{ "person": { "id": "e82be527-a6db-411c-979a-cf0f407bb151", "public_id": "BT-PER-00031", "slug": "h-g-d-brown", "preferred_name": "H. G. D. Brown", "given_names": null, "middle_names": null, "birth_surname": null, "later_surnames": [], "name_variants": [ "H.G.D. Brown", "Brown, H. G. D." ], "sex_recorded": null, "birth_date_display": null, "birth_date_start": null, "birth_date_end": null, "birth_precision": "unknown", "death_date_display": null, "death_date_start": null, "death_date_end": null, "death_precision": "unknown", "birth_place_id": null, "death_place_id": null, "summary": "Named in Copiah County, Mississippi records as the enslaver associated with Lucky Hit plantation. BEFORE TILL holds no biographical research on him beyond what the cited records state.", "portrait_media_id": null, "portrait_verified": false, "featured": false, "public_visibility": "public", "published": true, "created_at": "2026-08-08T16:00:17.768808+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-08T16:00:17.768808+00:00" }, "claims": [ { "id": "4782607d-9495-4cc0-b024-b3ea0f0c2ff2", "slug": "laura-lucky-hit-plantation", "title": "Laura Tolliver was formerly enslaved on H. G. D. Brown's Lucky Hit plantation.", "public_id": "BT-CLM-00085", "published": true, "claim_text": "Laura Tolliver was formerly enslaved on the plantation identified in the 1865 Freedmen's Bureau register as H. G. D. Brown's Lucky Hit.", "claim_type": "enslavement", "current_status": "documented", "public_summary": "The 1865 Freedmen's Bureau register associates Laura's former enslaver with Lucky Hit plantation. The precise location of Lucky Hit has not been independently established and no coordinates are recorded.", "confidence_level": "high", "last_reviewed_at": "2026-08-08T16:02:40.933018+00:00", "research_question": "Where exactly was Lucky Hit plantation, and what land, tax, or estate records survive for it?", "evidence": [ { "id": "69e263b5-ee93-4afe-bbdc-b1721e35271a", "claim_id": "4782607d-9495-4cc0-b024-b3ea0f0c2ff2", "relationship": "supports", "weight": "strong", "analysis": "The plantation association comes from the same 1865 register that names Laura and her former enslaver.", "evidence_items": { "id": "3e6934b8-34b0-4b21-8abd-14d6b9fe1c53", "sources": { "id": "4c57334f-eda6-4dd7-a17b-a75403bfbba5", "url": null, "title": "Register of Formerly Enslaved People — H. G. D. Brown / Lucky Hit Plantation", "creator": "Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands", "public_id": "BT-SRC-00035", "published": true, "repository": "FamilySearch / National Archives and Records Administration", "record_form": "digital_image", "rights_note": "SOURCE CITATION AVAILABLE. The original image has not yet been independently reviewed inside BEFORE TILL.", "source_type": "freedmens_bureau", "accessed_date": null, "rights_status": null, "collection_name": "Mississippi, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872", "date_created_display": "1865-era Freedmen's Bureau record" }, "public_id": "BT-EVD-00049", "observation": "The register associates the former enslaver with Lucky Hit plantation.", "page_locator": "pp. 10-11, image 7 of 81", "verbatim_excerpt": null, "public_visibility": "public" } }, { "id": "bdab5b60-1297-4ef2-9af4-4f7771c363b6", "claim_id": "4782607d-9495-4cc0-b024-b3ea0f0c2ff2", "relationship": "supports", "weight": "strong", "analysis": null, "evidence_items": { "id": "24d52e90-2a9f-4fd6-bc8f-0296f132e9c8", "sources": { "id": "4c57334f-eda6-4dd7-a17b-a75403bfbba5", "url": null, "title": "Register of Formerly Enslaved People — H. G. D. Brown / Lucky Hit Plantation", "creator": "Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands", "public_id": "BT-SRC-00035", "published": true, "repository": "FamilySearch / National Archives and Records Administration", "record_form": "digital_image", "rights_note": "SOURCE CITATION AVAILABLE. The original image has not yet been independently reviewed inside BEFORE TILL.", "source_type": "freedmens_bureau", "accessed_date": null, "rights_status": null, "collection_name": "Mississippi, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872", "date_created_display": "1865-era