ann. Her efforts proved successful and included periods of residency in Washington DC and Milledgeville, the state capital In 1850 Aggy secured permission to marry Isaac Mills. Mary Ann took charge of both the wedding and the party that followed. She arranged for her own Baptist minister to conduct the wedding. More than 200 Athenians — both black and white — attended the festivities. Aggy and Issac’s marriage produced two daughters, Francis and Louisa. Following Emancipation, Aggy’s relationship with Mary Ann deteriorated rapidly as Aggy’s assertions of independence led Mary Ann to conclude that Aggy had never been sincere in their interactions. Aggy maintained good relations with Howell and Mary’s children, however, for the balance of her life. In freedom, she and Isaac became homeowners and leaders of the effort to secure education for African American children through the Knox Institute, a Freedman’s Bureau school. Aggy died in around 1901.
Biographical Info
Nancy Herbert first appears in the historical record in Zachariah Lamar’s 1832 will, where she is noted as the wife of Sam Herbert and mother of their children Sarah Anne and Carswell. Nancy and Sam were also likely the parents of Andrew and Peggy, who were born after the writing of the will. Although she was hired out in 1841, it appears that she primarily labored in the cotton fields at Swift Creek until the family was moved to the Bivins Place plantation in Sumter County. Nancy and Sam Herbert are listed there in 1859, along with all of their children and a number of grandchildren, including a granddaughter named Nancy.
Sketch written by Andrew Anglada, Aryan Deshpande, Brent Perdew, Benjamin Shouse
Biographical Info
Ned was born around 1813 and bequeathed to John B. in Zachariah’s 1832 will. An 1841 list of enslaved people who were hired out describes him as 6’ tall and “large.” Trained as a carpenter, Ned was frequently hired out. By the mid-1840s, however, John B. had lost patience with Ned’s fiery spirit and complained to his sister, “My man Ned the carpenter is idle or nearly so at the plantation. He is fixing gates & like the idle groom in Pickwick trying to fool himself into the belief that he is doing something. But on considering his general character for intemperance & disobedience & quarrelsomeness I have concluded it would be best to pay a little too much for the house, rather than inflict him on you at this time. While I was gone I had him in town & on returning found that he had been drunk & fighting and misbehaving in every way, so that I had banished him to rural life. He is an eye servant. If I was with him I could have the work done soon & cheap, but I am afraid to trust him off where there is no one he fears. He is doing literally nothing at home, and sparing him would not be a cents [sic] expense as to that, but I conclude that you do not feel like being annoyed, just now, as I fear & almost know he would annoy you, by getting drunk & raising a row on the lot. I shall sell the rascal the first chance I get.” There is no indication that Lamar carried through with this threat. While there are no further references to Ned the carpenter in the records, there are multiple mentions of enslaved people named “Ned” in surviving plantation documents through the 1860s.
Sketch written by James Howard, Plern Pibuldham, Luke Rhodes, Chancellor Tanner
Biographical Info
Patsy first appears in the historical record in Zachariah’s 1832 will, when she, her husband Ben Robinson, and their five children were bequeathed to Mary Ann. Patsy and Ben Robinson were parents to Rhoda, Fleming, Henrietta, Ann, and Alsey. The family seems to have been at the Hurricane plantation for decades, from at least the early 1830s through the end of the Civil War. In December 1865, Howell noted that “Ben Robinson & his wife Patsy” were among the older freedpeople he had been busy “providing for the support of” at the Hurricane following General Sherman’s destruction of the plantation. “I think the matter has been disposed of in a way that is the very best that could be done,” he wrote. In the 1870 U.S. Census, Patsy and Ben Robinson were still living in Baldwin County, beside others with whom they had been enslaved at the Hurricane.
Sketch written by Aidan Ehrenhalt, Xi Nan, Dev Patel, Aaryak Sinha
- Daughter: Lucinda –
Biographical Info
Phil was born around 1795. He first appears in the historical record in Zachariah Lamar’s will of 1832 when he, his wife Phoeba, and their three children, Philip, Lucinda, and John, were bequeathed to John B. Lamar. Phil, Phoeba, Lucinda, and John were among more than 75 enslaved people that the Cobb-Lamars hired out in 1841. This document also provides a brief physical description that Phil stood 5’ 7½” tall. Phil worked primarily as John B’s cabinet maker in Macon, but also performed miscellaneous other duties. For example, he was sent to Athens in September 1843 to help Mary Ann move furniture. In 1846, he and Phoeba grieved the loss of their daughter Lucinda following an accident in which she was dragged to death by a mule. Lamar evidently hired Phil out again in 1849, but the situation proved unsatisfactory. In September of that year, Phil relayed a complaint to Lamar that he had been whipped twice and otherwise mistreated.
