The earliest documented land purchased by Mead and Thomas Freeman was the 1871 purchase from G.B. Gentry of Lot 14 in the 15th District 4th Section of Floyd County (previously Cherokee County).
The area most identified with Freemantown is in the 4th District 4th Section of Floyd County, Georgia (often shortened to 4 & 4). Lots 20, 21 and 22, now part of Berry College's property, include the Freemantown Cemetery and are of particular interest for Freemantown research.
Lot 14, Section 4, District 15The earliest documented land owned by Mead and Thomas Freeman was their 1871 purchase from G.B. Gentry of L
ot 14 in the 4th Section 15th District of Floyd County (previously Cherokee County). Lot 14 is in the northeast corner of section 4, district 15, north of Lavender Mountain and west of lot 36 in section 4, district 4. Today, the two lots are bisected by Big Texas Valley Road NW. After Thomas Freeman's death, J.F. Brewer purchased the land in a 1905 estate administrator's sale. Brewer quickly sold the land to J.F. Alexander and J.P. Cooper. Alexander gave up his interest in lot 14 in 1923, and the land stayed in the Cooper family until 1949, when it was sold to local physician Dr. Tom (Thomas S.) Harbin (deed book 248, page 412). In 1993 Tom Harbin conveyed interest in the property to his sons William P. Harbin II, Thomas S. Harbin, Jr., Henry T. Harbin and Frank R. Harbin. The Harbin family retains ownership of lot 14.
*Administrator de bonis non is a Latin term for an administrator appointed by a court to replace an administrator of a will that can longer execute the role. The administrator takes on all the legal responsibilities of the role in finishing the administration of the will. (<i>Wex</i>, the Cornell University Legal Information Institute's freely available legal dictionary and legal encyclopedia.)
In
1869 Nathaniel E. V. Peace of Hancock County, Georgia, purchased land lot 21 from Thomas L. Satterwhite. Two years later Peace purchased land lot 22 from John G. & Sarah E. Meem, of Lynchburg, Virginia. In 1876 Peace sold both lots to George T. Galloway.
Neither a record of Galloway's sale of the land, nor a record of Thomas Freeman's purchase of the land has been found. Knowledge of Thomas Freeman's ownership of lots 21 & 22 is based on documents that outline the disposition of the land following his death in 1893. On August 7, 1893 the Floyd County Court of the Ordinary approved the division of Thomas Freeman's property among his widow Henrietta; his brother Sanford; and his children, named in the documentation as Fanny Wyly; Henrietta Montgomery; Josephine Rodgers; Thomas, Mingo, Fredonia; Lindsey, Nick, and Essex Freeman; the heirs of William Freeman (Clinton, Bulah, Emma and William Freeman); and the heirs of Mollie Price (Jenkins, Rebecca and Mary Price). With the exception of Sanford Freeman's tract, the land was divided into 25 acre tracts and the heirs drew to determine who received which tract. This document was not filed with the Superior Court until December 20, 1920. A few of the heirs had sold their portion of the land to others members prior to the filing. But shortly after the filing, in 1922, Freeman family members began the sale of land in lots 21 & 22 to the Berry Schools.
In November 1910 Henrietta Freeman and her children Mingo Freeman, Josephine Rodgers, Henrietta Montgomery, and Fredonia Perry confirmed a lost deed from Thomas Freeman to the Trustees of Freemans Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
After his death in 1893, Thomas Freeman's land in lots 21 & 22 was divided into 13 tracts and inherited by his children and their living heirs, his widow, and one of his brothers, Sanford Freeman. Between 1922 and 1926, all of this land was acquired by the Berry Schools.
Thomas & Henrietta Freeman's daughter Fanny received Tract 1. Fanny was born about 1864.. She married Jake Wiley on December 16, 1879. Their son Carlton L. Wiley was born in Rome on May 15,1893. He inherited Tract 1 from his mother, and sold the 25 acre plot to E.P. Harvey in 1918.
Thomas & Henrietta Freeman's son Thomas received Tract 2. Thomas Freeman Jr. was born about 1870 and married Ida Beatrice Montgomery on December 26, 1895, in a ceremony conducted by his brother Rev. Essex F. Freeman. They had three children, Beatrice, Gertrude and Fred Douglas Freeman. Beatrice, born in 1897, married John William Battey in 1921. Fred Douglas, born in 1901, married Annie Mae King about 1927.
Thomas & Henrietta Freeman's son Mingo received Tract 3. Mingo was born about October 1854 and died on September 2, 1944. He married Lucy Frances Clements about 1885.
Thomas & Henrietta Freeman's daughter Henrietta received tract 5. Henrietta was born about 1866 and died in Detroit, Michigan, on January 3, 1943. She married Gib Montgomery in 1885. Henrietta sold her portion of her father's land to E.P. Harvey on May 21, 1921 for $600. Harvey sold the tract to the Berry Schools five days later for $650.
Thomas Freeman's widow Henrietta Freeman received tract 5. Henrietta was born about May 1828 and died August 17, 1923. She and Thomas were married August 15, 1847.
Thomas & Henrietta Freeman's daughter Fredonia received tract 6. Fredonia was born about 1873 and died in Fayette County, Tennessee on February 16, 1926. She married Oliver Harris Perry on October 14, 1900.
Thomas & Henrietta Freeman's son Lindsey received tract 7. Lindsey was born about 1862 and died before November 1908, when his land was sold by estate administrator's sale to his brother Nick Freeman. When Nick Freeman died in 910, his three children Thomas Freeman, Bessie Freeman Bray, and Sular Freeman, inherited the land.
Thomas & Henrietta Freeman's son Nick received tract 8. Nick was born about 1855 and died on July 18, 1910. He married Susan Finley on January 20, 1976. Nick's daughter, Bessie Freeman, married Major Bray December 26, 1905.
Thomas & Henrietta's son Essex was born May 25, 1848 and died June 14, 1899. He married Hannah Montgomery in Chattooga County on December 9, 1876 and accepted "natural guardianship" of the children of Martha Freeman, deceased, on August 15, 1898. Essex Freeman owned considerable land of his own adjacent to his father Thomas's land.
Thomas & Henrietta's daughter Josephine was born about 1850. She married Charles Rogers on October 13, 1870. Their daughter Anna Louise Rogers married George Mostella on April 3, 1904. Their daughter Mary Etta married Daniel McKinney on January 19, 1902.
Thomas & Henrietta's daughter Mary (Mollie) was born about 1860. She married Jeff Price on October 31, 1878. Her daughter Mary Price, who married Earnest Pleasant "Pleas" Perry on December 30, 1901, died in 1921, leaving her portion of the land to her husband.
Thomas & Henrietta's son William was born about 1853. He married Louisiana C. Ervin in January 1877. Clinton, Bulah, Emma and William Freeman, minor heirs of William Freeman, received tract 12.
Sanford Freeman was a son of Mead Freeman and brother of Thomas Freeman. Sanford was born about 1840 and died some time between 1900 and 1910. He married Susan Cathey about 1870. Through mutual agreement of Thomas Freeman's widow and children, Sanford received tract 13 in the division of Thomas's estate. The 1926 deeds to tract 13 from Sanford Freeman's heirs to the Berry Schools state that it includes "the old Thomas Freeman home place."