Freedmen's Bureau record" }, "public_id": "BT-EVD-00048", "observation": "The register identifies Laura as formerly enslaved by H. G. D. Brown.", "page_locator": "pp. 10-11, image 7 of 81", "verbatim_excerpt": null, "public_visibility": "public" } } ], "conclusions": [], "currentConclusion": null, "hasConflict": false }, { "id": "f840f597-c00f-4fca-bb56-774030d9191e", "slug": "laura-enslaved-by-hgd-brown", "title": "Laura Tolliver was formerly enslaved by H. G. D. Brown.", "public_id": "BT-CLM-00084", "published": true, "claim_text": "Laura Tolliver was formerly enslaved by H. G. D. Brown of Copiah County, Mississippi.", "claim_type": "enslavement", "current_status": "documented", "public_summary": "An 1865 Freedmen's Bureau register names Laura and identifies her as formerly enslaved by H. G. D. Brown. An unnamed eight-year-old female in Brown's 1860 slave schedule is consistent in age but cannot independently be identified as Laura.", "confidence_level": "high", "last_reviewed_at": "2026-08-08T16:02:40.933018+00:00", "research_question": "Do additional Brown estate, probate, tax, or Freedmen's Bureau labor records name Laura or her family?", "evidence": [ { "id": "9870399d-724f-4fd3-b055-02324fefe7ba", "claim_id": "f840f597-c00f-4fca-bb56-774030d9191e", "relationship": "supports", "weight": "strong", "analysis": "This is the strongest named evidence in the case: the record identifies Laura by name and states the enslavement relationship directly.", "evidence_items": { "id": "24d52e90-2a9f-4fd6-bc8f-0296f132e9c8", "sources": { "id": "4c57334f-eda6-4dd7-a17b-a75403bfbba5", "url": null, "title": "Register of Formerly Enslaved People — H. G. D. Brown / Lucky Hit Plantation", "creator": "Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands", "public_id": "BT-SRC-00035", "published": true, "repository": "FamilySearch / National Archives and Records Administration", "record_form": "digital_image", "rights_note": "SOURCE CITATION AVAILABLE. The original image has not yet been independently reviewed inside BEFORE TILL.", "source_type": "freedmens_bureau", "accessed_date": null, "rights_status": null, "collection_name": "Mississippi, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872", "date_created_display": "1865-era Freedmen's Bureau record" }, "public_id": "BT-EVD-00048", "observation": "The register identifies Laura as formerly enslaved by H. G. D. Brown.", "page_locator": "pp. 10-11, image 7 of 81", "verbatim_excerpt": null, "public_visibility": "public" } }, { "id": "4e7c0952-864e-4e93-b509-2816eb1d9f1b", "claim_id": "f840f597-c00f-4fca-bb56-774030d9191e", "relationship": "supports", "weight": "moderate", "analysis": "An age of 12 in an 1865-era record is consistent with a birth around 1852-1853.", "evidence_items": { "id": "ec29554c-bc01-4eb8-86be-ca6bb7307be3", "sources": { "id": "4c57334f-eda6-4dd7-a17b-a75403bfbba5", "url": null, "title": "Register of Formerly Enslaved People — H. G. D. Brown / Lucky Hit Plantation", "creator": "Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands", "public_id": "BT-SRC-00035", "published": true, "repository": "FamilySearch / National Archives and Records Administration", "record_form": "digital_image", "rights_note": "SOURCE CITATION AVAILABLE. The original image has not yet been independently reviewed inside BEFORE TILL.", "source_type": "freedmens_bureau", "accessed_date": null, "rights_status": null, "collection_name": "Mississippi, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872", "date_created_display": "1865-era Freedmen's Bureau record" }, "public_id": "BT-EVD-00045", "observation": "The register records Laura as age 12.", "page_locator": "pp. 10-11, image 7 of 81", "verbatim_excerpt": null, "public_visibility": "public" } }, { "id": "cab51bd9-42f6-4818-b412-3f62588f0701", "claim_id": "f840f597-c00f-4fca-bb56-774030d9191e", "relationship": "supports", "weight": "strong", "analysis": null, "evidence_items": { "id": "b3c237e9-c5c2-4fc3-ad5a-374a89827efe", "sources": { "id": "4c57334f-eda6-4dd7-a17b-a75403bfbba5", "url": null, "title": "Register