Working on Wednesday: Mary "Polly" Warren, Farmer and Slaveholder

Polly Warren, my great great great grand-aunt, was declared a "fortunate drawer" in the 1807 Georgia Land Lottery, the means adopted to divide up the 2.2 million acres the United States had recently purchased from the Creek Indians. As a 21-year old spinster who had been living in Hancock County for at least three years, she was entitled to one draw* and she was one of the winners. It must have made a huge difference in her life as she had been born deaf** which meant that there was little chance of her ever marrying and thus she would probably have remained dependent on her family for support.

As there's no record of her as head of household before the 1840 U.S. Census, it's likely she continued to live at home and is probably the free white female 40 - 49 in her widowed mother Elizabeth (Davis?) Warren's listing in 1830.

[Ancestry.com. 1830 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. 

Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Fifth Census of the United States, 1830. (NARA microfilm publication M19, 201 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

By the 1840 U.S. Census both her mother and older brother Jeremiah (who was living next door in the 1830 record) had died and Mary (who never married) was living alone--with 29 slaves.

[Ancestry.com. 1840 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. 

Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Sixth Census of the United States, 1840. (NARA microfilm publication M704, 580 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National]

A Georgia Tax Digest also from 1840 tells us a bit more about her property holdings.

[Ancestry.com. Georgia, Property Tax Digests, 1793-1892 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Georgia Tax Digests [1890]. 140 volumes. Morrow, Georgia: Georgia Archives.]

Her will is dated August 12, 1834, but she didn't die until around the end of 1843 and the will was produced in court on January 8, 1844. Her sister Susan's husband, Joseph Johnson***, filed a caveat contesting the will and after that was rejected, his second attempt was no more successful. Miss Mary Warren's will was probated in May of 1844 with her brother William as executor.

["Georgia, Probate Records, 1742-1990," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-30438-6492-65?cc=1999178&wc=9SBM-YWG:267654601,267808601 : accessed 03 Dec 2014), Hancock > Wills and administration records 1837-1850 vol P-Q > image 409 of 662; county probate courthouses, Georgia.]

Her estate was appraised at $7,618 most of which came from the value of the 18 slaves she owned at her death. (A numbers of slaves residing on her property had been "loaned" to her through Jeremiah's will and were distributed according to his wishes.)

* The 1807 Land Lottery was the only one that gave a draw to spinsters.
** Mentioned in the Johnson caveat as one of the reasons the will should not be probated.
*** Susan and Joseph had sought to overturn Jeremiah's will in 1834 and were unsuccessful in that case as well.

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