Sketch written by Zachary Doran, Ganden Fung, Sergei Novikov
- Mother: Jenny Lamar
Biographical Info
Rachel Lamar was the daughter of Jenny Lamar. Rachel demonstrated considerable skills as a seamstress, but she also appeared to believe that her status as Jenny’s daughter entitled her to special consideration. When Mary Ann wanted Rachel to accompany her to Washington during Howell’s tenure in Congress, Rachel agreed to go provided that Mary Ann assumed complete responsibility for the well-being of her children while she was absent. She also complained to her mother who joined with her daughter’s lamentations. Mary Ann learned of these communications. Outraged, she expressed the wish that Jenny and her entire bloodline might be dispatched to Liberia. Rachel married Coleman Cole, a skilled carpenter who was enslaved by Asbury Hull. The marriage produced several children. Rachel’s tempestuous relationship with Mary Ann came to a practical end in 1857 after Mary Ann learned that Coleman and Rachel had negotiated their daughter Sabina’s hire to the Hull family for the coming year without informing Mary Ann. Mary Ann immediately voided the parent’s agreement and resolved to banish Rachel to the Hurricane Plantation outside Milledgeville. Although Rachel managed to delay her exile for more than a year, once she had been dispatched to the plantation there is no evidence that she ever worked in the Cobb household again. Rachel died in 1867.
Biographical Info
Randal first appears in the historical record in the 1832 will of Zachariah Lamar, then again in an 1841 list of enslaved workers who were hired out. The majority of what is known about him comes from the period after 1850, when he fled from the Swift Creek plantation to John B. Lamar’s home in Macon to protest his treatment at the hands of the plantation’s overseer. Lamar responded to Randal’s complaints by agreeing to hire him to brothers John T. and James L. Grant, who were engaged in railroad construction across much of the deep South. They were also related to Lamar by marriage. For at least the next thirteen years, Randal labored for the Grants with Lamar receiving between $125 and $200 per year for his work. According to the Grants’ reports, Randal found this arrangement satisfactory until 1863. At that point, he came into conflict with the railroad supervisors and again resisted abusive treatment, appealing to the Grants for relief. James Grant succeeded in getting Randal away from the construction site. Grant reported that he had put Randal “to work on the West Point RR near its junction with the Macon RR so as to have him out of sight.” Despite his long absence, Randal always attempted to remain connected to his family and requested information about them through letters between the Grants and Lamar. The Grants attempted to return him to their construction operations in Mississippi but intrusions by federal troops frustrated those efforts.The Grants then returned Randal to the Swift Creek Plantation. He is later listed as living there in 1863 with his wife Rachel.
Sketch written by Delainey Foster, Magnus Erhardt, Kesha Patel, Joshua Ruder
Biographical Info
Born around 1803, Robin was enslaved by Zachariah Lamar until bequeathed to John B. in 1832. In a list of enslaved people who were hired out in 1841, Robin is listed as standing 6’2” and having a “down look.” The same list suggests he had a wife, Polly, and a son, Armstrong, although no other records point to his having kin. While it appears that at some points Robin picked cotton at the Swift Creek plantation, most of the time he labored in the yard of John B.’s house in Macon. His presence in the household made him a familiar face to the Cobb-Lamar family. In multiple letters John B. tasked Robin with keeping an eye on the house and yard when he was away. In February 1857, Mary Ann observed that her young daughter was, “standing on a foot stool, leaning her arms upon a table making various black marks upon her paper, singing “Robbin de Bobbin” as she [watched] Old Robbin working in the little flower garden.” When John B. fell ill in November 1858 with “a paroxysm of bilious colic” and began vomiting blood, Robin ran out to summon the doctor. Following emancipation, he and his partner, a washerwoman, set up a household in East Macon. On October 31, 1865, while crossing a railroad bridge, Robin was struck by the cars. Howell recorded, “He was brought to the house & I told him I would take care of him. Both Dr. White & Dr. Magruder were attending to him, and on yesterday morning Dr. Magruder sent a boy with his instruments to cut off his arm. Robin heard of it, and being determined not to loose [sic] his arm, he got up left the house & made his escape. Since then I have not heard from him.” Two weeks later, Howell noted, “I found Old Robin on the lot, he had become alarmed & came back, and submitted to having his arm cut off. He is now doing very well.” Despite the favorable early prognosis, six days later Howell reported, “Old Robin died last night at 12 o’clock. It was inevitable though I had everything done for him that could be.”
Sketch written by Abhinaya Karthana, Miguel Martinez., Hannah McDonough, Nhi Yen Nguyen
Biographical Info
Probably born in the last two decades of the 18th century, Bob Scott likely lived his entire life as an enslaved laborer of the Cobb family. For much of that time he labored as the personal body servant and traveling companion to John Addison Cobb. When John Addison Cobb went bankrupt following the Panic of 1837, the family transferred ownership of Scott to T. R. R Cobb to protect him from public auction. Thereafter, Scott worked as a courier and carriage driver — usually in the household of Howell and Mary Ann Cobb. As a courier, Scott criss-crossed Georgia moving unsupervised between the Cobb-Lamar family’s extensive plantation holdings. His labors — and those of his fellow couriers — sustained the network which allowed the Cobb-Lamar agricultural empire to flourish, but also provided a critical means by which the enslaved laborers maintained contact with family and friends over hundreds of miles. Scott’s health had begun to deteriorate by the early 1850s, ending his work as a courier. During the last two years of his life he largely remained in the household of Howell and Mary Ann. Scott died on Christmas Eve, 1853. He was likely buried in the Old Athens Cemetery.