of Formerly Enslaved People — H. G. D. Brown / Lucky Hit Plantation", "creator": "Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands", "public_id": "BT-SRC-00035", "published": true, "repository": "FamilySearch / National Archives and Records Administration", "record_form": "digital_image", "rights_note": "SOURCE CITATION AVAILABLE. The original image has not yet been independently reviewed inside BEFORE TILL.", "source_type": "freedmens_bureau", "accessed_date": null, "rights_status": null, "collection_name": "Mississippi, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872", "date_created_display": "1865-era Freedmen's Bureau record" }, "public_id": "BT-EVD-00043", "observation": "The register identifies Laura by name.", "page_locator": "pp. 10-11, image 7 of 81", "verbatim_excerpt": null, "public_visibility": "public" } }, { "id": "dab75192-53b4-41e1-a120-2268f82c1399", "claim_id": "f840f597-c00f-4fca-bb56-774030d9191e", "relationship": "contextualizes", "weight": "context_only", "analysis": "The age is consistent with Laura's approximate 1852 birth year and later evidence connecting Laura to H. G. D. Brown, but the slave schedule itself does not name the child. The identification should therefore remain inferential.", "evidence_items": { "id": "3b111e28-6544-48ce-a40d-0364af79b444", "sources": { "id": "cd81d43e-4f0f-4dcf-89b4-a9ca66a25c59", "url": null, "title": "1860 U.S. Census Slave Schedule — H. G. D. Brown Household, Copiah County, Mississippi", "creator": "United States Bureau of the Census", "public_id": "BT-SRC-00034", "published": true, "repository": "FamilySearch", "record_form": "digital_image", "rights_note": "SOURCE CITATION AVAILABLE. The original image has not yet been independently reviewed inside BEFORE TILL.", "source_type": "census", "accessed_date": null, "rights_status": null, "collection_name": "U.S. census, Copiah County, Mississippi, slave schedule", "date_created_display": "1860" }, "public_id": "BT-EVD-00042", "observation": "An unnamed enslaved female approximately eight years old appears in H. G. D. Brown's 1860 slave schedule.", "page_locator": "pp. 12-13 (penned), digital image 12 of 101", "verbatim_excerpt": null, "public_visibility": "public" } } ], "conclusions": [ { "id": "8e5cf69f-0b96-49e9-9f69-e22896931253", "public_id": "BT-CON-00090", "claim_id": "f840f597-c00f-4fca-bb56-774030d9191e", "version_number": 1, "conclusion_text": "The 1865 Freedmen's Bureau register provides direct named evidence that Laura was formerly enslaved by H. G. D. Brown. The unnamed eight-year-old female recorded in Brown's 1860 slave schedule is consistent with Laura's approximate age but cannot independently be identified as Laura.", "status": "documented", "confidence": "high", "reasoning_summary": "Named evidence carries the conclusion. The slave schedule is retained as context, not as identification.", "what_is_known": "Laura is named in an 1865-era Freedmen's Bureau register as formerly enslaved by H. G. D. Brown, recorded as female, age 12, a field laborer, and described with the historical term \"yellow\".", "what_is_not_known": "Whether the unnamed child in the 1860 slave schedule was Laura. Where Laura was held before 1865. Who her parents were.", "future_research": "Review the original register image inside BEFORE TILL. Search Brown estate, probate, tax, and Freedmen's Bureau labor contract records.", "is_current": true, "published_at": "2026-08-08T16:02:40.933018+00:00", "researchers": { "title": "Founder, Creator & Descendant Archivist", "founder": true, "display_name": "Amberly R. Carter-Mills" } } ], "currentConclusion": { "id": "8e5cf69f-0b96-49e9-9f69-e22896931253", "public_id": "BT-CON-00090", "claim_id": "f840f597-c00f-4fca-bb56-774030d9191e", "version_number": 1, "conclusion_text": "The 1865 Freedmen's Bureau register provides direct named evidence that Laura was formerly enslaved by H. G. D. Brown. The unnamed eight-year-old female recorded in Brown's 1860 slave schedule is consistent with Laura's approximate age