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.