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Before March 2009, I did not know Harmon Warsaw, but both of us have a love for genealogy and history. I live in Valdosta, Georgia (Lowndes County). Warsaw is from Arthington, Liberia (Africa) and lives near Atlantic City, New Jersey. I connected with him after spending years trying to track down descendants of 122 Black, Lowndes County residents who emigrated to Arthington, Liberia in 1871 and 1872 with the help of the American Colonization Society.
Concerning the History of Liberia, Warsaw states that, “Arthington produced more prominent citizens as opposed to any settlement, city, town or County in Liberia. Arthington produced President, County Attorney, Associate Justice, Solicitor General, Senators, Representatives, Doctors, F-4 Pilot, Civil Engineers, Mechanist, Mechanics, Police Officers, Secretary Of War, Secretary Of Interior, Expert Quilt Makers, Teachers, Expert Musicians, Telephone Technicians, Marksman, and expert fishermen”
An interesting twist to this story is that Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, is from Arthington and has ancestral ties to Lowndes County, Georgia.
The first group of 63 emigrants from Lowndes was headed by Jefferson Bracewell, a farmer and carpenter who was cited in the 1870 Census as having $6,000 of personal property. Aaron Miller, my 3rd great uncle and a farmer that owned 450 acres of land in what is now known as Hahira, Ga., led a second group of 59 people.
Harmon Warsaw and Charles Taylor are cousins. Their great grandfather is John Bracewell, who was Jefferson Bracewell’s brother. The amazing thing about this story is that I would not have known this had I not researched my family tree and learned about the African American history of Lowndes County Georgia.
A record from the African Repository, a periodical sponsored by American Colonization Society, recorded the following statement from one of the Lowndes emigrants.
Another intelligent man of color, writing from Valdosta, Georgia, January 10, 1872, says: “I have often heard my father, who was born in Africa, speak in endearing terms of his native country. My grandmother also was a native of Africa. It makes me feel happy to think that there is a way for us to get back where we can have a home and become a people.”
When the Union Army withdrew from the region during Reconstruction, the civil unrest was so bad that on June 30, 1869 a local citizen made a jaded plea for help in the South Georgia Times (now called The Valdosta Daily Times). The person stated, “Dead (expletive)! In this and neighboring counties. The land is literally strewn with deceased colored gentlemen. Every log has one behind it, ‘clay root’ conceals some half dozen, every gopher hole is trying to swallow; and has one half way down, every frog pond contains one or more… we need the military. These Ku Klux outrages must be stopped until the crop is gathered.”
What I discovered through oral history and from speaking with Warsaw is that the new settlers in Liberia didn’t just break all ties with America. They continued to correspond with their relatives here.
After facing a difficult time a few of the Lowndes emigrants returned. One of them was a lady named Laura Lane. The local paper quoted her as saying, “I left there in December 1877. I was always anxious to leave, and so wrote my former master, but never heard from him. I had nursed for a Jew until I saved twenty dollars, and then I got on a vessel and paid my way to Brazil. I remained in that country two months. I came across Captain Whitmore and hired to him for a nurse for his wife. I went on his vessel and sailed to many places- cannot remember the names. We went ashore in Cuba for awhile. On the 21st of this month (July) we landed in Savannah and Capt. Whitmore bought me a ticket home.”
Laura Lane was not the last to return from Liberia. The war and unrest that started in the 1980’s caused many Liberians to immigrate to the USA. Warsaw says that descendants representing 6 families who left South Georgia in 1871 and 1872 are currently living in America. Their surnames are Bracewell, Ponder, Obey, Turkett, White, and Wright. Ironically, Like Harmon many of them came to the USA to get a good education and build a better life.
Lowndes County Georgia: List of Emigrants to Arthington, Liberia
http://www.valdosta.edu/library/find/arch/research/liberiaEmigrants.htm
References
Howard, Mark D. African departure: a history of the Liberian emigrants from Georgia in the Reconstruction era. (Masters Thesis), 1999.
“Departure of our Fall Expedition.” The African Repository. 47.12 (1871): 38-40.
“List of Emigrants for Liberia.” The African Repository. 47.12 (1871): 355-356.
“Departure of our Fall Expedition.” The African Repository. 48.12 (1871): 353-354.
“List of Emigrants for Liberia.” The African Repository. 48.3 (1872): 355-356.
“Local Melange.” South Georgia Times. 30 Jun. 1869.
“Another Lowndes County Negro Returned from Liberia.” South Georgia Times, Jul. 1879
“Lowndes-Liberia Connection.” Valdosta Daily Times. 20 Jul. 98(277), 1–E
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