but cannot independently be identified as Laura.", "status": "documented", "confidence": "high", "reasoning_summary": "Named evidence carries the conclusion. The slave schedule is retained as context, not as identification.", "what_is_known": "Laura is named in an 1865-era Freedmen's Bureau register as formerly enslaved by H. G. D. Brown, recorded as female, age 12, a field laborer, and described with the historical term \"yellow\".", "what_is_not_known": "Whether the unnamed child in the 1860 slave schedule was Laura. Where Laura was held before 1865. Who her parents were.", "future_research": "Review the original register image inside BEFORE TILL. Search Brown estate, probate, tax, and Freedmen's Bureau labor contract records.", "is_current": true, "published_at": "2026-08-08T16:02:40.933018+00:00", "researchers": { "title": "Founder, Creator & Descendant Archivist", "founder": true, "display_name": "Amberly R. Carter-Mills" } }, "hasConflict": false } ], "traditions": [ { "id": "342c2fdc-3884-4ce3-b90a-99f7e365b57e", "public_id": "BT-TRD-00097", "title": "The eighty-acre place", "tradition_text": "John and Laura acquired approximately eighty acres, with a house, barns, livestock, a blacksmith shop, wells, orchards, pastures, streams, gardens, trees, and poultry.", "earliest_known_teller": "Alma Smith Spearman", "family_branch": "Smith", "first_documented_date": null, "sources": { "id": "01a5ddc4-aefc-4049-a106-6864486c683a", "title": "Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman", "creator": "Alma Smith Spearman", "public_id": "BT-SRC-00040", "published": true, "repository": null, "record_form": "authored_narrative", "rights_note": "COMPLETE BIBLIOGRAPHIC CITATION NEEDED. Published family history / descendant-authored narrative. Title, publisher, and publication date have not yet been supplied. A valuable family source; it is not automatically contemporary documentary proof for events predating the author's lifetime.", "source_type": "book", "collection_name": null, "date_created_display": null } }, { "id": "ce43b336-7858-4583-a451-f7ca02e000f3", "public_id": "BT-TRD-00098", "title": "Laura attended \"Vicksburg College\"", "tradition_text": "Laura Tolliver, while yet a student of Vicksburg College, was given in marriage to John Smith, a country farmer.", "earliest_known_teller": "Alma Smith Spearman", "family_branch": "Smith", "first_documented_date": null, "sources": { "id": "01a5ddc4-aefc-4049-a106-6864486c683a", "title": "Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman", "creator": "Alma Smith Spearman", "public_id": "BT-SRC-00040", "published": true, "repository": null, "record_form": "authored_narrative", "rights_note": "COMPLETE BIBLIOGRAPHIC CITATION NEEDED. Published family history / descendant-authored narrative. Title, publisher, and publication date have not yet been supplied. A valuable family source; it is not automatically contemporary documentary proof for events predating the author's lifetime.", "source_type": "book", "collection_name": null, "date_created_display": null } }, { "id": "0d88cd8d-f09c-4ddb-86ba-122d988edfe6", "public_id": "BT-TRD-00099", "title": "Bishop C. H. Mason in the Smith home", "tradition_text": "Around 1897 John and Laura Smith welcomed Bishop C. H. Mason into their home, extended an ongoing invitation for him to stay when in the area, their son Joe cared for his horse and buggy, and their oldest grandson Mason Harrison Smith was named for him.", "earliest_known_teller": "Alma Smith Spearman", "family_branch": "Smith", "first_documented_date": null, "sources": { "id": "01a5ddc4-aefc-4049-a106-6864486c683a", "title": "Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman", "creator": "Alma Smith Spearman", "public_id": "BT-SRC-00040", "published": true, "repository": null, "record_form": "authored_narrative", "rights_note": "COMPLETE BIBLIOGRAPHIC CITATION NEEDED. Published family history / descendant-authored narrative. Title, publisher, and publication date have not yet been supplied. A valuable family source; it is not automatically contemporary documentary proof for events predating the author's lifetime.", "source_type": "book", "collection_name": null, "date_created_display": null } } ], "observations": [ { "id": "3e6934b8-34b0-4b21-8abd-14d6b9fe1c53", "public_id": "BT-EVD-00049", "evidence_type": "place_association", "observation": "The register associates the former enslaver with Lucky Hit plantation.", "verbatim_excerpt": null, "page_locator": "pp. 10-11, image 7 of 81", "date_observed": null, "sources": { "id": "4c57334f-eda6-4dd7-a17b-a75403bfbba5", "url": null, "title": "Register of Formerly Enslaved People — H. G. D. Brown / Lucky Hit Plantation", "creator": "Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands", "public_id": "BT-SRC-00035", "published": true, "repository": "FamilySearch / National Archives and Records Administration", "record_form": "digital_image", "rights_note": "SOURCE CITATION AVAILABLE. The original image has not yet been independently reviewed inside BEFORE TILL.", "source_type": "freedmens_bureau", "accessed_date": null, "rights_status": null, "collection_name": "Mississippi, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872", "date_created_display": "1865-era Freedmen's Bureau record" } } ], "sources": [ { "id": "4c57334f-eda6-4dd7-a17b-a75403bfbba5", "public_id": "BT-SRC-00035", "title": "Register of Formerly Enslaved People — H. G. D. Brown / Lucky Hit Plantation", "creator": "Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands", "source_type": "freedmens_bureau", "record_form": "digital_image", "repository": "FamilySearch / National Archives and Records Administration", "collection_name": "Mississippi, Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1872", "date_created_display": "1865-era Freedmen's Bureau record", "url": null, "accessed_date": null, "rights_status": null, "rights_note": "SOURCE CITATION AVAILABLE. The original image has not yet been independently reviewed inside BEFORE TILL.", "observations": 6 }, { "id": "cd81d43e-4f0f-4dcf-89b4-a9ca66a25c59", "public_id": "BT-SRC-00034", "title": "1860 U.S. Census Slave Schedule — H. G. D. Brown Household, Copiah County, Mississippi", "creator": "United States Bureau of the Census", "source_type": "census", "record_form": "digital_image", "repository": "FamilySearch", "collection_name": "U.S. census, Copiah County, Mississippi, slave schedule", "date_created_display": "1860", "url": null, "accessed_date": null, "rights_status": null, "rights_note": "SOURCE CITATION AVAILABLE. The original image has not yet been independently reviewed inside BEFORE TILL.", "observations": 1 }, { "id": "01a5ddc4-aefc-4049-a106-6864486c683a", "public_id": "BT-SRC-00040", "title": "Bibliographic details pending — family history by Alma Smith Spearman", "creator": "Alma Smith Spearman", "source_type": "book", "record_form": "authored_narrative", "repository": null, "collection_name": null, "date_created_display": null, "url": null, "accessed_date": null, "rights_status": null, "rights_note": "COMPLETE BIBLIOGRAPHIC CITATION NEEDED. Published family history / descendant-authored narrative. Title, publisher, and publication date have not yet been supplied. A valuable family source; it is not automatically contemporary documentary proof for events predating the author's lifetime.", "observations": 3 } ], "enslavement": [], "notes": [], "actions": [ { "id": "4a837021-a6f0-49fa-a282-0628e0b32e34", "action_type": "record_found", "description": "Identified Laura by name in an 1865-era Freedmen's Bureau register of former slaves.", "result": "Named evidence of enslavement by H. G. D. Brown of Lucky Hit plantation.", "action_date": "2026-08-08", "person_id": "3bcb16bb-0391-4031-b7b8-a4cb236af4a9", "claim_id": "f840f597-c00f-4fca-bb56-774030d9191e" } ], "events": [ { "role": "former enslaver named", "id": "c7766e86-b4f2-4c1c-8d84-1c1d5aceeef8", "title": "Laura named in an 1865 Freedmen's Bureau register of former slaves", "status": "documented", "public_id": "BT-EVT-00106", "published": true, "event_type": "emancipation", "date_display": "1865" } ], "generated_at": "2026-08-09T02:44:54.566Z" }